Hello,

Got issued with the following ticket (below) on my motorbike yesterday evening. I parked in a side street in the centre of Nottingham and didn't realise it was a private street it was dark etc, however when I looked properly there were actually 4 signs on display.

I have read this forum thoroughly and have seen all the advice on how the system appears to work (the Private Parking Stickys and threads) and pro-forma letters etc. I've also noticed that the company who issued my notice (VCS Parking Enforcement Specialists) are a member of the BPA: (British Parking Association)

It would appear that the maximum amount allowed to charge is £75 under BPA guidelines and the company has asked for £80. So it would appear that they have breached the BPA code of conduct?

Other than that the option open to me seems to be that I pursue the letters option and hope that they drop the charge?

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what would be my best course of action.

Kind regards

tom4rse

Best course of action -ignore it. It is a private ticket proporting to look like an official police/council one - which is an under a few acts, namely the Fraud Act 2006.

The BPA is nothing more than a trade body, it has no legal standing. They will act like this whether they are in the BPA or not. It's like some of us setting up the "BMA" (British Murderers Association) and saying that you're only allowed to stab your victim not more than twice when killing them - it's still murder and it's illegal like the above notice.

See the sticky threads. If you receive a DCA letter then say the debt is in dispute. Don't worry.

On a slightly pedantic note, and although the very bottom of the back of the ticket is not visible, it seems that the Vehicle Control Services Ltd may be in breach of company law - they are supposed to show their company registration number and place of registration and registered office address (which cannot be a PO Box) on their stationery.

Why not drop them in it with Companies House?

Also, "Issue Date" is not good enough. To be valid the ticket has to have "Date of Issue" according to the DoT Model Ticket. There may be other infringements - I can't remember the whole model ticket. Look up a thread by "MondeoST24" - there's a lot of cracking information about PCN's in there.

It's a private '[problem]' ticket, and so the DoT model doesn't apply, Stoney. OP, please re-read the sticky at the top of the forum and stick to one thread for your issues.

Aaaaand we're off....

Just to keep you informed, my "Notice To Owner of Intent to Issue Court Proceedings" letter dropped on the mat this morning. (quite intimidating letter to the untrained eye!)

But fear not, my response will be in Monday's post.

Will keep you informed of their response.

Aaaaand we're off....

 

Just to keep you informed, my "Notice To Owner of Intent to Issue Court Proceedings" letter dropped on the mat this morning. (quite intimidating letter to the untrained eye!)

 

But fear not, my response will be in Monday's post.

 

Will keep you informed of their response.

First the invoice designed to look like a valid PCN and now an NTO its getting a bit rich. These guys are sailing close to the wind with their documentation. I'd say they are acting they are either committing fraud or are very close to it. Are you going to report them?

To whom and for what?

To whom and for what?

Office of Fair Trading

Local Trading Standards Officer

The Police

The offence at the moment would be under Administration of Justice Act 1970 by mimicing official documents, purporting to give them status which they simply don't have. Later, further down the line, when their threats become repetitive and oppressive there is the Prevention of Harressment Act 1997 and even the Fraud Act 2007?.

Sounds cynical but don't expect too much. A lot of forum members have complained about an awful lot more and got nowhere. The Police simply aren't interested, local Trading Standards have a patchy understanding of Private Tickets and OFT usually don't respond to individual complaints. If however, you enjoy letter writing and are up for it then by all means go ahead.

Hello there,

I have a response letter (see below) also included with the letter was a lovely photo of my motorbike next to the no-parking sign and also a copy of the parking ticket issued.

Was interested to read in the 5th paragraph: "A recent decision by the Court of Appeal has confirmed that provided adequate notice of unauthorized parking is given, the driver/registered keeper accepts the Terms as set out and therefore consents to the penalty charge which maybe incurred for contravening the regulations"

Now lets ignore the fact they have admitted this is a penalty charge (thus no contract etc) I was wondering to which decision by the Court of Appeal the nice lady who wrote me this letter was referring?

Anyone know?

Also, any comments on the letter to include in my response?

Cheers

Tom

Hello there,

 

I have a response letter (see below) also included with the letter was a lovely photo of my motorbike next to the no-parking sign and also a copy of the parking ticket issued.

 

Was interested to read in the 5th paragraph: "A recent decision by the Court of Appeal has confirmed that provided adequate notice of unauthorized parking is given, the driver/registered keeper accepts the Terms as set out and therefore consents to the penalty charge which maybe incurred for contravening the regulations"

 

Now lets ignore the fact they have admitted this is a penalty charge (thus no contract etc) I was wondering to which decision by the Court of Appeal the nice lady who wrote me this letter was referring?

 

Anyone know?

 

Also, any comments on the letter to include in my response?

 

Cheers

Tom

Sounds like they are in fantasy land. As they would say in the house of commons "they are not being entirely straight forward". I'm sure we would have heard from our legal friends such as PeteJ and legaladvisor had this been the case not to mention our resident PPC apologists.

A recent decision that overturned the precedents of the Dunlop case which has stood for over a 100 years.

I think you have covered the salient points.

Only the driver can be held to any "contract". Regardless of any case law third parties cannot be made party to terms in contracts that they have no knowledge of and do not agree to.

One other comment ask them to quote relevant cases to back their claims that the BPA charges are "not unfair at law". Says who?

I think a Have Sex and Travel letter quoting the salient points is required.

please does anyone know of anybody who has actually gone to court with ukpc ltd as i am currently in litigation with them and i will fight to the death!!!!!!!!!!

One other comment ask them to quote relevant cases to back their claims that the BPA charges are "not unfair at law". Says who?

Had a thought on this one last night. Could they be referring to the charges for clamping. There is some case law about reasonable charges there. But the BPA charges that is complete rubbish.

The BPA is a trade association with a very loose code of compliance. They don't set the rates that their members are required to charge just that they follow the code of conduct.

While we're on the subject of the BPA you might want to point out the BPA requires in their code of conduct requires them

Quoting from section 2..... (click here for the full code of conduct)

2. Manage their affairs professionally so that their operations are

conducted efficiently and effectively and in accordance with good

business practice including –

• Trading fairly and responsibly and only employing contractors

that are competent to the task in hand.

• Undertaking their activities honestly and with integrity and not

knowingly misrepresenting themselves or misleading others.

• Ensuring that they operate to the highest possible standards

thereby protecting the interests of their shareholders and

customers.

• Employing staff who are competent and qualified and adopting

an approach to staff development that encourages further

training.

• Operating from established premises and ensuring that they are

adequately insured for all relevant risks.

• Striving to resolve any complaints and disputes quickly and

equitably.

You might want to point out that their documentation is bordering on or is dishonest by mimicing official documents which is an offense under the AJA S40. etc. So are they acting honestly. Hoist on their own petard.

I would suggest that you complain to the BPA but as this a trade body made up of the "enemy" (i.e. PPCs) you are probably urinating in the breeze for all the good it will do.

please does anyone know of anybody who has actually gone to court with ukpc ltd as i am currently in litigation with them and i will fight to the death!!!!!!!!!!

I think the lack of answers to your post is probably a good indication. Have a look at this thread here. You'll see a number of people indicate that they had loads of letters and threats of court action but the reality is zilch.

Stand firm.

Progress report so far for those considering what to do:

I got a Notice to Owner of Intent to Issue Court Proceedings on 3rd Jan, I wrote a letter to the company (see template letters). They ignored my letter.

I got a "Final Demand Notice" on 12th Feb which stated Failure to Pay Will Result in Court Action in big bold letters. I wrote a letter which was very similar to the earlier letters as they never actually answered any of my requests for information.

They ignored my letter and sent a I included the Cease and Desist line (see template letters).

I have received no further correspondence from the Parking Company to date.

Hello I am new to the site and have been reading Tom4rse's threads the same happened to me last night and I am furious £80 is extortion. The signs were very high up and not very clear.

Can you tell me please of you have heard anything more from these crooks?

Thanks

Hello I am new to the site and have been reading Tom4rse's threads the same happened to me last night and I am furious £80 is extortion. The signs were very high up and not very clear.

 

Can you tell me please of you have heard anything more from these crooks?

 

Thanks

Hi,

Welcome to the forums.

I think the lack of activity on this thread indicates the level of court action i.e. none.

You have an invoice for an alleged breach of contract.

Don't pay up. It's a [problem]. Have a read of the private parking charges guide in the stickies section and you'll see why.

They'll follow the usual business model of these companies which is loads of threatening letters and then silence.

This company isn't the only one at it. One of them recently took people to court and lost (google "Excel Mansfield").

A word of caution VCS lurk on these forums and will attempt to identify you from anything you post. Don't put dates, times, names, locations etc in any of your posts. They won't win in court but they will try to coerce you into paying with all manner of threats.

Some people advise ignoring everything apart from court documents. Others advise using the template letters in the stickies section.

What you should definitely do is wait until they have obtained the RK details from the DVLA, which costs them £2.50.

The choice as to how to proceed is then yours.

If you have any questions post back.

Hi,

Firstly I am new to this site and must thank you all for your threads because I too got a PCN. I have appealed which was a waste of time, I went to see the police which was a waste of time because it is a private company, but then fortunately hit on this site and received more valuable information.

I intend to now take your advice and wait for the court letters!

Just so annoying when I have got 101 other better things I could be doing with my time but on principle I intend to stick it out!

Thanks again to all and I will keep you posted

I intend to now take your advice and wait for the court letters!

How long are you planning on living?

A good 20 years!!!

Parking Charge Notice - Vehicle Control services LTD

£80 fine.

URGENT HELP NEEDED AS GOING ON HOLIDAY TONIGHT

I was parked in a private car park which was locked at 18:45. I called the car park number at 21:00 and decided not to release and go early the next day as advised. A ticket had been issued at 20:47 the previous evening. The latest you can buy a ticket until is 18:30.

Should I pay or not?

Ticket looks to be completed ok.

Ticket says 'issue date' and not 'date of issue'.

Payment address is a PO Box with city and postcode.

It had been snowing heavily.

Hi,

I was parked on a Private Road and not in a car park, but I have followed other threads and basically ignored all letters.

I appealed prior to joining this consumer group which was a waste of time and since then I have had a 2 letters (notice of intent to issue court proceedings and a final demand notice). I was even advised by a solicitor to ignore all letters until I receive letters from the court.

I have not yet received any court letters and hope that's the last of it.

My advice, enjoy your holiday and forget about it!!

I am new to this forum and I hope someone can give me some guidance on a similar issue.

My car was parked in a bay which looks like a parking bay (with double yellow lines though!) outside a NCP car park today. (these bays are are parked with cars everyday). There are notices along the access road about it being private property, etc, however they are all displayed on the other side of the road and nothing was displayed on the side of the "parking bay". I genuinely thought that those notices only apply to one side of the road where there is no parking bays as the same road also leads to a recently disused Council car park.

After reading all the threads, I am not sure if the driver has "willingly" entered into a contract with them as the notices are quite well displayed. If they have CCTV (at entrance of the NCP car park) that could proof whom the driver was at the time (whether it is the RK or not) , would it mean that the driver has no case for appeal?

The ticket is exactly the same type as the one issued to tom4rse in Dec 2007 and it doesn’t mention anything about penalty on the ticket. It just asked for £80 payment or additional £40 charge after 7 days, etc.

btw, anyone know what happed to tom4rse case?

Hi,

I received a PCN very similar to the one tom4rse shows at the start of this thread. I was parked behind my oen rented house in a private car park that I do have a permit for. The permit had slipped down and was partially obscured by the dark tint at the bottom of the windscreen and an old parking ticket. I have since appealed and sent VCS a copy of the permit to which they replied with a picture of the obscured permit in my windscreen. I am a student and as such was not around over christmas to check post at my term time address. By the time I had recieved this second letter the charge had gone up to £120 from the original, and still proposterous, £80. This was when I though it was time to have a look into this and started reading various threads on here, eventually deciding to ignore the letter, particularly because I have already shelled out £80 this term after falling for the threatening letters.

This morning I got back having been at my mum's house since Thursday to find a brightly coloured letter titled (in red font) "NOTICE TO OWNER OF INTENT TO ISSUE COURT PROCEEDINGS". It then follows with large yellow highlighted sections and more red capitals that if I do not pay them I will have to pay court fees and solicitors fees totalling another £80 and "WHICH MAY LEAD TO A WARRANT BEING ISSUED TO THE BAILIFFS".

Does anyone have any experience of these types of letters or any knowledge of VCS actually taking anyone to court in one of these cases?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks.

P.s. £120 is not something that I can have in the next 7 days so my hand is somewhat forced into not paying!

Hi,

 

I received a PCN very similar to the one tom4rse shows at the start of this thread. I was parked behind my oen rented house in a private car park that I do have a permit for. The permit had slipped down and was partially obscured by the dark tint at the bottom of the windscreen and an old parking ticket. I have since appealed and sent VCS a copy of the permit to which they replied with a picture of the obscured permit in my windscreen. I am a student and as such was not around over christmas to check post at my term time address. By the time I had recieved this second letter the charge had gone up to £120 from the original, and still proposterous, £80. This was when I though it was time to have a look into this and started reading various threads on here, eventually deciding to ignore the letter, particularly because I have already shelled out £80 this term after falling for the threatening letters.

 

This morning I got back having been at my mum's house since Thursday to find a brightly coloured letter titled (in red font) "NOTICE TO OWNER OF INTENT TO ISSUE COURT PROCEEDINGS". It then follows with large yellow highlighted sections and more red capitals that if I do not pay them I will have to pay court fees and solicitors fees totalling another £80 and "WHICH MAY LEAD TO A WARRANT BEING ISSUED TO THE BAILIFFS".

 

Does anyone have any experience of these types of letters or any knowledge of VCS actually taking anyone to court in one of these cases?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

 

Thanks.

 

P.s. £120 is not something that I can have in the next 7 days so my hand is somewhat forced into not paying!

If you've read these threads then you'll know they aren't likely to take you to court. Unless the contract for the permits is very precise you have complied with it in that it was displayed albeit partially, as their photo demonstrates - you've got them QED.

I would suspect that the contract terms will fail under the "Unfair Terms in Consumer contracts" because the term puts you at a considerable disadvantage and the terms were not individually negotiated.

It could be argued that no loss has been demonstrated and therefore this amount is a penalty charge and again unenforcable.

Lastly this is a typical desperate "plea for some money before we give up." They are very unlikely to take this to court and even if they do you still get to defend yourself and will in all likelihood win.

I would continue to ignore and respond only to actual court papers -which you need to check with the HM Court Service as these companies are sometimes known to send a copy of a claim form before they actually initiate court action.

Have a read of the private parking charges guide in the stickies and you'll see there is a lot that they fail on. Look also at Problems PPCs face.

VCS, like most PPCs, are good at threats and not very good on follow through.