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#Post#: 66706--------------------------------------------------
Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had updated
address and driver has new licence - can it be ignored?
DIR By: Ahead4life
Date: April 12, 2025, 4:01 am
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My family moved house in February and all drivers in the
household have updated the DVLA with the new address and
received up to date driving licences, all within a month of
moving.
There has been an arrangement with the new owner of our previous
house that any post still received would be passed over to our
old neighbour.
I went to visit the neighbour yesterday as they have had an
unexpected short stay in hospital, and was passed the post that
had been accumulated over the last 2 weeks since seeing them,
none of which should be important as all necessary bodies have
been notified of the new address.
There was a PCN from Parking Eye, issue date of 4th April for an
event on 1st April which had been sent to the old address.
The PCN is for an overstay of 19 minutes in a local MacDonalds
car park which states at the entrance a maximum stay of 1.5
hours. However, it is not immediately clear on the signage at
the entrance what happens if you stay over 1.5 hrs and where and
how you can pay for any additional stay. A photo of the VCN
shows it arriving at 22:40 and leaving at 00:29. I have attached
a photo of the back of the PCN for reference.
The driver, who has neurodivergency and mental health issues, is
unable to deal with this themselves so it falls upon me. They
would prefer to ignore the notice, especially as it can easily
be claimed it was never received as there is no official
arrangement with the post office to forward any post and if
there had been it would only have been for a month and that
would have passed by now anyway. I have to be honest, I am
feeling that way too.
If no acknowledgement of the PCN is made, and no admission that
it was the owner of the vehicle driving at the time, can Parking
Eye get anywhere with pursuing this?
I have only just managed to resolve another case on behalf of
the driver with Britannia Parking and had only found this
site/forum after engaging with Britannia Parking and appealing
the fines.
Is it possible to ignore this one as we can easily claim it was
never received? How far does Parking Eye go? If there is no
obvious way to pay for additional parking over the 1.5 hrs, what
happens? To demand £100 (£60 if paid within 14 days) for an
overstay is ridiculous.
What if the driver had overstayed due to illness or issues with
the car (both possible and has happened), if Parking Eye were to
pursue and actually write to the driver at the updated address,
what would be the best response?
The help I received with the Britannia Parking fines was
invaluable. For this one, I am loathe to pay anything to this
Parking Eye, (especially as the driver is already paying a
monthly plan to Britannia Parking of £20 per month!) and want to
get the approach right from the outset.
Thoughts and advice would be gratefully received.
#Post#: 66708--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: jfollows
Date: April 12, 2025, 4:19 am
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Think about it.
A driving license has nothing to do with a car, it’s for a
person.
A car has a V5C document with the registered keeper’s address,
and if you don’t update this any queries about the car will be
directed to the old address.
For now, update the V5C because it’s theoretically a fine for
not doing so, although it’s never enforced.
#Post#: 66709--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: Dave65
Date: April 12, 2025, 4:20 am
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We`re the VR document address updated as well as driving
licence?
The £100 may seem ridiculous, but this is the usual thing.
Do not ignore this issue.
Post a copy of the PPN with personal details redacted, but leave
dates.
#Post#: 66711--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: jfollows
Date: April 12, 2025, 4:32 am
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The sign will likely say that the driver agrees to pay £100 if
the driver overstays, there is no other way of paying for
additional time, it is a contract that the driver enters into by
reading the signs and by parking, and the registered keeper has
now been invoiced for payment under the contract entered into.
If the signs are not clear, an argument can be made that the
contract can’t be enforced, for example.
The principle of invoicing for payment for an overstay has been
tested and found to be legal, but if you can provide more
details then there may be things which mean you don’t have to
pay. But moaning that it’s unfair won’t be one of them!
#Post#: 66718--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: jfollows
Date: April 12, 2025, 5:17 am
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If ignored, Parking Eye may initiate proceedings against the
registered keeper, using the old address, which may result in a
default judgement in their favour, after which an effort will be
made to trace the keeper at the new address.
I’m not saying you should pay, because so far you’ve not given
us anything to go on, but ignoring could end up costing >>£60.
#Post#: 66748--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: b789
Date: April 12, 2025, 8:41 am
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AS already stated above, updating your drivers licence has
nothing whatsoever to do with the V5C registration document.
Yes, you must update that too and can easily be done online in a
matter of minutes. However, that will not help your current
situation as the parking operator can only make a single DVLA
request for data and the have used that up.
You waffle on about the "owner". That is a totally irrelevant
term and as an entity, has no legal meaning in the context of a
contractual dispute. The only entities that matter are the
Keeper and the Driver.
The Parking Charge Notice (PCN) is not a "fine" and referring to
it as such, especially of you use that term in any
correspondence highlights you as a "mug" ripe for the picking. A
PCN is simply a speculative invoice for an alleged breach of
contract by the driver.
The operator has no idea of the identity of the driver unless
the Keeper blabs it to them, inadvertently or otherwise. Whilst
ParkingEye claim to rely on PoFA 2012 to be able to hold the
Keeper liable if the drivers identity is not revealed, their
postal Notice to Keeper (NtK) is not fully compliant with all
the requirements of the Act and you are advised that the Keeper
should not identify the driver.
Any comms about this should only be from the Keeper. They should
only refer to the driver in the third party. No "I did this or
that. Only "the driver did this or that".
Imagining that this can simply be ignored is wrong. Mentioning
that "the owner" was not driving at the time is just another
marker that you are not fully au fait with how to refer to
anything. As already mentioned, "owner" is irrelevant. There is
no official register of "owners". If you're referring to the
registered keeper, then look very carefully as the front of the
V5C and read what is stated very clearly in bold capital
lettering on the front about "ownership".
So, the Keeper has received a postal NtK for a 19 minute
overstay at a McDonald's. They are obliged to allow a 10 minute
grace period at the end of any contractual parking period,
which, even if fully used, leaves the driver having overstayed
by at least 9 minutes. Whilst you may think this is de minimis,
should it ever go all the way to court, a judge will only
consider the facts. The fact is that the driver overstayed and
therefore breached the contract.
I did mention that the NtK was not fully compliant with all the
requirements of PoFA. This is an arguable defence point should
it ever get as far as a hearing in court (unlikely but remotely
possible). If it can be proved that their NtK is not fully
compliant with all the requirements of PoFA, then they cannot
hold the Keeper liable.
As the Keeper is under no legal obligation to identify the
driver to an unregulated private parking company, they would
have nowhere else to go with this as they are not allowed to
infer or presume that the Keeper must also be the driver, even
on the balance of probability.
So, armed with the above knowledge, do you intend to fight this
all the way, as is the most likely outcome?
#Post#: 66832--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: Ahead4life
Date: April 13, 2025, 3:07 am
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Thank you for the advice and for the reminder about the V5
address change.
In the the process of updating all necessary parties of the new
address, not one of the 4 drivers in the house had even thought
about the V5 documents for their vehicles! As you all say, it is
very easy to change online and all of the 4 vehicle V5's have
now had the address updated, thank you all for this advice as it
was a complete oversight.
Regarding the PCN from Parking Eye, I understand that saying
'owner' is irrelevant and the vehicle keeper is the only one who
should respond to the PCN (which sadly falls to me doing this
for them).
I know the keeper (and driver) simply does not have £60 which I
appreciate is also irrelevant but means their view is to 'fight
this all the way' but from your combined experiences, what does
that look like when the driver did overstay by 19 minutes and
there are apparently signs in the car park about the 1.5 hrs?
How likely is it that this gets dismissed in your combined
experiences with Parking Eye?
I assume the next steps we would need to take is to go online
and register an appeal but how would we need to word the appeal
when it is clear the vehicle overstayed by 19 minutes due to the
photos of it arriving and then leaving?
These parking companies are parasites and I really don't want
another one to get the better of me but would appreciate some
guidance on this asap as the 14 day period of paying the
'discounted' £60 comes to an end on 14th April!
What would be the recommended response to Parking Eye Appeals
Department in this instance? I do not want to get any wording
incorrect and leave the driver vulnerable. I would have to
(help) fill out the appeal for the Keeper/Driver and make it
clear in there that they are unable to manage dealing with any
responses themselves and would need any further correspondence
to be dealt with by me, which would require a Letter of Consent
being arranged by ParkingEye, signed by the Keeper and then I
can act on their behalf. This is where I start losing the will
to live a bit. Yet more time spent dealing with these parasitic
organisations.
If we fight it, is there a chance it is dropped or is it simply
a delaying tactic for a PCN that can be pushed through, end up
in court, and still have to be paid?
#Post#: 66833--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: jfollows
Date: April 13, 2025, 3:28 am
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Show us the documents you are talking about, as requested, see
also
HTML https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/<br
/>so that we have something to work with. Both sides, and don’t
obscure dates.
You also should provide pictures of the signs if you’re saying
that they’re unclear. On the other hand, if the driver couldn’t
be bothered to read them properly, it’s less easy to contest
here.
#Post#: 66872--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: b789
Date: April 13, 2025, 8:03 am
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So, to summarise... The Keeper has received a Parking Charge
Notice (PCN) from ParkingEye for an alleged overstay of 19
minutes in a McDonald’s car park. The PCN was initially sent to
the Keeper’s old address because the V5C had not been updated
with the new address at the time ParkingEye requested the data
from the DVLA. The notice has only recently come to light after
being passed on. You are assisting the Keeper in dealing with
this matter, as they are unable to handle it themselves due to
disability, including neurodivergent and mental health-related
issues.
This is not a fine. It is a private invoice alleging a
contractual breach. ParkingEye is seeking to hold the Keeper
liable under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
(PoFA). However, their Notice to Keeper does not fully comply
with PoFA. It fails to meet the requirement in paragraph
9(2)(e)(i), which states that the notice must include a specific
"invitation" to the Keeper to pay the unpaid parking charge if,
after 28 days, the operator does not know the name and address
of the driver. Because this required wording is missing, the
notice is not PoFA-compliant. That means ParkingEye cannot
transfer liability from the unknown driver to the Keeper.
The Keeper must not identify the driver. The operator cannot
legally assume that the Keeper and the driver are the same
person, and there is no obligation to disclose the driver’s
identity. All references to the driver must be made in the third
person.
The Keeper has 28 days from the date the notice was received to
submit an appeal. This does not mean 28 days from the issue date
printed on the notice. Paragraph 9(6) of the Protection of
Freedoms Act 2012 states that a notice sent by post is presumed
to have been “given” to the Keeper two working days after it is
posted. However, this is a rebuttable presumption. It only
applies unless the contrary is proved. In this case, the notice
was sent to the Keeper’s old address and was only later passed
on after a delay. That delay rebuts the statutory presumption of
delivery. The notice cannot be considered “given” until the
Keeper actually received it. The 28-day appeal window begins
from that actual date of receipt. Although the operator acted
lawfully by using the address held by the DVLA at the time, PoFA
still requires that the notice be actually “given” to the Keeper
within the prescribed period to create liability. If the notice
was not received within that time, then the operator cannot rely
on PoFA to hold the Keeper liable, even if the delivery failure
resulted from the Keeper’s own delay in updating their DVLA
record.
The first step is for the Keeper to submit a Data Rectification
Notice (DRN) under Article 16 of the UK GDPR. This notice
instructs ParkingEye to rectify the Keeper’s personal data by
updating the address on file. It must specify that the previous
address is no longer valid for service and require confirmation
that all future correspondence, including any legal proceedings,
will be sent to the new correct address. This protects the
Keeper from any claim being sent to the wrong address and
potentially resulting in a default County Court Judgment (CCJ).
The Keeper should also submit an appeal, stating that the Notice
to Keeper is not PoFA-compliant on two grounds. First, it was
not “given” to the Keeper within the time required by paragraph
9(4), because it was sent to an old address and only received
much later after being passed on. Although the operator used the
address held by the DVLA at the time, the Keeper had only
updated their driving licence and was unaware that the vehicle
logbook (V5C) required a separate update. This is a common
mistake and was corrected as soon as it was discovered. Second,
the notice fails to include the statutory invitation required
under paragraph 9(2)(e)(i), which means the operator cannot rely
on PoFA to transfer liability to the Keeper. Because PoFA has
not been complied with, the Keeper cannot be held liable. The
appeal may also raise further arguments, including that the
signage was unclear, particularly late at night, and that there
was no visible or accessible way to pay for extending the stay.
The driver, who remains unnamed, has a disability and would be
considered a protected person under the Equality Act 2010. As
such, the operator has a duty to make reasonable adjustments.
These issues should be considered in any fair and lawful
enforcement process.
If ParkingEye rejects the appeal, the next step is to submit an
appeal to POPLA, the independent adjudication service. As long
as the appeal is submitted by the Keeper without revealing the
identity of the driver, and the PoFA non-compliance is clearly
raised, there is a strong chance the POPLA appeal will be
upheld.
If POPLA does not allow the appeal, the case may still not be
over. ParkingEye would then typically pass the matter to debt
recovery firms, who will send a stream of threatening letters.
These letters can safely be ignored. Debt collectors have no
enforcement powers and cannot take legal action. If the matter
is not resolved at that stage, it may eventually be escalated to
a county court claim. This is not something to be feared.
The county court is simply the final stage in the dispute
resolution process. In most cases, claims are either struck out
or discontinued before a hearing ever takes place. ParkingEye
and its legal agents often fail to follow up or proceed
properly, especially when a robust defence has been filed. Even
in the rare case that the matter proceeds all the way to a
hearing, there is still a realistic chance of success for the
Keeper, particularly if the PoFA issue is properly raised and
the driver has not been identified. The judge will assess the
facts and legal compliance of the Notice to Keeper and the
signage.
In summary, the Keeper should first issue a Data Rectification
Notice to ensure all correspondence goes to the correct address.
They should then appeal within 28 days of receiving the notice,
arguing that the NtK is not PoFA-compliant and that no Keeper
liability can arise. The Keeper should decline name the driver.
If the appeal is rejected, escalate to POPLA. If POPLA also
rejects the appeal, the Keeper can choose to defend a county
court claim if it arises. The process should be managed calmly
and methodically. If you require assistance drafting the DRN or
the appeal text, let us know.
#Post#: 66966--------------------------------------------------
Re: Parking Eye PCN sent to old address even though DVLA had
updated address and driver has new licence - can it be igno
DIR By: Ahead4life
Date: April 14, 2025, 3:50 am
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Thank you for laying this all out and explaining the process and
yes please to your offer to draft the DRN or the appeal text. I
do not want to misstep on any part of this and want to ensure we
stick rigidly to your suggestions and instructions as you are
clearly the expert and we are learning all the time here!
Do you need photos of both sides of the PCN?
I don't believe I have said the driver said the signs were
unclear, just that it was not something that had even crossed
their mind because they were the only one in the car park and it
was the middle of the night! Not helpful, but that is the truth
of it.
Thank you again and I will look out for your response so I can
hopefully get this DRN/appeal text off asap.
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