Does anyone know the correct answer to this question? If a private firm issue a PCN, is there a legal point at which it runs out of statute ie the two year point? I received one in March 2021 and initially received loads of bullying letters which soon moved on to threats of bailiffs and debt recovery. I have not had anything for 6 months or so, then received an alleged solicitors letter from a firm with exactly the same name as the company chasing me, which made me wonder at what point do they give up (because they have to)

Be careful I believe they can get you now. Mrs got one at work, she pays for NHS arking but at the hospital they are building so using a carpark for the contractors. Patient parking full, so they have been parking on a side but, 5 of them got tickets. Their not allowed to use patient parking. She paid it in the end

dfk41 is there a legal point at which it runs out of statute https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58/section/5 (6 years, basically)

Cuprajake It all depends on who issues the ticket. Only the Police, Traffic Wardens and Council employees can issue a Fixed Penalty Notice. Tickets issued on private land have no legal standing. Instead all you can be ‘done’ for is breach of contract which is why private parking areas are supposed to have terms and conditions clearly displayed. The tickets they issue are Parking Control Notices and have no legal standing as such as they cannot issues fines. Yet they mimic the process by using yellow and black edged letters and talk of increasing the fine if you do not pay within X days…..all total woffle. They become increasingly desperate and ramp up the rhetoric with threats and the like. If they go as far as issuing court proceedings then all they can try and do you for is effectively trespass for the value of the original amount. My understanding is they rarely issue proceedings because it is costly and far from certain. I never respond to them at all and they usually give up, as this bunch will do. But, I wondered if statute struck the claim at say the 2 year point and they know the case is lost. The quality of paper used in the last letter was one up from sweet wrappings, that no respectable firm would consider. The law ought to ban them, as they did with clampers!

dfk41 all they can try and do you for is effectively trespass for the value of the original amount Nope. See Parking Eye v. Beavis, where a parking charge of £85 was deemed reasonable - however Beavis didn’t pay for parking at all; a different judgement was reached in another case (Parking Eye v. Cargius) where the defendant had overstayed, and would only have had to pay £2 to cover the difference. The Beavis judgement - in case you want to read through its 124 pages: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2013-0280-judgment.pdf This doesn’t mean they will take you to court (even recovering the maximum £100 in the BPA guidelines, they’d lose money), but they have 6 years to do so, not 2.

CoyoteOldMan Many thanks matey. It was the statute of limitations I wanted. Each and every case is different but all these parking control firms work on private land where normal laws do not apply. Without reading the judgement it is difficult to comment but what cannot be altered is they can only do you for breach of contract for terms and conditions imposed on you by parking on that private land.

CoyoteOldMan I actually read the relevant section and Beavis lost because he appealed on 2 very specific points of law. Others may have more success with a different approach, but at the end of the day, they are still limited as to the amount they may claim for and unless someone had multiple cases against them that could be heard as one, then the cost of recovery outweighs the actions!

dfk41 I am not sure it was actually worth dragging the penalty notice. Drawing this to a close, buying the peace of mind and the hassles of uncertainties are worth a fortune than not paying. Hey, that’s my view. 😊

If you don’t think you should have received the ticket or you think the amount being charged is unreasonable you should challenge it explaining why you aren’t paying it. Conversely, if you know you shouldn’t have parked on the landowners land and are just assuming the landowners effort of enforcement will outweigh their benefit, IMO you should just pay the ticket. Landowners have a right to charge for and control parking. I have little sympathy for those that don’t respect that. I also have little sympathy for sharks who overcharge for parking on their land - but not all tickets are unfair.

dfk41 they are still limited as to the amount they may claim for and unless someone had multiple cases against them that could be heard as one, then the cost of recovery outweighs the actions! Does that limitation exclude them from claiming their costs of court action solicitors etc as well?

DavecUK As far as I know, expenses can only be awarded by a court, but hey ho…..are you really saying that if you get a parking ticket or parking control notice, your first thoughts are not there is no way that I am paying that. Why do they not just issue you with a trespass notice as opposed to trying to kid you on that they have legal powers

Parking Charge Notices

DavecUK

I think it’s a disgrace that hospitals charge their staff to park, or anyone else really.

If I ruled Britain, the government would be told to solve this crisis in nursing and care ASAP. My ideas would be.

Nursing training to be free
Alternate career paths to same end point not requiring a degree. Earn while you learn
Front line carers (not managers) in old peoples homes, NHS hospitals etc. To be removed from taxation completely (not in private healthcare).
Fuel for frontline workers to be free of all tax, refund based on fuel recpts. Or free public transport.
Free parking at work, free meals for shifts longer than 8 hours.
Priority healthcare
Salary uplift of 3% (front line care only)
Every 5 years in NHS receive 10K tax free retention bonus (index linked)
Mandatory reduction of Agency staff over next 5 years to legal maximums to be agreed, which should pay for a lot of this.
Removal of all woke jobs from the NHS immediately, and the people in those jobs made redundant.

LMSC

DavecUK The bureaucracy, red tapes, churn and locum are the biggest challenges facing our NHS.

CoyoteOldMan

DavecUK or anyone else really

In principle, totally agree. The problem is that demand for parking spaces exceeds availability, and pricing ensures at least a minimum of turnaround (which frees up space for outpatients, as well as visitors). There is no excuse for not providing adequate free parking for staff, though.

DavecUK

LMSC the NHS is completely mismanaged, I agree. The fact that trusts all buy from different suppliers and prices is one example of such nonsense.

I expect billions are wasted every year, some on mismanagement an some on corruption as recent events have show. Unavoidable when an institution gets so many billions I guess

LMSC

DavecUK the NHS is completely mismanaged, I agree.

Do not want to derail the thread, but we the public should also take a share of the responsibility for the mess the NHS is in. :-)

Gagaryn

LMSC Yup, we should all stop getting ill. Or old. Or both. :-)

CoyoteOldMan

Gagaryn Easy.

LMSC

Gagaryn 😁

I can give examples, but let’s not drag this as the thread is different.

:-)

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