Graham White Soliciters Over Apcoa Parking Fines

Coblcris

Do nothing.
Stop panicking.
Investigate these two companies by doing a little further reading in the posts on here - I hazard that doing that research will stop the panic in short order.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

If you were in a hire car they may go back to the hire company, who may pay up and charge it to you. If the hire co. has your credit card details cancel the card now. And don't panic. Roxburghe/G White are well known clowns who never go anywhere near a court.

usignuolo

Just as a matter of interest, has anyone ever complained to the Law Society about this Michael Sobell aka Graham White, given there is a "respectable" firm with the same name?

Alan_Chippenham

Hi, I have a similar APCOA parking experience and have just registered on this forum which appears to be excellent, hoping someone can provide some advice.
In June last year I bought a 12 month parking season ticket form APCOA for Chippenham station. I have been using it most days since then without incident but yesterday found an APCOA Parking Enforcement Notice on the windscreen. It claims "Parking attendant xxx who had reasonable cause to believe that the following parking contravention had occurred: 02 - No Valid Permit" Also hand written "Only valid in Car Park One". The notice goes on to say you are therefore required to pay a enforcement charge of £80.00 within 30 days........ Discounted to £50 will be accepted in settlement of the enforcement charge is payment is made within 14 days .... (their poor English). The rest of the notice is a payment slip, much as others have described, with the a statement that a summons will be issued in the county court if payment is not received.

When I bought the parking permit form APCOA I did not appreciate that the permit would be valid in only one of the 2 car parks at Chippenham station. Their is nothing in the permit that make this restriction clear to ordinary people. It says: PC1\xxx (which is my permit number); Chippenham Car Park; my car's reg number; 30/06/2009; No xxxxxx; 29/06/2010.

I did look out the letter that came with the permit and it does say "... your permit for Chippenham Car Park 1 ...". I did not pay attention to that point thinking that Chippenham Car Park on the windscreen disc meant either car park at Chippenham station.

First Great Western own the car park and APCOA are their car parking operations contractor. I cannot see anything on their websites which show car parks 1 and 2 and I do not think there is anything on display in the car park that says it is car park 1 or 2, but I will check this. What is displayed is
RingGo information and they identify the car parks by unique numbers (Car park 1 is 1928 and car park 2 is 1950). I phoned APCOA with a general enquiry about purchasing an annual parking permit at Chippenham and was told I would need to specify which car park. I don't remember being told that last June, but their letter implies the same.

It seems incredibly small minded to have season parking permits which are restricted to a particular car park at the same station and to 'enforce' a penalty of 380 or £50 for parking in the wrong car park. I would be very grateful for any advice.

Coblcris

The standard advice applies.

Coupon-mad

Coblcris wrote: »

The standard advice applies.

i.e. - Alan you can safely ignore the ticket and the letters which will follow - threatograms spouting rubbish about Court and CCJs.

Nothing at all will happen once their standard letter-chain fizzles out and if such a company ever did decide to chance Small Claims court (they won't, but just for the sake of argument) do you think the judge will be impressed by their hidden t&cs or your paid annual car park ticket, displayed every day in good faith for almost a year without any suggestion that you were in the wrong place?

Stop worrying, you don't have a fine. Read other threads on this sub board until you are confident about this scam and ready to ignore the letter deluge completely:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

navigator1066

Received a parking ticket invoice from ukpc, can anyone advise me what to do. only stoped for 5/6 mins and did not leave the car. ukpc have the car on camera.

Coupon-mad

navigator1066 wrote: »

Received a parking ticket invoice from ukpc, can anyone advise me what to do. only stoped for 5/6 mins and did not leave the car. ukpc have the car on camera.

You need to start your own thread if you need further advice, but if this is a private (not Council) ticket then really you won't need any other advice. Just read up on the matter and understand that this is a scam you must ignore.

Here is a link to the whole forum board:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

First of all, read the first post of the first thread, so you know what letters to expect from UKPC (there are a lot of blue links under UKPC on that thread, follow the links and read the 'threatograms' now, so they don't scare you when they start arriving).

Then browse as many other non-Council threads as it takes to understand why this is just a scam. You can then laugh when the letters arrive, knowing you are not going to take their dodgy bait!

Finally, tell all your friends about this scam so they never pay a private parking ticket either!

Hayley_McCulloch

I have, at last, after nearly a year, got somewhere with my alleged parking ticket! I am in the fortunate position of working for a law firm in Chester and so asked a colleague to write to Central Ticketing in Birmingham, their debt collectors, Roxburghe and Roxburghe's solicitors, Graham White, Surrey. Now received a letter from Graham White's which basically states that I never appealled (I did on several occasions) and that I never contacted Roxburghe (I did, I even got the name of the guy I spoke to - I'm now being polite!) Anyway, Graham White Solicitors have now stated that they have taken into account what my solicitor has said and they now intend to cancel all further collection activity. An extract of the letter sent to Central Ticketing and copying it on to Roxburghe and Graham White solicitors, goes as follows and I hope it helps.

Pre-amble about my parking ticket and the reason I was parked where I was and also the signage not being good. Then....

"We would be grateful to receive by return and before any further action is taken in respect of this matter the following:

1. The statutory/legal basis upon which you are entitled to levy parking charges in the first instance;
2. The regulations governing the signage applicable at this particular site and any other sites upon which you operate;
3. The statutory/legal basis for the appeal process which you suggest is in place;
4. An explanation as to how it is you say that the appeal process has been adhered to in this particular instance;
5. We would also be interested to learn as to how many penalty notices have been issued against other members of the public for parking in this area and how many of those members of public have complained in relation to the signage in place. This information can presumably be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act at some later stage but rather than draw the matter out we assume you will be happy to provide it at this stage.
It seems to us that this matter is not capable of a fair and lawful conclusion until such time as these matters have been addressed. Accordingly, we seek your written assurance by return that either:

1. You will take no further action in relation to this parking notice and will waive the charge in this instance or;
2. In the alternative, you will provide written confirmation and evidence of your instructing Graham White Solicitors to take no further action in respect of this matter until such time as this letter has been substantively replied to.

We look forward to hearing from you shortly."

Also, note that Roxburghe and Graham White Solicitors share the same office !! umm

Don't pay - and also challenge the DVLA for giving out your personal details. Graham White solicitors advised in their letter that they contact the DVLA for the drivers details and pay the DVLA a fee for doing so. I believe this to be a breach of the data protection. These scum bag companies are not entitled to your information and the only legal parking ticket you can get is from the local council/traffic warden or the police.

trisontana

It would have been nice if that letter had also pointed out the seemingly illegal wording on Central Ticketing's parking charge notices which are left on cars. This says "It is an offence for an unauthorised person to remove or interfere with this notice". In my opinion this is an attempt by the parking company to try and pass itself off as the council or the police.