Tell your tales of problems with private parking providers

dunncha

I do recall but I may be wrong but isn't our new penny pinching (MSE?? lol) Government evaluating the role of Consumer Focus with a view to saving some money and shutting it down?

Maybe this could be a reason for their current vigour for investigating this particular scam. It could also be associated with the ACS:LAW Speculative letter writing scam.

Personally I have used Consumer Focus several times in dealing with my energy suppliers and have found them to be very helpful. I think it will be a shame if they do close down. I would also recommend contacting them with genuine consumer problems.

PPC's are not a consumer problem. This is taking money with menace.

I can see the letters in the future.

'Our appeals process has been verified by Consumer Direct so no point in going to them for help'

The best advice of how to deal with speculative letter writers is just ignoring them.

Do not phone, email or write. It just prolongs the agony.

RedSpecs

bargepole wrote: »

All of the complaints about PPCs can be resolved in one simple step - just IGNORE any correspondence from PPCs - they'll soon get fed up and try to con some other mug.

I can vouch for this. Done it twice. Never paid a penny. Ssssssh!!

Basically its because they have no legal right to take you to court, whatever they threaten. Read the wording - they say that they MAY take you to court and you MAY be liable for fines. They only seem to pick on those who give a response. So treat them with the contempt they deserve.

Tricia_Mc

I agree - if you get a private PCN, IGNORE IT. It's very stressful but it does work. Read the forum on this site or Pepipoo for a bit of reassurance. Best thing is to bin the letters as it will only wind you up if you read them.
Oh, and don't bother complaining to the BPA or DVLA, they won't acknowledge your complaint let alone act on it. And I was advised by Trading Standards to pay up, their advisor was unable to absorb the information that I wasn't liable to pay. Not a problem any more as they are no longer contactable as far as I can see.
The whole thing makes me hopping mad - it's nothing short of extortion.
I have written to consumer focus but not expecting any results. Grrr.

mixmaestromark

If your vehicle has been clamped, you can't exactly walk away and ignore it, you have to pay up! And that is what happened to me, after parking in MY OWN parking space two weeks ago. The only offence I committed was not displaying my permit (i had just moved into the property and slipped up I admit).

I think the £235 I had to pay Shoal Enforcement was totally unreasonable and unjustified, but what can one do? Nothing...

peter_the_piper

WRONG......
Just start a post with all details on the parking forum and pepipoo.com and we'll do all possible to help you get your money back.

Coupon-mad

mixmaestromark wrote: »

If your vehicle has been clamped, you can't exactly walk away and ignore it, you have to pay up! And that is what happened to me, after parking in MY OWN parking space two weeks ago. The only offence I committed was not displaying my permit (i had just moved into the property and slipped up I admit).

I think the £235 I had to pay Shoal Enforcement was totally unreasonable and unjustified, but what can one do? Nothing...

Loads of people in your shoes on pepipoo, getting help with Small Claims cases to get their money back:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Just don't go it alone, get advice from pepipoo all the way - and don't just sue the clamper, you must also jointly sue the landowner/agent (whoever contracted the scammers).

It doesn't matter that you didn't display your permit. Shoal are well-known on pepipoo and they can help you get your money back plus interest.

Coupon-mad

Among the questions I asked in post no. 11:

Who are Consumer Focus doing this survey for, please?

Got to agree with HO87, I suspect this survey is for the Government to offer something to the parking 'industry'.

The LAST thing motorists in the UK need is scammer PPCs being given any legitimacy.

As taffy says, CF just need to read some threads to see what's happening in this 'industry'.

HO87

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Among the questions I asked in post no. 11:

Who are Consumer Focus doing this survey for, please?

Got to agree with HO87, I suspect this survey is for the Government to offer something to the parking 'industry'.

The LAST thing motorists in the UK need is scammer PPCs being given any legitimacy.

As taffy says, CF just need to read some threads to see what's happening in this 'industry'.

If you look at CF's track record they have a tendency to come up with compromises and one might just reasonably conclude that what is really happening here is that the government are using CF as their stalking horse for the imposition of a PPC adjudicator. After all, it will look like just another "reasonable compromise". What's more, as the adjudication model being bandied about by the BPA wonks is being described as "self-funded" our financially strapped leaders won't have to commit any public funds to it. Self-funded "independent adjudicator"? That sounds like another Osborne win-win and is precisely what we don't need or want. So, beware!

Coupon-mad

Totally agree. :T

mac53

my car was, apparently, ticketed by UKCPS, in the Aintree retail park.
now i have to say that it was "apparently" ticketed because i never saw or was aware of any ticket.
my car goes through the car wash every week, thanks to my employers, and if it was ticketed and if i lost it that way then i would not know about the ticket, would i?
my first knowledge of the so called offence was when i received a "fine", which of course i refused to pay and wrote to UKCPS to complain. on the "fine" it did not show me the offence that i was supposed to have committed and there has never been any reply or ackowlegement of my letter.
since then i've received a couple of threatening letters from Court Proceedings Ltd which i've ignored as well.
its only thanks to this site that i've not gone hairless over this nonsense but even so i'm still worried that i might end up being the one in a million that they can do something about.
a little reassurance would not go amiss here