Interesting "Notice to Owner received today - any thoughts?

[seylectric]

(Sorry, long post)

 

I got a "Notice to Owner/Keeper/Hirer" today from Parkwise on behalf of Fylde Borough Council.

 

Apparently on 20 December 2006 my vehicle "was involved in the following contravention:"

 

" 02 Parked or loading/unloading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force..."

 

"....In (Place) ST GEORGES ROAD. At (Time) 13.05.

 

I might have been, I did park on that road on that day, I remember it well because I was rushing to get to Woolworths before they closed. I was on my way home from work and it was about 5.28 pm.

 

There was no ticket on the car when I returned to it (*I actually wish there had been, see below) but it was definately around that time. So the time is definately wrong.

 

However the main point here is that the contravention was said to have taken place on ST GEORGES ROAD.

 

No town given, no postcode or anything. the only clue as to where ST GEORGES ROAD might be is that the Notice has presumably been issued on behalf of Fylde Borough Council. I say "presumably" because the only clue is the Fylde Borough Council logo in the top left corner of the notice. There is only one such named road on the Fylde coast but nowhere on the notice does it actualy state that it has been issued on behalf of Fylde Borough Council.

 

So does this make the Notice invalid?

 

 

* = I wish I had got the ticket because the last one I got from Parkwise, about three months ago in the same town, was illegally worded as it had a "Date of Offence". I sent in my appeal, also partly based on the fact that it was a Pay and Display council car park that wasn't clearly marked as such - no signs at the entrance, one "Have you Paid and Displayed" sign covered by plants and the ticket machine hidden by a parked van. No reply but I haven't heard anything since from that one.

[patdavies]

The notice is void because no PCN was validly served (ie affixed to the vehicle or handed to the driver).

 

Of course, they will argue that somebody else took it off or it blew away and they may have taken a photograph of the ticket attached to the windscreen.

[seylectric]

Yes I know it's void if there was no ticket on the screen but if there was and they have photographic evidence, does the fact that no proper address is given - just a road name - make the notice invalid?

[goneforaburton]

Hi!

 

I have successfully argued that a notice is invalid if it has an incorrect road name listed. I used the exact same defence against a congestion charge notice where I could prove that the road I was allegedly spotted driving down by the automatic cameras did not exist.

 

Hope this helps!

 

David

[seylectric]

Got a ticket in Preston today, a few minutes over time in a multi-storey. You think the council would find more useful work for their staff than checking tickets on cars on the 5th floor of a multi-storey, if only the same devotion and attention as paid to putting some manpower behind sorting out the real problems of urban life. No profit in that of course.

 

Valid ticket as far as I can tell, although it was wedged behind the wiper and not stuck to the windscreen. What really annoyed me is that the last car park I went to in Preston, quite nearby had the sensible system where you pay for your parking upon exiting the car park, so I didn't take any change with me on the assumption that this car park, in the same shopping area, used the same system and I could get change whilst shopping.

 

But this one had the usual pay-up-front, guess how long you think you might be and put the ticket in your window type machine. I only had £1 in change (and that was just plain luck, found it on the floor of the car) so could only pay for one hour. I was about 1 hour and 10 minutes. For £1.30 I could have booked 2 hours.

 

No legal basis for a winning appeal as far as I can see but i'm going to send them a letter of complaint that they have two different systems in the same area and a postal order for the unpaid parking time - 30p. There is no justification for charging me £30 (or £60 if I don't pay within 14 days) for 10 extra minutes parking so on that basis 30p is all they are getting.

 

Incidentally if someone pays for two hours and leaves atfer an hour, why is he not refunded? How many times have a council taken money for the same parking space twice? (as soon as the next guy parks up he pays for an hour yet that hour has already been paid for by the last guy).

 

It's all wrong. I just wish everybody would fight back and simply refuse to pay not only parking tickets but excess parking charges, the whole moneymaking [problem] would grind to a halt overnight.

 

I know I gob off about parking fees and the implementation of the whole [problem] regularly, but if banks can't legally charge us £30 to process a failed direct debit how the hell are the councils allowed to charge us £30 (£60) for using up an already-paid-for-by-the-taxpayer/motorist parking space for a few minutes longer than we should have? doesn't the fact that others leave early and they get paid for the same space twice balance it out?

 

Oh, yeah, why the equivalent of a fine, the monetary punishment? Where's the victim? I just wish the whole country would tell them where to stick their fines (because that's effectively what they are in all but name), and to a point their parking charges too.

 

Never mind looking for the legal get-outs, we are being "legally" (edit ) and it's not right. I just can't believe that tens of millions of people every day just pay up.

[seylectric]

As for the last one, I phoned them up (profit-making 0870 number, I didn't pay for the call but that's not the point) to ask them to explain why they had sent me the notice as the road mentioned could have been anywhere in the country and the notice didn't specify who Parkwise were acting for, just to hear what they had to say (the relevant letter will follow).

 

Stuck-up moo on the other end of the line told me it was no use trying to be clever because they will get me in the end and it will only cost me more in the long run if I don't pay now (Really? You think?)

 

She said that "You know and we know where you were at the time the ticket was issued (what ticket???) so you're better off just paying the FINE"

 

I reminded her that I hadn't committed an offence so there was no fine to pay, and that where I was at the time was irrelevant - this concerned my vehicle, not me!

 

All nonsense of course, just shows the sort of tactics they use to try to get you to pay up though. Shame I didn't record the call, the implication was made (illegally) that I had committed an offence! You couldn't make it up, then again you don't have to.