VCS PCN Tanyard shopping centre, Rotherham S66 1AA now DR+ DCA

[darrendabell]

Hi

I received the letter below yesterday from a debt recovery agency,

 

I did receive a PCN last year whilst parked at the shopping centre

but I can't remember the date

 

I have until now ignored all communication and binned the letters they sent as this is what I did last time I got one of these things quite a few years ago,

 

although now I have seen the advice is no longer to just ignore them, worked last time though

 

The car park does have signs up all over the place about restrictions time limits etc and I do remember when I parked I wasn't able to park in the bay properly due to a van encroaching into the bay where I parked which meant I encroached into the next bay,

 

I was parked for less than 10 minutes while I went to the chemist to pick up a prescription for my step son and when I came back had the pcn attached to my wind screen.

 

The car park is free to park in so no loss of revenue was incurred and I didn't cause any damage by how I parked.

 

I'm looking for advice as to how I should proceed from here as reading the forums ignoring it no longer seems to be the way to go.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Darren

Inkedparkcing charge_LI_NEW.pdf

[dx100uk]

please fill this out:

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?462118-Have-you-received-a-Parking-Ticket

[darrendabell]

For a windscreen ticket (Notice To Driver) please answer the following questions....

 

1 The date of infringement? 23/12/2016

 

2 Have you yet appealed to the parking company yet? [Y/N?] No

 

If you haven't appealed yet - ,.........

 

have you received a Notice To Keeper? (NTK) [must be received by you between 29-56 days] Yes

what date is on it don't know I threw it away

Did the NTK provide photographic evidence? It stated there was photographic evidence but non has been supplied to me

 

3 Did the NTK mention Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) [Y/N?] I cant remember

 

4 If you appealed after receiving the NTK,

did the parking company give you any information regarding the further appeals process? No appeal has been submitted

[it is well known that parking companies will reject any appeal whatever the circumstances]

 

5 Who is the parking company? Vehicle control services Ltd

 

6. where exactly [Carpark name and town] did you park? Tanyard shopping centre customer car park, Rotherham S66 1AA

 

So far I haven't entered into any dialogue with either the parking company or the debt recovery agency,

 

 

I received a NTK and a follow up letter but I binned them both thinking ignoring them was still the best course of action.

 

Thanks for you attention on this.

 

Darren

[DragonFly1967]

OK, firstly, don't worry about Doubt Recovery Minus, my budgie has more teeth than they do. They are completely powerless despite what they try to convey in their begging letters.

 

If that's the first one you've received, you'll get at least another two. The last one will contain a "reduced payment offer" (isn't that nice of them) which only highlights how desperate they're getting.

 

Now, VCS are IPC members, so appealing isn't really worth the stamp, so no real loss there. But VCS do rather tend to (eventually) go down the county court route. Usually convinced to go there by their "solicitors", Gladstones. But, DO NOT PANIC! These claims are usually very easy to beat.

 

 

As for the reason they've given for issuing the PCN in the first place, unless your vehicle was taking up two parking spaces, it's very unlikely that they'll be able to show any 'loss', so they're going to have a hell of a job convincing a court. And VCS are widely known to lose most properly defended cases.

[darrendabell]

Ok thanks for that done some more reading around and read a lot about the debt recovery people having no power to do anything so I guess I should just sit tight and see if anything else comes from the parking company then.

Thanks for the advice so far

[ericsbrother]

Oooh,

I hadnt noticed they had changed their letterhead.

 

 

I like the enforcement and investigation services bit, makes them sound somehow official doesnt it.

 

 

Let us pick up on that for a moment, what can they enforce?

 

 

Are they appointed by a court to chase up a legally enforceable debt? NO..

They are just a bunch of people who live in a portakabin somewhere who are paid to send out scary letters that have no authority whatsoever.

 

 

Investigate?

Could get them into trouble if they arent obeying the limits applied by their authority for data handling as submitted to the ICO.

They seen to have failed to notify the ICO of the change of address given.

 

What will likely happen is DR+ will disappear and you will get a couple of letters from either Gladstones or BWL solicitors.

These should not be ignored as they sue people who ignore them as they think that you wont respond to a court summons and they get a walkover victory.

 

 

come back here if you do get a letter from a firm of solicitors and we will advise how to respond

 

 

A picture of the sign at the entrance to the car park would be useful even at this stage though,

save having to get one in a hurry later.

[darrendabell]

Ok thanks for that Eric popping to the shops now so will grab a couple of pics while I'm there.

 

Cheers