Ticket Issued - Private Property

taffy056

Would have been easier to ignore them, still you seem to have your head screwed on so no harm done, except the cost of the stamps

taffy056

titch2k6 wrote: »

Got a reply back from DVLA today with regards complaint about VPS and breaching BPA COP:

"Thank you for your email received on 29/12/11. Your email reference number is 8*****.

We usually advise customers to contact BPA directly with any issues in regards with parking fines and wheelclamping disputes.
We will not take any action, nor do we govern these rules and regulations. This would be a dispute between yourself and BPA so I can only refer you back to their complaints procedure."

Waiting to see what happens with email sent to BPA and Trading Standards..................

Parking fines - BPA ? is there any wonder there is confusion when even the dvla is using terms that the scammers are not allowed to use ?

titch2k6

taffy056 wrote: »

Would have been easier to ignore them

Absolutely

Wish I had come accross this forum thread BEFORE I contacted VCS. But what is done is done and I just hope from my own experiences and that of others on here, someone who finds themselves in the same situation can use the information to find out where they stand from a legal prospective and decide what action they may want to take before doing anything about a charge they may have received......

Coupon-mad

But the DVLA have said that they do/will investigate COP breaches:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12989708

''The DVLA insists any firm it gives the data to must be belong to the British Parking Association's Approved Operator Scheme - which sets out how they should operate.
"If it is brought to our attention that a company does not meet the necessary standards, we will immediately investigate, and if allegations are proven, stop the release of keeper information to them."
Any companies failing to be "fully compliant" with the Association's Code of Practice would "not be eligible to request DVLA data"

A poster on here known as NevMetson is in contact with the DVLA on this issue repeatedly and I am pretty sure he was told they will investigate or at least keep tabs on BPA investigations into alleged breaches of the COP. Not just tell you to bog off and write to the BPA!

Here's a letter Nev recently sent to Parliament, makes good reading but I don't know if it was ever even discussed/read let alone replied to. He does know whose cage to rattle at the DVLA though. Probably not the minion who replied to you with that fob-off letter.

titch2k6

Coupon-mad wrote: »

A poster on here known as NevMetson is in contact with the DVLA on this issue repeatedly and I am pretty sure he was told they will investigate or at least keep tabs on BPA investigations into alleged breaches of the COP. Not just tell you to bog off and write to the BPA!

Thanks for that info Coupon. Have dropped "Nev" a message with regards the DVLA's response to the complaint made.

titch2k6

Update:

Response from BPA with regards complaint against VCS. KNow that they would not get involved with dispute with operator, but seem to be showing some interest with the breach of the COP.

"Many thanks for your email below concerning the parking incident you experienced with Vehicle Control Services.

The Approved Operator Scheme and its Code of Practice was developed by the BPA to bring a degree of regulation to an industry without primary legislation. Regrettably as we are not a regulatory authority, we are not empowered to become involved in individual disputes between you and the car park operator and have no power to overturn an operator’s decision. Therefore, any action regarding your individual circumstances are out of our control and should be directed directly to the operator. Although we sympathise with your predicament we have no power to get an operator to cancel or refund any parking enforcement charges.

Having said that, I would be happy to make contact with the operator concerned to seek to determine whether they are in breach of our Code, as this operator is a member of the BPA. To do this I would need to be provided with some items of information including the incident number which should be in the receipt for payment or on the Parking Charge Notice, and copies of any correspondence which may have been exchanged.

If a member is found to be in breach of the Code, they would be subject to our Sanctions Scheme, where Operators who breach the Code can expect to receive a number of penalty points depending on the severity of the offence. As with driving offences, once an operator’s ‘licence’ has reached twelve points in any given 12-month period, then they are likely to be faced with suspension or expulsion. The Code of practice can be reviewed on our website- www.britishparking.co.uk.

Many thanks for bringing this matter to my attention and I look forward to receiving the additional information requested at your convenience.

Regards

AOS Team"

Still no word from the operator themselves since the letter demanding a court hearing. Will keep you all updated on anything that happens

Kite2010

Basically they want your information so that they can pass everything onto the PPC in question and have a good laugh about someone thinking that the BPA cares.

HO87

titch2k6 wrote: »

Still no word from the operator themselves since the letter demanding a court hearing. Will keep you all updated on anything that happens

Strange. Perhaps Parvez Mirza, the Litigation Manager at VCS's sister company Excel, and qualified solicitor, has been on holiday because looking at the 'Net he is the man with the answer.

Apparently he and his predecessor at VCS, Naveed Akbar, (with whom he's in partnership with at Legatec Solutions Ltd) consider themselves at the cutting edge. Akbar in particular has been "at the forefront in the application of existing legal principles to assist in the establishment of legal precedents beneficial to the entire Private Parking Industry"

"Additionally Parvez has worked in an in-house capacity for a leading Private Parking Company successfully developing a legal department with the aim of increasing company revenue from non-paying motorists usually heeding non-legal advice from Community Forums."

Neither would want to publicise reference to the recent case of Martin Cutts in Stockport presumably where Excel were represented by none other than Parvez himself?

titch2k6

Kite2010 wrote: »

Basically they want your information so that they can pass everything onto the PPC in question and have a good laugh about someone thinking that the BPA cares.

The PPC in question already have all of my information, so they can't get anything further there and as for thinking the BPA cares - I been involved in this thing too long, and read too many other people's posts in this forum, to think that.

Just stated that they seem to be showing an interest in the breach by the fact that they actually bothered to write and acknowledge it!

titch2k6

Just an update as is now a couple of weeks since my last post.

It has been a few months now since the issue of the notice by VCS in Sheffield. Within the first weeks of having the ticket and communicating with the operator, it seemed as though I was beating my head against a wall in a system that just did not want to know and I always received a response from the operator within a 1 week period.

My last letter to the operator was in December last year where I followed advice from this site and requested a Court Hearing, where I intended to call the landowner as a witness in my defence. I have heard nothing on this matter since from them.

I do not want to be too premature, but I think we have a win for the people on this one!!! Will post up any changes to this if they happen, but as far as I am concerned at present, this case is over.

Many thanks for all the input and advice handed down by all that posted and I hope the information within this post may help someone else take on the system in the future.