Parking Ticket Appeals successes and failures

Coupon-mad

Hi Stebiz, long time no speak. :T

If it was a private car park then you have nothing to worry about.

If the scammers send you any letters then laugh at their stupidity and the fact you have cost them a few quid. Ignore the lot, a typical letter-series lasts for between 3 and 8 letters with most PPCs, just be prepared that some of the letters have bold typeface and debt-collector letter-heading (scary stuff - NOT!).

stebiz

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Hi Stebiz, long time no speak. :T

If it was a private car park then you have nothing to worry about.

If the scammers send you any letters then laugh at their stupidity and the fact you have cost them a few quid. Ignore the lot, a typical letter-series lasts for between 3 and 8 letters with most PPCs, just be prepared that some of the letters have bold typeface and debt-collector letter-heading (scary stuff - NOT!).

Thanks Coupon-mad. If all I need to worry about is a few threatening letters, and the threat of a Debt Collector, I think I can cope with that.

Have a great Christmas.

Stebiz

ps I'll let you know how I get on

LalaandKels

Hi
My husband recently recieved a ticket from UK Parking Control, a private company who are acting on behalf of our local shopping centre. At the time of the 'offence' he was not the driver and we immediately wrote to UKPC stating this. Their original correspondance stated he could pay £45 within 14 days or it would rise to £90. In our original reply my husband simply refused to pay, stated he was not the driver and pointed out that he had no obligation to advise them who the driver was (particularly as he felt the charge to be excessive) Thanks to this site for giving us this info! He didn't tell them that the car was there for less than 5 minutes and that the engine was left running with someone in the car as this seemed irrelevant on the basis of his refusal to acknowledge the excessive fine. UKPC then wrote back and offered a further 14 days to pay. 10 days later (and only 12 after the original notice) they sent a final demand. This seemed laughably incompetant but as a courtesy, my husband then provided time sheets and an email from the Ops Director of his current employer, demonstrating he was not the driver. Another final reminder followed. We then wrote to the asking them to stop harrassing us as legally, my husband was not responsible for the offence. We also stated that we would be unhappy if his personal details were passed to a third party debt collection agency. Guess what - another standard letter and another 14 days to pay. We are prepared to take this as far as we need to on the basis of the above but are understandably nervous as the threats of baliffs continue. Any advice would be gratefully recieved.
Lisa

Coupon-mad

Nothing to be nervous about, Lisa, nothing at all.

Just keep all the correspondence somewhere safe and ignore every other letter (unless it's Court Papers, which would be laughable). You don't need to 'take' it anywhere nor do anything more at all, unless you want to make some noise in 2010 by complaining to the Supermarket and Trading Standards about the unlawful tactics of the PPC.

There are NO threats of bailiffs, don't get bailiffs muddled up with debt collectors. Debt collectors can do nothing, they have no powers (and indeed as you have disputed the alleged debt they cannot get involved).

Bailiffs can only be appointed by a Court Order after you have LOST a case in Court! That isn't going to happen in your case (PPC wins are like hen's teeth anyway - and those very few cases ever reported on here or pepipoo.com usually seem to involve a stooge or a vulnerable person known not to be able to turn up to defend the action).

I have just reached the end of my letter-series from the PPC that targetted my family. Sounds like you are near the end of yours too, but keep the correspondence indefinitely - as some PPCs have sunk to new lows and dug up old cases a year or two later to try their luck with a moneyclaim. Obviously such a claim would fail with the evidence you have there!

Happy New Year! :T

MrHelpful

My father was ticketed by UKPC whilst leaving the car unattended at the drop off point for 10mins @ local tesco. The reason why he left the car unattended was to fetch my mother instore who only 3 days before had an ankle operation. She was and is still on crutches..This was the closest "space" available to the store and no mention/signage at the drop off point to say tickets would be issued for unattended cars even though reason on ticket is shown as "obstruction" Confused... help appreciated. Father didnt park in Disabled or Child/Mother space as felt this was not correct.. They are now left with a £40 fine on New Years Eve and both do not work!

Crabman

MrHelpful wrote: »

My father was ticketed by UKPC whilst leaving the car unattended at the drop off point for 10mins @ local tesco. The reason why he left the car unattended was to fetch my mother instore who only 3 days before had an ankle operation. She was and is still on crutches..This was the closest "space" available to the store and no mention/signage at the drop off point to say tickets would be issued for unattended cars even though reason on ticket is shown as "obstruction" Confused... help appreciated. Father didnt park in Disabled or Child/Mother space as felt this was not correct.. They are now left with a £40 fine on New Years Eve and both do not work!

Ignore them and any rubbish they send through the post (if you receive what appear to be court papers please post back here though). It is not a fine. They can only claim for actual losses which it would appear are £0.00.

What they'll undoubtedly do is threaten all sorts of things by post (debt collectors, credit record, court, etc.) because they'll want to scare your parents into paying. UKPC know the case wouldn't ever make it into court so they resort to threats and intimidation and they then leave you alone when they realise you won't be scared into paying up.

LalaandKels

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Nothing to be nervous about, Lisa, nothing at all.

Just keep all the correspondence somewhere safe and ignore every other letter (unless it's Court Papers, which would be laughable). You don't need to 'take' it anywhere nor do anything more at all, unless you want to make some noise in 2010 by complaining to the Supermarket and Trading Standards about the unlawful tactics of the PPC.

There are NO threats of bailiffs, don't get bailiffs muddled up with debt collectors. Debt collectors can do nothing, they have no powers (and indeed as you have disputed the alleged debt they cannot get involved).

Bailiffs can only be appointed by a Court Order after you have LOST a case in Court! That isn't going to happen in your case (PPC wins are like hen's teeth anyway - and those very few cases ever reported on here or pepipoo.com usually seem to involve a stooge or a vulnerable person known not to be able to turn up to defend the action).

I have just reached the end of my letter-series from the PPC that targetted my family. Sounds like you are near the end of yours too, but keep the correspondence indefinitely - as some PPCs have sunk to new lows and dug up old cases a year or two later to try their luck with a moneyclaim. Obviously such a claim would fail with the evidence you have there!

Happy New Year! :T

Thank You and a happy new year to you too!:A

mm5ap

Hi,

I got a parking ticket from Town and City Parking Ltd at Hatfield Galleria yesterday, i was parking in the loading area while i nipped in to speak to my other half. It was a saturday and there were no deliveries but i got a ticket. I know that all the advice is to not respond but i was parking in the wrong place. Should i pay it?

thanks for your advice.

Coupon-mad

mm5ap wrote: »

Hi,

I got a parking ticket from Town and City Parking Ltd at Hatfield Galleria yesterday, i was parking in the loading area while i nipped in to speak to my other half. It was a saturday and there were no deliveries but i got a ticket. I know that all the advice is to not respond but i was parking in the wrong place. Should i pay it?

thanks for your advice.

No. File it and forget about it, just add the rubbish letters to your file as they arrive.

In many cases, the PPCs would probably contend that the motorist was 'parked in the wrong place' or 'parked for too long' or another spurious misdemeanour.

So what? You have committed no offence, done nothing illegal so why on earth would you send your money to an unrelated company who are simply trying their luck?

I could just as easily say you have to pay me a posting charge notice of £60 because you've (technically) posted in the wrong place - as this thread is for reporting SUCCESSES and FAILURES.

Would you pay me?

What if I send you some official-looking pm's pretending I am a solicitor, next month?

No? Good, you get the picture.:T

Coupon-mad

I don't think that MF17's successful appeal against a code 27 dropped footway PCN in Westminster has been mentioned on this sticky?

It deserves a place here, inlcudes a pdf of all the letters of appeal and could well be worth signposting to others when they have similar PCNs:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1724613&page=3

It was a very determined appeal on a number of points including appealing against the definition of a dropped footway where there is no corresponding dropped footway on the other side. Shame that Westminster dropped out before the PATAS hearing really but the case shows that the motorist can and does win after several rejections from a Council.