UKCPM Ltd & DRP Ltd

[Meekyou]

Hi all,

 

Back in early Dec 2013, I received a PCN from UKCPM Ltd. I was parked in an private office car park, in a space that had been allocated to me by the space holder for the day. I was working in their offices in the multi tenant building. The space is their's under their lease agreement and they told me to park there for the day - I can prove this as I have 2 emails from the office manager advising me to do this.

 

I left my business card on my dashboard, clearly displayed, in case anyone wanted to query it etc.

 

Several hours later I glanced out the window and saw a guy get out of a branded Smart car and put something on my car, I went out and asked what he was doing; he said (in broken english with a strong east european accent) - I was parked without a permit, therefore I had to pay a fine. I advised I had permission and could prove it, he wasn't interested and continued to put the PCN on my car and take pictures etc.

 

I ignored the PCN, thought I'd just wait and see what happened.

 

End of Jan, I receive a Notice to Keeper Formal Demand from UKCPM Ltd, advising that as the registered keeper of the vehicle I had to either advise the driver's name & address or pay £100 charge for "Not displaying a valid permit" - Discount payment period has expired.

 

Several weeks later I decided to write a letter to UKCPM - I was happy to ignore, but the wife is a panicker!!! I wrote as the registered keeper of the vehicle, did not admit to being the driver or anything else. I stated the car was parked with consent of the space holder, and that their operative was advised of this at the time. I also stated that as far as I was concerned the matter was therefore closed and no further correspondence would be entered into. Also if they (or their agents etc etc) did contact me again, I would levy a £500 harassment charge per letter against UKCPM Ltd & its named Directors via the courts.

 

Mid March I received a letter from DRP, Demand for Payment of an unpaid parking charge £149, deadline to pay 27th March.

 

Today (2nd April) I received from DRP a notice of intended court action - unpaid parking charge £149.00, deadline to pay 14th April 2014 or will be passed to creditors solicitor with recommendation to commence court action.

 

My intention is to continue to ignore this, and see what happens....

 

The sign in the car park (picture attached) reads:

 

Private property

 

Unauthorised parking or parking a vehicle in a area or space that has not been designated to you may result in your vehicle receiving parking charge notice.

 

Enforcement in operation 24 hrs

 

Permits must be clearly displayed in windscreen at all times

 

Terms of parking without permission

 

blah blah blah.

 

MY ARGUMENT:

 

I had permission from the space holder, I have advised UK CPM of this twice.

 

Their sign states that only parking without authorisation or in an undesignated space will result in a PCN - I had authority and was in the space designated to me by the space leasee.

 

Their sign does not state that failure to display a permit will result in a PCN - the PCN has been issued as Contravention - Not Displaying a Vaild permit

 

 

AM I RIGHT TO CONTINUE THIS ARGUMENT, SIT BACK AND WAIT ETC.....??

 

Any advice gratefully received

[ericsbrother]

No, dont waste your time. Any supposed debt with DR+ is about as real as a unicorn

[Crocdoc]

You have nothing to worry about with DR plus despite the fact that their website is GROSSLY misleading by stating that they regularly raise court actions. I can find no record of them ever raising court action for a PCN, even if an action was raised by the parking company their contractual rights can be questioned as can signage and GENUINE PRE ESTIMATE OF LOSS.

 

I would add that in England an Wales the opportunity to go through POPLA SHOULD NEVER BE MISSED ON THE ABOVE POINTS,I do however realise that in this case it is now too late.

 

I understand that Parking Eye is now suggesting in their correspondence that PCN recipients should not appeal to POPLA as there is little chance of success.

 

IN MY VIEW IF PARKING EYE SAY ONE THING, DO THE OPPOSITE REGARDLESS OF WHICH COMPANY ISSUES THE PCN.

[Meekyou]

I didn't appeal to UKCPM when I received the Notice to Keeper - the Appeal Procedure details on the back of the letter doesn't actually cover my situation....

 

It states that appeals can only be made if:

 

You believe you are within the parking time you paid for - I wasn't in a pay / display car park

Charge exceeded the amount already paid - I hadn't paid to park

Vehicle was stolen - it wasn't

Not Liable as the vehicle was bought after or sold before the alleged improper parking - not applicable.

 

So I had no grounds to appeal to UKCPM, therefore I couldn't have then gone to POPLA either.

 

However, I did write to them stating I had permission to park etc - I have had no reply or acknowledgement to my letter sent 8 weeks ago.

 

Just for a laugh yesterday, I decided to have some fun with DRP.... I sent them a letter denying I had any knowledge of a debt to them, or owed them any money and included an invoice for my time & expenses - I stated that if they wish to correspond and further, the invoice must be paid, if they don't pay the invoice that is their admission that I have no debt to them or any company they claim to represent. If they don't pay it yet continue to write to me, £500 Harassment Charge per letter.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

Unfortunately, you fell for the crap told by UKCPM. They would never inform anyone of then other grounds of appeal as they know they would lose at POPLA. At least you will know what to do if you ever encounter this again.

 

As for this so called debt, ignore. If this ever (BIG IF) went to court, they (ukpcm or the landowner) would have great difficulty proving the case.

 

You had permission to be there. end of.

[Meekyou]

I had a reply from DRP to my letter today - they didn't include a cheque for my invoice, I knew they wouldn't!! They did however, suggest I read their news page in their website where a case against them was dismissed by the courts (no date on when it happened)

 

They have kindly given me a further week's extension to make the £149 payment to avoid the case being passed to their legal team, to consider legal action.

 

Interestingly, they have made a factual error in their letter:

 

The site in question is subject to terms and conditions, which are stated on signs throughout the area. Those signs state drivers must clearly display a valid parking permit for the site. They also warn that failure to do so may result in the issue of a PCN. On the date in question the vehicle was parked on the site but no valid permit was clearly displayed. This means that the terms and conditions were breached and a PCN was correctly and legitimately placed on the vehicle.

 

That is incorrect - the signage states:

 

Unauthorised parking or parking a vehicle in an area or space that has not been designated to you may result in your vehicle receiving a parking charge notice. Enforcement in operation 24hrs. Permits must be clearly displayed in windscreen at all times.

It doesn't state that failure to display a valid permit will result in a PCN; only unauthorised parking or not in a space designated to you will result in a PCN - I had authority to park in a space designated to me for the day by the Tenant who rents the space.

 

They also point out I failed to respond to the NTK within 28 days, thus the time to challenge the PCN has expired. The NYK was dated 22nd Jan, I replied to UKCPM on the 30th Jan stating I had authority to park etc. I've not received anything from UKCPM since, therefore they haven't followed BPA Code Of Practice, by not issuing an acknowledgement within 14 days, a response within 35 days and haven't given me a POPLA code if my challenge was unsuccessul.

 

Can't decide whether to leave it for a bit or send a reply to DRP for the fun of it

[ericsbrother]

stop playing letter tennis with these clowns, it is not worth the price of a stamp. they dont have a consumer credit licence so if there was a debt (and there isnt) and you paid them and they didnt pay the creditor then you would still owe the money, not them.

If you get any further correspondence from UKCPM then by all meand write to them and tell them they are wrong and why but DR+ have no say in anything and cannot make a decision about anything so are just a waste of time. They get paid to write to you and hope you are dumb enough to send them some money for nothing. Dont encourage them into thinking that you might waver by giving them the legitimacy of a reply that they dont deserve.

[JoeyJoeC]

If they thought they had a chance in court, they wouldn't be offering you "extensions" to pay.

 

Personally, I'd tell them that you want to settle in court. They suffered no loss, therefore they cannot claim costs.

[Meekyou]

I'm allowed a little fun aren't I......?

 

I go on the basis that the more letters they send me, the more I ask them to provide etc, the more it's costing them in time and therefore money to chase something they can't win

[silverfox1961]

While I do agree with ericsbrother, I also like a bit of fun. This will go nowhere near a court and as they are chasing you, you are well within your rights to bill them for your time.

 

I believe the Parking Prankster posted something on his site where a PPC was billed and they coughed.

[Meekyou]

As I was bored, I decided to write back to DRP, pointing out they hadn't paid my invoice etc, and a further harassment levy added as well.

 

I listed 12 questions / evidence for them to provide, one of which was GPEOL - so will see what response I get to that.

[Meekyou]

So after several letters back & forth, DRP have offered me a reduced payment of £119.20 to demonstrate to the courts their client's attempts to settle this matter before the need for court proceedings.

 

So they are still ignoring the fact that.....

 

I had permission to park there (in writing)

I challenged the PCN within the NTK timescale

UKCPM didn't acknowledge or respond to my challenge (I have proof of postage) - two breaches of BPA CoP

No referral to POPLA - breach of BPA CoP

DRP's various statements regarding the site signage wording are all factually incorrect (which I keep reminding them about)

DRP have lied (in writing) regarding their evidence

 

Think I'll just write back with a simple one liner..... PLEASE PROCEED WITH YOUR THREATS, SEE YOU IN COURT!!!

[dw190]

 

Think I'll just write back with a simple one liner..... PLEASE PROCEED WITH YOUR THREATS, SEE YOU IN COURT!!!

 

If you like having a bit of fun with them why not refer them to the reply given in: Arkell v Pressdram

 

http://www.nasw.org/users/nbauman/arkell.htm

[ericsbrother]

DR+ write manure because that is what they are paid to do. You will get no sense out of them because they dont have any interest in any matters. If you want to waste a stamp then by all means send the response from the case of Arkell v Pressdram

[Meekyou]

UPDATED:

 

Well, its been two months now since my last email to BPA when I threatened to complain to BPA's CEO about the BPA's own Complaints Department's in-ability to properly investigate my complaint - they decided my original complaint about the two BPA members blatant lies and unprofessional activities was unfounded, and they hadn't done anything wrong.

 

My email was also copied in the Daily Mail.

 

And it's back in early June since I last heard from the pet debt collectoricon..... am I safe to assume this is now finished? or can I expect a letter to arrive at some point in the near future from either the pcnicon issuer, the pet debt collector, a different pet debt collector or maybe the PCN's solicitor with a Court threat.....??

[ims21]

Two threads merged and tidied.

 

You don't need to know the thread title to find it....look in your User Control Panel.

[Meekyou]

It's been a year since the PCN was issued...... no correspondance has been received from UKCPM or DRP since June, and no response from BPA to my second complaint in August; so I guess I can assume this is going nowhere!!!

 

MERRY XMAS ALL