UKPC_prk_tkt

[pchandra]

Hi All,

I got parking ticket on this Saturday(19/07/0:cool: at Farnborough Maplin/DFS car park. The car park is free for shop users upto 3 hours. I parked car at 3.45 pm went to maplin but has not purachased any thing and left the car park area for about 20 minuts(due to air show). when I came back I saw a ticket saying that I left the car park at 4.0 PM and got the fine today(23/07/0:cool: of GBP 90.0. I want to challange this charge. But at the same time I dont want to pay more than half(GBP45) only if at all I have to pay.

Any guidance/suggestions are highly appriciated

 

Best Regards

Pchandra

[lamma]

don't pay a penny. and do not 'appeal' or 'challenge' it. a complete waste of time.

read the stickies here about private parking companies (PPCs)

it is a [problem]/phoney/a trick.

[pin1onu]

Hi All,

I got parking ticket on this Saturday(19/07/0:cool: at Farnborough Maplin/DFS car park. The car park is free for shop users upto 3 hours. I parked car at 3.45 pm went to maplin but has not purachased any thing and left the car park area for about 20 minuts(due to air show). when I came back I saw a ticket saying that I left the car park at 4.0 PM and got the fine today(23/07/0:cool: of GBP 90.0. I want to challange this charge. But at the same time I dont want to pay more than half(GBP45) only if at all I have to pay.

Any guidance/suggestions are highly appriciated

 

Best Regards

Pchandra

How about not paying it all?

 

Unless this is a council run car park then you don't a have a ticket. What you have is an invoice for an alleged breach of contract. The amounts involved constitute penalty charges which are illegal under existing case law.

 

Have a read of the Private Parking Charges guide which you will find in the stickies section at the top of this forum. It will explain the legalities. Also have a read of the template letters in the same section.

 

In your situation I would wait for these clowns to obtain your the Registered Keeper details from the DVLA (it costs them to do so.) send them a response from the templates and then watch the fun. (There are some on this forum who advocate totally ignoring everything).

 

You will probably receive all manner of threats - including referral to a Debt Collection Agency (not allowed by the OFT if the debt is disputed), courts action, bailiffs and CCJs. They are just threats. UKPC are well known for this sort of threat but have taken very few people to court (mainly because they'll lose against a decent defense).

 

Having responded to their letter you can ignore or respond with the letters from the templates.

 

Whatever you do don't pay them a penny or lose any sleep worrying about them. Their threats are pretty empty.

 

In the remote event of them taking you to court post back here and there'll be no shortage of volunteers to help you with your defense.

[pchandra]

Many Thanks to Pin1onu and Lamma for your valuable advise.

Question to pin1onu. After reading the"private parking charges guide" I am confused between ticket issued by Police/Local authority and PPC. I am not sure whether ticket is issued by either of them.

Let me explain my situation:The Ticket doesn't have any invoice/amount of charge and ticket was issued on 19/07/08.

I got a notification notice from UKPC in which the main thing are mentioned. 1 ticket number,2 location of carpark,3 vehicle deatils,date and time. 4. Reason for ticket"Vehicle owner left the site" and 5. most imprtant is this ."The owner/regitred keeper of the vehicle will receive a charge certificate via royal mail in due coures. No action is required by the owner/resisterd keeper prior to the charge certificate being received. We will be contacting DVLA for your details."

On 24/07/08 I received the "Charge certificate dated 22/07/08 of GBP 90" by royal mail it means they have contacted to DVLA to get the owner/resisterd keeper information. The car parking post code is solartron Retail Park, F'boro,Hant, GU14 7QL.

So my question is the PPC ticket so that I can relax. I will write one letter to UKPC on the templates suggested.

Thanks and Regards

Pchandra

Edited July 25, 2008 by pchandra
added more clearity

[Al27]

UKPC are a well known and notorious private parking company.

 

Do not write to them. Your letter will not even be read - you'll just get a standard template letter back telling you to pay.

You will go on the hooked fish list and be pestered for longer because they know that because you have been rattled enough to bother writing, you could be rattled enough into paying eventually.

 

This just means you'll get more letters than you might have done, but on the other hand it's no big deal just to ignore the letters.

 

For private companies, this is the general advice:

 

 

 

• don't pay

• don't contact them

• ignore any letters you receive, no matter how threatening

• they will go away after 5/6 letters

• they will not take you to court

• they don't have a legal leg to stand on

 

The letters you receive will be full of lies to try and get you to cave in and pay up e.g. threat of CCJs, courts costs and statements of liability, imitating council paperwork.

 

It's all a load of rubbish.

 

Ignore them and don't worry. It's all a [problem].

[lamma]

the UKPC invoice's wording is designed to mislead and confuse the average punter - thats how PPCs make their money, through lies and deception.

It is a con so don't play their game.

[pin1onu]

Many Thanks to Pin1onu and Lamma for your valuable advise.

Question to pin1onu. After reading the"private parking charges guide" I am confused between ticket issued by Police/Local authority and PPC. I am not sure whether ticket is issued by either of them.

Let me explain my situation:The Ticket doesn't have any invoice/amount of charge and ticket was issued on.

 

The car parking post code is solartron Retail Park, F'boro,Hant, GU14 7QL.

 

So my question is the PPC ticket so that I can relax. I will write one letter to UKPC on the templates suggested.

The difference is in terminology.

 

Police Ticket = Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN)

Council Ticket: Penalty Charge Notice. Should have a reference to the Traffic Management Act 2004.

 

Private Invoice = Parking Charge Notice, Fixed Parking Notice, Charge Certificate and so on. Note the similiarity of the names. They do love to mimic actual legal documents so as to appear legit.

 

The PCN has a very strict format that the councils must adhere to. This includes the amount of the penalty plus a reduced amount if paid within 14 days.

 

As the original ticket has none of this it points to it being a private invoice.

 

I've also checked the Rushmoor council website and could find no mention of UKPC acting as agents. Also there is no mention of Solartron Retail Park in the list of car parking and charges on the council website.

 

When I did a google search I found a private company owns the retail park so this points conclusively to this be a private ticket.

 

As others have said UKPC are well known on this forum. Don't lose any sleep over them. They rely on ignorance and fear in order to make people pay up.

 

Write your letter and then ignore.

 

P.S. You are not alone. Have a look through this thread.

[pchandra]

Thank you all very much for valuable suggestions.

Best Regards

Pchandra

[Al27]

Write your letter and then ignore.

 

No point writing. I'd really recommened not contacting them at all.

 

If they never ever get any response they are well and truly screwed and will give up earlier.

[pin1onu]

No point writing. I'd really recommened not contacting them at all.

 

If they never ever get any response they are well and truly screwed and will give up earlier.

Al,

 

While I accept your logic and reasoning and I am not totally at odds with it, I would suggest you look at the Civil Procedure Rules which govern court proceedings. They state that Both parties must attempt to resolve a dispute before commencing court proceedings.

 

We both know that these companies are very shy of litigation but they have been known to party on occasions. My only reason for suggesting that OP acknowledge receipt of these scams is to comply with the attempt at resolution, which will be looked on positively by the court, and then ignoring subsequent communications.

 

When compiled into a bundle, the bumf of the PPC which hasn't answered the queries looks ridiculous and will be quite apparent to a judge. Witness what happened to our friends at CPS when they attempted this stunt.

 

OP - I stand by my original advice. I'm not totally at odds with Al27's method either. Some people don't mind doing nothing, others like to feel they are taking control - its a matter of preference. Feel free to choose whatever method you want. Whatever you do - don't lose any sleep over it.

[pchandra]

Hi All,

As you guys are suggested. I got another letter from UKPC. Saying that your PCN is on hold whils on appeal and may be settled in full if I pay half of the charges with in seven days Or as goodwill we can cancel your PCN if I can produce copy of receipts showing that I have shopped on the Retail Park.

I have one doubt that I am not a permanent resident of UK so whether this thing will any how affect to get work visa or PR or bad credit history if at all they move to court after not receiving a payment from me.

Also should I reply them asking about the proof that I have left the site.

I have drafted following letter to them in reply of above letter.

 

 

UK Parking Control Limited

PO Box 492 Iver Bucks

SL0 9HP

30th July 2008

PCN No. .

Dear Sir/Madam,

I acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 28th July 2008. I again absolutely deny any amount claim/charges is due to you from me due to the contravention point that I left the site.

As usual I went to shop in the Maplin store on the day the notice was issued. The same can be verified by watching the Mapline CCTV record. Still to avoid wastage of time and further communication, I may be ready to pay the half of the charges if UKPC send me some evidence that I have left the site on the said date and time.

Thanks and Regards

PC Bhartiya

Best Regards

PC Bhartiya

Edited July 30, 2008 by pchandra
Added some more text.

[lamma]

your credit history will not be affected unless

they take you to court (won't happen)

and

You lose (really won't happen)

and

you don't pay any judgment (which really really won't happen).

 

 

the credit history thing is part of the standard rubbish that PPC use to trick people into paying up.

read the stickies - and relax

[Al27]

While I accept your logic and reasoning and I am not totally at odds with it, I would suggest you look at the Civil Procedure Rules which govern court proceedings. They state that Both parties must attempt to resolve a dispute before commencing court proceedings.

 

There is no chance of a defendant being refused the right to defend themselves and being given a judgement against them on the spot just because they haven't responded to the PPC.

 

Worst case scenario is that the judge sends both parties into another room to try and resolve the case for 5 mins in cases of non response from one party. Some judges do this quiet regularly, whatever the case.

 

I also suspect threatening letters containing false claims and misrepresentation from one party would not fulfill this rule anyway.

[gwc1000]

There is no chance of a defendant being refused the right to defend themselves and being given a judgement against them on the spot just because they haven't responded to the PPC.

 

I agree. There is no legal requirement to respond to anybody that issues an unsolicited invoice. Your position would not be weakened by any subsequent Court action.

 

To pchandra: I would strongly reccommend that you do not send the letter you have posted.

[crem]

I have drafted following letter to them in reply of above letter.

..............I may be ready to pay the half of the charges if UKPC send me some evidence that I have left the site on the said date and time.............

 

 

Do not even hint at any suggestion you would pay them a single penny!!

 

If you write again at all, (which is generally advised against once you have done your first letter), any suggestion that you are waivering and might pay them them will no doubt result in you receiving hundreds of letters from them for the next year as they will regard you as a likely victim to crack under their pressure.

[pchandra]

Hi All,

As suggested by some of our friends neither I paid to UKPC nor I wrote to them after my last post. Although, I recieved few letter from UKPC saying as final notice before forwarding my case to debt collection company.

Today I received a letter from the debt collection company called "Roxburghe Debt collection" from Jonathan Stock Debt Recovery Manager of Roxburghe. Now the charge is increassed from 90 to gbp 125. with following wording.

"Please note that in the absense of payment or any valid dispute we will persue this matter with or without your co-operation. If we do not hear from you with in 7 days we will pass the matter to our Solicitors, Graham White, who will review your casse for potential legal action."

Please suggest me for the next step to be followed.

Best Regards

PC Bhartiya

[crem]

Roxburghe and "Graham White Solicitors" get mentioned on here at least 10 times a day!

 

From all accounts, the use for the threat of "Graham White Solicitor" means you are nearing the end of their crap mail.

 

There is now light at the end of the tunnel for you I would think. So the normal advise stands.... DO NOTHING ABOUT THIS LETTER EITHER

[Mossycat]

Hi All,

If we do not hear from you with in 7 days we will pass the matter to our Solicitors, Graham White, who will review your casse for potential legal action."

Please suggest me for the next step to be followed.

Best Regards

PC Bhartiya

 

As Crem said.

 

Yeah they will review your case, what that means is they will send you a couple more threatening letters just to see if they can scare you (you know the tactic lets get a letter from a Solicitor and see if that works), so don't worry it's nearly over

 

Mossy

[lamma]

Wait until you get the G.White letter, post a picture of it up here - suitably washed of your personal details - and we can produce a nice complaint to Solicitors Regulation Authority - Protecting consumers of legal services

[pchandra]

Hi Crem/Mossy/Lamma,

Thanks for your quick and valuable suggestion. I will wait till I recieve a letter from "Graham White, Solicitors" letter who is not even registered with SRA.

Thanks n Regards

PChandra

[crem]

I think there is a Graham White Solicitors registered on the SRA, but it is not the one you will get your letter from.

[lamma]

You won't find that G White ( the real ones must be a bit peeved..) because that is a trading name 'licensed' by another solicitor. He works for Hackney Council. if you have a hunt around here or on google you will find enough hits. The letter you will get will have text at the bottom saying that G.White is a trading name of.... Still a job for the SRA due to the contents of the letter you will get. we have seen loads of them. google graham white parking michael

[letshelp]

I think you will find that like Hackney Council the SRA know all about this and continue to do nothing about it.

regards

[lamma]

councils will always sit on things no matter what but the SRA is a real regulatory body. build up a weight of complaints and they end up with no choice but to act. especially when those complaints show illegal activity, quote statute and provide hard evidence.

[pchandra]

Hi All,

Just for curiocity I need to know if any member have faced the similar issue and finally UKPC gave up chasing for payment at this stage. Or Any example in which UKPC did not bother to bring the matter into court or the UKPC is lost in the court .

Best Regards

PChandra