Playing the PPCs at their own game

bargepole

Update: Now received the "Final Reminder" (first on many, no doubt), containing the usual bluff and bluster.

My reply as follows:

THIS IS NOT AN APPEAL

Dear Sirs,

Despite my message and attached invoice of 28 June, which you appear not to have read, you have sent me another letter purporting to be a "final reminder" under the mistaken impression that your original speculative invoice was in some way lawful or enforceable. I would again remind you that in my letter to you of 11 June, I explained to you why this is not the case, and why I won't be paying you.

I note that, in your latest letter, you refer to "debt collectors", "County Court proceedings", "bailiffs" and other nonsense.

I have a Freedom of Information document from the Ministry of Justice (FOI75999) which reveals that, in 2011, no money claims were issued in any County Court in England & Wales by UKPC.

This means that you are in breach of the OFT guidelines, and your actions have accordingly been reported to Buckinghamshire Trading Standards.

You will also recall, from my 11 June letter, the contractual terms therein, which I repeat here: " [FONT=&quot]If I receive any further correspondence from yourselves or any so-called debt collectors, regarding this matter, you contractually agree to pay me an administration charge of £90 for each such letter received."
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Accordingly, I have attached my invoice no. UKPC002 in the sum of £90.00, payment of which is due within 14 days.
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]My previous invoice, no. UKPC001 was sent to you on 28 June, and is now overdue for payment. Unless payment is received within the next 7 days, I shall take steps to enforce action against your company, including but not limited to, a County Court claim for recovery of outstanding sums plus associated legal costs.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]You should be aware that a County Court Judgment against you could severely affect your company's ability to obtain credit, or to obtain goods and services from external suppliers. It can also result in Court bailiffs being appointed to recover payment, incurring additional fees, and can result in tangible assets of your business, such as vehicles and office equipment, being seized and sold to cover outstanding debts.
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Yours faithfully.[/FONT]

LincolnshireYokel

My standard text, shamelessly cobbled together from various sources goes like this now:

[FONT=&quot]Dear Sir

WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE TO COSTS
Unsolicited and unenforceable Invoice no:
Location:

Dear Unreadable Squiggle

With reference to the unsolicited invoice left on my car in XXXXX Car park, XXXXX.

I dispute the charge for the reasons set out below. Please note that without prejudice to the fact that I dispute the whole basis of the claim, my main beef is with what I consider to be a disproportionate and punitive level of charge.

[FONT=&quot]1. No contract[/FONT]
There was no contract between myself and either [PPC} or [store]. I did not see the notices when I parked and at that time had no idea any charge whatsoever was required. So the requirements of forming a contract such as a meeting of minds, agreement, certainty of terms, etc were not satisfied. Had I known when I parked, I would have been happy to pay.

[FONT=&quot]2. Trespass[/FONT]
If there was no contract, then at most I was guilty of a civil trespass (though this is neither admitted nor denied). If this was the case, I would be liable to damages. Given that I did no damage to the car par, the car park is free, and furthermore that the car park was not full when I parked and I believe also when I left, I would suggest that there was therefore no loss at all.

[FONT=&quot]3. Punitive/unfair/unreasonable[/FONT]
Without prejudice to the foregoing, even if there was a contract (which is denied):

[FONT=&quot]a. Punitive[/FONT]
The charge that you are levying is punitive and therefore void (ie unenforceable) against me. The charge of £nn is arbitrary and in no way proportionate to any alleged breach of contract. Nor does it even equate to local council charges (which in any event are a completely different beast). This is all the more so for the additional charge of £nn which you say accrues after seven days of non-payment. This would also apply to your mention of any costs incurred through debt recovery unless it followed a court order.

[FONT=&quot]b. Unfair[/FONT]
The charge you are levying is an unfair term (and therefore not binding) pursuant to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. In particular, Schedule 2 of those Regulations gives an indicative (and non-exhaustive) list of terms which may be regarded as unfair and includes at Schedule 2(1)(e) "Terms which have the object or effect of requiring any consumer who fails to fulfil his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation." Furthermore, Regulation 5(1) states that: "A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer" and 5(2) states: "A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term."

[FONT=&quot]c. Unreasonable[/FONT]
The charge you are levying is an unreasonable indemnity clause pursuant to section 4(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 which provides that: "A person cannot by reference to any contract term be made to indemnify another person (whether a party to the contract or not) in respect of liability that may be incurred by the other for negligence or breach of contract, except in so far as the contract term satisfies the requirement of reasonableness.”

d. Vehicle Control Services vs HMRC [2012] UKUT 129(TCC) Appeal Number FTC 51/2011
Not withstanding the above, in the above recent ruling of the Upper Tax Trubunal, which is a court of Superior record, and whos rulings stand in all lower courts, are it was ruled:
1. VCS did not have any right to occupy land or to pursue any action in trespass (which is what VCS had claimed they were doing).
2. Such payments they received by way of "Parking Charge Notices" were not therefore a payment by way of damages and were not therefore exempt from VAT.
3. That on the basis of their standard agreement with landowners there could have been no contract formed between VCS and the motorist because its limited rights to access to the land did not extend to being able to offer the right to park.
4. The signs used by VCS cannot have effect because they have no right in law to make any offer to park in the first instance.
5. Any contract to park could only be formed between the landowner and the motorist
6. Any parking charges collected by VCS would therefore be, in effective, damages in breach of contract or trespass but because they were retained by VCS they constituted a standard-rated consideration and VAT was therefore payable against them.

IN short, since VCS dont own the land, they have no legal authority to offer parking, and no legal authority to pursue motorists for any charges, and any such charges may only represent liquidated damages in trespass, may only be pursued by the landowner, and since the car park was free, amount to nothing.

In respect of the above, please clarify
i) Are you the landowner of the car park in question? If not, who is the landowner?
ii) if not, please explain how you think the above ruling does not apply to you,

e) No Statutory Authority
Please indicate where in the Road Traffic Act 1991 or the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
i) Imitation Road Markings on private land are given statutory weight
ii) and where private companies are given statutory authority to enforce them?

[FONT=&quot]Further information[/FONT]
Please take this letter to constitute a written appeal in accordance with your Notice. I also make the following points. I would be grateful for answers to all questions raised and in this respect remind you of the obligations set out in the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct (http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct).

1. Your cause of action: please make this clear. If you claim that I entered into a contract, please send me a complete breakdown of all the terms and conditions of that contract to which you say I agreed.

2. Your loss: please give me a full breakdown as to the actual loss you say was suffered by either yourselves or [store]

3. The appeal: please send me a copy of the procedure which you follow, along with setting out what factors are taken into account, who is the judge or arbitrator and whether they are independent, whether you require oral submissions, whether it is governed by the Arbitration Act 1996 and any other relevant factors. In addition, please give me disclosure of any arguments being put by yourselves on this matter in the Appeal so that I might reply to any new issues which are raised. If you decide to dismiss the appeal, please send me the full reasoning in relation to each of the specific points raised in this letter. I will take failure to comply with this request as a withdrawal of your invoice and any claim relating to it.

4. Time for the appeal. Your parking charge notice says: ‘ "You now have 14 days to make payment. if full payment is not received an additional £10 administration fee will become due and the case will be passed to debt recovery agents" Please tell me how you say this complies with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct?

5. Your 'Parking Charge Notice': what do you say is the status of this document? Do you claim it is an invoice pursuant to a contract (in other words an invoice which would generally get declared to the Inland Revenue) or does it have some other status? If it is the latter, please clarify exactly what you say it is, and if it is an invoice how it complies with VCS vs HMRC??

6. Are you VAT registered? If not, why are you not complying with the ruling in VCS vs HMRC above?

7. Please send me details of any Codes by which you claim to comply and any governing body or other such organisation of which you are a member.

8. Please provide me with the name and address of your solicitors (if any) in order that I may copy them into this correspondence.

9. For the avoidance of doubt, please do not do the following:
a. Send me any document purporting to be from the County Court unless it is a valid Claim Form duly issued.
b. Write to me again threatening to send round bailiffs without first going through the process of issuing a Claim Form and obtaining judgment. Any such communication will constitute Harrasment under the Harassment Act and S.40 Administration of Justice Act, and is a criminal offence, and [ppc] and [store] WILL be reported to the Police.
c. Send me any standard letters either from yourselves or debt-collectors without addressing the specific points raised in this response.

Note that Administration of Justice Act 1970
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1970/31
makes it a Criminal offence for a creditor or a creditor's agent (often a debt collection agency) to make demands (for money), which are aimed at causing 'alarm, distress or humiliation, because of their frequency or publicity or manner'. Equally, a creditor will be committing an offence if they falsely imply that non-payment of the debt will lead to criminal proceedings; or the creditor pretends to be someone they are not e.g. a court official or bailiff. It is also an offence to send a person a document which looks like it has been sent from a court.

10. If you want to make a claim , for your information you can issue online or I am sure that XXXXXX County Court would also be very happy to give you a form. My address for service is set out at the top of the letter you sent me. If you do decide to issue:
a. I reserve the right to add further arguments to my Defence.
b. Please rest assured that I will be more than happy to attend any court mediations which might be offered.

11. For your information, I have also put a copy of this correspondence on my blogs and intend to cover this case there. I am also sharing it with my two accounts on Twitter: as well as my accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn.

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,[/FONT]

muckybutt

Nice one BP, I too am starting the fun with parking eye and fully intend to pursue all the way, letter draughted out already, similar to your linc yokel but edited to suit.....about time we fought them at their own game

Best bit is they'll probably think I was the driver on the day the ticket was issued seeing as its me that has replied to them rather than the RK :D so they'll be barking up the wrong tree whilst I pee on them from a great height :rotfl:

taffy056

Great stuff

BiigDawg

bargepole - i have to applaud what you are doing, and its interesting reading. well done.

luckwudaveit

BiigDawg wrote: »

bargepole - i have to applaud what you are doing, and its interesting reading. well done.

Just come across this thread and its great reading. Great effort Bargepole. Look forward to the next installment.

Oopsadaisy

I did this a few years ago with a company that kept writing to me [not a PPC] and eventually got sent a chq for £200 [4x£50 letters]....and they stopped writing to me.

bargepole

So today I got the first Debt Recovery Plus letter - standard as per the letterchain in the stickies.

This has now been fired off to UKPC:

THIS IS NOT AN APPEAL

Dear Sirs,

Despite my previous messages, which you still appear not to have read, I have now received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus, with another lame attempt to collect monies to which you are not entitled.

I have written separately to DR+, explaining that there is no "debt" to collect, and referring the matter back to yourselves.

I will again reiterate, from my 11 June letter, the contractual terms therein, which I repeat here:

[FONT=&quot]If I receive any further correspondence from yourselves or any so-called debt collectors, regarding this matter, you contractually agree to pay me an administration charge of £90 for each such letter received.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Accordingly, I have attached my invoice no. UKPC003 in the sum of £90.00, payment of which is due within 14 days.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This makes a total of £270.00 that you now owe me, of which £180.00 is overdue for payment. As previously stated, I am considering issuing a County Court claim to recover these sums, but if you or your agents are going to continue to issue these meaningless threatograms, I shall wait until the total indebtedness exceeds £750, at which point I can apply for a Winding Up Order against UKPC Ltd.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
I would strongly urge you to consider paying up now to put an end to this matter and avoid these potentially dire consequences.


[FONT=&quot]Yours faithfully.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]bargepole
[/FONT]

Bobby_Tables_2

<makes popcorn>

HardWorker2010_2

Loving it!

Thanks BP.