Just an outline.

My father parked near his home where he was not aware that it had become a parking zone. Parked on the road side where he did not notice any signage stating he was not able to park in that area. He later received a parking fine and disputed it sending evidence of where he parked and where there was no parking signs stating he could not park in the area as well as the information below:

On page 52 of the Department of Transports booklet ‘Know your traffic signs, 2015 and relating to controlled parking zones, it states ‘The times when these operate should be shown on signs at the bays; these times may not be the same as those shown on the zone entry sign’.

There are no bays on the road and there was no signage.

The letter was sent to them on 1st January 2018 in response to their letter dated 21/12/18.

During this time they stated that they sent my father a 'Notice to Owner' dated 15/02/2018, however he did not receive this until the date for response was past. He wrote to them on 2nd April explaining this. However in this letter they also rejected my father's appeal and a request was made to pay the lower rate of £65.

They did not respond to my fathers letter until 13th June 2018, over 2 months later. At this time my father was abroad burying his brother and visiting other sick relatives and returned to the UK on 9th July 2018. (He left the UK on 11th June). By this time the time limit for completing a Witness Statement or responding had run out and although the reason for this was explained to them and copies of his passport and ticket was sent to them, they stated it was 'unfortunate' that he did not receive it in time and increased the amount to £195. They also did not respond to his request to pay the lower amount in this letter.

My father then sent a postal order for £65 instead of the £130 in a letter dated 14th July, and they have now responded in a letter dated 28/9/18, over 2 months later stating that he did not make representations to the Notice to Owner dated 15/2/18 or pay the full amount and as a result the amount was increased by 50%. An £8 fee was further added for and Order of Recovery with a Witness Statement attached.

They sent an Order of Recovery on 11/7/2018 with a Witness Statement attached but instead of completing the statement a letter was sent instead dated 14th July.

The have waited over 2 months to then state that the £65 cannot be accepted as full and final payment and still want him to pay £195 minus the £65.

Although they have stated 'Should you have grounds to file a Witness Statement out of time he should contact Northampton County Court but then go on to state that filing a late statement will not cancel the PNC or reduce the outstanding amount, I think this is quite pointless as nothing would be achieved.

I hope this is not too complicated.

Is there anything that can be done considering my father's predicaments and their inconsiderate behaviour:?:

I don't really see there's much he can do.

The timeline above is confusing:

The letter was sent to them on 1st January 2018 in response to their letter dated 21/12/18. - What letter of 21/12/18, if he only wrote to them in January? Why would they write him a letter?

During this time they stated that they sent my father a 'Notice to Owner' dated 15/02/2018 - that's not during this time - it's afterwards.

He wrote to them on 2nd April explaining this. However in this letter they also rejected my father's appeal and a request was made to pay the lower rate of £65. - why did he write to them in April? And how did THEY reject an appeal in the letter HE wrote?

The upshot is, if there has been any mix-up or cross-over in letters, the option is to file a Witness Statement when the Order For Recovery arrives.

As you say, he received the forms but didn't do this, instead he opted to send yet another letter.

If he doesn't follow the statutory process, he's defeated himself.

The whole point of the Council sending him those forms was to give him a mechanism to challenge the charges.

He belatedly paid them £65 which he could have done in the first place, but it's too late for that.

I don't know how they have been inconsiderate.

It appears he's opted to dig his heels in and play cat-and-mouse with letters.

Sadly, this is where it will end up.

You can't beat the system with magic letters, unfortunately.

It looks like he will have to pay, and sooner rather than later, as they will instruct bailiffs otherwise and add even more charges on.

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but it's the truth.

Thank you for the reply.

Sorry for the confusion.

The letter on the 21/12/17 was the parking fine and he responded to them with a letter dated 1st January 2018 with evidence of why he parked in the area but they sent a rejection notice.

They stated that he could appeal on a Notice to Owner however it did not arrive until the appeal time had run out and he was unable to appeal.

He sent a letter to this affect on 2nd April and they stated it was 'unfortunate' and he should contact the post office regarding his late mail.

I understand that the timeline is a bit confusing with all the letters back and forth however I disagree that my father has opted to dig his heels in as his evidence clearly showed that there was no signage on the bays and actually no bays.

But I do understand what you mean.

I will consider what you have said.

Thanks for the clarification. So he wasn't served with a PCN on the vehicle? It was served by post?

And he appealed, and lost the appeal, then waited for an NTO?

When the NTO is issued, it affords 28 further days to appeal, so when you say it didn't arrive until the appeal time had run out, you mean to say that it took more than a month to get through the postal system?

To be honest though, it's all academic.

He really needed to respond to the Order for Recovery

- that was his chance to address the whole thing and re-set the clock by filing the papers they sent him.

Not doing so was a mistake.

I don't see how this can be resolved now, other than by paying.

they sent a rejection notice clearly showed that there was no signage on the bays and actually no bays.

There will only be signs within a controlled parking zone if the restriction at that location (bays etc.) is different to the zone restriction.