How do PPC make their money?

kev-1977

Hello all.

This maybe an obvious question. But how do PPC actually make their money?

For example. The PPC ) is contracted to patrol a supermarket

I could be wrong, but I was guessing the following

- PPC patrol carpark for free. PPC pays supermarket a percentage of all tickets paid.
- PPC pay the supermarket a flat fee to patrol. Then keeps 100% of the cash earned.
- PPC pay nothing to patrol, keeps 100% of the cash and the supermarket is happy cars parked are complying to the rules.
- PPC is in fact an ethical company, feels horrible for ticketing people out of hard earned money and gives it all to charity. Supermarket agrees and matches it.

Coupon-mad

kev-1977 wrote: »

Hello all.

This maybe an obvious question. But how do PPC actually make their money?

For example. The PPC ) is contracted to patrol a supermarket

I could be wrong, but I was guessing the following

- PPC patrol carpark for free. PPC pays supermarket a percentage of all tickets paid.
- PPC pay the supermarket a flat fee to patrol. Then keeps 100% of the cash earned.
- PPC pay nothing to patrol, keeps 100% of the cash and the supermarket is happy cars parked are complying to the rules.
- PPC is in fact an ethical company, feels horrible for ticketing people out of hard earned money and gives it all to charity. Supermarket agrees and matches it.

It depends on the arrangement but IMHO it is always one of the 2 scenarios in bold. Except that in the second instance I would just correct you as it should read: ''supermarket is fooled into thinking the PPC is interested in parking management and mistakenly buys the spiel that cars parked will then be complying to the rules. Supermarket eventually finds out too late that PPC is harassing and driving away its customers and breaking disability law, with the only agenda being money alone - exactly like a protection racket.''

HO87

+1 C-M's assessment is right on the money.

The other common scenario is where the PPC supplies a "self-ticketing" package - usually taken up by smaller operations such as those at clubs, pubs and residential estates.

At a fixed cost the PPC supplies a few signs, tickets and wallets to the landowner/operator who then applies the tickets themselves and supplies details of them to the PPC. The PPC sit back and simply send out the standard letterchain and pay a flat fee to the operator - often as little as £10 for each ticket successfully collected on.

In such cases it is my contention that the PPC is acting as a factor or, putting it more simply, a debt collector. The VCS judgment makes it clear that in order to be able to contract with a PPC that company must have sufficient interest in the land to be able offer a contract in the first place. In a self-ticketing scenario a PPC has even less interest than in others and cannot possibly be in a position to contract. In such a case any debt, if indeed there is any, is owed to the landowner/operator and in acting on their behalf to pursue that a PPC acts as a debt collector. Were they simply to pursue those tickets issued to vehicles registered to a lease company or company fleet owners then arguably those would represent a business-to-business debt and no CCA licence is required. However, as we know all too well, PPC's pursue anyone - crucially - including private individuals. Pursuing debts from individuals requires as CCA licence.

To my knowledge none of the PPC members of the BPA Approved Operator Scheme have Consumer Credit Act licences and nor are they solicitors (they too can pursue debts on behalf of others).

kev-1977

Thanks for the replies.

It's quite a nice little cash earner really isn't it?

for every £50 ticket paid
£10 goes to the supermarket.
£10 expenses. paying DVLA, postage stamps for non payers and nice shiny new signs.
£30 left over.

And because far more people pay the ticket than ignore it, it's a regular cashflow. NICE.

bargepole

kev-1977 wrote: »

...It's quite a nice little cash earner really isn't it?...

It certainly [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] was for Excel/VCS, whose managing director earned £768,000 last year according to company accounts.

Their tickets tend to be at the £90-£100 level, of which around 69% are paid. However, his greed in trying to up that percentage by issuing court claims looks to have backfired spectacularly. I wouldn't be surprised if the other PPCs pelt him with rotten tomatoes at the next annual conference.

HO87

bargepole wrote: »

It certainly [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] was for Excel/VCS, whose managing director earned £768,000 last year according to company accounts.

Their tickets tend to be at the £90-£100 level, of which around 69% are paid. However, his greed in trying to up that percentage by issuing court claims looks to have backfired spectacularly. I wouldn't be surprised if the other PPCs pelt him with rotten tomatoes at the next annual conference.

Absolutely. Of course the Parkex conference has only just passed so Simon has plenty of time to sail off into the sunset before his fellow BPA AOS board members catch up with him.