Parking fine madness!!!

Justice80

Hello,

I'm seething as I write this - SO angry, frustrated and just exasperated with Vehicle Control Services Ltd.....:mad:

On 23/11/10 I was parked outside my boyfriends flat with a new green visitor permit clearly displayed in the front window. Each property was issued with approximatley 15 slips to replace the previous system of putting a note in the car simply stating which flat you were visiting.

Anyway, on the morning in question my boyfriend and I were moving house and I was down to my last green slip (permit). I filled all the fields in but then realised I'd put 22/11/10 NOT 23/11/10....so I very carefully changed the 2 to a 3 and popped it on my dash board.

You guessed it, after shifting boxes, cleaning, organising bills etc, I came down to my little blue KA in the car park to find a bright yellow ticket slapped onto the drivers side window......aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!

My boyfriend e-mailed the management company at the flats - they contacted Vehicle Control Services Ltd who informed them that my permit was filled out incorrectly. I have since written a letter contesting the fine but once again the company tell me I must pay the £80 fine.

Please help, do I need to pay this fine? what are my rights?

esmerobbo

PPC tactics at their best. Simply ignore them from now on. You have not received a fine it is a claimed breach of contract. As you never breached any such contract they have no case at all.

Justice80

Thanks for the swift response - very much appreciated!

So, if I get further letters telling me the fine has increased / they want to take me to court do I just ignore them?

I don't want to end up with a 'black mark' against my name or get landed with a fine for hundreds of pounds.

mcjordi

Justice- Just ignore anything bar court papers (they wont go near a court)

Coupon-mad

Just read as many threads as it takes till you know we are right to tell you to ignore this:

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

That's the current board, almost every thread is like yours, everyone ignores these fake tickets. I got one 2 years ago, most people on here have had more than one. Nothing happens bar the threatogram standard letters from their pet debt collector.

There will be no CCJ, no bailiff, no Court, no effect on your credit rating. Honestly.

In particular study the pics of the threatogram letters, and look at the Watchdog link (both on top sticky threads by Crabman). You will soon understand the generic scam carried out by the generic cowboy PPC industry.

bromsgrovebarry

Justice- taken the wise advice you have been given. I ignored the begging letters and they went away. I miss them as they gave me a good laugh.

hel7209

I got a "PCN" through the post several weeks after it was written by this company in April, its still dragging on and they are taking me to court in Feb 11, I have spoken with court mediator today and she states that VCS are adamant they have a claim against me, despite the photo of my car stating the time on my ticket being 13:12 and he wrote out the ticket at 13:11 after seemingly watching my vehicle for almost 15mins. Reason he's given for not putting the ticket on the car is that I drove away as he went to stick it on. This company are an absolute bunch of chancers, and their "wardens" are blatantly writing the tickets out later in the day.:mad:

steve1500

They can only go after the driver at the time not the registered keeper unlike the police and other official bodies. You are not required to give up the name of the driver unless a Judge orders you to.

About taking you to court undoubtedly another scare tactic

Wait till you get the official papers from the court, you then have 28 days to respond. If by some miracle they do appear there is plenty of advice available about how to respond as I keep telling the wife.

peter_the_piper

hel7209 wrote: »

I got a "PCN" through the post several weeks after it was written by this company in April, its still dragging on and they are taking me to court in Feb 11, I have spoken with court mediator today and she states that VCS are adamant they have a claim against me, despite the photo of my car stating the time on my ticket being 13:12 and he wrote out the ticket at 13:11 after seemingly watching my vehicle for almost 15mins. Reason he's given for not putting the ticket on the car is that I drove away as he went to stick it on. This company are an absolute bunch of chancers, and their "wardens" are blatantly writing the tickets out later in the day.:mad:

Please go to pepipoo.com and post all papers you have rec'd removing identifying bits. They have a very good track record helping in these cases. You'll get all the help you need if you listen to what they say and give all details.

morganedge

Definitely just ignore them.
It's not fair though.
scaremongering tactics employed by such people should be illegal.
Using such methods, combined with the fact that most people aren't entirely aware of how these things works, means that these people could easily send such requests for money to completely random, innocent people,most of whom would simply pay up to avoid the possibility of the fine increasing and maybe being taken to court etc.

peter_the_piper

morganedge wrote: »

Definitely just ignore them.
It's not fair though.
scaremongering tactics employed by such people should be illegal.
Using such methods, combined with the fact that most people aren't entirely aware of how these things works, means that these people could easily send such requests for money to completely random, innocent people,most of whom would simply pay up to avoid the possibility of the fine increasing and maybe being taken to court etc.

I assume you are not replying to HEL7209 as this would be totally inappropriate in their circumstances.