My sister is selling her car, but she has outstanding parking tickets.
She says the fines will be traced back to her, not the vehicle, and that won’t affect the sale.
Is this correct? North Carolina, Southampton.
A parking ticket, also known as a Penalty Charge Notice or PCN for on-street parking offences, is linked to the vehicle, not the driver. The situation for parking tickets issued on private land differs depending on where the ticket is issued.
Consumer rights attorney Dean Dunham responds: The legal situation differs depending on whether the ticket was issued on a public road/property or on private land; and if it was within England/Wales; or Northern Ireland/Scotland.
When you receive a parking ticket, also known as a Penalty Charge Notice or PCN for on-street parking offences, it is linked to the vehicle, not the driver.
This means that the registered possessor of the vehicle (usually the owner) is initially responsible for the fine. Many people think this refers to the owner at the time the fine is applied.
This is not the case.
The Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Offenses (Approved Devices, Loading Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (section 20) state that any fine must be applied to the owner of the vehicle “at the time of the offence”, so this means your sister.
The situation for parking tickets issued on private land differs depending on where the ticket is issued. In England and Wales, under the Protection of Freedoms Act, the registered keeper is responsible for any private parking charges the vehicle may incur, unless he or she provides details of the person who was driving the vehicle at the time. the parking ticket was obtained.
However, the law is different in Northern Ireland and Scotland. It is the driver, not the registered keeper, who is responsible.
If you receive a parking ticket that should have been sent to the previous owner of your vehicle, write a brief statement explaining that you were not the owner at the time of the violation.
Send it to whoever contacted you about the ticket and provide as much information and evidence as possible, including; the date you bought the car, the full name and address of the previous owner (or company who sold you the car), a copy of the DVLA registration certificate (V5C) and a copy of the receipt or invoice from when you bought the car.
As long as you have submitted this evidence, the notice against you should be cancelled. It will then be issued to the person who was driving, known as a “transfer of responsibility.”
The airline will not pay any compensation for the strikes in Frankfurt, but we didn’t even fly there
I flew to Argentina for a two-week vacation, but the day we returned the flight was canceled.
The airline offered us an alternative flight home and paid our expenses, but refused to pay compensation.
It says our flight was canceled due to strikes at Frankfurt airport, but we didn’t fly to Frankfurt! MM, Durham.
Dean Dunham responds: In this case, the relevant law, known as UK261, says that if a flight is canceled less than 14 days before the departure date, the airline must pay compensation to the passengers, unless the cause of the cancellation falls within the definition of “extraordinary.” circumstances’.
To fall within this definition, the event that caused the cancellation must have been outside the airline’s control and it must demonstrate that it took all reasonable steps to avoid the cancellation, or that no steps could have been taken.
I’ve had many court cases about this, so I have a pretty definitive list of events that fall under this definition.
One is airport strikes, where the striking staff are not employed or controlled by the airline, so on the face of it, your airline might be right.
But airlines don’t always cite the actual reason for a delay or cancellation, so you should always investigate further.
In this case, it is difficult to understand why a strike at an airport that is not part of your trip could be the legitimate reason for cancellation.
If you are not satisfied with the response, ask for a stalemate letter – a letter setting out the airline’s final position on your complaint.
Armed with this, file a complaint with the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) System you subscribe to (CEDR or Aviation ADR).
If the airline is not subscribed to either of these schemes, take your complaint to the Civil Aviation Authority’s PACT scheme, but only if the airline is not subscribed to one of the two ADR schemes mentioned above.