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