Parking ticket from UKCPS

Conrad1

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Please start a new thread and be a bit more explicit about whether or not the hire company's bill is £100 or if it is UKCPS and state whether or not you have had an initial letter from UKCPS.

Hi, sorry, new to all this.

The £100 bill is from UKCPS but was sent to the car hire company as it was a hired car.
I never saw the parking fine notice therefore no contact was made, so they sent the letter to the hire co once the bill rose to £100, the hire co have now sent this to me and stated they passed on my details so now UKCPS will now contact me directly.

Coupon-mad

Conrad1 wrote: »

Hi, sorry, new to all this.

The £100 bill is from UKCPS but was sent to the car hire company as it was a hired car.
I never saw the parking fine notice therefore no contact was made, so they sent the letter to the hire co once the bill rose to £100, the hire co have now sent this to me and stated they passed on my details so now UKCPS will now contact me directly.

Well that is right, that's what they should do, pass on your details - bet the hire firm have charged you a large admin fee for handling this though.

Here is the main forum:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

Read some threads there first as pretty much every thread is relevant (except Park Right) and all are current. Use the 'new thread' button at the top to start a new thread as you are posting on someone else's, and as this isn't just a discussion forum we need each case on a new thread so we can help you with individual advice.

Konspiracy

Hello all, thanks for your support thus far! It has been 2 months and I've still not paid this, however I have received a letter today threatening court action unless it's paid. Do you still advise me to ignore it?

Coupon-mad

Konspiracy wrote: »

Hello all, thanks for your support thus far! It has been 2 months and I've still not paid this, however I have received a letter today threatening court action unless it's paid. Do you still advise me to ignore it?

Ignore threatograms if you've never bothered to try the appeal/POPLA option as discussed all over the forum. 'Ignore' was one choice as you saw earlier - you also had the appeal option but chose ignore - so stick with it and only take seriously real small claim papers if they arrive from Northampton Court (in which case you'd need a robust defence from pepipoo - unless your username is hinting at another agenda for this thread...we'll see).

But what happened when you complained at the Store about this rubbish and harassment? You still can complain, this is harassment and that's illegal by the store and their agents (jointly liable in law).

UKCPS are chancers who are based behind a pub it seems, see this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4433355

That thread about them hounding disabled people, plus the link about the pub base, shows you the sort of worthless company you are dealing with here. If it goes to small claim in the end get a strong defence from pepipoo to beat the scumbags.

nigelbb

Let me help bargepole with the spoon-feeding https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4554655

This is a particularly relevant section of the email from the BPA as now the PPC can be put to task to prove that they inspect & monitor their ticket machines & so should produce records to prove that the ticket machines were in operation on the date in question.

Most parking operators, public and private sector have routines in place to regularly inspect and maintain equipment to ensure that it is functioning correctly and most equipment manufactured in recent years can be monitored remotely over the internet. It is also worth remembering that in most cases, when an enforcement agent enters say a pay and display car park, the first thing they do is to check the equipment before undertaking enforcement action. This is often evidenced by then physically purchasing a ticket to prove it functions correctly; this also provides the car park operator with times, proof that the enforcement agent was present in the car park. There are a number of other similar or related working practices.

Konspiracy

Hey guys,

Just an update, I've received a court claim from Northampton court today asking for £175 -- I thought it wasn't going to go this far?
The whole family is in an uproar over it now and the missus and I are due to get married, she's talking about cancelling it since we're struggling to pay for it as it is, without this cropping up.

What do you guys advise now?

Stroma

You really need to defend this, logon onto mcol , and acknowledge the claim, say you will defend it in full, and request extra time to formulate a defence. Come back here for help with a solid defence on this, plus register with https://www.pepipoo.com and ask for help there, they have more members who help with this.

Coupon-mad

Konspiracy wrote: »

Hey guys,

Just an update, I've received a court claim from Northampton court today asking for £175 -- I thought it wasn't going to go this far?
The whole family is in an uproar over it now and the missus and I are due to get married, she's talking about cancelling it since we're struggling to pay for it as it is, without this cropping up.

What do you guys advise now?

The whole family is in uproar imagining that this will cost an arm and a leg and that you'll definitely lose and that somehow you will get a CCJ or something? Nope!

This is rare, but some PPCs are trying a few small claims now. But they are defendable and the last thing you should do is think this means they would win nor just fold and pay in panic! At least read some information about what this really means at this stage of their attempt to extort money from you. Make an informed decision, no-one will blame you if you pay them now BUT please make that decision with knowledge that you could pay less, or nothing and claim costs yourself.

Even if you lost in small claims (if UKCPS pay the hearing fee when they see your strong defence) you'd only be looking at a similar amount (the original ticket amount without discount, plus court fee and maybe their small expenses if the judge allows it). Could be typically, more or less...£175! And that's IF you lose!

Read this with lots of information and links, and a poster has just updated it today with a link to a summary about defending these spurious small claims, from an irate customer on Aldi's facebook page:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4585747

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62390347#Comment_62390347

Have you acknowledged the claim online, that's your first priority saying you will defend it in full. Extends the time for you to get your defence, to 28 days.

In that time I hope you can build up a decent argument as a well-written defence and maybe someone here will have a chance to check it over for you. I have not started to help with court defences as I am on holiday soon and don't want to leave anyone in the lurch when I am inexperienced in the process of small claims.

But I did help a lady write out a defence which she was happy to show because that poster is clearly an up front & feisty person who won't be bullied:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4593333

Finally in the interests of balance you could read this recent case on pepipoo where the OP did lose in Court against UKCPS (and paid £155 I think, and if you lose and pay with 14 days of judgment then no CCJ is entered):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=76790

I suggest think it through and join pepipoo and start a new thread there, and send a pm to that OP to ask for his experiences and whether he would do it again (he is appealing the decision as the judge allowed £100 as a pre-estimate of loss which is perverse with no breakdown...).

Oh, and here's one of several I can think of where an OP, 'Hedwig' (case of UKCPS v Murphy 2012) WON in Court against UKCPS:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=58542&mode=linearplus

Well worth reading that one from start to finish, IMHO more indicative of an outcome where a case is defended and the charge is shown to be a penalty.

HTH to start with, to see what this really is (= another stage in them trying to make you pay around £175...they have just upped the ante so will you fold or play?).