Pepipoo is littered with forum posts about people that ignored the letters. The next thing they know they’re getting court papers.

Even if genuine – they’re a self-selecting sample.

The chances of being taken to court are very, very small.

Anybody tempted to use Freeman of the Land would do well to read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemen_on_the_land#Court_cases

Anybody tempted to use Freeman of the Land would do well to read this:

That’s fantastic reading.

Pepipoo is littered with forum posts about people that ignored the letters. The next thing they know they’re getting court papers.

Even if genuine – they’re a self-selecting sample.

The chances of being taken to court are very, very small.

Exactly, so small as to be virtually nil. Oh and on the small chance they do actually take you to court, providing you know what you’re doing then the PPC’s chance of winning is also virtually nil.

Cougar interesting and wrong on Vicky Watson she got 9 months to do not suspended. I have a qeeky interest in Freeman on the land cases.

Who’s Vicky Watson?

Rebel12; Ok, my sister’s got an overstay ticket from a supermarket car park, which she’s been ignoring up to now.

Now they’ve written advising her that if she doesn’t pay the charge their next step will be to issue court papers.

What does she do then? If they do issue papers, which is very easy now, does she still have a chance to appeal direct to them, and subsequently to POPLA or does she lose that avenue? By ignoring up until now she is now very stressed by the prospect of a court summons coming through her door at any time, hence why she’s asked me to look into it for her. I know their target is to cause worry and hence get people to pay up to make it go away, and I’m sure it works.

Which is why having read all the advice I’m still inclined that with the change in law, ignoring it is bad advice, and better to appeal immediately and through POPLA using both / either contract or failure to provide an accurate estimate of losses as the basis, which then puts the shoe back on the other foot by putting them at risk of being out of pocket and facing up to someone who is prepared to contest on reasonable and eminently winnable grounds.

Otherjonv,

who’s the parking company?
threatening to issue court papers is quite frequently the last in the letter chain, which is where I think Rebel12 is getting confused. This is a letter before action your sister has received, its not court papers.
She can brass it out..(as long as its not PE)
She can go back to the shop. They do have the ability to get it cancelled, but shell have to play merry hell with the manager to get it sorted
Or I think she could still name the driver (assumimg they are chasing her as the registered keeper) I don’t think that would work if she was the driver at the time….
Its not a massive problem if she gets court papers, it can be defended quite simply.
Go have a read round on pepipoo, and moneysavingexpert to see what to possibly expect

I know it’s not court papers yet, but they’ve threatened that as the next step – hence if she doesn’t respond, and if the next step really is court papers, can she at that point appeal the ticket and go to POPLA, or is the response from the PPC that they’ve issued papers and the next step is a court date.

Because with a very young (4 week old) baby she doesn’t need the hassle of having to answer to a court, and doesn’t at this stage fancy becoming a poster girl for the public vs PPC. Hence why I’ve offered to write her response for her and get it into then registered post before they have a chance to issue proceedings.

If you can advise that even if they issue proceedings, then you still have the chance to backtrack it/ freeze the process and start a direct appeal to the PPC, then it seems ok to bluff it out and wait for the papers to arrive, or not as the case may be.

[Edit – it’s Parking Eye, hence why on this thread]