UKPC Begin Small Claims Action In Scotland

ElefantEd

What would happen if they did take someone to court and they were asked (presumably under oath) "Were you the driver of the car that day?"

Northlakes

Another reason for not having a vehicle registered in your own name.

If registered to another name the reply to the judge would be;

"It was an person employed or associated with the registered keeper"

If a judge was to ask further questions you would say that it wouldn't be fair to name a person in open court without their knowledge or written consent.

Coupon-mad

ElefantEd wrote: »

What would happen if they did take someone to court and they were asked (presumably under oath) "Were you the driver of the car that day?"

Long before any hearing, when getting the court papers you would put in your defence (among the usual other points) that no admissions have been received as regards who was driving all that time ago and you certainly cannot recall. Several drivers use your car so the claimant cannot 'assume' who it was on the balance of probabilities, since this would be unsafe. The onus falls squarely upon the Claimant to show evidence to ascertain who that was, you believe it was unlikely to have been you at that time and so you are defending as registered keeper. Remind the court and claimant that in Scotland there is no POFA 2012 so no keeper liability is possible.

PsyCrow wrote: »

I am a wee bit concerned by this news. My car got a ticket several months ago from the Gallagher retail park and I have ignored all the letters so far. I received a letter from Zenith Collections last week which contains the phrase "Notice of intention to commence legal proceedings". Is this just a standard letter or are they planning to take to court as well.

This story in the paper is making me seriously think about paying the £80 they are offering at the moment.

Don't be ridiculous, don't wobble! As keeper you are not liable in law and Zenith cannot start court action as they are merely a pen-pushing debt collector and cannot litigate. UKPC themselves could try and have obviously shaped up to give it a go, knowing that some people are stupid/scared enough to pay up/not turn up for a hearing (which gives a PPC a default win). We can help with a robust defence although it would need tweaking to suit Scots law and you'd have to Google the process for your courts (find out what to do when as a defendant). Bottom line is no loss and no standing and no keeper liability.

I would be complaining in writing to the Management of Gallagher Retail park and include a copy of the Courier article, saying you are beyond angry about this harassment . Obviously don't say who was driving - just say if UKPC send you court papers you will be suing the Gallagher Retail Park for the distress and any loss. It should be a 'how dare you? We are regular customers of your retail park but no more!' type of complaint.

I would also reply robustly to Zenith and say something like:


I am merely the registered keeper and to the best of my knowledge, was not the driver. No admissions have been received as to who that party was (there are several drivers of this car) and UKPC have shown me no evidence of the driver nor of any loss suffered. As such, there is no keeper liability and no loss to pursue and any claim by UKPC will be robustly defended by me as keeper of the car. Stop contacting me pretending you can take cases to court as you (aka Debt Recovery Plus) are a debt collector not a litigator. Refer my denial of this claim back to your client and close the case because I will not be paying you. As keeper, I am not the liable party so you must cease this harassment.

Primeau

I received a parking charge notice from this company last week. I attempted to get a ticket, but the machine was out of order. Being in hurry, I popped into the shop, and returned to find a ticket on my windscreen. The attendant was still around, so I queried the ticket based on the faulty machine. He confirmed the machine was down, but said I should have gone to another one. He also recommended appealing to the website on the ticket.
Foolishly I did so, because in explaining the circumstances of the ticket, I have all but admitted that I was the driver. Needless to say, my appeal was rejected.
But my question, do UKPC have reasonable grounds to charge me? The car park is free for first 2 hours, and I can prove I stayed for 30 mins max, and that I attempted to get a ticket. They have suffered no loss.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Umkomaas

You do need to start a new thread of your own, as we work on the basis of 'one case, one thread' so advice doesn't become confused and/or we have a complete free for all with any number of random cases being tagged on.

But first of all you do need to read thoroughly the NEWBIES FAQS sticky at the top of the forum index (one page back from here) which will give all of the initial information you need. It was written by Coupon-mad, one of the country's most knowledgeable people in dealing with private parking tickets. You won't find anything more comprehensive than this anywhere online.

The sticky is detailed and you might need a couple of 'passes' to digest it, so bite sized chunks with a cup of tea over a couple days might be the best approach. You do need to make the effort to do some research via the sticky before asking for further help from regulars - we are so busy each day it's impossible to type and constantly repeat basic information - hence the sticky with all that stuff covered. But do come back after reading it if anything isn't clear to you.

BUT - via a new thread of your own please.

HTH

Primeau

Thank you for the reply Umkomaas. I shall re-read the FAQ and start a new thread.

MrsBartolozzi

As an update to the OP:

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/uk-parking-control-drops-court-action-against-gallagher-retail-park-drivers-1.670162


A pair of Dundee drivers claimed victory when a leading private parking company dropped its court action against them.

Linda Braid and Craig Reid were taken to the city’s small claims court by UK Parking Control (UKPC) after each refused to pay a private parking charge incurred at Gallagher Retail Park.

Earlier this week, both drivers declined an offer to settle the matter by paying the company £152 — only £8 less than UKPC were pursuing them for in court.

:T what an offer! £152 :rotfl:

bod1467

They should have responded with "I accept UKPC's offer to pay me £152 to settle this matter".

stoatwblr

bazster wrote: »

Presumably they are testing the water in preparation for a PE-style campaign of intimidation via court papers.

With any luck the scottish courts will see through that and PE will end up with sanctions against them.

stoatwblr

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Zenith cannot start court action as they are merely a pen-pushing debt collector and cannot litigate.

If they have no legal standing, then surely threatening legal action becomes harrassment and possibly vexatious activity.

Has anyone in Scotland brought this to the attention of the Lord Advocate?