NCP, Roxburghe and Graham White Solicitors

looktothefuture

I use a train station in a small commuter town in Essex which has connected to it a NCP car park. I park there daily and the carpark charge is £7.30/day. I am registered to the NCP FastPark service and pay the charges for parking using this service.

In the last 3 months or so, I've found that despite calling the service, receiving a confirmation at the end of the call that the charges have been taken directly from my account and that my parking session has started, I get back to the car in the evening to find that I have a ticket. At first I was paying them (at £25.00 a go!) because I began to double check and I wasn't receiving a confirmation email (as requested as an opt-in when registering for the service) and the payment wasn't coming out of my bank account. But then what is the point when I can't even dispute this ticket because I have no proof I even made the call to start off with?

So I've recieved the letters "notice to driver" from NCP, the debts been handed to Roxburghe and now received the "Final Notice" from Graham White Solicitors... according to this website and others, it goes no further... what is my next move?

Do I wait until a balliff arrives to remove my car? My biggest problem is that I am not a permanent resident of this country (am in the process of applying for residency - will this effect my chances of a permanent visa?) and the car is registered in my mothers name (and she's getting the sh*ts with me every time a letter from these people arrives on her door step!)

Help very much needed!

sarahg1969

Have you read the sticky at the top of this board, or any of the hundreds of other threads relating to exactly the same thing?

Have a read, and then if you have any questions, come back.

In a nutshell, ignore them all. They will go away eventually.

looktothefuture

Thanks Sarahg.. I did read the sticky.

BUT

2 years ago, I followed the "just ignore it" advice of various online scam forums about this same problem with the same 3 companies and a court appointed balliff knocked on my door one very early Monday morning to remove my car! Luckily I had the £130.00 he was after on me so paid him and he went on his merry little way...

This time, I'm not taking that chance... I have ALOT riding on this residency application (like my entire future in this country) and to be honest, I don't want to screw this up!

pogofish

Was this ticket issued under railway regs? It should have been made pretty clear. If not - Just ignore them. The chances of any follow-up beyond threatening letters is miniscule.

sarahg1969

OP, is this a private car park, or are NCP operating the car park on behalf of the council? That makes a huge difference.

And you'll need to tell us a bit more about the previous cases, if you need some help.

looktothefuture

Pogofish, it doesn't say anything on the PCN as being issued under railway regs... so thats another "ignore" opinion. Thanks.

Sarahg, according to the NCP website, it is a privatly owned car park, it says nothing on any of the signage or the ticket that it is operating on behalf of the local council. The previous case was exactly as the above, but I did not pay for the parking on that occasion.

I'm just worried that it will effect my residency application (which went into the post today and does state that Parking violations will be taken into consideration).

Coupon-mad

These are the letters you will get from NCP:

http://www.violetmount.com/ncpscam.jpg

...unless they have issued the ticket under Rail regs or on behalf of the Council. Your other tickets MUST have been Council ones?

To double-check your current ticket, check who it says for you to APPEAL to. If you have to appeal to the Council it's a real Council ticket, similarly if it says appeals to Magistrates' Court then it's a real Railway Byelaw realted ticket. In either of these cases you cannot ignore it.

If it says to appeal to NCP then you can ignore it and laugh when you get the next letter in the chain (see above link). Nothing else will happen if it's just an NCP ticket on private land without Council or Rail Byelaw backing. This isn't a real parking contravention if it's just an NCP PPC ticket, so it won;t need declaring if that's the case.

Post again if unsure, quote who it says to appeal to (from the PCN).

looktothefuture

Right... I've got the tickets! (scanner not working!)

It DOES say NOTICE OF BREACH OF RAIL BYELAWS on the every one of the tickets... and on the back it DOES say the following:
RAILWAY BYELAWS
The site is operated with the Railway Byelaws under Section 219 of The Transport Act 2000 by the Strategic Rail Authority (the "Authority") and confirmed under schedule 20 of the Transport Act 2000 by the Secretary of State of Transport on 22 June 2005 for regulating the use and working of, and travel on or by means of railways assets, the maintenance of order on reailway assets and the conduct of all person while on railway assets ... blah blah blah blah blah!

BUT the location to appeal is NCP Carparks...

Confused.com! LOL!

peter_the_piper

looktothefuture wrote: »

Thanks Sarahg.. I did read the sticky.

BUT

2 years ago, I followed the "just ignore it" advice of various online scam forums about this same problem with the same 3 companies and a court appointed balliff knocked on my door one very early Monday morning to remove my car! Luckily I had the £130.00 he was after on me so paid him and he went on his merry little way...

This time, I'm not taking that chance... I have ALOT riding on this residency application (like my entire future in this country) and to be honest, I don't want to screw this up!

Were you issued with court papers and if so did you ignore them. If no then you did not have a court appointed bailiff just a debt collector lying to you.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

looktothefuture wrote: »

The site is operated with the Railway Byelaws under Section 219 of The Transport Act 2000 by the Strategic Rail Authority

The Strategic Rail Authority was abolished in 2006. See here - http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20062925.htm

As usual NCP are talking rubbish. Ignore them.

Coblcris

NCP are exteremly well known for claiming statutory authority of the byelaws when they have none. In my opinion this would be viewed a Fraud by a court.
I am highly suspicious of their lucrative system problems.