Parking Eye Charge Notice

[Ozington]

Hello all,

I as keeper received a Parking Charge Notice for an alleged offence on the 14th December 2022. It wasnt received until the 30th December 2022, outside of the 14 days. To which I responded:

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You have failed to comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of The Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012 namely, but not limited to, failing to deliver the notice within the relevant period of 14 days as prescribed by section 9 (4) of the Act. You cannot, therefore, transfer liability for the alleged charge from the driver at the time to me, the keeper.

There is no legal requirement to name the driver at the time and I will not be doing so.

Any further communication with me on this matter, apart from confirmation of no further action and my details being removed from your records, will be considered vexatious and harassment. This includes communication from any Debt Collection companies you care to instruct
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Parking Eye have responded, completely ignoring the fact it was outside of the 14 days and instead just written to the effect that I had not informed them who the driver was and that I should do so, and if not they have the right to recover from me as keeper. Referencing the same schedule of the Protections of Freedoms Act.

I assume the correct response is to respond re-iterating the fact their notice was received after 16 days and therefore I have no requirement to inform them of anything and their notice is invalid.

Thanks in advance.

Kind Regards

Oz.

[des8]

Basically you are correct BUT..........

The NTK needs to be posted/issued 3 days before the expiry of the 14 day deadline.
This is because it is presumed to be delivered 2 days after the day of posting
Actual wording:
"A notice sent by post is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been delivered (and so “given” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)) on the second working day after the day on which it is posted; and for this purpose “working day” means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday in England and Wales."

Do the calculations, but Parking Eye rarely get it wrong, so unless you have proof of a delayed receipt they will keep chasing.
I calculate they needed to issue on 22/12, but check it yourself
However still do not identify the driver as they may slip up somewhere down the line.

[Ozington]

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

It seems a bit flawed, that they are presumed for it to be delivered, when there is absolutely zero way to prove what day something was posted through a letter box without proof of delivery.

The only thing I guess that may be in my favour is that they posted it just after a 4 days of postal strikes and a few days before another 2 day postal strike, Christmas, and two bank holidays along with an announcement that the postal service would be prioritising parcel delivery.

For the time being, as the deadline has been frozen, is it worth just writing back with the same point about it not being received. Surely the onus should be on them to prove a positive rather than me to prove a negative, annoying sods!

[des8]

Sorry, but I did not draft the law (which is on the whole a good thing!)

There is no harm in responding and reminding them that apparently they have not taken note of your comments regarding late delivery

[Ozington]

Sometimes it seems that laws are drafted without a dash of common sense.

Thank you regardless for taking the time to reply.

Have a great weekend.