Car Parking Partnership at university

taffy056

IanManc wrote: »

That's not true.

I know of people who have been threatened with the witholding of their degree until they paid other debts to the university, specifically the replacement cost of missing library books and unpaid accommodation bills for university residences. The can stop you graduating if you owe any debt to the university.

The issue here is whether this is a debt to the univeristy, and so far every poster has thought that it isn't - including me.

That is a completely different matter, this is a THIRD party company ! Its akin of the Uni saying we won't give you your degree because you owe HSBC an overdraft. One has no connection with the other at all.

This is a parking company who are trying to act like an authority , and their person there is trying scare people to pay their unenforcible invoices, my answer to him if it was me, if CCP want money from me, take me to a small claims court!

Coupon-mad

It's even more akin to the Uni saying 'we won't give Tom Smith his degree because a parking company allege that his grandad owes them money for when he brought Tom into college one day!' :rotfl:

split_second

if its a city centre campus they are probably trying to discourage shoppers pretending to be students

Clairyt

I really am very grateful for all your answers and you have put my mind at rest. Why do the university use CPP? I don't understand what is in it for them? I guess I originally assumed that any charges would go to the uni in which case I could understand them chasing up unpaid fines but as we are instructed to pay fines directly to CPP then I don't get how they would even know that I owe money?
Theoretically - does this basically mean free parking at Uni?? (Trust me I'm not brave enough to actually put it to the test!!)

taffy056

Most of us on here do not endorse taking the michael, if the £2 goes towards the Uni fair enough its their car park so they have a right to charge, but the parking company try to fix problems that don't exist for the most part, they come into a car park with no problems, but then weeks after they come there are huge problems, people getting invoices for nothing more than a tyre touching a white line, or someone daring to come to a car park twice in a day, then they saying you been there all day!

And so on and so on, that is the reality of these chancers, they scam people out of money they have no right to have.

HO87

The arrangement that CPP has with many universities is the provision of back-office facilities collection/enforcement for what are otherwise self-ticketing operations. Rarely are the hi-viz'ed attendants employed by them but more usually are Uni security staff. This may put a different spin on things I'd venture to suggest though I am concerned that what remains a contractual agreement is being enforced in this way.

One has to ask whether the comment made by the attendant in this case, to the effect that the OP's degree may be withheld if she fails to pay up, is warranted and amounts to a menace? If it is indeed a menace then one has to ask a further question and that is: Is the threat of withholding a degree against a relatively small, unpaid alleged debt a proper means of enforcing it? The hi-viz wearer will probably just be an innocent agent but his supervisers should have thought through these issues.

A clue might lie in the word proportionality. After all a garage proprietor may properly retain a car if the bill for its being serviced is unpaid by its owner. However, apart from the matter of expense a car owner could readily obtain another car but could the OP so readily obtain a replacement degree given the investment of time and her debt to Student Finance England, or whoever?

The OP would do well to discuss this with the advisers at the union or specifically a NUS officer. She might even want to discuss the niceties of s.21 Theft Act 1968 with them, perhaps alluding to the fact that one is not obliged to complain of criminal conduct. After all the proof required in a county court is on the balance of probabilities.

Clairyt

Thank you HO87. I am pretty sure that the high vis guys are uni security - I'm not sure I fully understand you though - does this make a difference? I will speak to NUS and find out where I stand. I have never intentionally parked illegally but for instance when there are no spaces and you don't want to be late it is very tempting to park where there isn't a bay (there is also no sign saying you shouldn't do this). It happens everyday where I am and I can't believe that every student pays their fines. Surely we would have heard by now if Degrees were being withheld bacause of it? We have all heard about degrees being withheld because of library fine etc but surely a third party company is a different matter?

Thanks again

Clairyt

PS - I don't actually know of anyone of know anyone who knows of anyone who has actually had their degree witheld!!

taffy056

Can I point out that you haven't done anything illegal, to even have the thought you have broken any laws is something you need to get out of. For clarity, these tickets you have had are in fact invoices requesting payment, nothing more. They are not Penalty Charge Notices issued by councils or Fixed Penalty Notices from the police, they are just speculative invoices from a private company. They have no weight in law, and should simply be ignored as it will not go further than empty threats.

Coupon-mad

IanManc wrote: »

I agree.
The second - that a jobsworth in a hi-viz is harassing people about whether they've paid the "fines" he's dished out - is another thing that they can take up on behalf of students. Whether "fines" have been paid is nothing to do with a parking attendant or a university security man, and he shouldn't pestering people about it or telling students they can't graduate if they don't pay. His behaviour is inappropriate and I think it is bullying. The NUS is a union which exists to protect its members just like any other union, and they can address this issue too.

.

That's a very valid point and I agree that the OP should stick his/her neck out and raise this with the Student Union onsite and/or NUS, it is harassment.

Make sure you do not say who was driving the car (they will assume it was you, Clairyt but it needn't necessarily have been, could have been another student at the wheel or a friend/relative on any given day). Never furnish a PPC with information, especially who the driver was, it just covers you further to know they don't know! So when discussing it say 'the car was parked' and don't identify which driver did or didn't find a fake PCN - but you can say you know that the registered keeper isn't liable, even if any 'worthless windscreen flyers' have been issued by a private company. It's all irrelevant but the harassment of you is not.

There is a similar thread with similar questions about with-holding degrees (won't happen) asked on pepipoo at the moment which is also a Uni who use CPP (aka Liberty Printers in fact, tons of threads about them on t'internet!):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=67022

Pepipoo posters have gone off on a bit of a tangent having made sure the OP of that thread is happy to ignore fake PCNs, but much of what's been posted recently is very tongue in cheek!