Vcs parking fine

HoneyBadger

I received a parking ticket in derby at the side of the Exeter pub. I was working in the pub at the time , fitting a stair rail. The pub does not own the car park, but had a permit system at the time whereby the customers asked for a permit and displayed it on their dashboards. There were only ever 4 permits available and on this occasion 3 were in use and 1 was mislaid. (apparently people would often forget to return the permits and just drive off.) I asked in the pub for a permit but none were available so I suppose I should have moved the car but I carried on working for half an hour or so and took a permit out to the car when one was available. Of course by then a vcs ticket had been slapped on it! Most of the pubs customers said 'throw it in the hedge!'...like an idiot I ignored this advice and contacted vcs who emailed me several times, sent me letters asking for 60quid, rising to 100 after 14 days, sent me an appeal form which I completed and returned, my appeal was rejected and now vcs have sent a 'letter before action' asking for 100 quid by the 16th August. I feel really strongly about this and I really want to dig my heels in over it. These private parking companies are morally reprehensible in my opinion. To add insult to injury, the pub has been granted ten spaces on this land since my ticket was issued in march. The car park is owned by a local 'businessman' who also owns local retail parks and other interests. He is reputed to be worth in excess of £150 million pounds !!! :eek: Oh, and popla (parking on private land appeals) spelt my name incorrectly on their appeal refusal,(I don't know if that is useful?) Most of the posts on this forum are encouraging us to not pay these so called 'fines' but I am a bit worried if vcs commence legal proceedings. The 'businessman' who owns the car park probably has a lot of 'clout'...ah well, at least i've got it off my chest, sorry it was a bit drawn out!

albaredz

Are you sure you appealed through POPLA? Reading it through the first time I thought you simply appealed to VCS through their way and not through POPLA.

The good news is, however, the PPC you're dealing with is VCS. VCS have been to court before and hilarity ensued. Read the transcript of VCS v Ibbotson, 2012 here:

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

It's a case of sitting back and seeing if VCS have the cojones to go back to court again. If you receive court papers, come back here. Until then, have a look at that case and see if anything resonates with your predicament. Is the charge properly based on their losses? Was the signage fair and noticeable? Did they even have an entrance sign? Do VCS actually have the authority to represent the land owner in court (this time?).

HoneyBadger

Thanks for that, very interesting. The car park in my case is not even a pay and display but a permit only site. Yes, the appeal was definitely through POPLA. I did not go 'off site' as the Exeter Arms adjoins the car park. What worries me is that the law changed in Oct. '12 in favour of these a!@e holes ! The pub has been granted ten permit free spaces since my ticket, but that is probably irrelevant now.

The_Slithy_Tove

HoneyBadger wrote: »

What worries me is that the law changed in Oct. '12 in favour of these a!@e holes !

No it didn't. Their charges are just as unenforceable as they ever were.

albaredz

HoneyBadger wrote: »

Thanks for that, very interesting. The car park in my case is not even a pay and display but a permit only site. Yes, the appeal was definitely through POPLA. I did not go 'off site' as the Exeter Arms adjoins the car park. What worries me is that the law changed in Oct. '12 in favour of these a!@e holes ! The pub has been granted ten permit free spaces since my ticket, but that is probably irrelevant now.

Your best course of action now is to sit back and see if VCS will bother taking this to court. If they do, then the best thing you could do is find the person in the pub who told you permits were unavailable at the time to act as a witness; this demonstrates that you tried to comply with the car park rules, but it was outwith your hands.

The POFA law does not really change that much other than outlaw PPCs from clamping cars and giving them the opportunity to chase RKs of cars rather than the driver. They still face many problems like justifying the price of their charges and making sure they adhere to the BPA Code of Practice. There's even been cases of PPCs flouting the rules and not giving POPLA codes as they are meant to, so POFA has added spice to the problem rather than help PPCs.

HoneyBadger

Thanks. I will wait to see what happens.

Suv2208

Hi everyone I've been given two parking charges for parking in a permit holders car park without my permit as I am awaiting my de permit. I was told to place a sign in my car explaining this but still got tickets. I appealed to vcs and failed what should I do now just ignore as many people have been advised?

The_Slithy_Tove

@Suv2208. Please start your own thread, rather than hijacking someone else's. Otherwise it gets very confusing working out what reply relates to whose case. One case - one thread; it's much easier that way.

Coupon-mad

HoneyBadger wrote: »

I received a parking ticket in derby at the side of the Exeter pub. I was working in the pub at the time , fitting a stair rail. The pub does not own the car park, but had a permit system at the time whereby the customers asked for a permit and displayed it on their dashboards. There were only ever 4 permits available and on this occasion 3 were in use and 1 was mislaid. (apparently people would often forget to return the permits and just drive off.) I asked in the pub for a permit but none were available so I suppose I should have moved the car but I carried on working for half an hour or so and took a permit out to the car when one was available. Of course by then a vcs ticket had been slapped on it! Most of the pubs customers said 'throw it in the hedge!'...like an idiot I ignored this advice and contacted vcs who emailed me several times, sent me letters asking for 60quid, rising to 100 after 14 days, sent me an appeal form which I completed and returned, my appeal was rejected and now vcs have sent a 'letter before action' asking for 100 quid by the 16th August.

I feel really strongly about this and I really want to dig my heels in over it. These private parking companies are morally reprehensible in my opinion. To add insult to injury, the pub has been granted ten spaces on this land since my ticket was issued in march. The car park is owned by a local 'businessman' who also owns local retail parks and other interests. He is reputed to be worth in excess of £150 million pounds !!! :eek:

Oh, and popla (parking on private land appeals) spelt my name incorrectly on their appeal refusal,(I don't know if that is useful?) Most of the posts on this forum are encouraging us to not pay these so called 'fines' but I am a bit worried if vcs commence legal proceedings. The 'businessman' who owns the car park probably has a lot of 'clout'...ah well, at least i've got it off my chest, sorry it was a bit drawn out!

That was hard to read and I had to put the important bits in bold. The important thing is you have an LBA from a PPC and the current advice to that letter, is to respond to it robustly:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4742847

What a shame you lost at POPLA. We currently win 100% of the time so you must have not come here for help at the time which was a missed opportunity. We have examples of strong POPLA appeals which would have killed the ticket stone dead. What a shame.

So this time DO NOT miss your opportunity to follow advice, acknowledge strongly and rebut the points in the LBA. Look at that link and put together a strong acknowledgement and then a full rebuttal letter like the other posters you see on the forum. Better than waiting for court as a possibility.

If it does go to small claims it's no biggie and has no effect on your credit rating even if you lose (as long as you then paid once the judge made his/her decision). And many people win at small claims against PPCs. The fact you lost at POPLA would be down to a weak appeal and is by-the-by.

Also, you say you were working at the pub at the time?! So complain right now to the landlord and/or brewery and/or that fat-cat businessman and see if you can get them to rescind the fake PCN immediately. Worth a try and you lose nothing by asking. Look at all these successes I have collected in just two weeks, showing where fake PCNs have been cancelled by the principal (the people who contracted the scammers) even at a late stage like yours!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62837690#Comment_62837690

HTH, be proactive. Do NOT wait and see.

Coupon-mad

albaredz wrote: »

Your best course of action now is to sit back and see if VCS will bother taking this to court. If they do, then the best thing you could do is find the person in the pub who told you permits were unavailable at the time to act as a witness; this demonstrates that you tried to comply with the car park rules, but it was outwith your hands.

The POFA law does not really change that much other than outlaw PPCs from clamping cars and giving them the opportunity to chase RKs of cars rather than the driver. They still face many problems like justifying the price of their charges and making sure they adhere to the BPA Code of Practice. There's even been cases of PPCs flouting the rules and not giving POPLA codes as they are meant to, so POFA has added spice to the problem rather than help PPCs.

I disagree, he said he had a LBA from the PPC. That means zzzLazyDaisy's thread comes into play, as linked above.

MrHQ

I have recently been issued a parking charge notice in the same car park, I was in the pub. Go the 'notice' on a Sunday afternoon! Honestly do these people have nothing better to do??? ... I was wondering what the outcome was?