VCS ANPR PCN claimform - St Mary's Gate Retail Park, S1 4QZ ***Claim Dismissed***

[lookinforinfo]

There is another matter with the contract. When it was signed VCS said they would comply with the BPA Code of Practice. later VCS left BPA and became members of the IPC whose rules are diifferent.

For instance on the five minute Consideration period  the BPA do not count it as free parking whereas the IPC do. Whichever way VCS do it they are conflict with one or the other. 

 

They should be complying with the BPA  Code because that is in the contract  with their clients [even if thee contract is not valid].  if they do comply with BPA they are in breach with the IPC Code  which means they should not be provided with data from the DVLA and they are in breach of your GDPR.

[holmer444]

Hearing was rescheduled for today and I won .

 

Once again thank you to anyone and everyone who took the time to read/reply/support me, the hearing literally lasted 15 minutes, which is a nice segue to my next point...there's some stuff I want to post on here about it, but it could be considered contentious and I wouldn't want to do that, is there a mod/site owner I can PM with what I want to post and they can tell me if it would be allowed?

[dx100uk]

just post it.

 

well done!!

and tell us what won it tooo.

 

dx

[AndyOrch]

The claim was dismissed?  You can send me details by PM if you are unsure of what to post.

Andy

[FTMDave]

Well done on your victory! 

[lookinforinfo]

Well VCS took a spanking today. Losing two cases means they paid at least £500 to the lawyers plus £100 in costs . {I hope you put in a cost request too ]. Another £70 to pay the Court fees. 

On top of that they have paid solicitors to send yo both letters and issue Court claims and possibly paid crumbs to the scrotes at the debt collectors and of course in your case they were hoping for five years interest. 

What a shame.   A shame that they didn't lose more I mean.

 

Congratulations on your win. Must be a great relief to see it end so well after five years of it hanging over you. Very interested in reading what happened in Court.........

[holmer444]

The week before the case was due to be heard I received my umpteenth witness statement (nothing new there), however whenever I've received them before they've only ever sent 2 pages of the parking services contract supposedly made between VCS and the landowner, despite it being clear there are 5 pages in total (pages are numbered 1 of 5 etc.). In this latest WS, for the first time in either dealing, I got all 5 pages, which included two schedules, one of which is a parking policy and within the parking policy it says:

 

"A minimum "Grace" period of thirty minutes will be utilised over the maximum stay period before a parking charge notice is issued"

 

The length of time I was in the car park was 78 minutes.

 

We get in there, they start with the advocate, he speaks for about 10 mins, balance of probability I was the driver, loads of other waffle, blah, blah, blah. I apologise to the Judge, explain that there's pages in the latest WS I've never received previous to this week. I point out what it says, that I was there 78 minutes and they're breaching their own contract by issuing the PCN. Judge agrees, asks advocate if he can present any other evidence, he tries to waffle a bit more before he's very firmly asked if he can present any evidence, he says no, case dismissed. Irritatingly forgot to ask about costs, but if that's the worst thing that happens to me this week, I think I'll live.

 

I'll let you draw your own conclusions as to whether or not VCS and their advocates deliberately withhold pages of their contract as it shows their blatant disregard for rules (including their own), but I know what I think...

Edited January 31, 2023 by holmer444

[lookinforinfo]

Well done for reading and spotting the 30 minute grace period. I wonder if they made a mistake in sending it or kept it till the last day hoping you wouldn't read it.

 

Either way that would appear to mean that they knew from the outset that you weren't liable and thus laid themselves open to breach of your GDPR...............................

[FTMDave]

Yep, LFI is right, you could go after them for breach of GDPR if you want.  We have a Cagger doing the same at the moment.

 

Could you also upload the contract?  We know VCS are no longer at the car park, but they might still dust off some ancient tickets, the evidence would be good for anyone else in a similar position.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by FTMDave
Typo

[holmer444]

I'm liking the sound of this Dave, have been reading up on what I believe was the previous case (against a company called ECS?!). As I read it my initial courses of action are: 

 

• SAR to DVLA to see who has been accessing my data
• SAR to VCS

I was planning to send them by email (VCS already have my email address so not learning anything new here), only issue is I can't find anything relating to VCS and data protection, only email address seems to be; info@vehiclecontrol.co.uk, would this be okay?

 

Will get the contract scanned and uploaded later on tonight when I'm at home

[FTMDave]

At work now, promise to come on the thread later.

[holmer444]

Just realised it's not a SAR to DVLA, but a specific template

[holmer444]

Turns out I only have 4 of the 5 pages of the contract, but I think it's enough

VCS.pdf

[FTMDave]

What you've posted is absolute dynamite.

 

It's there - "SCHEDULE ONE - The Parking Policy - 3.  A minimum "Grace" period of thirty minutes will be utilised over the maximum stay period before a parking charge notice is issued".

 

Yes, the two immediate steps if you want to go for this are -

 

1.  Write to the DVLA.  Weirdly although it is not a SAR request they treat it as a SAR.  Have a read of this.  Make sure to read the recent edit and to send two separate e-mails to both the e-mail addresses quoted  https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/409717-letteremail-to-contact-the-dvla-to-see-who-has-been-requesting-andor-accessing-your-data-registered-owner/

 

2.  Yes, SAR VCS.  They will have to include their application to the DVLA for your details.  This address seems the most appropriate from their site  dataprotection@vehiclecontrol.co.uk  Just to be sure maybe CC to  litigation@vehiclecontrol.co.uk

[holmer444]

Thank you Dave, both templates completed and sent off...now we wait. 

[holmer444]

Just a quick update - DVLA have replied and confirmed that it was VCS who accessed my data twice for 'breaches of terms and conditions of a private car park'.

 

I SARed VCS on 7 March and received an automated acknowledgement same day, but as at today nothing has been sent through and by my reckoning their 30 days is up tomorrow. Given the Easter break I want to get my ducks in a row, is my next step a Letter Before Claim for both breaching their statutory duty regarding their failure to respond to the SAR and also their misuse of my data given they know they it wasn't a breach of the terms given the standard grace period? Or is it two separate LBC's?

 

Also what is a fair sum to claim? Having read through the NCP claim I know £200 was the sum there, but not sure if I should ask for more, less or the same? I want to make them suffer, but also I want to make sure I don't present myself as unreasonable if we end up in front of a judge. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by holmer444

[FTMDave]

At work at the moment, but have a read through this thread which is virtually identical to your situation  https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/454573-eps-breach-of-gdpr/#comments

 

kfdh1962 is in the process of winning by default (at least we hope so!)

 

VCS are the  most litigious of the PPCs and methinks wouldn't be such a pushover.

 

However, read the thread where you'll see all the steps to take.

 

More this evening when I knock off work.

 

 

[FTMDave]

9 hours ago, holmer444 said:

I SARed VCS on 7 March and received an automated acknowledgement same day, but as at today nothing has been sent through and by my reckoning their 30 days is up tomorrow.

OK, so e-mail them a Letter of Claim for the SAR tomorrow the minute the 30 days are up.  Post up a draft here first (although the version on kfdh1962's thread will be fine).

 

Then on Friday a second LoC can go off for GDPR.  Again post up a draft.  Again the version on kfdh1962's thread should be fine.

 

Nice of them to send these automated acknowledgements as proof or receipt

[holmer444]

Thanks Dave, my plan is to issue the following:

 

 

LETTER BEFORE CLAIM

 

General Data Protection Regulations - Subject Access Request

 

Parking Charge Notice Number: XXXXX

 

To whom it may concern,

 

On Tuesday 7 March 2023 I sent you a subject access request for a statutory disclosure of my personal data under the Data Protection Act. Receipt of this request was acknowledged by your Data Protection Team via a return email sent at 10:09am on the same day.

 

You have failed to comply with that request and you have now breached your statutory duty.

 

This has caused me a great deal of distress not having my data in order to understand who is sharing my data and what data you hold on me, together with the necessity to chase after you to get this disclosure.

 

You have 14 days to respond, after which I shall begin a County Court claim against you.

 

Yours...

 

I know the statutory time frame is 30 days, but their response quotes 1 calendar month so thinking I might send this Friday as that will be exactly 1 month?!

Edited April 5, 2023 by holmer444

[FruitSalad1010]

How do you know the statutory time frame to respond is 30 days?

[holmer444]

No idea where I got 30 days from, will send the SAR breach "Letter Before Claim" Friday instead.

 

Thanks you!

[FTMDave]

The Letter Before Claim looks excellent.

 

Yes, send it one calendar month after your request to be on the safe side.

 

Then the GDPR one can go off 24 hours later.

[holmer444]

Second one will be:

 

Dear Sirs

 

LETTER BEFORE CLAIM

 

Re: PCN no.XXXXX, County Court Claim no.XXXXX, Breach of General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

 

I refer to your obtaining my details from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in the above matter. 

 

You had no justification for doing so. The issuing of the Parking Charge Notice breached your own Parking Policy within the Terms and Conditions of the contract you entered into with the landowner. 

 

This is an extremely serious breach as you used my details to begin a vexatious court claim which caused me considerable distress.

 

I require payment of the sum of £600 within 14 days.  If you fail to effect payment I will start a claim in the county court.

 

Yours faithfully

[lookinforinfo]

I think you are under selling the breach. Should be over £1000 at least and gives you room to haggle out of court and still get a decent return.

 

UK GDPR and Data Breach Compensation - What You Need To Know

WWW.DATAGUARD.CO.UK

---

UK GDPR Breach and Compensation - Learn the most important aspects of data breaches, how you can claim compensation,and many more in this guide.

 

[holmer444]

Thanks LFI, I only went with £600 as that is what had been claimed in the kfdh1962's thread and I really had no notion of what was a fair amount to claim. Some other threads I had read suggested that a judge would be more likely to award if the amount claimed was lower and I think I was secretly hoping they would ignore it all and I could just win by default (although that doesn't really seem to be VCS's way!).

 

If you were me, what would you be claiming? By the way, I don't view this as advice in any way, shape or form, just have no real clue what's reasonable and what isn't