Parking Fine, Bailiffs and Court Case

[UKTotty]

Hello guys, this is my first post so please be gentle with me.

I have read some of the threads about parking and private companies, I am in a predicament with the Local Council.

I parked in Dec 2010 in a public car park where the machine wasnt working, there was no signage to say "find atlernative mahine" or "do not park" etc.

We are now year on and I have a bill for £475, I have appealed to the TEC and go nowhere, I have photographic evidence of the big green cover saying "machine out of order"

I have now decided to take this in front of a magistrate at a cost of £80, the hearing is this week.

What shoud I do?

What grounds do I have?

Am I at a loss?

Can the bailiffs charge me this much for a £25 fine?

 

I have lots more info if anyone has any specific questions.

 

Russ

[green_and_mean]

It would probably help if you are a bit less vague! You cannot appeal to the TEC for example. Tell us what letters you sent and what was received along with the dates.

[UKTotty]

Sorry about that, its my first time doing this.

I sent form TE9 to the TEC in November 2011along with form TE7 for an out of time extension, I was informed that ALL bailiff action was on hold at this point and the bill stood at £129.00

I received a letter from Nothampton CC saying "REFUSED" along with an email from West Berks saying

"The council wishes to opppose this apllication and will submit a statement by the required date"

 

I did nothing at this point as I was awaiting the "statement by required date"

Next thing i got was another bailiff visit now the fee had gone from £129 to £417 plus contractor costs.

 

I then spoke to the Local Council and was informed that there was another machine to pay at and it was all my own doing etc etc.

At this point I had the option to appeal to a judge or have a hearing, this is where I am today.

[Jamberson]

The TE9/TE7 process is not part of the appeals process for the PCN. It is a seperate process for challenging the bailiff warrant.

 

Notwithstanding what happened on the day you parked, what were your grounds for challenging the warrant, and what were your grounds for doing it out of time?

[UKTotty]

The TE9/TE7 process is not part of the appeals process for the PCN. It is a seperate process for challenging the bailiff warrant.

 

Notwithstanding what happened on the day you parked, what were your grounds for challenging the warrant, and what were your grounds for doing it out of time?

 

Thaks for your reply, my grounds were that the machine was out of order and therefor I was UNABLE to pay for the parking in the machine, the machine had nothing to say, find alternative methods or park elsewhere, the grounds for out of time was that I never received the original PCN or any reminders from the council, only a visit from the bailiff over unpaid items.

[Jamberson]

OK, then the thing to do is contact the council and find out which documents they issued in relation to this, and which address they were using.

 

If they have been sending paperwork to an address other than your home address, you have a good case. At the hearing, assuming the Council are present, you will need to convince the officer hearing the case that you did not receive any of the documentation. If, for example, you live at x and they posted the paperwork to y, I would suggest you take some evidence of this with you. It will help your case.

 

If the council have in fact sent everything to the correct address, then it will of course be difficult to convince the officer that all the paperwork has disappeared.

[green_and_mean]

If the council have in fact sent everything to the correct address, then it will of course be difficult to convince the officer that all the paperwork has disappeared.

 

Indeed! It would be a very bad run of luck that saw the PCN removed from your car, then the NTO to be lost in the post, then the charge certificate gets lost, then the order for recovery disapears.

[Al27]

Basically, you can only attempt to 'put the clock back' as it were. Whether or not a penalty is owed is not the issue at the moment.

 

You will only be appealing the lack of paperwork - the magistrate will not rule on your reasons for appealing the PCN.