Britannia ANPR PCN - Costa, Lydiard Fields, Swindon

[DenColl]

Hi,

I need some advice please regarding the above.

 

I went to Costa coffee on the 9.5.17 for a meeting.

I was 2 hours 25 minutes.

I have been there many times before and have never been charged for parking.

 

I went away on holiday and came back to a Parking Charge Notice from Britannia with photographic evidence on my doormat!

 

I had 14 days to pay £60.00,

however I was away on holiday for all of these days.

After this the charge would be £100.00.

 

I read anotherThread on here for the same reason and the person posted pictures of the Parking signs of the car park.

 

he was advised that the first picture wasn't a contract but an intent...

so you could ignore the second parking sign actually in the car park.

She was told to ignore the letters.

 

I have done this but I have now received a Final Demand for payment threatening me with debt collection agencies and Solicitors.

 

I am not sure what to do.

I have been to speak to Costa and they told me that a lot of customers were now receiving these letters, some were paying and some were not.

 

They have got Britannia to change the 1 hour stay to 2 hour stay.

She said if my stay was under the 2 hours but over the 1 hour I shouldn't worry about it.

I was over 2 hours.

 

She told me there was nothing they could do about this.

The person who I met at Costa was there before me and left the same time as me and he hasn't been sent a Parking Charge?

 

is this not unfair that Britannia Parking are charging some people but seems to not be everyone?

I've seen so many threads/posts etc to ignore the letters

but also to not ignore them as they will keep hounding me and I'll end up in court anyway!

 

Any advice would be grately appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 8, 2017 by dx100uk

[AndyOrch]

Hi DenColl and Welcome to CAG

 

I have moved your thread to the appropriate forum...please continue to post here to your thread.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[dx100uk]

can you complete this please:

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?462118-Have-you-received-a-Parking-Ticket-(1-Viewing)-nbsp

[DenColl]

1 Date of the infringement 9/5/17

 

2 Date on the NTK [this must have been received within 14 days from the 'offence' date] 16/5/17

 

3 Date received Not sure. I came back from holiday on 25/5/17

 

4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012? [y/n?] N

 

5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? Yes

 

6 Have you appealed? {y/n?] post up you appeal] No

Have you had a response? [Y/N?] post it up

 

7 Who is the parking company? Britannia Parking

 

8. Where exactly [carpark name and town] Lydiards Field, Swindon

 

For either option, does it say which appeals body they operate under. BPA

 

There are two official bodies, the BPA and the IAS. If you are unsure,

please check HERE

 

If you have received any other correspondence, please mention it here Final Reminder - Do Not Ignore This Notice

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[ericsbrother]

well,

the signs wont have changed so

I presume that you mean they are an invitation to treat and not a contract as they refer to other signage, which offer a contract and you can thus park and not be bound by the contract if you decline to be.

 

The rest of their missive is just noise,

dca's can't enforce anything and solicitors only do what they are paid to do so it is still down to the will of the parking co.

 

I would wait for soemthing firmer and then respond to create a paper trail by telling them that you were not offered a contract at the time so cannot be either bound by it nor breach it.

[DenColl]

Thank you. It's quite worrying getting these letters but I will not do anything as yet.

 

I have written to Costa HQ to ask about arbitrary parking time limit and if it is arbitrary then Britannia Parking have issued the charge unlawfully and Costa has the power to cancel the charge.

 

Fingers crossed I sit and wait for a reply.

[dx100uk]

opps..

I see why this disturbs you..

 

you are making the classic mistakes many people sadly make..

 

there is nothing lawful nor unlawful about the issuing of a speculative invoice, regarding a private car parks.

there is no LAW involved here...

these are mere invoices [parking charge notices] that you 'might' have broken some inferred contract

you might have entered into by 'not' reading the signs.

 

only police/council pcn's are lawful [penalty charge notices]

 

dca's are not bailiffs

they have no legal powers whatsoever.

[DenColl]

Can they still take me to Court?

[dx100uk]

only the brits can

and ive not ever seen a claimform by them.

[ericsbrother]

Costa are just tenants so they wont go too far in getting this sorted as they cant do anything themselves.

 

If they told their landlord they were off because of the way these bandits were chiselling their customers and any high street would welcome their business the landlord may reconsider the matter.

 

What normally happens is these parking co's approach the landowner/tenant and tells them stories to persuade them to sign up to a contract for the "management" of the land to get rid of this so far unseen parking abuse menace.

 

The landowner isnt ever there to see what actually goes on

as they are normally big organisations like British Land,

who seem to care very little for their tenants wellbeing anyway.

 

Votes at shareholder meetings and footfall would be the power to remove the cowboy outfits

[BazzaS]

 

4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012? [y/n?] N

 

Under no circumstances identify yourself (or anyone else!) as the driver.

If they are daft enough to issue a claim you can defend it (as keeper) by stating 'no keeper liability created'.

They might be able to claim against the driver, but you are under no obligation to identify the driver!

[DenColl]

Thanks. I'm definitely not identifying the driver!

[DenColl]

I have still been ignoring all my letters from the Debt Collection Agency with the fee now £160.00.

 

The letter I received yesterday was that Britannia were offering a reduced fee of £136.00 if I paid in the next few weeks otherwise the DCA will advise of non payment and their client may start court proceedings!

Is this likely?

 

Should I just pay up now or carry on ignoring with a risk of going to court?

 

Any advice much appreciated as I haven't got a clue what to do now.

[dx100uk]

so the powerless dca is a mind reader then...??

 

 

not read many other threads have you ....

 

 

dx

[DenColl]

I read so many conflicting things.

I've read that they have taken people to court and have won.

I don't obviously want to go to court.

 

 

A friend had this with another parking company and it went on for a year with threatening letters and even phone calls.

She ended up with a letter from a Solicitor but she still ignored it and then it all just stopped!

 

 

I'm tempted to just pay it so that it goes away, but then feel I'm giving up and letting them win!

Nobody seems to be giving me sound advice...

[dx100uk]

its not no-one is giving sound advice..

 

its that there are so many people giving purposeful and quite honestly false advice

but then again we all know the employees of the parking companies pretend to be punters or experts and post rubbish on certain forums, just like the DCA's do to put people off the scent.

 

on CAG you wont get that.

 

as already stated here...we've never seen Britannia issue a claimform.

sit on your hand you are this far down the line.

 

go back to post 1 and re read your whole thread

[ericsbrother]

so, you are asking whether you should pay them £136 without asking WHY they have asked for that amount when the most they can ask for is the contractual sum or sum due for breach of contract.

 

 

they are trying to mug you as they belive that most peopel are stupid ans will pay up before the amount goes up again .

There is nothing in law they can rely on for this so call their bluff, dont pay.

 

 

It has already been to a toothless dca so what else are they going to do?

Well, they can sue but the reality is if you defend a claim they will lose and that will cost them a lot more money.

The only bad thing about being taken to court is the time wasting

 

I have still been ignoring all my letters from the Debt Collection Agency with the fee now £160.00.

 

The letter I received yesterday was that Britannia were offering a reduced fee of £136.00 if I paid in the next few weeks otherwise the DCA will advise of non payment and their client may start court proceedings!

Is this likely?

 

Should I just pay up now or carry on ignoring with a risk of going to court?

 

Any advice much appreciated as I haven't got a clue what to do now.

[DenColl]

are you telling me that they can only charge me the original £60 or the £100 cause I didn't pay within 2 weeks.

Bearing in mind I was out of the country for these 2 weeks when it sat on my front door mat I missed the period to pay the £60 anyway!

 

 

why does the sum go up every time with new letters?

If they know that it can't stack up in court?

Just to frighten us?

 

 

I read on another forum that these car parking people have started taking people to court and they have had to pay fees of up to £600!?

 

 

The letter states "Final settlement offer of £136 to avoid court action

- As you didn't pay what you owe, we recommend to our client that they appoint their solicitor to start court action against you".

 

 

I was actually thinking of sending in a cheque for the original £60 and telling them I would pay no more

. Not a good idea????

[ericsbrother]

yes. they can only legally claim the original £100, not a penny more

 

If they take you to court and you dont defend they can ask for £100,000 and get it becuse you couldnt be arsed to fill out a form.

That is what they rely on and 85% of the time it works.

 

get a claim,

defend it

and they lose as long as you actually say something relevant and that is what these threads are all about.

 

Why on earth would you want to send them £60,

they will only come back for more thinking you are a mug.

All of their income is got by fraud or misrepresentation.

[DenColl]

what would my defence be??

I did actually stay over the time (even though the time limit has been increased by another hour).

 

 

if they send me this form and I fill it in they can only then take me to court for £100.

I won't let them know I was the driver either.

[dx100uk]

they don't send you any forms.

if they are stupid enough to take you to court

the claimform pack would come from Northants Bulk court not the fleecers.

 

 

I believe at least 2 of the supposed cases you are reading elsewhere are people panicking over the old trick these PPC's used to pull and that's sending a template claimform of what it MIGHT look like out.

 

 

dx

dx

[DenColl]

Thanks but still not sure what my defence would be as I was actually parked over the time limit?

[ericsbrother]

how about they dont have planning permission for their signs so you cant enter into a criminal compact with them even if you wanted to?

 

Why not try looking for the positives rather than for excuses to pay and then make it seem that it wasnt your idea but bigger boys made you do it just to salve your own conscience.

 

 

If you are minded to pay up then do so but dont expect us to say that we agree with your decision and understand why you made it.

 

 

Almost none of these charges/claims have any legal basis to support them fully

 

Do you know who owns the land and

can you tell us emphatically that they have given up their rights to Britannia to pursue this?

 

 

If not then that is reason enough to keep going until you find out the answer.