Another UKCPS gripe!!!!

puredriving

Hi

I've read a few threads on this forum already about UKCPS PCN's so sorry if this has been done to death but I would appreciate some more advise on my case specifically.

I received a PCN earlier today from the aforementioned company for parking in a disabled spot despite having the Blue Badge + clock on display (It belongs to my gran who I was taking shopping). I rang the number which was on their big sign and the guy on the other end said that I should ring again in the morning on another number "once the ticket had gone through the computer" should I want to appeal (I didn't give my name or any other details you'll be glad to know).

Afterwards my initial reaction was to ignore it but I went on their website and found this page about court cases and how you shouldn't listen to advice off certain websites:

ukcps.net/court.php

Now I know that some of the wording on there is just scaremongering but are court cases common for these things? I've had a conditional offer for an MOD job recently and can't afford the risk of having a court case against my name should they go that far. Basically, what are the odds of this happening for a typical run of the mill £60 fine?

Cheers.

LincolnshireYokel

Yes, its all bollox. For a start, imitation road markings on private land have no legal validity or enforceability whatsoever. The Road Traffic Act , and the Blue Badge Scheme, do not apply on private land whatsoevere, and even if they did, a private compoany has no legal ability to enforce them.

And stop calling it a 'fine'. Only the courts can issue a fine, a private company cannot fine you since the Distress Act 1267 was passed. Its a begging letter asking for a donation.

Secondly, if the sign says you must display a Blue Badge to park there, that in itself is illegal under the Blue Badge regulations and the Equality and Disability Act (EDA), because even if the imitation road markings were enforceable, theres nowhere in the regs compel you to display a blue badge, hence insisting you do have one displayed discriminates against people entitled to park there who dont have a blue badge, such people are defined in the EDA, such as cancer sufferers.

Third you get all the other stuff about the fact its an illegal penalty charge, and they are not the landowners so cant offer parking anyway yada yada yada.........

Stop taking them seriously, its a load of cr4p. Ignore them

And ill tell you the odds exactly. The private parking industry issued 1.8 mill of these idiot invoices, they only issued 849 court papers, and 800 were withdrawn, leaving only 49 cases that went before the judge, 25 were undefended so they won on judgement on default. Had they been defended properly, they could have been defeated.

So, 25 in 1.8 mill, do you fancy those odds?

I do.

puredriving

Thanks, the ignoring of UKCPS shall offically commence, Once I start receiving letters I shall report back with pictures of interesting and innovative origami's

esmerobbo

UKCPS do unfortunately have a wee bit of history pursuing disabled bay invoices.
I think most of the cases listed on their site are disabled bay cases.
When you say you had a blue badge and clock on display what reason did it say the invoice was issued?
There is only a relatively minuscule chance you would receive a claim from them, but they do issue! However recently Heswell (the office manager) has been dropping them at the last minute when they are defended.

With reference to their website claims, he seems to have removed the list of 22 undefended cases he had posted up.

I did email him and ask how he could claim an undefended claim as a victory?

trisontana

Haswell still has this staement on the website:-

The above are a small selection of recent successful cases

If you believe that you would think that UKCPS have taken many, many people to court. Of course that's nonsense. I should like to ask him what he defines as "a small selection" and "recent".

SodG24

puredriving wrote: »

I've had a conditional offer for an MOD job recently and can't afford the risk of having a court case against my name should they go that far. Basically, what are the odds of this happening for a typical run of the mill £60 fine?

Cheers.

Even if UKCPS did court ( which they won't ) it would be small claims court so there is no "mark" against your name and nothing criminal so you have no need to declare it to a potential employer and they won't find it on any sort of check.

interstellaflyer

SodG24 wrote: »

Even if UKCPS did court ( which they won't ) it would be small claims court so there is no "mark" against your name and nothing criminal so you have no need to declare it to a potential employer and they won't find it on any sort of check.

Actually, that bit is not quite true, there are some jobs which require both a CRB search and finacial search, so a CCJ could impact on he OPs offer of a job with the MOD, I know it's extremely unlikely that the parking cowboys will do court however it is wrong to say that if they did and won, it would have no impact on the OPs career.

trisontana

But you only get a CCJ if you fail to pay whatever the judge orders within 28 days.

SodG24

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Actually, that bit is not quite true, there are some jobs which require both a CRB search and finacial search, so a CCJ could impact on he OPs offer of a job with the MOD, I know it's extremely unlikely that the parking cowboys will do court however it is wrong to say that if they did and won, it would have no impact on the OPs career.

Fair point, I'll clarify it then - if they take him to court, they win and he fails to pay then yes, it would show. Likewise there's a possibility it would have to be declared for Developed Vetting but very unlikely that it would cause any issues.

Coupon-mad

trisontana wrote: »

But you only get a CCJ if you fail to pay whatever the judge orders within 28 days.

That's right. The OP should not worry about this one jot:

Private parking companies, CCJs and your credit rating

And after the recent cases linked fully in a CAG thread below, UKCPS or any other PPC would be on a very sticky wicket if they try Court now:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?357883-Judgment-VCS-Vehicle-Control-Services-have-you-been-sued-by-them-You-can-probably-get-your-money-back

HTH

puredriving

Thanks everyone, my mind is at ease.

To answer a few questions, yes it's DV clearance I've applied for. And to answer esmerobbo's question, it had the non display box ticked. So either the warden was blind or was short of his target for the week!