Parked on private land ("Managed" by VCS)

don240

I have read a few threads & taken note of the usual advice to ignore the parking charge notice, but would like to confirm that it is the best advice in my case.
I parked my car in a residents only car park in Derby, the land is owned (to the best of my knowledge) by Derby homes (ex Derby council housing) this land has about 8 parking places of which 7 were empty. the car park is "managed" by Vehicle Control Services.
I nipped to the corner shop, & when I got back after no more than 4 minutes, noticed an "enforcement officer" starting to write a "ticket" I informed him that I had been gone less than 5 minutes, but was told that he could not cancel the "ticket" as he had already started filling it out,
On the "ticket" it states that the driver was not present (I was there as he wrote the "ticket" out) & that the vehicle was observed for 10 minutes (not possible as it was parked for less than 5 minutes).
Advice please.

Stroma

They are not enforcement officers ! This is just a private parking company with an impersonation of authority scam called parking charge notices. If they were acting for a council it would be a penalty charge notice. So please confirm what you have first.

Coupon-mad

We don't advise ignore any more. Maybe read the current forum threads:

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

Advice is the same everywhere now so just pick a few threads at random to read.

don240

To confirm
The notice I have is a "Parking Charge Notice" from Vehicle Control Services" it is not a Penalty Charge Notice,
Coupon-mad, I have read a few posts on here & on other forums, the advice still seems to be to ignore the tickets, could you point me to some up to date advice please.
Regards
Don240

Stroma

Coupon has already pointed you to the up to date information, the whole forum contains it. You basically have 3 choices

1) pay the scammers
2) appeal to the scammers, if rejected go to popla
3) ignore the scammers

Don't recommend the first one at all, otherwise why come here? Second one is a possibility because you can appeal to an independent appeal called popla at vcs's expense if they turn down your challenge. Or simply ignore then completely. There is very little chance of them trying the small claims.

don240

Stroma
Thanks for your replys, I have already decided to reject option 1, as yet, I may decide to totally ignore their junk mail. However I will probably write & reject their "ticket".
If I reject the "ticket" would stating the fact that I was not parked for the time specified, (the "ticket states 10 minutes, I was parked for lesss than 5) & that their charge does not reflect the actual cost to the landowner (Zero or very close to Zero) be my best reason to reject the charge?

Coupon-mad

Nope not really - appealing like that tells them who was driving and admits you were parked there for a few minutes - that can lose a POPLA appeal in the end! Someone just posted about a lost POPLA appeal on the forum today where they'd admitted that and used a weak appeal generally. There's no need to give them any info at all!

You want more like a 'third person' challenge against what THEY did, not excuses about what 'the driver' did:

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/appeal-letter/

Also I should have explained that when you get a fake PCN on your windscreen you do nothing until you receive the fist letter (Notice to Keeper). That's when you challenge the whole scam. Check out that parking cowboys website - especially the 'keeper liability' info page, to check your Notice to Driver and NTK against.

So stay silent until the NTK arrives (as long as you are the registered keeper at the DVLA).

don240

I will wait till I get the NtRK & take the advice given about using a 'third person' challenge, some very usefull info on the parking cowboys link.
I will post updates (& ask for further advice) as my case progresses.
thanks again for the advice
Don240

Coupon-mad

Great!

The just make sure you get further advice at POPLA stage, oh, and do keep the envelopes that come with the NTK and then their rejection letter - if the dates of posting are later than the date on those Notices. All good ammo for your POPLA appeal - which we can help you with when it comes to that.

Don't send a 'normal appeal' nor a repeat of that template to POPLA, it needs more.

don240

Thanks for all the good advice, I will update as soon as I receive my NTK