NCP Parking Charge Notice (x9) - Help Required Urgently

[JRWArchive]

Good Afternoon,

I am looking for some urgent help on a matter that is causing me some serious mental stress at the moment.

Background: "The Driver" has recently had to change their usual work commute to using a train service instead of driving in like they normally would. They started using the car park at the local train station owned by NCP without being aware of the parking charges or requirement to pay. On review, the signage is limited and difficult to read on entry to the car park for where they were leaving the car however it is there and could potentially be a push to get it thrown out on these grounds.

Issue: Today the keeper of the car has received a total of 9 parking charge notices at once for different days with the first dating back 67 days. The following 8 PCN's were issued at 65, 63, 62, 61, 57, 56, 49, and 48 days after the date of the incident. For reference, the earliest incident date was 17th May 2021 and the date of receipt (including the assumed 2 working days postal period) was 23rd July 2021. I am unsure at the time of writing whether this is going to be all of them or whether I should expect more.

Notes: No ticket was put on the windscreen and this is the first notification that I have received about the incident. I have attached one of the PCN's for reference.

I have no intention of confirming to the company whether or not the Driver and the Keeper are the same person nor whether any payment for the parking was attempted. I would like to appeal this on the basis that they were issued 14 days after the incident date. I would appreciate any help on wording my appeal to them and whether or not I should state the fact the signs are hard to read/see and that there is no parking meter meaning that your are limited to having to pay via online means which aren't available to everyone. I would also be open to doing a settlement amount, something along the lines of settling all outstanding PCN's for a single payment in order to save everyone the hassle and cost of taking legal action.

Many thanks in advance,

[JRWArchive]

Attachment as mentioned

[ostell]

The PCN does not comply with the requirements of POFA, as well as not delivered within 14 days.

is this car park actually on railway land? Can you check, look for byelaw signs. If it is then it is not relevant land for the purpose of POFA and there xan be no keeper liability

[JRWArchive]

Yes the car park is about 4 meters from the train station entrance and all terms and conditions signs show greater anglia on them. On their website it also says that the car park is owned by Greater Anglia and managed by NCP. When I was there yesterday I couldn't see any byelaw signs anywhere so they certainly aren't clear. How would you suggest i word this response? And is it wise to add the part that I as the keeper would pay a settlement of say 2-300 for all 9 charges just to cover any of their losses and save the hassle?

[JRWArchive]

Yes the car park is about 4 meters from the train station entrance and all terms and conditions signs show greater anglia on them. On their website it also says that the car park is owned by Greater Anglia and managed by NCP. When I was there yesterday I couldn't see any byelaw signs anywhere so they certainly aren't clear if displayed at all.

How would you suggest i word this response? And is it wise to add the part that I as the keeper would pay a settlement of say 2-300 for all 9 charges just to cover any of their losses and save the hassle?

[ostell]

Dear Sirs,

I have just received your Notice to Keeper xxxxx for vehicle VRM xxxx

The car park appears to be not relevant land as defined by paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 of The Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012, being subject to byelaw control. You cannot, therefore, transfer liability for the alleged charge from the driver at the time to me, the keeper.

Even if it were relevant land you have failed to give notice of keeper liability as prescribed by 9 (2) (f) of the Act and you failed to deliver within the prescribed relevant period defined by 9 (5). Again there can be no transfer of liability from the driver 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.

Yours etc

First class post with free certificate of posting from a post office.

Check that the others also fail on the same points

[JRWArchive]

Perfect, thank you. One more question, they allow you to appeal the case directly via their website so do you think i should do that rather than through the post? is there any reason against doing this or should i reply on the site and also send a letter? Also i am a reasonable person and i very much hate the back and forth dealings of something like this so as mentioned i would be open to paying a final setllement to clear all PCN's associated with this number plate but by offering this on the same response then would i just be opening myself up to liability for the incident?

[JRWArchive]

I have done some more research on NCP and found that they are a member of the BPA (British Parking Association) who stimulate strict requirements to adhere to schedule 4 of the POFA within their codes of practice. At the bottom of the message should I state that I will be making a formal complaint to the landowner, local MP's as well as the BPA for their noncompliance?

[ostell]

Don't add anything to the letter

You can appeal online but beware the sneaky drop downs that default to the driver. Or questions requiring you identify the driver. Take screen shots of each page of the appeal

If the web page will not let you say what you want then revert to letter

When they reject, as they surely must then you should ge a code to appeal to POPLA. However I believe POPLA are not accepting byelaw cases.

[JRWArchive]

Okay, I think I will address this with a letter then to be safe and how can I be certain that this is Byelaw related as everything is pointing to it being contract-based. There is nothing on the letter referring to byelaw nor is there anything on the grounds to say the same. If it is deemed to be covered under the byelaws then what would be the next step for me if I cannot appeal it to POPLA?

[ostell]

It's reasonable le to assume that as it us a railway car park the byelaws apply

If they take action under byelaws then they get nothing hence making it contract.

They cannot rely on POFA if the land is subject to byelaws, but they failed to follow POFA anyway.

[JRWArchive]

Awesome, thanks so much for you help Ostell! I will send the letters today and I will keep this thread updated with the progress.

[JRWArchive]

So I have done some further research into this and reviewed some other cases so as to be as well informed as possible before making an appeal, taking it to POPLA, and possibly losing only to have the charges doubled. I cannot see anywhere on the letter attached earlier in this thread that says this is being sought under POFA nor have they stated about Keeper liabilty.

The BPA Code of practice has a different statement for the provisions for not making use of keeper liability, see attachments. I have also read somewhere that my original planned response, mentioned earlier in this thread, is typically known as a "historical tactic used to avoid parking charges" and no longer works. Do you know anything about the validity of this statement? I simply cannot afford to loose this case as have the fines doubled so im not sure what to do. I haven't stopped reading articles for the past two days.

[ostell]

You are overthinking this. POFA is law, BPA Code of Practise is not. The alleged contract is with the driver. NCP know that this is not relevant land hence no mention of POFA as that would go against the CoP. If they are not / cannot use POFA then they cannot transfer liability from the unknown driver to the keeper. Compliance with POFA is the only way to transfer liability to the keeper. End of story. Send in that appeal.

[JRWArchive]

Yeah pretty sure I am, I'm a bit worried about the whole thing to be honest. I will keep the thread up to date with the progress of my appeals.