Challenging a private issued ticket

stacey2193

Hello all,

My friend and I paid £3.50 for a four hour stay in a pay and display car park next to a SM, operated by PCN Parking Services.

Sadly we underestimated the time we would need and were late back (cinema trip - film was longer than we anticipated). The ticket expired at 1646 and the parking notice was put on at 1712, the charge being a whopping £95 or £47 if paid within ten days.

I have done my homework on the site and am inclined to either ignore the ticket or write to them telling them we are refusing to pay as the charge is disproportionate to the overstay.

My friend was driving and it is her car so she is reluctant to ignore it as she is worried about going to court, I have tried to explain to her that this will be highly unlikely. Thoughts
anyone ?

spacey2012

If you had done any homework, you would see IGNORING is the only proven solution.
Writing to them will confirm you are real, they have the right person and you are worried enough to take them seriously.
They wont take you to court, because they are one of the smarter of the parking firms who know people who beat them in court boast and Google finds the posts revealing that they are full of **** so less pay.
Only a stupid PPC take cases to court for a spanking.

peter_the_piper

You can alwaysget her to look at the myriad of cases where the driver has been threatened but it never came to anything. It won't get to court, and as pcn parking services (under that name) are not on the BPA list they should not be able to get her details. If she has not rec'd any post from them DO NOT contact by post as they will then have her address. If they do send anything by post let us all know so we can find out how.

Coupon-mad

stacey2193 wrote: »

Hello all,

My friend and I paid £3.50 for a four hour stay in a pay and display car park next to a SM, operated by PCN Parking Services.

Sadly we underestimated the time we would need and were late back (cinema trip - film was longer than we anticipated). The ticket expired at 1646 and the parking notice was put on at 1712, the charge being a whopping £95 or £47 if paid within ten days.

I have done my homework on the site and am inclined to either ignore the ticket or write to them telling them we are refusing to pay as the charge is disproportionate to the overstay.

My friend was driving and it is her car so she is reluctant to ignore it as she is worried about going to court, I have tried to explain to her that this will be highly unlikely. Thoughts
anyone ?

Everyone is at first of course!

Sit her down to read these replies. Is this PCM or PCN, can you just double check here?

http://www.britishparking.co.uk/AOS-Members

Just wanting to check which scammer we are dealing with. Not that being a member of the BPA AOS scheme means much except she can appeal to POPLA.

Also just to check, was anyone in the car elderly or disabled? They can take longer, by law, under the Equality Act 2010.

Like all the other posters on this board, she has a fake PCN.

The whole scam of fake PCNs relies firstly on people's ignorance of the fact that a random private company can't fine anyone, and secondly on their natural fear of parking tickets and the escalating costs/bailiff scenario. So PPCs copy the look of a real parking ticket and - hey presto! - the cash rolls in from victims who know no better.

This is not a penalty at all. It's rubbish, there are no bailiffs letters, just debt collector standard template threatograms (all hot air, we can tell you this for certain).

Tick off the threatening letters as you get them, here.

Watchdog clip with expert Solicitor's opinion here.

Barrister's opinion on a legal Q&A website here.

Recent Auto Express article here.

The letters are actually quite funny when they arrive at the address of someone who knows it's all hogwash and not a real parking ticket at all.

My 18 year old niece has EIGHT fake PCNs so far and laughs & texts me every time she gets one. She is just a new driver, a teenager, and she knows this is all a con like a series of phishing emails.

Ignore them, it's perfectly safe, nothing happens except the letters.

What you should do is COMPLAIN to the Store Manager at the Supermarket about this harassment of customers who are shopping at busy times.

Tell them you are minded never to return, you feel victimised and bullied even though you know this is a fake PCN because everyone knows that who bothers to check.

Say that you are wholly unimpressed that the reward you get as a customer for shopping at their store is to have to put up with pathetic 'PPC threatograms' (tell them to Google it). How exactly do they allow more time for customers who are elderly or disabled or have kids with them, or at busy times when the queues are long? This is a protection racket so complain. Do not appeal, do not listen if they say 'it's nothing to do with us' because it's THEIR parking agent! And make sure you speak to the Store Manager (NOT A DUTY MANAGER).

Just to let your friend know we know what we are talking about, we also have posters here -and on pepipoo forums as well - who collect fake PCNs for fun and to cost the scammers money.

I would happily collect more fake PCNs than the 2 that I already have for Supermarket overstays (more than an hour overstays, both times when shopping at busy times). Plus I have a nice collection of amusing/alarmist debt collector letters which I carry in my handbag to show friends & colleagues if the subject crops up! :rotfl:

stacey2193

spacey2012 wrote: »

If you had done any homework, you would see IGNORING is the only proven solution.

Spacey, the homework I referred to was the advice in martins weekly email which suggested the below as an option.

"The aim is to write back, up the ante, show you know your stuff and make it decide whether it's worth the hassle of pushing you.

Your letters should explain why you dispute the unfair charge in the unlikely event it goes to court (though there's a lot more due to happen before then), but also avoid giving them details to use against you. "

It is definitely PCN as I checked the details on the back of the ticket against the list on the BPA website.

Thanks for all your replies, I will try to convince my friend just to ignore it.

ManxRed

Don't write back to them, even though I know Martin says t o do this.

If they are not BPA members then they cannot trace the registration number, so cannot pursue your friend for anything. That will be the end of the matter.

If they DO write then please let us know, as they'll have done something naughty at that point and you can turn the tables on them.

Legally, your friend owes them the cost of the overstay only (i.e. a couple of quid or whatever the cost of parking was), not any ridiculous trumped up 'fine'.

Stroma

PCN Parking Services are not listed as aos members of the bpa, however I don't think they will be the scammers themselves

They seem to be the payment portal of this

http://www.paymypcn.net/about/index.php

In the driving seat
https://www.PaymyPCN.net and PCN Parking Services can manage the whole back office process, including appeals, over the internet. The appeals decision tree is yours to control. We can also process your payments over the internet or by interactive voice recognition system, both PCIDSS compliant.

esmerobbo

Stroma wrote: »

PCN Parking Services are not listed as aos members of the bpa, however I don't think they will be the scammers themselves

They seem to be the payment portal of this

http://www.paymypcn.net/about/index.php

PaymyPCN.net are Roxbourghe

Its a way to pay for various PPC,s

Tilt

Even if they take you to court, they can only claim for their losses which means what ever the difference would be in the £3.50 you paid to the cost of the extra time. They cannot issue a penalty or fine so they would need to convince the judge that their 'charge' is not in fact, a penalty.

Coupon-mad

I can't check as I am at work on my lunch break but I am sure I saw PCN (UK) on the AOS list, maybe it's them?

Anyway, advice already given applies and if she pays after reading those links then she's got more money than sense. It's a scam and a pretty obvious one when the rose-tinted specs are removed.

esmerobbo

Coupon-mad wrote: »

I can't check as I am at work on my lunch break but I am sure I saw PCN (UK) on the AOS list, maybe it's them?

Anyway, advice already given applies and if she pays after reading those links then she's got more money than sense. It's a scam and a pretty obvious one when the rose-tinted specs are removed.

They are yes C-M under "PCN (NW) Limited" but if you take the link to their website from the AOS list http://www.pcnnw.co.uk it goes to http://www.paymypcn.net/