Advice wanted on UKPC "fine"

The_Big_Goose

Today we received a UKPC parking "charge" on our window screen, after we popped into a store at a retail park for 15 minutes. You are able to park for free for up to 2 hours at this retail park, however we stupidly forgot to go and get a little free parking ticket from one of the ticket booths.

I understand that this "fine" is not legally enforceable, and from reading this forum, the advice I have seen is to ignore them.

We phoned the Manager at the store and explained what had happened, and he has agreed to send UKPC an email asking them to cancel their parking "fine". We have to go into the store later this week and see the Manager. We have our receipt from this morning which shows the time we paid (and subsequently would have left the store) which was just 5 minutes after the ticket was issued - 15 minutes after the car was "first seen". The Manager has said that he does not have much weight to make UKPC cancel their "fine", but is willing to try. However, we wonder if we should go down this path in case this provides UKPC with further information about us.

Any advice on how to proceed?

Much appreciated.

pogofish

What fine is this then?

UKPC simply issue speculative invoices that you are not obliged to consider.

Simply ignore them and the toilet paper they will send you - The manager/store will probably try to persuade you to write to them to appeal but all that does is confirm you ID to them and make it look like you take them seriously - the less contact you have with them, the quicker they will go away. However, it would be a good idea to haul the manager over the coals for allowing these chancers to operate and harrass customers in the first place.

Check the forum sticky to see what letters UKPC will send you, so you are prepared and can tick them off as they come-in!

give_them_FA

See what the manager has to say, but do not waste any time or effort contacting UKPC. Indeed you might, as you surmise, have simply binned their ticket- it is indeed unenforceable.

What type of car park is it? Does it serve only the store you used? If so, then UKPC are the servants of the store, not its masters, and must do what they are told by those who employ them.

If, however, it is a retail park then it isn't so easy.

But what IS easy is getting rid of UKPC; just completely blank them, and after getting a series of asinine letters you will be left in peace. You will be threatened with court, but they don't have a leg to stand on in a free car park and won't actually try it.

Stephen_Leak

Ignore any poison pen letters they send. Please be aware that they will threaten you with solicitors, debt collectors, county court, county court judgements, loss of credit rating, sending the boys around to break both your legs (OK, I made that last one up).

Personally, after the first letter, I'd send both the PPC and the car park owner a "Letter Before Action", telling them to stop or you will sue them for harrassment under Section 3 of the Protection from Harrassment Act 1997. They are "jointly and severally liable". And, when the PPC send their next letter, you can do it too. It's ever so easy.

The letter to the car park owner is the important one. This PPC is convinced that they have the right to do what they like and won't take a blind bit of notice. However, it should make the car park owner think twice about their contract with the PPC. This particular PPC needs to be put out of business.

give_them_FA

Yes, if you are up for it, the bully-boy tactics these companies use to try to enforce their unenforceable charges leave them wide open to be sued. Unfortunately too few people do it. I did, it was easy.

fil_cad

ABSOLUTELY IGNORE the scummy scammers, keep your cash and starve the paracites into bankrupcy :money:

The_Big_Goose

Thanks for all the replies so far.

Its a retail park with multiple stores (around 10 major high street chain stores). We literally popped in, made a quick purchase, and back to the car. There were 10 minutes when they said the car was first "seen" and when the ticket was issued, and we were back at the car 5 minutes after that.

The "ticket issuer" must have watching us from the second we got out of the car, counted the minutes down, and issued the "ticket".

give_them_FA

As you have seen it has zero to do with car park management, 100% to do with scamming credulous drivers out of money. Nice to know they will get nothing from you.

Tell everyone you know, you don't want any of your friends or relatives falling for this con.

fil_cad

They are like rats in a sewer, they stick there heads out of the grids as soon as your gone they jump slap ypu with a BOGUS charge and then scurry back down the sewer hopeing your daft enough to fill up there filthy bank accounts

The_Big_Goose

fil_cad wrote: »

They are like rats in a sewer, they stick there heads out of the grids as soon as your gone they jump slap ypu with a BOGUS charge and then scurry back down the sewer hopeing your daft enough to fill up there filthy bank accounts

Funnily enough there wasn't a sight of them when we got back to the car. I guess they scuttled off, down the other end of the car park and hid.

vax2002

Is it too late to take what you bought back and demand a refund.
Tell them it is because they have a store car park with people writing fake parking tickets and you dont want to be a customer any more, they will say ohh there is nothing we can do, just reply, sorry dont care, refund please....
This is the only way to make these stores wake up.
They pay the rent, they have the clout