The experts will be on later on today or tomorrow, but in the meantime, look up Southend Airport's bye-laws and have a read of other airport/VCS threads here. You'll soon get the picture. VCS can't do anything, although they'll send lots of "scary" letters saying you'll end up in court, pay thousands in legal fees, never get credit in your life, finish up hung, drawn & quartered, your kids sold into slavery, etc. But they're paper tigers. The airport bye-laws trump their daft "claim". And no, don't appeal to the IAS, they never, ever, ever accept appeals and you could end up throwing away some of your legal protection.

Do you ever sleep? Just as well you had a holiday to have a bit of a rest More seriously, well done on all your legwork, this Annie is damn lucky, all your preparation will stand you two in good stead for sending VCS back under their stone.

Bailiffs can only be involved - after someone has been taken to court - and they have then lost the court case - and have continued to refuse to pay. Even then IIRC the figure has to be over a certain amount, much more than in your case. Don't worry about non-existent threats. Fleecers like PE rely on motorists being scared when they have no reason to be and so coughing up money that they don't owe.

So having infested their property with bandits, IBIS's solution is for you to contact the bandits and ask them not to practise their banditry - er, I wonder what the bandits will reply? I would escalate it to CEO level. I hope this isn't out of date https://ceoemail.com/s.php?id=ceo-9393&c=Accor%20Hotels%20UK-Managing%20Director Point out that you were accompanying genuine customers, that the local IBIS were useless and obviously want their customers to go to Travelodge or Premier Inn, and that if you are sued by CEL you will add IBIS to the case as a third party. Unless IBIS do their job and get the invoice cancelled immediately.

So - what did IBIS say when you demanded they get this cancelled?

The first thing is to give IBIS some grief and demand they get it cancelled. Either get your girlfriend to do it or you comunicate with them quoting her booking details (I've stayed with IBIS several times myself and there is always a booking number). If they are useless in Rotherham quickly escalate to area and then CEO level.

Plus that bit about the Claimant not having created keeper liability under the POFA 2012.

It is "compact". In another thread I thought it was a mistake but the regulars pointed out the proper legal definition of "compact".

She will certainly have to turn up. In fact it's crossed my mind a few times that although you're doing all this magnificent work, your daughter will have to make some time sooner or later to understand the case. A lay person can represent her but she will have to give evidence and rebut the fleecers' arguments. I'm not being flippant, i remember how difficult it was bringing my son up most of the time on my own!!! But there's no way out of it. I'm not an expert on lay reps - but others on the site are and will be on soon.

There are very good legal & tactical reasons for writing exactly that.

Is it worth quickly e-mailing POPLA, pointing out the contradiction, and asking if your appeal was upheld or not? If they say "Yes" you're in the clear. If they say "No", well, CEL don't have to know about the mail.

I'm no expert, but I don't think that anyone else can represent you. Best to write to the court with medical proof & ask for an ajournment. But await the experts in the morning.

The DVLA don't make it easy, but I think the correct address might be [email protected] I think it would be a good idea for your daughter to e-mail them, ask who has accessed her details from 1 January 2015 onwards, and asking to be given the correct e-mail address in case she has contacted the wrong one. I found the address at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804462/inf266-release-of-information-from-dvlas-registers.pdf bits of which are useful reading about how the PPCs are supposed to respect the POFA (but I'm damn sure they don't).

I later found a second photo from May 2016 which unfortunately shows "VCS" on the sign. It's above. You probably didn't see it as three of my posts got merged. Sorry for (inadvertently) wasting your time with this idea! Still, you have an excellent defence already prepared. Is it worth your daughter asking the DVLA who requested her details? There may well be an Excel/VCS mess-up at that stage. Worth a try?

Well done in seeing the fleecers off!

I've done some digging and found out that the signage was changed in November 2018 from two hours' free parking to one hour (I'm sure we can all guess why). I've also found a photo of the old signage (attached) but frustratingly the quality is rubbish and the part with the company name is partially chopped off. VCS have an excellent track record of getting spanked in court and may well discontinue when they see your defence. However, if it does get to WS stage, it'll be worth looking at whatever proof of signage they send and keep in mind this Excel/VCS mix up that they often get so wrong. The photos I found were published in an article in May 2016 in the Sheffield Star, so were probably the same in 2015. Unfortunately this second one does show "Vehicle Control Services" at the bottom so my little idea has turned out to be a non-starter. Oh well, you have about a million other excellent points prepared to see them off! While looking for the photos I came across articles in the local rag, and people have certainly been complaining about the reduction of free parking from two hours to one https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/motorist-made-to-feel-like-a-criminal-after-incurring-parking-fine-at-sheffield-shopping-centre-146877 pix.pdf

Can your daughter remember by any chance which company was running the car park in 2015? I know it's unlikely after four years but I see there are two other threads concerning the Berkeley Centre where the car park signs show Excel as running the car park yet it is VCS who threaten court action. One thread mentions the signs being changed in 2018/19 but it does beg the question if VCS were making the same mistake in 2015.

Good plan!

The experts will be on in the morning … but don't worry, you won't be paying a penny. As a first port of call is it worth going ballistic at Asda and demanding they tell PE to cancel? If the local Manager is carp you can escalate to Area Manager and then CEO level. If you can remember which three items it should be possible for Asda to trace the receipt - if you need to go that far.

That's about right. It'll be much harder for them to show in court they have locus standi, and planning permission, if they've been asked to produce this documentation and have refused.

EB's post 4 in the above is a good starting point. You'll probably have to tweak it though. https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/413049-premier-parkpp-legal-pcn-salford-court-claimform-no-ticket-wright-street-car-park-southport-won/#comments

I know the experts here recommend sending normal 1st class - but get a free Certificate of Posting from the Post Office. After that by law the letter is deemed delivered in 48 hours. Some of the worst PPCs have been known to refuse to sign for recorded delivery mail.

The time for any appeals is long gone - she's being taken to court now by VCS. Not that not appealing changes much, the PPCs always reject appeals and POPLA almost always (just done a little search and see that VCS aren't in the trade association that uses POPLA anyway). DX above has set out how to start defending the claim and how to demand to see contacts etc. from VCS. Your daughter needs to do this ASAP. VCS may well drop the claim when they see a robust defence, in any case your comments about rush hour are very positive and will be one string to a excellent bow if it does go to a court hearing.

Go for it Lets! Smash the fleecers!

The one time I got a CCJ (which was way back in the early 80s) I paid the money to the court but I see that is no longer the case. How about sending VCS a cheque and ignoring their rubbish? However, your post does lead to a lot of questions. Is she trying to get out of court/legal costs as Andy asks? Why didn't she defend the claim (VCS are idiots and hardly unbeatable)? Why doesn't she go for a set aside? Etc.