A Sussex businessman says a private parking company is pursuing him for a £150 charge for a ‘contravention’ he did not commit. And he fears many other people may, like him, be being chased for parking ‘violations’ for which they were not responsible.
Henri Cash, from Henfield, in East Sussex, says: “I have asked Civil Enforcement, the parking company involved, to produce evidence that I was the driver of the vehicle when the alleged infringement occurred at a car park in Hove in October. It has not been able to do so.
“Despite this it has been hounding me to pay the money, threatened me with a visit from the bailiffs and warned me that my credit record may be at stake. I think this is a disgraceful approach to adopt and I intend to fight this matter all the way.”
The probem has arisen because Mr Cash is the registered owner of the car in question, a silver Ford Focus. Mr Cash says: “I readily acknowledge that I am the owner and have told Civil Enforcement Ltd that this is the case. I have also told them that although I own the car I do not drive it - and I was not driving it on the day in question.
“However despite this Civil Enforcement Ltd are continuing to send me increasingly threatening letters demanding I pay a parking penalty for which I am not liable. It seems that in this case Civil Enforcement simply noted the licence plate number, somehow obtained my address and demanded a parking charge from the car owner - me. They have made no attempt to establish who was actually driving the vehicle on the day in question.
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“They did not ask me who the driver was and I understand that they have no legal power to compel me to reveal this information.”
Gary Wayne, of Civil Enforcement Ltd, says the company has a contract to manage the car park in question, which is on the site of the old Brighton & Hove Albion FC football ground, on the borders of Brighton. In the case of Mr Cash’s parking charge he says: “We have not asked Mr Cash who the driver was but if, as the registered keeper, he wasn’t the driver he is free to tell us who the driver was. In most cases, car owners who weren’t driving their car when a parking offence occurred tell us who the driver was. In Mr Cash’s case he hasn’t done so.”
So why is Civil Enforcement issuing him with a parking charge? Mr Wayne says Civil Enforcement is relying on a ruling over a parking charge dispute which was delivered in 2008 in the small claims section of a County Court. In the case of Combined Parking Solutions v Stephen James Thomas, the judge decided that, on the balance of probabilities, the Registered keeper was the driver and, even if this was not the case, he took a dim view of the registered keeper’s attitude for not providing the driver’s details to enable the matter to be resolved swiftly. The registered keeper was ordered to pay the outstanding parking and legal costs.
However more than two months after the original parking ‘contravention’ - and despite numerous threats to do so - Civil Enforcement has not made any move to take Mr Cash to court. In fact it has now passed the matter to another company - Newlyn plc, with a registered address in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.
Mr Cash says: “I have now had two threatening letters from Newlyn and the sum allegedly outstanding has risen to £236.25. If either Civil Enforcement or Newlyn wanted to take me to court they could have done so but I don’t think they will because I am not the person responsible for the alleged contravention. I just wish they would stop sending me this steady stream of threatening letters.
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An employee at Newlyn plc who identified herself as Lucy Parsons said someone would reply to The Times, but no one has.
Mr Cash says: “The legal position is that on private land it is the driver of the car, not the owner, who is liable for any infringement because the contract is between the owner of the land and the driver. What is more if you are the owner of the car but weren’t the driver when the infringement happened you are under no obligation to say who the driver was.”
If other Times Online Money readers have experienced similar problems with Civil Enforcement or other parking firms we would be interested to hear from you. You can contact mark.atherton@thetimes.co.uk.