ANOTHER UKPC Fine (newbie please be gentle)

Jake92

Hi all,
So on 21/05/2012, we took our son out for his 1st birthday. Parked up, got out etc, met my parents and away we went (the car park is overseen by UKPC), no tickets to pay for, just drive in and park up, simples......or so we thought. On my return, I get a ticket saying I left the premises (I did, to draw cash out to spend in the retail park, before anyone asks I have not admitted it). So I was about to pay it a couple weeks later but notice the times:
First seen entering the car park: 13:51
Ticket Issue: 13.51

Very odd? How could I drive in, find a space, get me, my partner and our 1 year old out, set his pram up, strap him in, get his changing bag etc sorted and our own stuff, then commit the offence, an officer walk over and issue a ticket..........all within 60 seconds? So I appealed to them through their site (they say i can't do it over the phone) and get a reply the next day saying
"Thank you for your appeal, we will aim to reply within 14 days. The case will not escalate in this time." I put in my appeal about the time-scale and long story short, said I didn't want any further correspondence until they could either provide me with a logical explanation as to the 60 second time scale, or provide me with un-edited, dated CCTV footage. 14 days pass, no contact, so I let out a mental sigh of relief and carry on. Now on the 01/08/2012, over 3 months later, I get a letter out of the blue from their debt collection agency basically asking for the amount of £140.00 and saying I had made no correspondence! Saying I have 7 days to pay otherwise it will be passed to their solicitor. Anyway I left it. Then on the 13/08/2012 (nearly 2 weeks later, not 7 days) I get an "NOTICE OF INTENDED LITIGATION" Letter, pretty much saying the same as the last, but this time they are threatening to issue a CCJ by their solicitor, also showing the extra charges if this is pursued. But, they have given me ANOTHER 7 days? At this point I phoned the number and said to the woman I had appealed to them, but had no response, she said I had not made any contact (even though I had the e-mails right infront of me!). To cut the conversation short, she was in the process of filling out the CCJ application whilst I was on the phone, and when she said this, that's when I worried. I said I would not pay until I had gathered additional advice, so she has put the case on hold for 20 days??? What I'm getting too is it seems like a bit of a mish-mash. Firstly the time-scale for the ticket is wrong, then the fact I had no reply from the appeal (which I requested I did not want a reply until evidence is provided, so all I could assume was that the case was dropped), the fact they keep giving me another 7 days and the fact the woman said there was no record of my correspondence? What should I do? Pay them? Or just ignore them and let the 20 days lapse? Letters don't bother me, they're just paper, but I don't want a CCJ issued against me and I don't want bailiffs coming around, will it come to that? or will they just send more letters then give up? She seemed very confident on the phone that the court will rule in their favour and gave me a link to a list of all the CCJ's they have issued and won? Any help appreciated.

taffy056

Stop communicating with them completely, you are taking this far to seriously, as you can see appealing is useless. Just ignore them utterly from here on in, they will not take you to court, they will not get a CCJ , and most certainly no bailiff will turn up. You would have to go to court, lose, refuse to pay the judgement within 28 days, and UKPC would need to go back to court to instruct bailiffs, its not going to happen.

Out of 1.8m fake tickets by the whole industry in 2011, they went to court 49 (forty nine) times and lost 25 times. and I think UKPC never went once

Jake92 wrote: »

she was in the process of filling out the CCJ application whilst I was on the phone, and when she said this, that's when I worried.

And by the way she is a lying cow, there is no such thing as this

Jake92

taffy056 wrote: »

Stop communicating with them completely, you are taking this far to seriously, as you can see appealing is useless. Just ignore them utterly from here on in, they will not take you to court, they will not get a CCJ , and most certainly no bailiff will turn up. You would have to go to court, lose, refuse to pay the judgement within 28 days, and UKPC would need to go back to court to instruct bailiffs, its not going to happen.

Out of 1.8m fake tickets by the whole industry in 2011, they went to court 49 (forty nine) times and lost 25 times. and I think UKPC never went once

Ok, sorry it's just being 20 I'm still young to all this and don't normally get tickets. I feel a fool now as the last time I got a ticket, a bailiff came to my flat demanding the money else he was about to clamp my beloved BMW so I paid, but this was before any CCJ was issued, so technically was it illegal for a bailiff to come round and threaten me before any court proceedings?

bargepole

Jake92 wrote: »

... Letters don't bother me, they're just paper, but I don't want a CCJ issued against me and I don't want bailiffs coming around, will it come to that? or will they just send more letters then give up? She seemed very confident on the phone that the court will rule in their favour and gave me a link to a list of all the CCJ's they have issued and won? Any help appreciated.

Did this phone lady also tell you that they're having to reprint the Oxford English Dictionary because the word "gullible" has accidentally been omitted?

Solicitors can't "issue" a CCJ, they have to make a claim at a county court, which you have an opportunity to defend. In 2011, according to the Ministry of Justice, the total number of claims issued by UKPC was .................................. 0.

You're taking this far to seriously - it's a scam to con you out of money to which they have no entitlement. Stop communicating with them, and ignore all their meaningless threats.

taffy056

Jake92 wrote: »

Ok, sorry it's just being 20 I'm still young to all this and don't normally get tickets. I feel a fool now as the last time I got a ticket, a bailiff came to my flat demanding the money else he was about to clamp my beloved BMW so I paid, but this was before any CCJ was issued, so technically was it illegal for a bailiff to come round and threaten me before any court proceedings?

That was probably a council ticket you ignored and didn't pay, UKPC are not a statutory body like a council, they have no right to issue penalties or fines, they can't issue CCJs, do you realise that you must be taken to court before they are issued?

CCJ - County Court Judgement - tell me how can UKPC issue such a thing without going to court? The answer is they cannot!

Coupon-mad

She can't just 'fill out a CCJ application' LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!:rotfl:

Ignore the scammers, read the second to top thread, play snap with the letters till the scam is over:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2214803

HTH

Jake92

Ok thanks guys I feel much more at ease now, especially after reading the stories of the other hundreds/thousands who are getting the same mediocre treatment. So they are basically no better than e-mail scammers, but because they have offices and high-vis jackets, victims think they have some authority. Isn't this fraud, or theft? I don't understand how they are allowed to get away with it?

bazster

They have offices? I thought they mainly operated from sewers...

taffy056

Jake92 wrote: »

Ok thanks guys I feel much more at ease now, especially after reading the stories of the other hundreds/thousands who are getting the same mediocre treatment. So they are basically no better than e-mail scammers, but because they have offices and high-vis jackets, victims think they have some authority. Isn't this fraud, or theft? I don't understand how they are allowed to get away with it?

Because its a grey area that the PPC don't want changed, hence the reason why so few cases in the small claims, if they had thousands like they claim, laws would be changed, they would be made redundant, may be one day it will happen

Jake92

Looking on it now, I'm pretty much laughing at my own stupidity and theirs :L another one she said (as I have changed address since the ticket and forget to tell them, luckily my old address is my parents so no problem with retrieving post) is that it is "Illegal for me not to inform her of my change of address during this recorded telephone conversation and that failure to tell her my new details may result in police action"........she still doesn't have my address.

taffy056

Jake92 wrote: »

Looking on it now, I'm pretty much laughing at my own stupidity and theirs :L another one she said (as I have changed address since the ticket and forget to tell them, luckily my old address is my parents so no problem with retrieving post) is that it is "Illegal for me not to inform her of my change of address during this recorded telephone conversation and that failure to tell her my new details may result in police action"........she still doesn't have my address.

Illegal ? :rotfl: did she happen to mention which part of statute law that falls under? The police would fall over laughing if they got wind of this, I am sure HO87 a former police officer who posts here would be amused at this, or not ? lol