ukpcs letter for overstaying 15 months ago!

chrishar

these jokers have sent me another letter regarding a time i was supposed to have overstayed in one of their car parks. they are now saying they want £125 or will take it to court action.

surely they cannot let so much time elapse before taking the matter further? I had 2 letter from them last year which i ignored, and this latest letter over a year later!

i am quite happy to ignore them again and their threats of ccj black marks etc, just would be interested to hear if anyone else has had the same thing?

Umkomaas

Have you swerved away from an original thread on this?

There's little context in your post here to go on. If there is another thread you've started in relation to this, please PM Crabman (forum guide) and ask him to merge them please.

That way we will have the full picture against which we can give you advice

Half_way

Was this a fully owned UKCPS car park, or a car park that some prat decided it would be a good idea to let them (UKPCS) 'manage' on their behalf?

Umkomaas

@OP - please confirm who the PPC is please.

Coupon-mad

And please confirm what the 'letter' is - if it's a 'letter before county court claim' (or similar) then yes, if it's UKCPS then they do take people to small claims court and so you must respond quickly. That's what the LBCCC Fightback thread is all about; it's in the 'stickies' collated by Crabman near the top of this sub-forum. Or you can consider using the ParkingTicketAppeals website (no connection to me but run by two trusted posters here) as they now deal with LBCCC responses.

chrishar

Its just one sheet of paper, they didnt even seal the envelope so the letter could have easily gone missing.

It's got BPA logos at the bottom. It says in the writing 'this is the final letter before court recovery action will commence. failure to pay or make a binding agreement to pay within 14 days of receipt of this letter wiil automatically lead to court action'.

What I can't understand is how they can get away with leaving it for so long, surely there is a time limit to take court action? It was over 15 months ago.

I also notice the court cases they put on their website where they have won, usually only cost the 'offender' around £150 in total, which is not really a problem for me if I did risk doing nothing and letting them take action.

Finally it was for overstaying a few minutes in a supermarket car park, so obviously the supermarket has given ukcps the responsibility to fine people for staying too long.

bazster

There is indeed a time limit on taking court action - it's 6 years!

Many of these companies dig up a batch of old cases every so often and have another go at sending out their threatograms, hoping that a percentage will pay. UKCPS does "do" court cases, although not in huge numbers compared to the number of fake fines they issue. If you want to reduce the likelihood of it happening to you, write to them requesting a PoPLA code and reminding them practice direction requires them to consider alternative dispute resolution and there are consequences for unreasonably refusing.

They will undoubtedly refuse to issue a PoPLA code, but by doing so they put themselves in a position where taking court action carries greater risks for them.

Redx

no PPC can "fine" anybody, they can issue a pcn which is what they have done with you

yes, there is a time limit, its 6 YEARS for england and wales under the small claims court, which is an MCOL (Money Claim On Line) _ GOOGLE it !

this applies to any alleged debt or unpaid invoice, as in your case

UKCPS (note the spelling) DO take people to court so it sounds like you should treat the letter as an LBC

Coupon-mad

chrishar wrote: »

It's got BPA logos at the bottom. It says in the writing 'this is the final letter before court recovery action will commence. failure to pay or make a binding agreement to pay within 14 days of receipt of this letter wiil automatically lead to court action'.

So that is a LBCCC - but who from, UKCPS? Stephen Hall?

IMHO, your court defence would look better in front of a Judge if you DON'T ignore that Letter before Claim. If you respond robustly you can even avoid the hassle of a court case if you show yourself to be well informed, cite UKCPS v Gaskell etc. and make your case a 'hot potato' that Stephen Hall of UKCPS would rather drop. UKCPS v Gaskell and a couple of others we've seen posters win v UKPCS, are in the 'court cases' linked in post #5 of the Newbies sticky thread at the top of this forum. Have a read of what happened in those UKCPS hearings.

chrishar wrote: »

What I can't understand is how they can get away with leaving it for so long, surely there is a time limit to take court action? It was over 15 months ago.

As already said - a case can be brought in small claims within 6 years; it's the same for any alleged 'debt'.

chrishar wrote: »

I also notice the court cases they put on their website where they have won, usually only cost the 'offender' around £150 in total, which is not really a problem for me if I did risk doing nothing and letting them take action.

True but don't do nothing as you put yourself on a lesser footing and ignoring a Letter before claim is simply NOT a good plan. We have a thread about LBCCC Fightback with a template response so use it, adapt it. You are still calling them 'jokers' but UKCPS do win in court against ill-prepared defendants. Don't be another naive ill-prepared defendant - you are on a forum which has sticky threads showing you how to respond so it would be daft to sleep-walk into getting a CCJ when this can be cancelled now, with some robust letters (and/or won in court with strong defence preparation if it gets that far).

chrishar wrote: »

Finally it was for overstaying a few minutes in a supermarket car park, so obviously the supermarket has given ukcps the responsibility to fine people for staying too long.

What happened when you sent a strong email complaint to the CEO or went instore to see the Store Manager? Not done that yet? Now would be a good time then...

chrishar

would this be the best option to write to them with this appeal:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/65994090#Comment_65994090

thanks

turtleneck

yes i think so, but i do wonder if you should even reply seeing as they didnt even seal the envelope and the letter could have fallen out and ended up anywhere?!