Address - the problem

PARSEQ, Lowton Way, Hellaby, Sheffield

When the parking contract with NSL started on 1 May 12 the start had been delayed by a month so that their partner company RR Donnelley, who did the scanning of incoming correspondence, could be added to the pension scheme as a provider. Their partnership seems to have been short-lived, at least as far as Barnet is concerned, as no longer is the address on PCNs and Notices to Owner etc. this one 

PO Box 4894, Worthing, BN11 9WT

but this one

PO Box 197, Lowton Way, Hellaby, Sheffield, S98 1LW.

This change was never announced as such, there was no shouting from the rooftops, and it is vital that you write to the correct address as one day, and it may have already arrived, post sent to Worthing will simply be ignored and your opportunity to challenge your parking ticket (PCN) will be lost. You will become guilty by default and your PCN will be registered as a debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre (part of Northampton County Court) and sent to bailiffs.

You might think this wouldn't happen and that if you showed Barnet Council that you had written to Worthing they would reconsider but Mr Mustard very much doubts it, they would point to the Sheffield address on the last document you received, which you didn't notice had quietly changed and blame you. This happened in 2013 to a customer who faxed his challenges to the fax number he always used to use and Barnet Council deny receipt of any of the 4 faxes despite the motorist, a man of the cloth, having proof of the faxes getting through.

Welcome to the miserable world of parking tickets.

Do please write now to Sheffield. If in doubt, send the same letter to Worthing. Whenever you write to the council parking department, use the signed for service (£1.72) as then your document is less likely to be "lost" inside the huge building. Documents don't get lost so much as scanned to the wrong file.

It isn't mentioned on official documents but challenges can also be sent to barnet@nslservices.co.uk which is the method that Mr Mustard always employs. He almost never uses the webform on the council's website as it is a straitjacket and you can't file what you wrote in with your emails in the usual way.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Informal challenges and a new address

Mr Mustard has had some recent problems with his formal representations not being answered and has also had them in the past with informal challenges not being answered. He knows of 500 cases where correspondence was indexed to the wrong PCN in August/September 12. Let's have a quick look at both types of challenge:

Informal

An informal challenge is what you are making when you ask for a PCN, that has been put on your car in the last 28 days, to be cancelled. This stage is not laid down in statute but is offered on the PCN and as the council say they will consider any challenge then under their general duty at law to be fair (see Secretary of State for Homeland v ex parte Doody) they have to consider them. If your PCN reaches the PATAS stage without an informal challenge being considered the council (NSL) will argue that they don't have to. That is to ignore the Hackney Drives Association Ltd judicial review which found that they do have to be. 

The no-nonsense independent adjudicator at PATAS, Mr Anthony Chan, considered this point in PATAS case number 213043539A and found that it was a procedural impropriety not to consider the informal challenge. You can read the decision here (put 213043539A in the case reference box and then hit enter) and although it is not binding on other independent adjudicators Mr Mustard thinks they would follow his reasoning as he is much respected. Don't rely on this as your only appeal point, add all the rest that you can find.

Formal

The formal representations are the ones that you send in response to the Notice to Owner (you must send them within 28 days of receipt of the Notice to Owner). If these are not properly considered and responded to within 56 days the council are deemed to have accepted them although that won't stop the process unless you clearly tell the council they are going wrong. Tell them they are in breach of Regulation 5(5) of The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) Representations and Appeals Regulations 2007 in order to get their full attention.

New address

A new address for correspondence has been brought to Mr Mustard's attention (he personally prefers to email to barnet@nslservices.co.uk as that is quicker and there is an automatically generated proof of receipt or you could use the online system and printscreen as proof that you used it) and it is

Barnet Parking Services

PO Box 197
Lowton Way
Hellaby
Sheffield

S98 1LW

Did you know that you can find the physical address to which PO Box mail is delivered by asking the Royal Mail ? Well you can. It didn't help this time as the Royal Mail simply told Mr Mustard it was Lowton Way. He looked at Lowton Way on streetmap and couldn't see a branch of RR Donnelley. What he did find, by using google search, is that there is a company called PARSEQ there and that they handle mail and cheque payments for NSL. Mr Mustard will let the Royal Mail know where to deliver the post as they don't!

Mr Mustard recalls that the tender for the parking enforcement contract by NSL rowed in their "strategic partner" RR Donnelley and that there was a month's contract start delay whilst RR Donnelley applied for membership of the local authority pension scheme.

What has happened to RR Donnelley?

Why were they disposed of, was it a service quality problem?

Does this change need a contract amendment?

How are the up to 7 staff who were tuped across affected?

Keep an eye on the paperwork you receive from now on as you should probably be writing to this new Sheffield address (jobs being moved even further away from Barnet) rather than the Worthing one. Presumably there are some arrangements in place to make sure that mail sent to Worthing is still handled promptly and properly.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard