Reassurance required please

cheesed-off

Hi. I am writing on behalf of my mother. I have read numerous previous threads about Parking Charge Notices and have advised her to ignore her current one.

The story is that she parked her car in a multi-storey car park which offered free parking for 2 hours. She has a long and wide car and isn't the best driver in the world (don't tell her I said this!). I have advised her to get a smaller car but in the meantime, she continues to struggle to park this car. On the day in question, she parked in a designated space but tells me that one of her tyres was just on the white line that separates spaces. She has told me there was a pillar between the spaces, also, and so she was trying to avoid hitting this but there was plenty of room for a car to park in the space next to her. As she was leaving the car she noticed a parking attendant 'hiding' in the corner but thought nothing more of it because she knew it was free parking.

She returned 30 mins later to find a parking charge notice from Smart Parking. Also trading as Town and City Parking.

She has ignored the first fine but has been sent a letter to her home address after the company obtained her details from the DVLA.

As already mentioned, I have read your previous threads but just wanted to double check I am advising her to do the right thing by ignoring the letters. My questions:
1: Why is that the company 'unlawfully' obtained her details from the DVLA? I didn't quite understand this from a previous thread.

2: Should she continue to ignore it because it is not a council issued fine?

3: When they say they will pass her details onto a debt collection agency, what actually happens? My mum is scared she will have bailiffs knocking on her door.

4: She wants to know if her credit rating will be affected?

5: Surely, it is wrong for the parking attendant to watch her park on the white line and not tell her?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Stroma

1) because they are in the bpa aos , so can do so for any spurious reason
2) yes she can continue to ignore
3) a series of junk mail will be sent to her
4) absuletely no chance of it being effected
5) they are a money making scamming company, he is part of it and on commission

She can appeal this to the independent appeals if in England or Wales, or ignore it as this company has never done a small claim, what most do on here is laugh at their pathetic attempts to extort money.

edward123

cheesed-off wrote: »

Hi. I am writing on behalf of my mother. I have read numerous previous threads about Parking Charge Notices and have advised her to ignore her current one.

The story is that she parked her car in a multi-storey car park which offered free parking for 2 hours. She has a long and wide car and isn't the best driver in the world (don't tell her I said this!). I have advised her to get a smaller car but in the meantime, she continues to struggle to park this car. On the day in question, she parked in a designated space but tells me that one of her tyres was just on the white line that separates spaces. She has told me there was a pillar between the spaces, also, and so she was trying to avoid hitting this but there was plenty of room for a car to park in the space next to her. As she was leaving the car she noticed a parking attendant 'hiding' in the corner but thought nothing more of it because she knew it was free parking.

She returned 30 mins later to find a parking charge notice from Smart Parking. Also trading as Town and City Parking.

She has ignored the first fine but has been sent a letter to her home address after the company obtained her details from the DVLA.

As already mentioned, I have read your previous threads but just wanted to double check I am advising her to do the right thing by ignoring the letters.

Your mother has only breached some jumped up private parking company's rules. You were right to ignore their fake ticket.

My questions:
1: Why is that the company 'unlawfully' obtained her details from the DVLA? I didn't quite understand this from a previous thread.

They did not do so unlawfully as a member of the BPA AOS can use a form and pay the DVLA £2.50 to obtain the name and address of the RK of the vehicle.

2: Should she continue to ignore it because it is not a council issued fine?

Yes, that is an option. The likelyhood is she will receive threats designed to frighten her into paying then when she ignores and don't they go away. There is the option to now appeal by using POPLA. This way, with the right worded/argued appeal POPLA would side with you and their decision is binding upon the PPC and this will end the matter. It would cost the PPC £27.50 + VAT into the bargain.

3: When they say they will pass her details onto a debt collection agency, what actually happens? My mum is scared she will have bailiffs knocking on her door.

Just part of the PPC scare tactics. Debt Collectors are toothless and can be ignored if they write to you. On the rare chance they ring up there is a way to get rid of them. Tell them, firmly, you deny the debt and so they have then to go back to the PPC and they should not ring you again lest they wish to be guilty of harassment. Tell them that and only that and hang up.

4: She wants to know if her credit rating will be affected?

Another lie by the PPC brigade. In short, no.

5: Surely, it is wrong for the parking attendant to watch her park on the white line and not tell her?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Yes, that was wrong. The PPC employer is obliged if they see someone breaking their self made rules to tell you. This happening to your mother is a good point to make to POPLA if going that route.

Basically your mother has nothing to worry about whether she ignores or uses POPLA.

Hopefully if you need more help someone here, a regular, will give that to you. Good for you for coming here. See my signature!

Oh, do not answer any personal message from anyone who does not have 1000 posts to their name as PPC trolls read these pages and try sometimes to give bad advice in a PM!

Coupon-mad

cheesed-off wrote: »

Hi. I am writing on behalf of my mother. I have read numerous previous threads about Parking Charge Notices and have advised her to ignore her current one.

The story is that she parked her car in a multi-storey car park which offered free parking for 2 hours. She has a long and wide car and isn't the best driver in the world (don't tell her I said this!). I have advised her to get a smaller car but in the meantime, she continues to struggle to park this car. On the day in question, she parked in a designated space but tells me that one of her tyres was just on the white line that separates spaces. She has told me there was a pillar between the spaces, also, and so she was trying to avoid hitting this but there was plenty of room for a car to park in the space next to her. As she was leaving the car she noticed a parking attendant 'hiding' in the corner but thought nothing more of it because she knew it was free parking.

She returned 30 mins later to find a parking charge notice from Smart Parking. Also trading as Town and City Parking.

She has ignored the first fine but has been sent a letter to her home address after the company obtained her details from the DVLA.

As already mentioned, I have read your previous threads but just wanted to double check I am advising her to do the right thing by ignoring the letters. My questions:
1: Why is that the company 'unlawfully' obtained her details from the DVLA? I didn't quite understand this from a previous thread.

2: Should she continue to ignore it because it is not a council issued fine?

3: When they say they will pass her details onto a debt collection agency, what actually happens? My mum is scared she will have bailiffs knocking on her door.

4: She wants to know if her credit rating will be affected?

5: Surely, it is wrong for the parking attendant to watch her park on the white line and not tell her?

Thank you in advance for any help.

You were right to ignore the windscreen fake PCN but you'll miss the chance to get this cancelled if you also ignore the POPLA appeal stage now being offered (presumably) in that Notice to Keeper. It's not a hearing or anything, just an email appeal chance to get the thing cancelled by an independent assessor.

Do some homework and you'll (you Mum will) win at POPLA, we think, as we know now how POPLA make their decisions (to an extent).

There's a quite a lot more to a POPLA appeal than a 'normal appeal' so please don't make the same mistake Eunos1 did and rush a weak appeal to POPLA missing the points that would actually win! When he followed the weak appeal with a stronger one it was overlooked and the PPC won the appeal. Now I do hope Eunos1 will complain to POPLA but the lesson from that link is...get a strong, demanding and challenging appeal in first time!

Examples of stronger POPLA appeal wording shown here, near the end of these threads:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=78026

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4506249

...and that second one has a link to the 'POPLA decisions' thread which shows you all the things that people have won on. You can see that the submissions that have won have been very detailed and demanding of the PPC, for evidence, as well as having facts specific to the case.

Did they tick all the boxes to get keeper liability established? Doubt it!

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/keeper-liability/

And you can cite the VCS -v- Ibbotson case to explain the fact that contract law requires a claimant to mitigate any loss (the attendant watching should have asked her to straighten her car if there was an alleged 'loss' caused, not hide and then scuttle out with a jumped-up penalty for profit):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16231

And you can allege it was clearly a penalty, not a genuine pre-estimate of loss. That point won a recent POPLA appeal as the PPC didn't rebut the point!

Did they comply in all ways with all points of the BPA Code of Practice; e.g. camera compliance/maintenance, deadlines met, wording spot on, signage clear? Doubt it!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4535287

If I were you, I would just write it for your Mum and use your email address so you see the outcome first - not that POPLA is binding on your Mum because it isn't, but it is binding on the PPC so is a very good way to save your Mum from all the scary debt collector letters which many older generation would be very upset by, and would fold and pay. There are NO BAILIFFS and NO EFFECT on credit rating but the letters threaten Court and aim to intimidate people. Don't expose her to that!

Let's see your draft appeal for POPLA so we can make sure no possible points are missed - there are no worries about posting your draft POPLA appeal here as the PPC are soon gong to hear about it from POPLA anyway!

cheesed-off

Thank you so so much for all the help. I will draft it up and post it on here for you guys see.

Kite2010

Total loss to the landowner for the driver parking on the white-line is zero.

Would love to see it go in front of a judge, only for the PPC to try and explain how they worked out the "loss" of whatever they are claiming it to be.

Ignore the scammers

Ellie_B_2

Hi

Received a parking charge notice on Wednesday from Smart Parking for £60 as we apparantly ignored the original ticket that was issued at Forth Valley Hospital in Larbert on 6th March! We've never had a ticket to our knowledge! We were parked in a FREE carpark at a brand new hospital - no idea what we've supposed to have done as the PCN has no details. Went and took pictures of the car park signs yesterday and nowhere on the sign does it mention Smart Parking - says the car park is run by Town and City Parking Ltd. Think it is despicable that people who are visiting a hospital - usually not for a happy event - are being targeted in what is basically a money making scheme. Can these tickets be enforced - I've read other posts, but mostly in England and I know the rules are different in Scotland - can anyone help?

Thanks

Stroma

Can you please create your own thread below, particularly because you said about Town and City Parking LTD , this needs to be discussed not on this thread - many thanks
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163