VCS/Roxburghe refuse to consider appeal

chudley

Hi, received a 'notice to keeper' from 'vehicle control services' for allegedly parking in a private car park without a valid permit. (there is no pay machine, this is in a residential area) -the demand was for £100!
I initially ignored the letter as I assumed it was a scam, but later received a demand for £160 from debt collection company 'Roxburghe'
saying I had missed the deadline for appeal. I used the template letter in the 'NEWBIES' thread, sent it to PCS and a copy for information to Roxburghe.
Today I received a letter from each of them, PCS now say they 'will not acknowledge or respond to any further correspondence' as the 'deadline' for appeals has passed. They haven't supplied a POPLA reference. Roxburghe have again demanded £160 within 14 days or 'further action'.
Not sure what to do next - any advice gratefully received!!

Redx

nothing you can do if you didnt appeal to VCS within the 28 day limit

just follow the debt collector letter advice in the newbies sticky thread

chudley

Hi, thanks for the reply, I rang citizens advice when i got the last letter - they said there was no legal time limit for making an appeal? Sorry I can't find the debt collectors thread, is my only option now to pay? I don't want to incur legal costs

Redx

there is no legal time limit no , correct

but the BPA popla appeal service time limit can only be enforced within the 28 days after you received the pcn , so at the moment you have no recourse to get a popla code and cannot force VCS to give you one

so in future DO NOT IGNORE A PCN thinking its a sc@m , do not assume , CHECK !

VCS could give you a pcn if they wanted to, but at the moment they are declining , as you yourself pointed out in their letters

if you look at the top of this forum you will find the sticky threads (two of them) , the top one is the newbies thread and the debt collector advice is in post #4

what you do or dont want is no longer relevant here, they (VCS or the landowner) have up to 6 years to take you to the small claims court (in england and wales) and to sue you for trespassing

I am not going to tell you or anyone else what to do, that is not the job of this forum

if it were me, I would wait for an LBC or court papers and deal with it then , even if it means forcing them to use popla as an ADR so they avoid court

I would not pay vcs or the debt collectors, not at all , but you do as you see fit

Umkomaas

chudley wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the reply, I rang citizens advice when i got the last letter - they said there was no legal time limit for making an appeal? Sorry I can't find the debt collectors thread, is my only option now to pay? I don't want to incur legal costs

Wow! - first time I've seen the CAB get something 'right' in the context of PCNs.

However, if VCS ain't playing ball, then nothing CAB is going to say will change that.

Whilst not putting this to bed for you, 'ignore' is the best available option to you.

If a LBC comes your way, come back for further advice.

Coupon-mad

Legal costs...LOL...even if VCS took this to small claims (very rare for them) the court costs are typically around £60 or so and I can't recall VCS winning recently. They did lose one the other week! And you don't get a solicitor for this sort of thing, we can provide a free defence, and we do win!

chudley

Thanks all for the advice, wish I'd looked here earlier! I'll use the debt collector letter in the sticky thread, then wait it out.