Is This A Scam NOTICE TO KEEPER Letter

soulandy

Today, November 10th 2014, I had a letter through the post from a company called EXCEL PARKING asking me to pay £100 for beaching car parking terms. The issue date is 5-11-2014, 5 days old. Now I know I haven't done any such thing, especially on 1-10-2014 @ 13:20, as I know exactly where I was. Now according to this letter I was at a "Privately Operated Car Park" at Junction Street. Where Junction Street is, is anyones guess as there is no indication where in the world it is. There is only my address and the car reg, no make or colour of the car. Has anyone else had one of these mystery letters and if so any advice? There is no way I paying but would like to know if anyone else has had something like this.
Thanks

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bazster

Read the Newbies sticky, it tells you everything you need to know about seeing this off. Excel easy to beat if you follow the advice.

gertysingh

Let's see:
- No proof except your vehicle reg no.
- A lack of description about the location
(a web search shows a Junction Street in Edinburgh, Carlisle and Manchester - any of these places familiar?)
- No indication of what the parking charge should have been

If it were me, I'd demand proof otherwise tell them to go away and if they continue to harass you, you will charge them with harassment. Someone sensible will come and help you further.

gertysingh

...and what Baz says

soulandy

Thanks.
Yes I googled Junction Street and as I suspected nowhere near to where I was on the day. In fact the letter dosen't say wether the offence was in the UK or not. I have read the newbies thread and this sort of thing baffles me. I was just going to shred the letter but I'll keep it and frame it.
I'll go through the newbies thread again. Thanks

Umkomaas

You need to make some response, otherwise you'll be getting a blizzard of paperwork over the next few months.

I'd ask them for photographic evidence as you believe your VRM has been cloned and you now need to involve the Police! See how they respond to that.

hoohoo

Do you think this was your car from the photos? If not, your plate has been cloned.

However, in any case the NTK does not comply with regulations, because as you state, it does not allow identification of the car park location. They can therefore only pursue the driver, which will mean they will fail if you appeal properly.

They can correct their mistake, so wait until 14 days have passed from the date of parking and then appeal on the grounds.

1) It was not you and your plate was cloned
2) You have no idea where junction street is

Ask them to supply all the photographic evidence they have, as per the british parking association code of practice which requires them to provide this. Request this is provided via email so you can digitally analyse it.

If they refuse to cancel the appeal, then come back here for help at POPLA.

If they fail to provide the photos, raise a complaint with the bpa at aos@britishparking.co.uk

Meanwhile, if your plate is cloned, you may want to protect yurself from receiving a bunch of other parking tickets and speeding fines.

Put something distinctive on the front and back of your car so you can tell from photos it is your car and not someone elses, and get your own dated photos.

Write to the DVLA informing them you beleive your plate is clones, and also contact local police. They may not be interested, but it lays a paper trail you can rely on if you get trouble later.

bazster

Frankly you don't even need to send the ever-growing appeal letter from the Newbies thread. Something like this will suffice in the first instance:

Dear Whoever-You-Are

I've never heard of you, I've never heard of Junction Street, and wherever it is my vehicle certainly was not parked there on the day you say it was.

In any case your Notice to Keeper woefully fails to meet the requirements of POFA 2012 Schedule 4, not least because it fails to specify the land on which the vehicle was allegedly (but wasn't) parked. Junction Street could be anywhere (except where my vehicle actually was at the time). Accordingly you cannot hold the keeper liable, only the driver, which you are going to find somewhat tricky because neither vehicle nor driver was there, wherever it is.

hoohoo

Scrub that. I now see this is an NTK following a NTD, so this must be issued between day 28 and 56.

No need to wait until day 56 IMHO.

As well as asking for photos, also ask for a copy of the original notice to driver so you can check it is compliant with POFA 2012.

Half_way

I would suggest that you remove the posted image and edit out at the PCN number, the Time and the date fields, you should be able to do this with a program such as Microsoft paint

soulandy

Blimey, and its me birthday as well!! :-)
I am writing an email at the moment asking for proof and also asking if the car park on junction street is in the UK. Reg been cloned, and I always thought that happened to other folk. Oh well, I'll see what they have to say about the email.
Thanks again