Maybe promoted from a PPC to a CEO?

peter_the_piper

Its nice to see you stick your head above the parapet and risk it being shot off. There are, like you, some ethical ppc's as there are parkers but I feel you may be in the minority. I can also understand why you have not named yourselves. You will find there are those here who say "park where you like and ignore" but there are also those who say pay the parking fee due to the landowner as its fair. What you will find is that we hate the ones who take the proverbial by making up rules and issue tickets with the sole aim of making them look like council ones. I hope you are not one of them.
ps. Do you put your actual address on them or do you hide behind a po box?

ppc_guy

trisontana wrote: »

OK Some questions. Do you call your "tickets" "PCNs" and are they enclosed in envelopes that mimic council ones??

No They are called Parking Charge Notice and are not abbreviated to PCN. They are in a yellow Envelope that says Parking Charge Enclosed.

trisontana wrote: »

How can you pursue the driver when you know the DVLA will only give you the name of the registered keeper.

We send the notice to the keeper. if they inform us they are not the driver at the time of offence unless we can prove otherwise we send a letter of apology and leave it at that.

trisontana wrote: »

Do you agree that the charge you demand bears no relation to the actual loss that is suffered by the landowner

I disagree we are acting on behalf of the landowner. The losses incurred are losses incurred by my company as we have consent from the land owner to act for them. These losses include but are not limited to time, fuel and insurance[/QUOTE]

trisontana wrote: »

and have you ever taken anyone to court and won?

Never taken anyone to court. Is it worth the hassle for a £75 ticket?

ppc_guy

bromsgrovebarry wrote: »

All very lauadable but your 'fines' have no legal validity. This is why we tell everybody to ignore your letters and the result is that eventually the threatgrams stop. Soon the only people you wil be able to extract money from are the gullible and vulnerable. Does that not make you proud?

We dont issue fines. We issue Parking Charge Notices. We do not ever refer to it as a fine.
The second bit could be seen as an attempt at a quilt trip but i will answer it anyway. In the future when clampign is outlawed (which we believe it will be) these Parking Charge Notices will have to be given some legal weight or the landowner will become helpess .Yes barriers and fences are an option but they are very costly.
It will come to a point where landowners refuse to pay rates on land which they have no control over and if enough people refuse the government will buckle

ppc_guy

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Its nice to see you stick your head above the parapet and risk it being shot off. There are, like you, some ethical ppc's as there are parkers but I feel you may be in the minority. I can also understand why you have not named yourselves. You will find there are those here who say "park where you like and ignore" but there are also those who say pay the parking fee due to the landowner as its fair. What you will find is that we hate the ones who take the proverbial by making up rules and issue tickets with the sole aim of making them look like council ones. I hope you are not one of them.
ps. Do you put your actual address on them or do you hide behind a po box?

We operate ethically for many councils and educational facilities. I have the terrible habit of over signing a location for fear of not being prominent enough.
Our tickets do look official but do not bear any official logos or similar. they have to or people would not know a genuine ticket from a fake note scribbled on paper.
We are Registered with the British Parking association and are approved operators under their scheme.
Our Address is a real geographic address as required under the BPA guidelines and our phone number is a geographic one so people who have queries are not charged silly amounts to call us. The number often diverts to our mobiles but we bear all cost of this.

trisontana

I disagree we are acting on behalf of the landowner. The losses incurred are losses incurred by my company as we have consent from the land owner to act for them. These losses include but are not limited to time, fuel and insurance

In that case, the actual sum demanded would have to be calculated on a case-by-case basis and not be covered by a catch-all sum of £75

Never taken anyone to court. Is it worth the hassle for a £75 ticket?

So, if everyone follows the advice on here and on other forums to ignore then you will soon be out of business.

bromsgrovebarry

I have no doubt that some regulation must take place. I do not have a problem with the regulation of private car parks to prevent abuse. What annoys me is that the system is one of a 'bounty hunter' rather than a regulator. If PPCs were paid a flat fee for service irrespective of the number of tickets issued and charges related to costs, we could have a system that is fair. if charges related to costs, the contentious 'penalty' aspect of PPC tickets woukld not arise. Also tickets could be voided by the retailer who would like to conserve goodwill of genuine customers.

ppc_guy

trisontana wrote: »

In that case, the actual sum demanded would have to be calculated on a case-by-case basis and not be covered by a catch-all sum of £75

£75 would cover the inconvenience too and is set at the bottom end of costings tickets issued at 4AM should in theory attract a higher rate as we are working unsociable hours then surely?

trisontana wrote: »

So, if everyone follows the advice on here and on other forums to ignore then you will soon be out of business.

No is the simple answer. I have said so far we havent taken anyone to court this does not mean that tomorrow we wont issue a ticket where we are sure without doubt who the driver was and they refuse to pay at which time it may be seen as viable to issue court proceedings.

On a side note i can see me being pretty busy on here the next few days but i aim for total transparency so will try to answer onestly and accurately wherever possible. If i am unsure or indeed find comments on here that may be useful to the running of my business i may enter into private discussions with people to move forward

ppc_guy

bromsgrovebarry wrote: »

I have no doubt that some regulation must take place. I do not have a problem with the regulation of private car parks to prevent abuse. What annoys me is that the system is one of a 'bounty hunter' rather than a regulator. If PPCs were paid a flat fee for service irrespective of the number of tickets issued and charges related to costs, we could have a system that is fair. if charges related to costs, the contentious 'penalty' aspect of PPC tickets woukld not arise. Also tickets could be voided by the retailer who would like to conserve goodwill of genuine customers.

We alreayd operate this system in this manner we provide a free service to retailers and other businesses as we clearly generate revenue from the tickets. We also state that the landowner is in full control at any time and if they wish to have a ticket cancelled they are welcome to call me and i will cancel it for free within 7 days. After this time i charge a small (just covers the cost of V888 form to the DVLA) which is tkane from the compensation i give to the land owner so they are never actualy charged a penny.
I also agree that the Parking Charge notices should be regulted tighter under the BPA and set at a fixed level of say £75 which would not be seen as excessive or unfair. There should also be an EXTERNAL body for appeals who have no interest in the outcome.

Coupon-mad

ppc_guy wrote: »

We already operate this system in this manner we provide a free service to retailers and other businesses as we clearly generate revenue from the tickets.

Do you really not see any similarity with a protection racket?

Not being funny, seriously I see it as pretty much the same. PPC approaches landlord, says I will 'protect' your site for free mate, dim University or retailer says all right then. PPC proceeds to obtain money from students/customers, issuing threats if they are not paid...

Tell me the difference please? Surely you're not saying you don't use a pet debt collector? Do you know the wording of that debt collector's shocking threatograms? We do and they are intimidating to say the least, harassment is a criminal offence and many, many debt collectors harass.

ppc_guy wrote: »

I also agree that the Parking Charge notices should be regulted tighter under the BPA and set at a fixed level of say £75 which would not be seen as excessive or unfair. There should also be an EXTERNAL body for appeals who have no interest in the outcome.

Who are you agreeing with? Did I miss it? None of us think that would be a good idea.


A good idea would be no PPCs at all. What is the point of your industry on private land?

ppc_guy

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Do you really not see any similarity with a protection racket?

Not being funny, seriously I see it as pretty much the same. PPC approaches landlord, says I will 'protect' your site for free mate, dim University or retailer says all right then. PPC proceeds to obtain money from students/customers, issuing threats if they are not paid...

Dim university? Surely that defeats the object of Universities...
Proection racket No! Protectino of interests yes. Imagine in reverse you have a shop in the City centre of anywhere. You have 1 space. A customer comes to buy and pick up a large table. They go to the space and suprise suprise its already been taken by somebody who has gone to the local KFC. The shop owners potentially lose a sale.

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Tell me the difference please? Surely you're not saying you don't use a pet debt collector? Do you know the wording of that debt collector's shocking threatograms? We do and they are intimidating to say the least, harassment is a criminal offence and many, many debt collectors harass.

As with most I have too been at the recieving end of some of these letters from these companies for other issues. the best way is to resolve the issue in a mature and appropriate manner. The letters are legally guided not to threaten they cannot say you will get CCJ's they arent judges so cant make this call. They cannot say it WILL affect your credit rating. Nor can they say anythin that will happen other than interest and fees being added and them chasing you for payment.

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Who are you agreeing with? Did I miss it? None of us think that would be a good idea.

I've Just re-read my quoted section in my reply above and i have mis-read the statement. A company who is paid a fixed fee regardless of how many tickets they issue could work in 2 ways.
1) They charge a high rate and dont worry about issuing tickets. they dont secure a contract for long
2) They charge a low price and have to issue lots of tickets to make a living

Coupon-mad wrote: »

A good idea would be no PPCs at all. What is the point of your industry on private land?

I dont think this point deserves a reply. we could say this about any number of jobs.