UKCPS Parking Charge Notice

CP9

Hello all,

New to the forum and it's because of a parking fine from UKCPS that I've registered to post.

In September I got one of the windscreen tickets for parking on some private land. There was no option to pay and display, it was clearly signed permit holders only. I decided to take a chance with it being only for a couple of hours. Unfortunately that was a stupid decision and now they want £100 off me.

The notice to keeper letter came a couple of weeks ago and I'm going to send an appeal because of what I've read on here. I have read the template on the newbies sticky thread and had a go of rewording in, but I have a few questions. If anyone could please help me out it would be much appreciated.

Firstly, the template says it is suitable for all private notices at the time I got mine. Is this definitely suitable for mine from UKCPS?


"Your 'Notice' fails to comply with the POFA 2012 and also breaches the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regs 2013."

Can anyone explain this part to me? UKCPS refer to POFA 2012 in their NTK when they say they will persue the money from the keeper if I don't inform them who the driver was within 28 days.


"I will then escalate this appeal to the independent appeal service offered by your Trade Body."

Again I don't understand this part and am not sure it specifically relates to the NTK I have received.


"3. Notice of cancellation of contract
I hereby give notice of withdrawal from this alleged contract which was never properly offered or explained by you"

I don't really understand any of point 3 and why a contract would need to be agreed for them to have a right to owe me any money? Is this something to do with it not being a legal requirement for me to pay unless we had agreed in writing beforehand that should I park there I will agree to pay the fine? The car park made it clear that it was permit holders only and had a sign which explained a £100 fine would be given should anyone park there without a permit.

Would it be better if I post the letter onto the message board?

P.S. I haven't told them who was driving or even so much as made any contact with them so far.

What's peoples advice?

Cheers

bazster

It's not a fine.

Their contention is that by parking where you did you entered into a contract with them, and that as a result of breaching the terms of that contract you now owe them £100 in damages.

It's utter rot of course. They never made an offer of parking to you, quite the opposite in fact. Because you didn't have a permit they expressly forbade you from parking there, so no contract was offered that you could have accepted. By parking without permission you were simply trespassing, but that's an avenue they will not go down because they can't get £100 out of you for trespass.

I agree with you about point 3, it's probably not relevant. It's crystal clear in the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Payments) Regs 2013 that those regs apply only to contracts where the consumer pays or agrees to pay a price. So, the regs are not applicable where parking is free (or forbidden!). It doesn't matter that the alleged contract supposedly contains a liquidated damages clause, that is not a price.

Those regs might be applicable where the parking company pretends that its charge is a contractually-agreed price (for example, if the signs said "Free parking for permit holders, all others agree to pay £100"), but not where parking was forbidden, or where the charge is damages rather than a price. Furthermore, the regs will not normally be applicable to P&D car parks either, because the regs don't cover trivial everyday transactions, with the threshold being £40-odd.

Having said all that, don't worry too much about it. UKCPS is prone to cancelling as soon as it receives an appeal based on the one in the Newbies sticky, and even if they don't cancel you will beat them at the next stage, PoPLA.

CP9

Thanks for your reply Bazster. However I'm still unsure whether to include the following from the newbie template:

I don't feel I fully understand the template and therefore want to try and get what it means before I reply to UKCPS.

"your notice fails to comply with POFA 2012"

Can anybody please explain how this is? UKCPS refer to this act in their NTK, so I'm assuming they know all about it and are complying with it?

Umkomaas

Just send the template initial appeal letter off. In many circumstances it doesn't achieve an early cancellation of the charge. But using the template signals to the PPC that you are getting forum assistance.

Some, in small numbers, are realising that they're going to be defeated by the forum, particularly at POPLA, and cut their losses and cancel. UKCPS have started to cancel at initial appeal, so just try it!

If you want to compare the UKCPS NtK against POFA 2012, you need to read the appropriate paragraphs of that Act and compare and contrast with your NtK. Unless they get it all correct they fail, and keeper liability isn't available to them.

Here's your link:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4/enacted

Don't assume the PPC knows anything other than how to push their grasping fingers into your pocket to pull hard earned from it!

Coupon-mad

UKCPS refer to this act in their NTK, so I'm assuming they know all about it and are complying with it?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! No private NTK is fully compliant IMHO - and certainly NOT a UKCPS one!

bazster

CP9 wrote: »

I don't feel I fully understand the template and therefore want to try and get what it means before I reply to UKCPS.

Very commendable, if more people took the trouble to understand the templates before they send them there would be fewer mistakes from people sending the wrong template or including/excluding the wrong bits of the templates.

You've been directed to the (very detailed) requirements in the legislation. If you need more help just ask.