I have received two letters from National Parking Enforcement Ltd (NPE) demanding £170 for failing “to correctly use a pay & display machine” in a car park six years ago. It doesn’t specify what I did incorrectly – I’m guessing I made a typo when entering my car reg because the buttons on the machines are so faded and Os and zeros look identical.
I’m told I face court and a damaged credit rating if I don’t stump up.
ML, Fakenham
It looks as though NPE is hurrying to collect the money before the clock runs down. Private parking operators have to issue a ticket within 14 days of the alleged contravention if sending by post.
If it’s taped to your windscreen and you fail to pay, the operator has an additional 56 days to send a notice to your home address. You say you never received any notice and were unaware of the alleged debt until the legal threats arrived.
Private parking charges are not legally enforceable without a county court judgment, and the statute of limitations bars court action once six years have passed.
The demands you received were sent days before the six years were up, and the deadline has since expired. Moreover, NPE has failed to provide evidence that you breached the terms and conditions.
When you demanded details and proof of what you had done wrong it repeated, robotically, that you had used the machine incorrectly. It declared to me that it could not discuss cases with a third party, and refused to answer if, and when, it issued a parking charge notice and why it did not follow up earlier.
I believe a court would take a dim view of this, even if it agreed to hear the case, so you could probably ignore it. But if you are worried, I suggest you write to NPE stating that you will not pay unless it provides all those details by a specific date.
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