Total Parking Solutions

[RHG]

My wife parked a vehicle registered in my name in a private car park serving 6 shops including Dunhelm, she visited Dunhelm for a short while, approximately 20 minutes or so whilst the staff tried to sort out an order she had placed for collection. The goods had apparently not been received at the store and she left. Her car had been pushed sideways into another vehicle and there was a note on the front of the other vehicle saying she had witnessed the incident. Considering that the car park is flat and the hand brake was on and the car was no longer pointing in a straight direction but at an angle of about 40 degrees and there was paint damage and a small dent to the rear passenger panel behind the rear wheel on my wife's car it was fairly obvious that her car had been hit and pushed into the other car.

 

My wife was extremely upset and tried to find the owner of the other car into which her car had been pushed. She returned to Dunhelm and staff there gave her a cup of tea whilst the other car owner was looked for. My wife eventually phoned me and I drove 12 miles from our house to the shop. I took photographs and also phoned the police who would not attend as no one was hurt and it was on private property. I phoned our insurance company who took statements over the phone and we also gave them the name of the witness who had also left her phone number.

 

As my wife was extremely upset and was concerned that the driver of the car that her vehicle had been pushed into should be told what had happened I told her to take my car and I would wait for the other driver to return. This took quite some time.

 

I, as the registered owner, have today received a charge notice from Total Parking Solutions. Do I have to pay this.

 

The incident occurred about two weeks ago. To make matters worse the insurance company phoned the witness who stated that she saw my wife's car roll into the other car. As noted before it would have been impossible for the car to have rolled a total of 14 feet gathering momentum and also swinging to the left at an angle of 40 degrees causing damage to the front of the other car at an area beyond where the two cars were touching.

[armadillo71]

The short answer is no, you do not have to pay this...

I will explain why later when I have time, or someone else will before me!

[f16]

RGH, This sounds like a number plate capture

What date was the "Offence" and what day did the letter land on your door mat ?

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

As well as the questions posed above, was this letter a Notice to Keeper? (I suspect so)

 

You ought to appeal this although TPS will probably reject you but they should give you a POPLA appeal number where you can set out your grounds for appeal. This is at no cost to you (apart from stamps) It will cost TPS around £27 for this to go to POPLA and even if your appeal was rejected, TPS would have to initiate court proceedings to get you to pay.

[ericsbrother]

you could ask TPS for copies of their evidence as you want it for a claim against their employers.

[armadillo71]

Did the invoice you received come within 14 days of the incident?

The charge has to be damages for trespass, damages for breach of contract or a contractual sum.

Without seeing the signs or invoice we don't know but they are normally for breach of contract.

This means that the sum they are asking for, is to put the landowner back to where they were before the driver broke the alleged contract the driver entered into by reading the signs and parking. The car park was free (?), so no loss has occurred...

A simple appeal to TPS by the registered keeper is needed first.

 

'As registered keeper I am not liable for this charge. Please invoke your appeals process.

If you do not cancel this charge, please supply me with a valid verification code for the independent appeals service POPLA.

No loss has occurred to the landowner, by the driver parking and using the shops on site. '

 

Now you could add what happened to your car but it is not necessary. If you do you must not identity the driver.

[RHG]

Hi and welcome to CAG.

 

As well as the questions posed above, was this letter a Notice to Keeper? (I suspect so)

 

You ought to appeal this although TPS will probably reject you but they should give you a POPLA appeal number where you can set out your grounds for appeal. This is at no cost to you (apart from stamps) It will cost TPS around £27 for this to go to POPLA and even if your appeal was rejected, TPS would have to initiate court proceedings to get you to pay.

 

 

My apologies for not replying to all who replied to my post, I have not been able to log onto the site until today.

 

 

Yes it was a notice to keeper

[RHG]

Did the invoice you received come within 14 days of the incident?

The charge has to be damages for trespass, damages for breach of contract or a contractual sum.

Without seeing the signs or invoice we don't know but they are normally for breach of contract.

This means that the sum they are asking for, is to put the landowner back to where they were before the driver broke the alleged contract the driver entered into by reading the signs and parking. The car park was free (?), so no loss has occurred...

A simple appeal to TPS by the registered keeper is needed first.

 

'As registered keeper I am not liable for this charge. Please invoke your appeals process.

If you do not cancel this charge, please supply me with a valid verification code for the independent appeals service POPLA.

 

No loss has occurred to the landowner, by the driver parking and using the shops on site. '

 

Now you could add what happened to your car but it is not necessary. If you do you must not identity the driver.

 

 

 

My apologies for not replying to all who replied to my post, I have not been able to log onto the site until today.

 

 

The 'charge notice' arrived at my home address on the morning of 3/04/2014. The incident was on 19/03/2014 and the charge notice was dated 31/03/2014 and posted second class. The notice arrived 15 days from the date of the incident. Is that relevant?

 

I want to thank all who replied and I will be appealing against the Charge Notice based on the very clear advice given.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

[ericsbrother]

Yes it is, it is timed out as the 14 days is including service time and the day the alleged contravention took place so the notice should have been sent on the 30th and with you by the 1st.

So, your appeal should start with non compliance of PoFA and therefore no claim against keeper of vehicle. If they reject this then apart from going to POPLA and costing them money a complaint to the BPA would be in order and to be honest I personally wouldnt be going down the GPEOL route as it will allow a get-out for the parking company as all they would then have to to is to offer no evidence and let you win and they dont get a rollocking from anyone else. Having said that, if you do get a POPLA code it is a safe bet to use the GPEOL argument as well and I bet that is what is considered so easier path for you.

[armadillo71]

My apologies for not replying to all who replied to my post, I have not been able to log onto the site until today.

 

 

The 'charge notice' arrived at my home address on the morning of 3/04/2014. The incident was on 19/03/2014 and the charge notice was dated 31/03/2014 and posted second class. The notice arrived 15 days from the date of the incident. Is that relevant?

 

I want to thank all who replied and I will be appealing against the Charge Notice based on the very clear advice given.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

 

From the POFA schedule 4(which has to be followed to enable keeper liability) ;

 

 

(4)The notice must be given by—

(a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

(b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

(5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

(6)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.

 

Add that to your appeal and TPS know that they will lose at POPLA...