UKPC Parking Charge - Dundee/Scotland

Magic_Numbers

Sorry guys, reposting in here as mistakenly posted in the general motoring forum...

In Dundee today I was issued with a parking charge. Thing is - it's a free car park (for 2 hours) & I had a ticket affixed to the driver's window. Unfortunately it fell off although I still have it & we were issued with a parking charge.

The charge relates to being parked without displaying a valid P&D ticket.

I am very annoyed by this obviously & have come home to have a look at what I can do.

Obviously I am in Scotland so different rules MAY apply. I have not yet contacted the retail park manager but I will as soon as I can get a contact name - Gallagher Retail Park Dundee (outside TK Maxx) if anyone can help on that score.

I intent to pay nothing, but should I raise an appeal at this point, offering to pay the car parking fee (£0.00) and offering a copy of my ticket? Or should I just ignore it?

The Citizens Advice website for Scotland covers this in some detail and seems to be hinting that ignoring is the way to go, but it does mention that they may take you to court over this.

I understandably don't want to go to court over a trivial matter such as this, but I am raging at the amount of the fine for what to all intents & purposes is a free car park.

I have read the NEWBIES section & it only says if in Scotland ignore the tickets & followup letters, but is there a chance this may end up in court or is it just threats? I have looked at UKCP website & they appear very aggressive on there, very threatening regarding legalities etc.

HELP!

bod1467

It will not end up in court, especially not in Scotland.

Unless you are not the registered keeper of the vehicle (e.g. it is a lease, hire or company car) then Ignore, Ignore, Ignore.

HO87

The one piece of statute law that covers private parking - which creates a liability for the registered keeper of a vehicle in certain circumstances - currently only applies to England & Wales. It is this that the private parking companies (PPC's) are hiding behind when pursuing cases through the courts. Strangely though several have selected to chase their "cold cases", to which the new law - the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) - does not apply, rather than instigating a programme of going after current cases as well.

All that being said the law does not apply to Scotland where many PPC's operate and, using exactly the same strategy as in England - much sabre rattling - none have actually done court yet. That is not to say that they won't but given all of the opportunities that exists (not the least of which is the cover provided by all of the action in E&W) not one PPC has issued proceedings.

Much as in E&W prior to the passing into law of POFA the PPC's need to know who the driver at the time of the "parking event" was before getting going to court. Unless you have told them or they have designed some form of facial recognition software that will run through their ANPR cameras - that aren't actually ever aimed at the "cockpit" - then they will be stymied.

In other words - ignore them - and their fellow travellers, the debt collectors, messengers at arms etc.

Hope that explains things a little.

Magic_Numbers

Thanks guys. I have not told these people anything & don't intend to.

The ticket was issued to my windscreen much to my shock! So no facial recognition there either, lol

I am thinking I should contact either the store manager (TK Maxx was the only store I was in today) or the Retail Park management - looks like these people - Gallagher Developments? *Sorry, forum won't allow me to post link*

Should I contact either of these people or simply ignore everything?

Thanks again.

pogofish

If you have no reason to expect them to contact anyone else (eg employer, lease co rental firm) and you are the RK, just ignore them.

Otherwise any contact can just indicate you take them seriously and it will needlessly prolong the efforts to scam money out of you.

Coupon-mad

Magic_Numbers wrote: »

I have read the NEWBIES section & it only says if in Scotland ignore the tickets & followup letters, but is there a chance this may end up in court or is it just threats? I have looked at UKPC website & they appear very aggressive on there, very threatening regarding legalities etc.

HELP!

The ''Newbies'' sticky thread is right (even though I do say so myself). Ignore the PPC unless yours is a lease/hire/company car in which case you'd need to do one appeal to hook the threatogram letters in your direction.

UKPC's website, on the other hand...well you decide:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/ukpc-do-we-really-take-people-to-court.html

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4814487

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4813637


They are not even 'aggressive' in England and have never gone to court except when they were taken there...twice:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/60510413#Comment_60510413

You only needed to search the forum for the words 'Scotland UKPC' which would find enough results to keep you happily reading for weeks!

Magic_Numbers

So I contacted TK Maxx via their Facebook page to ask for a name of the store manager as I wished to discuss a parking issue.

A chap called Graeme messaged me back telling me to raise an appeal with UKPC (yeah let's not do that actually lol) & they would try to assist if the appeal was (obviously) rejected. I declined his offer & went into some detail as to why the driver of the car (3rd party) would rather deal with this via the store or retail park management. I am currently awaiting his next response, with baited breath.
I have the ignore option up my sleeve so we'll see what happens.

bill_eaves

Magic_Numbers wrote: »

Sorry guys, reposting in here as mistakenly posted in the general motoring forum...

In Dundee today I was issued with a parking charge. Thing is - it's a free car park (for 2 hours) & I had a ticket affixed to the driver's window. Unfortunately it fell off although I still have it & we were issued with a parking charge.

The charge relates to being parked without displaying a valid P&D ticket.

I am very annoyed by this obviously & have come home to have a look at what I can do.

Obviously I am in Scotland so different rules MAY apply. I have not yet contacted the retail park manager but I will as soon as I can get a contact name - Gallagher Retail Park Dundee (outside TK Maxx) if anyone can help on that score.

I intent to pay nothing, but should I raise an appeal at this point, offering to pay the car parking fee (£0.00) and offering a copy of my ticket? Or should I just ignore it?

The Citizens Advice website for Scotland covers this in some detail and seems to be hinting that ignoring is the way to go, but it does mention that they may take you to court over this.

I understandably don't want to go to court over a trivial matter such as this, but I am raging at the amount of the fine for what to all intents & purposes is a free car park.

I have read the NEWBIES section & it only says if in Scotland ignore the tickets & followup letters, but is there a chance this may end up in court or is it just threats? I have looked at UKCP website & they appear very aggressive on there, very threatening regarding legalities etc.

HELP!

Hi I am new to this site but feel obliged to give my pennies worth
I was also at Dundee car park at MATALANS and got a parking ticket
I have had several (5) letters from UKPC/DEBT RECOVERY etc
all with threats of various actions,including the latest which has very kindly offered me a reduced payment of £128.00
or court action.. I am an ex soldier and don't scare easy.as far as I am concerned they need to reduce it to zero
What revenue have they lost ??? its free


I had no ticket because I did not see the signs
If this does go to court I will argue the fact that if the signs were clearly displayed why would you not take a ticket if it was free ??
I will repost and let you know how things progress



CALL IT WHAT YOU LIKE THIS IS EXTORTION

bod1467

bill_eaves wrote: »

CALL IT WHAT YOU LIKE THIS IS EXTORTION

Legalised (supposedly) - but yes.

They won't do court. They never have (except for people taking THEM to court). And they certainly won't test the waters in Scotland.

bill_eaves

bod1467 wrote: »

Legalised (supposedly) - but yes.

They won't do court. They never have (except for people taking THEM to court). And they certainly won't test the waters in Scotland.

I read somewhere ...or was it top gear ...no matter, that the French used to put super glue in the locks of car wheel clamps !!
As super glue is only a euro and wheel clamps a bit more, cars
stopped getting clamped .It was not the driver of the car but anybody passing by...I am not saying we should do that but
people should stand together to help each other and stop these faceless companies ripping people off



Why wont they test the waters in Scotland is it our kilts or blue and white faces..heheheheee:beer:

bod1467

Pretty pointless, since wheel clamping is illegal now. (Mostly anyway).