OPC - Parking Ticket - Threat of County Court Proceedings

skintandsad

Hi all

Back in November 2011, my mother received a parking fine through the post for overstaying in a free car park at a shopping centre. She was genuinely shopping and hadn't noticed any time limits but spent hundreds of pounds in the various shops.

Anyway, at the time, I told her to just ignore it, as was the advice of many on various forums at the time.

Today she has received a letter (nearly three years later) out of the blue from OPC, the text of which is as follows (red text is my annotation):

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UNPAID PRIVATE PARKING TICKET £100 / DEMAND FOR PAYMENT

We write with regard to the unpaid private parking ticket/s mentioned above. Despite our request for payment the ticket/s has remained unpaid and we will very shortly be starting County Court Proceedings against you.

Please note that we will proceed to issue the claim on the basis that;

• We have the right to claim unapid private parking tickets from our regulatory body and the landlord of the site you were ticketed on;
• Our parking attendants and ANPR System has collated photographic evidence of any vehicle ticketed at the time of the ticket being issued.

(Note - she never had a ticket on the day?)

We are providing a concessionary offer to settle without the use of court services for the sum of £90.00 if paid within 7 days of this letter. You will benefit from the discount of the concessionary payment and avoid possible court and legal costs and a CCJ against your name. We will revoke our claim in the County Court if payment is received promptly.

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My question is - is it safe to ignore this threat or should I respond on behalf of my mum? She is 68 and has suffered a stroke, so wouldn't be in a position to complete court forms etc. (but I would do anything required for her).

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
skintandsad xxx

Redx

clearly you didnt use the search box and the search word OPC then

if you had you would have found similar threads like this one here from just a few days ago

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5043893

skintandsad

You are right, I didn't find that thread; I read through stacks of stuff before posting, but the terminology didn't make a great deal of sense and I ended up confused.

Thanks for the link; I'll go read

Redx

no problem, I posted in that other thread as did coupon-mad, just a few days ago, so as its a rare case (we rarely hear about OPC) it stuck in my mind that I had deja vu when reading your thread

bazster

It's just b.s. and bluster, keep ignoring. Re the threat of court action, the technical term for this is "lying".

Stroma

skintandsad wrote: »

Please note that we will proceed to issue the claim on the basis that;

• We have the right to claim unapid private parking tickets from our regulatory body and the landlord of the site you were ticketed on;
• Our parking attendants and ANPR System has collated photographic evidence of any vehicle ticketed at the time of the ticket being issued.

They actually said that? Referring the bpa as a regulator is seriously misleading and I believe unlawful! The bpa is a trade body for the parking companies nothing more! I would make complaints to the dvla , bpa and trading standards as these scum are lying through their teeth. Scan the letter in and send it via email to these, look in the sticky thread by coupon mad, post #6 I think

skintandsad

Thank you, all

I will do, Stroma - and yes other than for my typo (unpaid not unapid!) - that is what they said...

For Ms Average (like me) you assume they tell the truth in these letters

(letter emailed to local trading standards, BPA and DVLA requesting intervention per misleading text in letter)

Stroma

The industry regularly lie through their teeth to get money, this is not about managing car parks this is about money making by any means, if they break the law they are IMO practically congratulated by the bpa for doing so. It means that their member is in a better position to pay their membership fees.

The bpa are not a regulator they are a trade body who are run to benefit their members, the bpa are fully funded through these members and have directors from parking companies on their board. It's like having an alcoholic running a brewery

Stroma

Also this company has a long track record of breaking the law and being deceitful

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5TGkp6NDfD2xRPcG3xYNmWJ/opc-breaking-bpa-law

bazster

I knew OPC had been in big trouble but I've never previously seen that Watchdog report.

I've said it many times before and I say it again: no return within x hours is utter, utter nonsense. If a contract was formed in the first place (doubtful) the only way the contract could be breached is if the same person was driving on both occasions. If the PPC has no evidence that this was the case (and how could it?) then it has no reason to believe that any breach has occurred and no "reasonable cause" to obtain keeper details.

I'm currently trying to get a ticket from one of the more stupid ANPR operators (not OPC sadly, who although based very close to me has no car parks in the area that I'm aware of) in order to make a single-point PoPLA appeal about this, and also to bring "no reasonable cause" complaints to DVLA, ICO and my MP. So far they are not playing (how can it be so difficult to get tickets out of these people when they dish them out like confetti?), but I intend to have another go tomorrow.

The_Deep

Well OP, here is your chance to make trouble for the PPC. Complain to you local Trading Standards Department that this company are attempting to obtain monies by misrepresentation. Include newspapers cuttings, a copy of the Thurlow appeal and copies of their invoices, and let them know what you have done. Keep the ball in play.