'Parking Charge Notice' fr private parking

tibo

Anybody had dealings with 'UKPC' UK Parking Control Ltd?
They charge £70, but reduced to £5 if paid within 14days.
My mum parked her car in a shoppping center, where others had also parked. However the penalty states; 'vehicle parked on yellow lines/hatched area'. But obviously with the snow most road markiings aren't visible at the moment.

Any help/advice much appreciated

Driver8

tibo wrote: »

Anybody had dealings with 'UKPC' UK Parking Control Ltd?
They charge £70, but reduced to £5 if paid within 14days.
My mum parked her car in a shoppping center, where others had also parked. However the penalty states; 'vehicle parked on yellow lines/hatched area'. But obviously with the snow most road markiings aren't visible at the moment.

Any help/advice much appreciated

PRIVATE PARKING TICKETS - DON'T PAY!
IT IS NOT A FINE! YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL!

This is an information page for the thousands of people who receive "tickets" from private companies in the UK ever day at supermarkets, retail parks, and in any other privately-owned carpark.

We are NOT encouraging anybody to openly flout parking restrictions on private land, or to refuse to pay reasonable charges for parking. Landowners have a right to make reasonable charges for the use of their land.

For advice specific to your case, you should visit the forums at http://forums.pepipoo.com or http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences.

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

1. What you should know about these companies

It is important to remember that private parking companies (or PPCs as they are often called) have NO OFFICIAL POWERS - that's right, none at all! They give out their "tickets" on the basis that you have seen the signs in their car park and that you have therefore agreed to a contract obliging you to pay a certain sum of money.


2. What happens to people who don't pay?

In 99.9% of cases, absolutely NOTHING! The company pays the DVLA £2.50 to get your address, and then sends lots of threatening letters. In the main, these letters can be safely IGNORED. The only way the company can actually force you to pay is by taking you to the small claims court, which costs them even more money. And they are by no means guaranteed to win! And they practically never do.

The two main reasons for this (among others) are the following:

- Only the person DRIVING the car could ever have agreed to any such parking contract. The company can only get the Registered Keeper's address from the DVLA: you don't have to tell them who was driving.

-Many of these charges are so extortionately high that they constitute a penalty, which is unenforceable in a consumer contract.


3. Can they affect my credit rating?

NO! The only way your credit rating could be affected by ignoring private parking companies is if you were taken to court, lost, and then still refused to pay. But they will not take you to court.


IN SHORT

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE tickets from private parking companies, they are not official fines.

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE the threatening letters, including those from debt collection agencies.

You DO NOT have to pay a penny of your hard-earned money to these companies. Remember that the chances of being taken to court are very slim indeed.

DO NOT IGNORE COURT PAPERS!
If you receive real court papers from a private parking company (very rare) then you should go to http://forums.pepipoo.com or http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences for help defending the claim. Do not be afraid to sign up and ask questions regarding any paperwork you are not sure about.



Don’t believe the above? Watch a solicitor on Watchdog advising you what to do with the scam invoices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAIcdi9niHA

THEY ARE NOT FINES

Only the Police, Courts or Council’s can fine you. NOT a private company, please remember that.

lucylucky

^^^splendid answer. Now the OP's Mum can save her £5 for something else.

muckybutt

tibo wrote: »

Anybody had dealings with 'UKPC' UK Parking Control Ltd?
They charge £70, but reduced to £5 if paid within 14days.

£70 reduced to £5 ? gotta be a joke or a typo ? or have they got the season of goodwill bug :rotfl:

Safe to completely ignore UKPC

torontoboy45

read the invoice again. it must be a typo or a misread. ignore it after you've read the squillions of other threads on here.

robredz

muckybutt wrote: »

£70 reduced to £5 ? Gotta be a joke or a typo ? Or have they got the season of goodwill bug :rotfl:

Safe to completely ignore ukpc

Tis the season to be jolly we only want a fiver coz we've lost our trolley

tibo

Thx to all....yes there is a typo error, having relooked at it, it's unclear if it's £5. It could be any amount as the first digit is eligible...
Mum's unsure, as like many others, it can seem intimidating..ARRGGHH

esmerobbo

It will be £50 but by totally ignoring them you can safely reduce it to £0;)

peter_the_piper

That'll be £45.00 then as ppc's are not that good at long division.

tibo

Love the humour....so just to clarify, she parked in an unmarked space where she probably shouldn't have & what are the chances of there being CCTV in the multi storey car parking... should she still ignore it??? Just want to be sure she should ignore eventhough she shouldn't have parked there????
Have read peepipoo & watched the YouTube solicitor vid too

esmerobbo

If you ignore them they have to much work to do to take it any further, They will send a few letters from them maybe a debt collector and maybe a made up solicitors. They will then give up. If you look around you will see that any court case has been brought by people contacting them and confirming details. They issue as many charges as they can hoping they get a percentage who will pay.

Most were brought here by what has happened to your Mum most take the ignore route. Get the letters then they go and pester someone else.

PS: the cctv may have a pretty picture of her car but that's all it has and a car can not enter into any agreement!