Private ticket lists wrong street

jambon79

Well there has been a couple more developments since I last wrote. I contacted the BPA as I felt that by not responding to my appeal letter and issuing debt recovery proceedings was unjust. I received a reply stating that the BPA are not a regulatory body and can't become involved in disputes between an operator and individuals.

That was a bit underwhelming and to compound things I then received another letter from the debt recovery people threatening to pass it to a solicitor and then take it to court with the phrase 'A court judgement against you could seriously affect your ability to obtain credit in the future' in bold print.

Should I try and get more out of the BPA? Should I contact the parking company or the debt collector to explain that an appeal was never responded to? It is starting to freak me out a bit although I am sure that is their aim.

A quick reminder of the timeline

Alleged contravention – 19-07-2013
Notice to Keeper letter received – 07-10-2013
Appeal letter sent – 17-10-2013
Debt recovery letter received – 22-11-2013
Email sent to BPA - 02-12-2013
Reply from BPA - 03-12-2013
Second debt recovery letter received 06-12-2013


From my limited understanding the Notice to Keeper wasn't received at the right time.


I know I shouldn't but I am getting to the point of paying it to get it off my back!

jambon79

Sorry for the random font change, not sure what that is about either!

Coupon-mad

Show us the email from the BPA please.

You should be forwarding it to Steve Clark and pointing out (as keeper not driver!) that VCS issued a Notice to Keeper far too late for POFA2012 to apply, and failed to respond to an appeal. Ask what more evidence of BPA CoP breach do the BPA actually want in order to investigate the matter properly this time?

Hope you have never implied who was driving with any of your contact so far, as you lose the whole argument about POFA2012 if they know who was driving.

jambon79

This is the email I received from the BPA.

Many thanks for your e-mail received concerning the parking incident you experienced with Vehicle Control Services Ltd.

The Approved Operator Scheme and its Code of Practice was developed by the BPA to bring a degree of regulation to an industry without primary legislation. Regrettably as we are not a regulatory authority, we are not empowered to become involved in individual disputes between you and the car park operator and have no power to overturn an operator’s decision. Therefore, any action regarding your individual circumstances are out of our control and should be directed directly to the operator. Although we sympathise with your predicament we have no power to get an operator to cancel or refund any parking enforcement charges.

I have contacted the operator concerned to seek to determine whether they are non-compliant of our Code, as this operator is a member of the BPA.

If a member is found to be non-compliant of the Code, they would be subject to our Sanctions Scheme, where Operators who are non-compliant the Code can expect to receive a number of penalty points depending on the severity of the offence. As with driving offences, once an operator’s ‘licence’ has reached twelve points in any given 12-month period, then they are likely to be faced with suspension or expulsion. The Code of practice can be reviewed on our website; www.britishparking.co.uk.

Many thanks for bringing this matter to my attention and I will be in contact on conclusion of the investigation.

Yours sincerely


AOS Investigations Team

Coupon-mad

They are investigating it, that's what you want.

jambon79

I wasn't sure after the line about circumstances being out of their control. Guess I got the wrong end of the stick. Oh well, will keep the fingers crossed.

Thanks for your help/comments, I will be back with updates as and when...

Coupon-mad

That's a standard reply from the BPA, seen it before and often a PPC does indeed cancel a fake PCN when the BPA start digging. So you've done all you can for now.