Why was a reminder letter sent?
Purpose of Reminder Letters
According to the BPA Code of Practice, 32.1b “Before serving a Letter Before Claim and prior to the issue of proceedings, Operators must, if no responses have been received to the NTD/NTK/reminder letters, take reasonable endeavours to ensure that the person being written to is the correct party.”
The purpose of a reminder letter is supposed to be to give the registered keeper an opportunity to make payment for the parking charge, however if no parking charge has ever been issued, then you should appeal the parking charge and try to get cancelled.
You can appeal it on the basis that you never received a parking charge notice, However if a reminder notice is sent while an appeal is in progress, you can ignore it and simply wait for the parking company to respond.
Remember, horizon parking are hoping that you simply pay the parking charge, however issued make sure that they have complied with the process and the appeal process is mandatory for them to follow.
I never received a parking charge notice
Purpose of Reminder Letters
If you were never issued with the parking charge notice, at this stage you can send a complaint to horizon parking, but it is important to remember that the purpose of a complaint is not to appeal a parking charge notice.
The purpose of a complaint is simply to focus on the issue that you want to complain about and not say anything about the appeal or whether you are the keeper or the driver.
In any case the keeper should be sending correspondence to the parking company to complain if for example a parking charge notice was not submitted to you or if an appeal is in progress and they have not responded.
How do I complain about the parking charge?
You are under no obligation to pay the parking charge, especially if they have not complied with the rules by issuing the parking charge correctly or if they have failed to respond to an appeal.
It is important to remember that you should only engage with horizon parking if there is a fair opportunity to resolve the matter with another party helping the adjudication.
For example if you make a complaint to the BPA, we recommend doing it via your MP will be the third party to make sure the parking company treat you fairly.
Start Your Appeal
Complete the Parking Mate UK form to receive your legal letter and appeal instructions for Horizon Parking.
