UKPC yet again- where do I stand?

hamoomoo

Hi all,
I'm new to the site and the forums but after some researching about UKPC I was led here and need some advice.
I work in a big shopping mall in the north east which has its own free customer car parks, situated next to a separate retail park which has a separate free car park. I had a 9am start at work and the car parks for the mall do not open this early- usually nearer half 9 but it varies, annoyingly. To be able to start work I had no choice but to park in the retail park which I was then ticketed for, for staying longer than two hours. I did not have a break between 9-11am to come and move my vehicle, even though I have parked many times here before (all day) with no ticketing.
It all sounds (reasonably) fair enough in the grand scheme of things that I was in the wrong, but after reading some other threads about UKPC in particular, do they really hold any weight to enforce any tickets they give out?
I appealed and obviously they declined, saying I should have used the designated staff car park (which is at least a ten minute walk from my place of work and when I finish work between 12am-2am I don't fancy walking back alone in the dark- also it is tiny with nowhere near enough spaces for all the mall staff).

They've given me the reduced £30 amount if I pay now, going up to 60 if not, then 100, etc etc.

To sum up- can UKPC genuinely enforce these tickets or can they ALL (tickets given in any circumstance) be ignored?
It's the first kind of parking charge I've ever received so just a tad apprehensive to ignore it.

Thanks for any advice!

EDIT** Just seen this on their website-
"In England & Wales the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 came into force on 1st October 2012. It gives statutory authority to private parking companies, such as UK Parking Control Ltd, to obtain payment of a parking charge from the driver of a vehicle who breached our terms and conditions of parking"

this is what worries me if I don't pay!

Coupon-mad

You've been reading old threads as we no longer say to ignore these. Please read current threads on the first few pages.

This thread explains what to do but sounds like you've done the first challenge:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...a#post61647745

If you are at POPLA stage now they will have given you a POPLA code so don't waste it!! You'll need a different stronger appeal so read other threads & learn from them but do ask for help to check your draft POPLA appeal first!

You'd be mad to not take the chance to get the scam cancelled at POPLA if you have a code, seeing as we have a current 100% success rate BUT ONLY when poeple take our advice on the wording, read threads, look at examples, I can't post links now (no time!) so happy reading of threads.

hamoomoo

Oh I see, thank you very much for the info! I will certainly read through the new ones. I have received the reply from them with the POPLA letters; I'm guessing the POPLA code is the verification code at the bottom?

Thanks very much for your advice, very helpful!!! :j

atilla

hamoomoo wrote: »

EDIT** Just seen this on their website-
"In England & Wales the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 came into force on 1st October 2012. It gives statutory authority to private parking companies, such as UK Parking Control Ltd, to obtain payment of a parking charge from the driver of a vehicle who breached our terms and conditions of parking"

this is what worries me if I don't pay!

Only if they have complied fully with the very Law they've used to intimidate you with.
I doubt very much that they have complied so kind of nullifies they're argument doesn't it.