UKPC charge not paid now debt recovery letter comes - what do I do?

ManxRed

We are indeed sure about this.

Under civil contract law, the redress for breach of contract (which is what this falls under - there is no actual legislation in place covering private parking tickets) is actual losses suffered. And this can only be pursued with the party who formed the contract - so the driver, and NOT necessarily the Registered Keeper (although they have no way of knowing if they are the same person and you are not obliged to tell them).

In most car parks, i.e. free ones, the actual losses suffered is zero. So they CANNOT charge an exorbitant amount for breaching their terms and conditions of parking. This would be deemed a contractual penalty, completely unenforceable under contract law (you can Google this if you like - 'contractual penalties').

Ignore the ticket, do not contact them, and ignore all the scary letters which are essentially full of bull....

LincolnshireYokel

Dont confuse a debt colletor with a bailiff. A bailiff will knock if there was a court case where you lost, and didnt pay the court order within 28 days. Then the bailiff can then get a warrant and knock on your door. Bailiffs need to be registered.

A debt collector has no such powers, anyone can set them selves up as a debt collector. All you need is a scruffy tin hut on a scrapyard that buys stolen lead and war memorial plaques. A debt collectors has zilch powers to do anything or enforce anything except by illegally intimidating or harassing you, and one quick call to the police will cure that.

Its all unenforceable rubbish, and the only way they can get money out of you is if you fall for there otherwise toothless scare tactics.

RENO_2

To manxred and lincolnshireyokel, thankyou very much for your replies. At the risk of boring you the details of my situation are as follows...Crescent link retail park has a very large car park for which there are no parking fees, it is free to park there...always has been, but i had been parked in the car park of a local garden centre earlier that day and when i got back to my car, someone had left a 5" score on the rear side panel of my car. As i had only bought the car 4 weeks ago you can understand that i was rather annoyed. So when i went to park at crescent link later that same day i did park a little further away from the car next to me on my left which meant i was about half a tyre width over the white parking line on my right. I guess that after my earlier experience i was being a little over cautious and anyway, every space to my right, at least 30 spaces were all empty, in fact, about 2/3rds of the whole car park was empty at that time of day so in no way was i causing anyone any inconvenience. I go into the store..( 25 mns max )...come back to my car and i find a parking ticket stuck on my car...just wasn't my day Sorry for ranting on a bit guys but you know how it is....Anyway...i have decided i'm gonna listen to what you say, so...I AINT GONNA PAY...

P/S

What should i pack for my stay in HMP.....Toothbrush, towel, clean underwear lol lol ( joking )

Coupon-mad

It's not a 'parking ticket' though, it's an invoice which is unsolicited and unjustified and which you are not going to take seriously surely? It simply impersonates a parking ticket and then follows a predictable course of scary letters.

Just start ignoring all this junk mail like we all do and look here, just to show you it isn't just us strangers on a random forum telling you to ignore this scam:

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

That's a solicitor on Watchdog and his advice relates to ANY fake PCN from ANY Private Parking Company (the scammers are known as PPCs on here, for short).

http://www.justanswer.com/uk-law/5isk3-hi-...clesall-rd.html

A barrister on the second link says ''This is a private land fine. They are unenforceable. This is not a parking fine however it may look. These companies are private firms that have no more right to punish you for the manner of your parking than your neighbour does. Only the police or the local Council can do that.''

If you look at the third from top thread 'PPC letters & threats' on this parking forum you will find preview pics of the letters that PPCs use. See my signature for how to get back to the main thread list and see the top threads.

Just play snap with the letters, they will match our pics, honestly!:)

bondy_lad

forget the packing, ur going no where,, just keep all threat o grams you recieve just in case you run out of loo paper, there you go, jobs a good un, enjoy your porridge in the morning,, AT YOUR HOUSE.

RENO_2

Hi all, just want to give you an update on my situation. since i got my parking charge notice from ukpc at a londonderry retail park back in june this year and asked for your advice i hadn't heard anything from ukpc until now, two months later, i have now just recieved my first letter from them asking for the full payment of £90.00. I intend to continue taking your advice and i will be ignoring this extortionate demand for my hard earned cash. by the way, just as a point of interest, the owners of this car park have now, after much public outrage, have now terminated their contract with ukpc. They got booted because of the over zealous issuing of these parking charges and also because the retailers were realising the damage being done to their reputations. Anyway, i now await letter number two from ukpc. And to all you guys on here...keep up the good work and thankyou. as i said before....I AINT GONNA PAY.
P/S. Will keep you updated.

Stephen_Leak

RENO wrote: »

<snip> What should i pack for my stay in HMP.....Toothbrush, towel, clean underwear lol lol ( joking )

I think you might appreciate this, especially page 13, lines 20 to 27. VCS Parking Control vs. Ronald Ibbotson, S!!!!horpe, 2012.

As UKPC have lost the contract for this site, then that should make it impossible for them to continue to pursue any outstanding tickets for this site.

taffy056

Good news that they lost the contract, hope they don't renew with another bunch of scammers. It's about time that retailers realise that these morons damage their reputations, it's like having a threatening letter from tesco or pc world etc for having the cheek of staying to long spending money at their shop.

Coupon-mad

RENO wrote: »

Hi all, just want to give you an update on my situation. since i got my parking charge notice from ukpc at a londonderry retail park back in june this year and asked for your advice i hadn't heard anything from ukpc until now, two months later, i have now just recieved my first letter from them asking for the full payment of £90.00. I intend to continue taking your advice and i will be ignoring this extortionate demand for my hard earned cash. by the way, just as a point of interest, the owners of this car park have now, after much public outrage, have now terminated their contract with ukpc.

They got booted because of the over zealous issuing of these parking charges and also because the retailers were realising the damage being done to their reputations. Anyway, i now await letter number two from ukpc. And to all you guys on here...keep up the good work and thankyou. as i said before....I AINT GONNA PAY.
P/S. Will keep you updated.

Just shows the importance of complaints to the retailers every time:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/axing-of-zealous-ticket-wardens-at-derry-car-park-is-victory-for-people-power-16195810.html

Well done.

scone

i got one of these fines on saturday in boucher retail pk. belfast.
there were 100s of cars parked that day many taking up 2 spaces. (bmw jeeps)
we couldnt find a space so parked our golf neatly beside another vehicle at the end of the parking bay. returned from shopping to find the ticket on the windscreen for ' parking on a roadway'. £60. we were amazed. fuming as we had spent over £150. in the shops as well. only then did we see the small signs high up on the lamposts around the carpark. you dont expect to get a ticket in a free carpark of a retail park, its not like we had to pay and display or ripped the ar$€ out of the priviledge to park free. i dont want to pay this opportunistic fineto this scumbag organisation. as for the dvla....