Keep watching on MCOL. You'll see defence sent to them. Next step is directions questionnaire. CEL will send theirs back to the court and sometimes a copy to you. Court will send one to you. You fill it in and send it back (this is your chance to give them unavailable dates and request your local court). At this point MCOL stops working. Local court sets date and tells you what each party has to do by when. This is usually witness statement & evidence bundle exchange 14 days before court date. There are a few places that they can drop out. They may not return the DQ, they may not send a WS, they may not turn up. If your defence has encouraged them to proceed, as long as your witness statement is a lot better, they may well just no-show on the day which leaves you holding all the cards.

As their clients are neither police nor local authority, they have no authority to issue fines. That letter clearly written by the tea-boy.

No, but you've just given CEL a sign of hope. If they think you're a muppet they might just press ahead. Better start working on your WS - it'll be months away, but you'll need to learn your lines.

Tbh it all depends what £15 is to you and how brave or how much of a worrier you are. Yes, you'd probably win if it ever went to court - there's plenty of history of wins over trivial errors of reg numbers. It might not go to court, SIP don't do much court. However, this will more than likely mean months of letters with them gradually claiming you owe them more and more including (powerless/fake) debt collector and solicitor letters. If you can hold your nerve that's fine, but if that's going to cause you sleepless nights, then £15 might be worth it to make it go away. It's your call.

I've been away, just got back to a computer and see "prove" has wormed its way back into your defence. Well it's gone now, so nothing to do other than sit back and wait.

Did they seriously write that?

I say again

Have you found anything about the "unicorn food tax" yet as EB likes to call it? That's the magical sums that CEL add to their claims. Now what gives them the right in law to add these sums and according to POFA what is the maximum amount they can claim from the REGISTERED KEEPER? They don't like to stand up in front of a judge and admit that they were trying to claim for things they're not allowed to, so as dx says, CEL usually run away and hide once it looks like you're prepared to stand up to them. That's why the snotty letter at the LBC would have been the best option, but we can't turn the clock back now. Oh - and just forget about the phone calls. Irrelevant twaddle. Where is the law that says their debt collectors must answer the telephone?

If you get no joy in store, then escalate straight to the Aldi CEO. His email should be knocking around somewhere if you do a search. If you just go to head office the CS are useless, but he always gets it cancelled.

Read post 23 again. No, it's not your only bullet in the gun, but it's a good one. You get all the other spare ammo lined up as "In the alternative..."s. In their POC they don't even say in what capacity they are suing you - as driver or as keeper? You have received the claim as registered keeper yet they have not complied with POFA 2012 in order to create keeper liability. They have established no cause for action against you and therefore have accessed your details from DVLA in breach of GDPR (but that bit's for another day). The judge could ask you if you were driving, but is only likely to do so if you come across as vague and a bit dodgy. Like the guy who says "my wife is insured to drive too and they can't prove which one of us it was". That'll wind the judge up and even though it's not up to them to do CEL's job they may well ask in a case like that. You're not going to be vague, you'll be stating that you have received the claim as registered keeper, but as they have failed to comply with POFA 2012 there can be no keeper liability. You may need to explain the requirements of POFA 2012 to the judge and point out CEL's failures and the fact that "nearly" is not good enough - but all of that will be in your ws and in court.

and thankfully your appeal was general enough that it didn't out you as the driver - but all those attempted phone calls could have been disastrous if they had answered! It's your vehicle, but "the driver parked", "the driver did" (or didn't) "do x,y,z". Never "I was delayed in the shop" or "I didn't see the sign".

I didn't say "prove" keeper liability did I? CREATE - please read CAREFULLY and understand - what do you think POFA fails means? You start guessing and paraphrasing then you'll wind up talking out of your rusty sheriff's badge on the day. The judge will only humour you for so long (if they're in a good mood) if you're misquoting and making arguments that lead nowhere, before dismissing your waffle and asking if you have any relevant points. Here's some homework for tomorrow: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4/enacted I'll be asking questions later and you'll get detention if you don't know your stuff!

Don't forget they fail to create any keeper liability - POFA fails. Re lack of contract with land owner & planning consent, add in that they have ignored your CPR request. Council aren't getting involved because most of them don't understand the regs. However, if some public spirited person were to point it out to them, somebody might sniff the chance to make a name for themselves and get a nice promotion.

Well post what you plan to submit here first. Don't leave that until Friday morning.

Times on the photos? Also, we can't read that sign in the NTK it's way too tiny. Can you put the sign photo up please?

Try checking this out. Parking spaces in your area from around £75 pcm. https://www.yourparkingspace.co.uk/search?rental=long&lat=53.4842751&lng=-2.2248977000000423&location=New+Union+Street%2C+Manchester%2C+UK&start_date=31-08-2019 In the meantime I'd just be nice and ask them to put you on a waiting list. In fairness (playing devil's advocate), reading your first post you stated that they said 1 space was guaranteed and a 2nd would be allocated once all the tenants had moved in. - I would read that as 1 guaranteed and 1 maybe if the other residents don't take them all and there are spares. Life lesson I'm afraid - get it in writing and read it very carefully. They can't just clamp and tow you without going through a lengthy process, and as there are no notices, they can't issue you with a parking charge. However..... people breaking the "rules" as you are doing at the moment is the main reason places call in the parking companies to manage the site. If that happens everyone will be running the gauntlet by parking in their own space and you and your neighbours will be back in this forum an awful lot. Is there a tenant's group/association/facebook page? Maybe someone else isn't using theirs or only uses it for visitors and you could come to an arrangement with them?

Well there's interesting. It's not like it's a disabled bay and they're saying you didn't display a badge. Perhaps you're meant to put a dirty nappy on the dashboard in a parent and child bay? This is 99% a human being watching you arrive without a kid in tow, but did they stay long enough to be certain you didn't meet your partner inside and leave with the child? What do the signs say? Can you get us some pics please?

As you've received the NTK now, it's fine to go on the myparkingcharge site and see what other photos they have. Check the timings on the photos - we want to see how long they have as an observation period.

The windscreen notice I suspect is one of VCS's red "This is not a parking charge" sticky bits of confetti. It has been argued against and lost (on a few occasions) the courts and DVLA both say it's okay and isn't a ntd (despite the fact that it's a notice and is left for the driver) so they can still use the 14 day timings. A mockery of the system I know, but there we have it.

PLEASE - if you get any more STOP appealing

Can you confirm the car park? They are saying a business park on the ntk. Need to establish if it's railway land covered by byelaws or not. Have a look on the website and see what photos they have. Have they given you observation times? Get your own photos of the site. Entrance, overall plan (inc sign locations) where you parked. We could do with a close-up of the signs. Need to read the "naughty list" and small print. The parking charge was £100, discounted to £60 for early payment. VCS aren't likely to be offering the discount again any day soon. The extra £60 that's gone on top of the £100 can only be claimed from the driver, not the keeper. Don't tell them who was driving and the most they can claim is £100. As it's VCS they will keep at this like a dog with a bone, but you should be able to swat it away with the right response at the right time - which isn't yet. For now, gather the info, let us have it, but otherwise sit tight.

DCA is fine, we know what it means. I think dx is trying to determine if you've discovered what standing they have yet in the course of your research. EB's post #17 tells you when you should be responding. He didn't say to respond to the DCA letters did he? Now tell us why. Reassure us that this is sinking in and you're understanding the process. If you understand you'll be better equipped to deal with everything.

Fine, then go and get those photos so we can see anything on any signs about "what to do if the machine is out of order" as well. There could be many, many reasons why they will fail on this, so do the legwork and get all your ducks in a row now, ready for the shootout.later. No good just having one point and relying on that, get them all clear in your mind and evidenced now. Then keep it all safe for 6 years. Just a thought - if the meter was out of order and they were still issuing PCNs, there must have been a lot of people receiving one at the same time. Have you searched for others? Maybe even on a facebook rant? You can all provide each other with witness statements confirming the meter was covered.

Ignore them and any debt collector letters they get sent. Watch out for a letter before action / claim - that's when you respond. Come back here then and let us know, but in the meantime, as many photos as you can get to fill your ammo box. Get photos of the entrance from the street, close-ups of any signs, layout plans including where your car was parked, close-ups of the ticket machine. Get them now because they may change at any time without warning if they get pulled up over them by somebody else first. They have created no keeper liability which means they can only chase the driver for payment. As long as nobody is daft enough to give away who the driver was (esp in an unguarded comment in a futile appeal!) they have nobody to chase. Their claim that they will assume you were driving has no basis in law. You have no obligation to name the driver and you will not be doing so. Stay silent until you get the LBA P.S. They like to illegally share information with their other company VCS. Write to DVLA (see link on main page) to find out who accessed your data. Also check the small print on the signs Excel or VCS? Get this wrong and you will be making a claim against them!

4 times at one airport! are you a cabbie? Don't they have designated drop off / pick-up points?