sorry haven't been replying sooner, i have had virus after virus.... anyway, i got a second letter dated new years eve but it was just a bland pay full charge blah blah so i filed it an ignored it. i also got a notification of a message from someone asking if they could use my pics for their case and assumed it was a post on this thread, but can't see it here so maybe it was a private message....

"imaginary unicorn food tax" - i really did LOL at this. have taken on advice given here and in other threads and I won't be replying to anything except LBA - if it happens at all. thanks all for help and support.

oh yeah, sure i told them NPE was operating a car park on the site! I have been really stressed out about this, angry that the whole thing seems so wrong, but also that it's kind of weird and confusing (like a lot of [problem]s that try to suck you into an alternative reality i guess). Also the clock has been ticking on the "cough up a reduced extortion and it will all go away" 14 days I have been really wanting to establish if I have got a defence if/when it goes to court. I assume that they have the cctv of the whole visit and pics on NTK are stills from film. I have read a lot of threads on here about dealing with these PPC's and PCN's I know it is not going to go away anytime soon, and I can look forward to receiving threats/demands from NPE and debt collectors. I feel like I'm dug in on this now and just waiting for the court letter.

Phoned the Valuations Office Agency. They said they couldn't give me any info about who owns a property (I was on the right website before, just didn't know what I was supposed to be looking for...), so I'm still stumped as to who the landlord/owner of the site is without going through land registry. I looked on the ICO website and NPE is on their list of registered CCTV operators. I can't believe it's legit to use cctv to track which shops people go to and charge them accordingly, but can't find anything to say otherwise. Haven't heard back from council about planning for camera.... Have also done some digging around and found out that this PPC was formerly "Norfolk Parking Enforcement" (same initials) and there are heaps of references/complaints in local news, mse forum etc. Same "managing director" and "business model" ie. find a row of shops with shared parking in front, set up parking on some of the shops and ticket/charge anyone who goes to the "wrong" shop. If it's helpful for others I could post up links?

Hi again, I had to go out today and managed to make a slight detour to get some more pics of signage at site as requested. Have included image of signs from distance, and then close ups. first 3 signs different and are close together, the rest are repeats, mostly of 3rd sign, so have only included distance images of repeat signs. Hope you can make out the small print and decipher it for me, thanx. NPE Signs.pdf

The camera is on Machine Mart, on the co-op side of machine mart.... The sequence of shops is Co-op, Machine Mart, Premier Kitchens, Rowlands Pharmacy, MacColl's/Post office, Golden Wok. so takeaway opposite end of row of shops and parking to co-op/machine mart. Car was in first bay almost in front of Co-op but actually just in front of Machine Mart and pic of car seemed to be taken from behind and above. I'm no expert on cctv or photography but I would have thought that anyone at or above the Golden Wok couldn't have taken a pic of the number plate, only the side of the car, and from a distance of at least 50 metres. i will go back and get clear pics of sign wording. If there are no signs on entry or visible when parking doesn't that void whatever is written on the signs anyway as driver couldn't have entered into any sort of contract? what do you make of that camera on machine mart? i guess they have some lovely cctv film of me taking pics

Got some more pics of "clear signage" (lack of). this is the first time i have been back in daylight - if i wasn't so annoyed by their stroppy letter, "business model" and the hassle of the whole thing it would be hilarious. Can anyone else see "clear signage"? (1st pic is access to site from public road, 2nd and 3rd continue into site, 4th one is the entry onto the "private land" subject to parking enforcement, 5th I think is the bay my car was parked in, and 6th is same bay looking back towards shops, showing that not only were there no signs on the way into that bay, but none were visible on the way from the drivers side of the car to the pavement.) also got some pics of camera, as requested. sorry, didn't take close up pics of signs today, will have to get those next time. pic of car wasn't taken from chinese takeaway as that is right up the far end. car was parked in first bay, outside machine mart, close to co-op. you can also see the camera in the 3rd pic of the first pdf i posted. have read through quite a lot of other threads in last week. I get that the appeal to ppc and ias is pointless, but i would have thought (having zero experience of this kind of thing) if it goes to court it would look better if i had been through the "proper" channels ie. appeal process? Or is the court not interested in that, just if the original "charge" was valid or not? pix.pdf

re: "next stop Valuations Agency. They deal with business rates etc so know who owns what and will tell you without having to pay them" sorry, i don't really understand this, I searched "Valuations Agency" and went round and round on a government website - I think I can make a FOI request, but have no idea how to go about this. .. I found a link saying "full list of public sector organisations covered by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)." but it takes me to a site about legislation.... there's a link to "request information from some public sector organisations" but that takes me back to the local council website or a veeeery long list of government departments....

sorry if i'm doing this all wrong, i have no idea what i'm doing really, i am new to this forum, and have only ever been on one forum before. I know nothing about the law, claims, courts etc. and this is my first encounter with one of these parking "companies". How do i research fighting the claim? What do I need to read up on? I have read through the stickies and browsed the threads here, and other sites like money saving expert, parking prankster etc. To be honest I'm a bit confused - I haven't replied to the NTK, as per advice, but according to advice on one of the stickies I'm supposed not to ignore it, but to respond, and respond robustly.... what should I do?

Here is the picture from the news article online (I can't post a link to it). I think you can clearly see the lack of clear signage! I can't make out the camera in this pic, I think it is just out of the shot at the top left Which bit is against the law? The watching which shop people go into and ticketing accordingly? If it wasn't it should be.

Also just phoned the council again to try to find out who owns the land and if it is one or several landowners and both the main operator and someone in a business department they put me through to told me to try the land registry. I also presume that they have CCTV film and watch to see where people actually go in order to prove whether people are "patrons" or "non Patrons". One of the staff in the Golden Wok told me "if you park there and go to the Co-Op first and then here (the Golden Wok) you will get a ticket (NTK), but if you come here (Golden Wok) first and then the Co-Op you don't get one" I don't have any receipt from any other shop, so wouldn't be able to prove that I was a patron of one of their businesses in court.

This would be much easier to deal with if I didn't live an hour's drive from Cambridge, but I will try to get more pics at the weekend. The camera looks like some kind of 360 degree eye in the sky. It is attached to the front of Machine Mart at 181-183 Histon Road. I phoned the council and went round various departments. The City Council planning department are checking if there is any planning application or requirement for planning application for the CCTV camera, and say they will let me know. The County Council have said the sign on the lamp post has already been reported and that it shouldn't be there. The lady advised me not to remove it myself though! Also, the situation on this site has been reported locally on the Cambridgeshire Live website under the headline "Co-op customers are getting fined after new 'ridiculously unclear' parking sign".

3 signs from the site. The first is attached to a gate set back a little from the shops either side that closes what looks like an alley between them. Taken from about 2 feet away The second is attached to the second shop in the row (Machine Mart), next to the Co-Op. There are more of these further along, attached to the other shops (but nothing on the Co-Op). Also taken from about 2 feet away. The third is the sign attached to the lamp post. NPE signs.pdf

There is parking space in front of the row of shops. It has been equally shared by all the shops for as long as I have been parking there for the Co-Op (about 10 years). The new yellow line bays are in now in front of all the shops except the Co-Op. The small print on the signs says the marked bays are for patrons of the shops listed (Machine Mart, Premier Kitchens, McColls/Post Office and Golden Wok) only and is free for half an hour. just trying to upload pdf now.... NPE_NTK_Nov_2018.pdf

ok, it was quite easy so far. scanned, opened in paint, scrubbed info and converted to PDF. I will have to upload tomorrow now.