Parking Charge Notices - quick help needed please!!

[Rosebud1302]

Can anyone confirm legally how long private companies have to send a parking charge notice via post? There was no ticket on car as it is ANPR. Private company not council or police.

I received a letter nearly a month later. I thought they had 14 days??

If anyone can link me to the written rules I would be so grateful as can't seem to find a concrete answer! Thank you!

www.resolver.co.uk/rights-guide/private-parking-tickets

Was there definitely no ticket on your car? If not, then they had 14 days to send it to you.

You can appeal it since they took too long. Check the link above for help.

Thank you!!! Absolutely not as it's all done by ANPR but I have no evidence! I have tried arguing that fact but they said:

The Charge in question was issued without invoking the Protection of Freedoms Act.

In accordance with the DVLA and BPA rules, Charges can be issued up to seven months from the date of the parking contravention.

???

Hopeful bump

The BPA code of practice does say While we have an expectation that operators will seek to use the POFA legislation, it is appreciated that there will be occasions where this might not be possible. If a non- POFA Notice to Keeper is being issued it must be sent out as soon as possible and no later than 7 months after the original parking event.

It's on page 15 of 50...
www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/AOS_Code_of_Practice_January_2020_v8(2).pdf

I guess my question is - why can they just choose when to not use POFA. Surely no one would ever use it if it buys them so much more time!!

Yes, they can choose not to use PoFA. However, because they have made that choice, their parking charge notice is not enforceable in the courts. Such notices are only legally enforceable if they comply with the requirements of the PoFA.

@prh47bridge this is really helpful too thank you. So if I were to refuse to pay there isn't anything they can do essentially?

Crikey OP, you have just reminded me that I was sent several letters roughly 4 years ago, I have kept them in the drawer, they haven't contacted me since.

Btw I didn't bother contacting them as I didn't want to open the communication with them, as the letter said "you either stayed over the time or you didn't display a ticket.

I was so pissed off that they couldn't even pinpoint my error that I ignored it.

I had 2 letters each from 2 different 'debt recovery agents' over the course of about 6 months.

My colleage paid the £90 'fine' as soon as she got the 1st letter as the wording scared her.

We hadn't actually stayed over our time and we displayed the tickets.

So if I were to refuse to pay there isn't anything they can do essentially?

They are back to the pre-PoFA position. They can try taking you to small claims, but the chances are they won't. If they do, they cannot rely on PoFA to justify their claim so there is a good chance their claim would fail. I would ignore them at this stage.

I would ignore it personally, they usually try sending another few letters, I'd ignore these too.

I had this last year, in a car park that didn't have any signs saying it was a time controlled one. After I received the letter I went back at seen one tiny sign way up a lamppost that said 2 hours max stay, I was there for 2 hours and 7mins. And as I say the sign was so small and high up if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't find it, I've asked many people that shop there and they never knew about the time limit either.

I made the mistake of replying to them which opened the communication and meant they kept pestering me. Eventually I just started to ignore them though and they gave up

Go to "Private Parking Tickets - Help and Advice" on Facebook.

Do NOT name the driver. Post up the notice you have received with your details obscured as well as any password to respond.

I think the notice has to be issued no later than 14 days unless you disclose the driver but one of the admins there will advise you. They are excellent and don't charge anything.

Thank you all. I have requested to join the suggested Facebook group. I guess my concern would be if they went to debt recovery or a black mark was put on my credit, which is not worth the fine money. But also I don't want to give in haha!!

They give really good advice and win over 80% of cases. What you will get is loads of threatening letters from companies like Debt Recovery Plus, Zenith etc. They have NO power at all and some even issue false letters before claim to make you think they have gone for court proceedings. The admin on that site are incredibly knowledgable and helpful as there is a collective hatred of these bent companies.

Ironically the govt had a new mandatory code of conduct due to be implemented to control these companies such is the concern of MPs but it was delayed due to Covid.