Parking Eye PCN

nichorob · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:08

Morning,

Following a long trip, ended up in a service station and fell asleep and went over the 2 hours free parking. Predictably ended up with a PCN from a firm called Parking Eye for £100.

After some research online it seems the general consensus is to ignore all communication from them as the PCN is infact just an invoice and there's not much they can do about it, however something that has confused me is that the law surrounding these tickets changed on the 1st October to make the registered keeper liable.

Has the situation changed or is it still safe to ignore?

Thank you.

Rybo89 · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:17

Bin it.

eatcustard · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:23

Leave country fast, they will come for you.

or bin it

iaind · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:24

Rybo89 said:
Bin it.

Careful. The situation has changed - this is not the safe response any more.

Approved companies can now search the DVLA database and legitimately send tickets to the registered keeper. There is a list of those companies floating around somewhere, just trying to find it

Edit - here
http://www.britishparking.co.uk/AOS-Members

The company is on the register, it's my understanding that the ticket should therefore NOT be ignored. I may be wrong, but be careful - "bin it" has been the default answer here for years so I don't think everyone has caught up yet.

Details of new legislation
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4/enacted

nichorob · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:25

Thank you

Rotty · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:27

iaind said:
Careful. The situation has changed - this is not the safe response any more.

Approved companies can now search the DVLA database and legitimately send tickets to the registered keeper. There is a list of those companies floating around somewhere, just trying to find it

yes things have changed, the correct defence now is along the lines of the parking company not being the owners of the land and having no right to enforce contract, pepipoo will have all the info you need

PhillyDee · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:31

Rotty said:
yes things have changed, the correct defence now is along the lines of the parking company not being the owners of the land and having no right to enforce contract, pepipoo will have all the info you need

Care to summarise what should be done then? I have not been to pepipoo before. Its not safe to just bin them anymore?

imb4tman · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:31

The law has been updated recently but it's yet to be tested how much they are allowed to charge. £100 sounds excessive unless the long stay car park is £100 a day.

iaind · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:33

PhillyDee said:
Care to summarise what should be done then? I have not been to pepipoo before. Its not safe to just bin them anymore?

If its council, pay it unless you believe it wasn't fair
If its not council, check then BPA list
If they're not on the list, bin it
If they're on the list, pay it unless you think it was unfair - in which case appeal it

PhillyDee · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:34

Ah. cheers!

Kenai · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:35

PhillyDee said:
Care to summarise what should be done then? I have not been to pepipoo before. Its not safe to just bin them anymore?

It is no longer safe to just bin them.

Previously this worked due to a loophole - they had a contract with the driver, as the registered keeper you were under no obligation to actually inform them as a private company who the driver was and so everything would reach a stalemate.

Now however, as part of the October 2012 legislation change outlawing private clamping I believe the law makes the registered keeper liable for any penalty charges, so this simple get out is no longer applicable.

As Rotty says though, there is likely now other defences, albeit not as easy as just binning it. As suggested above, I suspect there are cases to be brought regarding the validity of high charges but it's whether you can be bothered with the hassle.

NickXX · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:46

I hear that it's no longer safe to just bin these anymore.

nichorob · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:48

Il just pay the buggers then, £60 within 14 days.

Rotty · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:49

iaind said:
If its council, pay it unless you believe it wasn't fair
If its not council, check then BPA list
If they're not on the list, bin it
If they're on the list, pay it unless you think it was unfair - in which case appeal it

correct and the appeal is on the basis that the parking company, by not being the land owners, have no authority to enforce contract/trespass, a letter questioning this will usually result in them gong away

Rotty · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:49

nichorob said:
Il just pay the buggers then, £60 within 14 days.

don't even think about it :eek:

imb4tman · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:50

nichorob said:
Il just pay the buggers then, £60 within 14 days.

They are offering a reduced "fee" if you pay quickly? Sounds like a fine to me. Which they are not allowed to do.

Rotty · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:50

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=46975

if you do appeal, it goes to an independant body and the parking company have to pay 27 quid, win or lose, they won't do this

iaind · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:53

Rotty said:
correct and the appeal is on the basis that the parking company, by not being the land owners, have no authority to enforce contract/trespass, a letter questioning this will usually result in them gong away

Surely they would be able to prove that authority had been delegated by the and owner?

Rotty · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:54

iaind said:
Surely they would be able to prove that authority had been delegated by the and owner?

apparantly the owner cannot delegate authority

iaind · 24 Dec 2012 at 10:55

Rotty said:
apparantly the owner cannot delegate authority

Would be interesting to hear how these things start panning out in courts and things in the coming months.

Either way, it's definitely not safe to just bin it at the moment!