Vehicle Control Services Ticket

[oraclenet]

Hi

 

I received a ticket from VCS on the 5th Nov 07 which you can see here:

 

http://www.seoltd.co.uk/parking-ticket/vcs-ticket.jpg

 

I was parked in a furniture shop car park, close to the town centre in Macclesfield, which is for customers of the shop only. However I didn't actually visit the shop, I was visiting my bank close by.

 

There are parking notices displayed, but there are no video cameras. I stupidly decided to ignore the notices though.

 

When I got home, I sent the following email to VCS appeal email:

 

"To Whom It May Concern:

 

Serial Number: VC/ 0043501 2

 

I have contacted my solicitor regarding the above. On account of the following, this ticket is void:

• The vehicle registration mark on PART TWO does not match that found on PART ONE
  
• The time seen has been altered by the issuer
  
• The address has been altered by the issuer
  
• No ticketing machine was present to purchase ticket
  
• Permit is not required for customers of the furniture shop

"

Yesterday (10th Dec) I received this email from VCS:

 

"Your email appeal has been passed to me for investigation. Please could you forward me your full postal address. Due to auditing reasons I am unable to handle your appeal via email."

 

At this point, I again stupidly, sent them my address, but not my home address, instead it was my office.

 

Today (11th Dec) I received a letter from them saying:

 

"We are sorry, but in the circumstances we must advise you that grounds for representation against the parking charge notice have not been established and this letter is issued as a formal notice of rejection....

 

On the day inquestion a Vehicle Control Services officer was called to the site by the landowner, this being private property"

 

It went on to say that because the registration mark was shown correctly at the top of the ticket that it is a legalling binding document and admissable as evidence should this matter progress to court.

 

Now they want £80 by the 20th Dec or £120 if late, otherwise they will start court proceedings.

 

What does anyone suggest that I do now. Should I send a letter back, if so, what should I write? Or should I just ignore it? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks Ben

[Barnsley Boy]

Hi,

 

This ticket has no legal significance, it does not have statutory status like a council PCN or a Police FPN. It is just an invoice and a decidedly dodgy one at that.

 

The best tactic is just to ignore. They will get your home address from DVLA and will continue to issue threats to you.

 

Stand firm and ignore. 999 times out of 1000 they will run out of steam. In the unlikely event that they are silly enough to issue a county court summons then people here would simply love to help with your defence.

 

Read the topic at the top of tis forum "Private Parking Companies - all you need to know"

 

Tell all your friends about this [problem]. Too many people simply pay in ignorance.

[MikeBigg]

I have contacted my solicitor

 

If you did contact a solicitor and this was the advice he gave, you might like to point him here or the pepipoo forums

 

Mike

[Steve__M]

Notwithstanding the fact that private charges appear not to be legally enforceable, they do not appear to have any argument if the carpark does not have a ticket or permit system.

 

Write to them saying "If you believe the basis of your invoice to be correct, please submit your claim in the county court. Do not waste time and additional cost on debt collectors etc. as I will not be liable to pay their charges. Do not contact me again." In the highly unlikely event that they do submit a claim they won't have a leg to stand on.

 

That said, if the furniture shop man is that bothered, I guess you shouldn't park there again!

[oraclenet]

Hi many thanks for your advice everyone.

 

I'll let you know how I get on.

 

ps. I didn't actually contact a solicitor, but I thought I would try that route, but from what I've heard on this forum now, companies like this will never ever actually accept appeals as they don't care. They just bank on scaring people. It's a shame that so many people give in and pay.

 

Ben

[petej2811]

Hi many thanks for your advice everyone.

 

I'll let you know how I get on.

 

ps. I didn't actually contact a solicitor, but I thought I would try that route, but from what I've heard on this forum now, companies like this will never ever actually accept appeals as they don't care. They just bank on scaring people. It's a shame that so many people give in and pay.

 

Ben

 

 

If you say you've contacted a solicitor it would help if what you purport the fables solicitor has said was actually correct. As it is you risk looking like a guy who lied about being in touch with a solicitor.

 

That said if it comes to county court I'm one of those people who likes to write obscure defences. Get in touch if it gets that far.

 

PJ

[oraclenet]

Hi

 

I know I shouldn't have lied but I wasn't really thinking straight at the time. The parking firm did a good job in scaring me and my initial thought was to do what i did.

 

If it goes to the courts I will definately seek your advice.

 

Thanks PJ

 

Ben

[oraclenet]

Write to them saying "If you believe the basis of your invoice to be correct, please submit your claim in the county court. Do not waste time and additional cost on debt collectors etc. as I will not be liable to pay their charges. Do not contact me again."

 

So should I just ignore and wait for the debt collector's letters, or should I send them a quick letter containing the above?

 

Thanks

[battyboomboom]

Don't waste time effort or money on them. Just sit tight, and get on with your life

[oraclenet]

Ok Thanks. I suppose the debt collectors will start sending letters next at which point shall I just send them one of the template letters saying that their is still a dispute with the ticket company etc..

 

ps. I've taken the photo of the ticket down. If anyone wants to see it again let me know

 

thanks ben

[jonnytt]

Hi, I wondered how you (or anyone else dealing with VCS ltd) had got on since this last post? I want to know if they are the litigating kind as I'd actually be happy to see them in court.

 

For anyone else with an interest in this, here are my circumstances :

I have just received a Notice to Owner demanding payment from these guys after getting a ticket approx 1 month ago. It was £80 to start with but now £120 due to none payment.

 

I was caught at a DVLA office. It was ram packed in the car park and the entire business park was double yellowed. In desparation I pulled up in the yellow lines and ran (and I mean ran) into the DVLA offices to get advice on where I could move the car. I should point out, for what it's worth, that there were about 8 other cars parked up and left on the double yellows too. The place was heaving and there were no staff around. I guess I was in there for about 10 mins. I came back out and there was the parking attendant photographing my car. I told him that I had parked up to try and find somewhere else to park the car. I explained that I didn't know the area and that I had driven around the entire site only to find double yellow lines everywhere. This site, by the way, is a business park. There are a number of roads that are both wide and in some cases unused. They are all double yellow lined, for what reason I know not! Anyway, he was having none of it. He wouldn't tell me where was best to park and in fact he ended up being particularly rude. I moved the car before he could ticket it but of course the damn ticket arrived in the post about a week later. I actually ended up parked about 1 mile away as the business park is completely on it's own just off a big main rad. Crazy!

 

I did write to these guys explaining the situation and complaining about the attendants attitude but to no avail.

 

So now I'm sat on the NTO and wondering what to do next. Do I need to write to them at all?

 

Thanks. Good to know there other in the same boat.

 

John

[DDWales]

Hi, I wondered how you (or anyone else dealing with VCS ltd) had got on since this last post? I want to know if they are the litigating kind as I'd actually be happy to see them in court.

 

For anyone else with an interest in this, here are my circumstances :

I have just received a Notice to Owner demanding payment from these guys after getting a ticket approx 1 month ago. It was £80 to start with but now £120 due to none payment.

 

I was caught at a DVLA office. It was ram packed in the car park and the entire business park was double yellowed. In desparation I pulled up in the yellow lines and ran (and I mean ran) into the DVLA offices to get advice on where I could move the car. I should point out, for what it's worth, that there were about 8 other cars parked up and left on the double yellows too. The place was heaving and there were no staff around. I guess I was in there for about 10 mins. I came back out and there was the parking attendant photographing my car. I told him that I had parked up to try and find somewhere else to park the car. I explained that I didn't know the area and that I had driven around the entire site only to find double yellow lines everywhere. This site, by the way, is a business park. There are a number of roads that are both wide and in some cases unused. They are all double yellow lined, for what reason I know not! Anyway, he was having none of it. He wouldn't tell me where was best to park and in fact he ended up being particularly rude. I moved the car before he could ticket it but of course the damn ticket arrived in the post about a week later. I actually ended up parked about 1 mile away as the business park is completely on it's own just off a big main rad. Crazy!

 

I did write to these guys explaining the situation and complaining about the attendants attitude but to no avail.

 

So now I'm sat on the NTO and wondering what to do next. Do I need to write to them at all?

 

Thanks. Good to know there other in the same boat.

 

John

 

VCS are a PPC and unless they are working on behalf of Swansea Council(and they rarely work with PPCs) then feel safe to ignore them. This being the case the 'NTO' is not an official Council NTO which should never be ignored-its just designed as such to fool you into paying. You could always post your invoice up here just to make sure though

[Al27]

Didn't you start your own thread about this?

 

• do not pay

• do not contact them again

• ignore the further fraudulent gumph they send you

[jonnytt]

Here is the ticket (docs 2 and 3) plus letter that came with it in the post (doc 1) plus the final notice (doc 4). First time I've uploaded to here so hopefully you can all see them. Welcome your views.

Thanks for the advice so far.

John

 

document 1 letter.pdf

 

document 2 - notice front.pdf

 

document 3 - back of notice.pdf

 

document 4 - final notice.pdf

[patdavies]

Their notice and final notice are both unlawful and should be reported to Trading Standards, Companies House and ICO.

 

1) as they are a private company, they are required to have their registered address, company registered number and country of registration one all paperwork - this information is missing from boh documents.

 

2) as there are gathering personal information- they are requiring the name and address of the person paying - then they must be registered with the ICO as a data controller and also have a Data Protection statement on their 'invoice'.

[lamma]

I agree. Just about all PPCs commit these things. All that do should be reported as above.

[Al27]

Oh dear Realistic Parking.

 

[crem]

If your appeal has been refused, then it's about time to pay.

 

as all your appeals for money have been refused RP, then it's about time to P.O.

[Gambling Commission Rule]

Mods time to get rid of this extremely unrealistic bottom feeder. Plankton have more spark and wit than this one.

[sdimbf04]

Hi

 

My boyfriend received a PCN from VCS last week for parking in disabled. The space in question was very obscure and wouldn't even be accessible by a wheelchair user and was only parked in as an absolute last resort for no more than 20 minutes. No obvious sign, although on second inspection it was there and also he knew it was disabled and that he shouldn't really park there.

 

Does anyone think he would have a valid argument as it's an £80 fine that needs to be paid today and looks like I've drawn the short straw until he gets paid.

 

Have read most of posts, but all quite old so want to make sure before I ignore or write a letter that nothing in the law has changed..... Thanks!

[lamma]

Nothing has changed. Don't write a letter. Its a mail [problem], by writing you jump onboard the [problem].

 

File their joke letters and and ignore.

[Al27]

Does anyone think he would have a valid argument as it's an £80 fine that needs to be paid today and looks like I've drawn the short straw until he gets paid.

 

It's not a fine and it doesn't have to be paid today, tomorrow or next year.

 

Ignore away!