Help-Robin Hood airport parking charge

Glynn2014

Hi, I'm a newbie here and wondered if any forum members would be able to help me. Any help I do receive will be much appreciated.

To start off I will say that I read through the newbie sticky thread as instructed but I have a couple of questions that I need help with before I send off an e-mail to the company trying to charge me. I'll very briefly explain what happened. On the 27th of October 2014 at 1:30am I went to pick my parents up from Robin Hood airport in my parents car. During the drive I heard a rattling under the car and what felt like the back tyre having not much air in it. I pulled up at a roundabout 200 yards before Robin Hood airport car park. Both the 1st and 3rd exits were blocked off, only the 2nd exit to the round about was in use. I pulled up at the 3rd exit and tried to ring my parents to see what could be wrong with the car. After 5-10mins I got out to check the rear of the car only to notice signs saying do not park here, £100 charge etc. They can be found on the Prankster Operator guide to winning at POPLA website.

I drove out and picked my parents up and drove the car home cautiously. I thought I could possibly get a parking charge because of this but as nothing came for weeks I forgot about it. Then today one came in the post basically saying I owe them £100. Strangely it also said I can now no longer appeal due to the fact that I can only do that 28 days after the contravention date. I rung the company up to say that I hadn't had any parking charge letter so how could I possibly appeal if I didn't know about it and the woman I spoke to was about as unhelpful as you could possibly be. All her answers were basically have I read this letter, or she can't discuss that with me. When I spoke to her I didn't identify who I was just gave them car registration so they don't know I wasn't the registered keeper of the car. The company that are charging me is the vehicle control services ltd who are a member of the IPC.

My intention was to use the copy and paste template in the newbie thread to e-mail them but before I do I just wanted to know 2 things.

1. Would me not receiving their initial charge letter (assuming they sent one) which doesn't leave me an appeal window with them change anything regarding my appeal?

2. Should I include the problems with the car in my appeal or am I just wasting my time?


Thank you for any help anyone can assist with and apologies for the very long winded post which I intended to be brief. Any questions you have about it just fire away.

Regards

Glynn2014

Fruitcake

Answers to 1 and 2 above: -

No and No.

The IPC appeals procedure is a kangaroo court, and not independent. What happened on the day is irrelevant and whilst not being sent documentation in a timely manner will not affect anything, although should be an appeal point, if you decide to appeal.

The general concensus with IPC PNCs now is either: -

Appeal and then ignore unless/until court papers arrive, or

Ignore unleess/until court papers arrive.

The reasoning is that it will beasier to beat an IPC PCN in court than at appeal. However only you can make the decision on what you should do. All I can suggest is that you have another look at the IPC section of the NEWBIES thread and then make your decision based on that.

Coupon-mad

How come VCS have written to YOU? Makes no sense, they can only get the keeper of the car from the DVLA. I reckon they wrote to your Dad in November, who has passed on your details as driver...sounds like it. In which case VCS should have sent you a Notice to Driver, but instead have denied you the right to appeal.

Find out from Dad when he gave your details to VCS and complain to the IPC that VCS have not given you a chance to appeal as driver. Then if the IPC get VCS to cancel it, good. If they get VCS to allow you an appeal then send the first appeal from the newbies thread but don't bother with the IAS.

Glynn2014

I live with my parents, this is the first any of us have heard about it. My dad hasn't spoke to anyone to give them my details.

Coupon-mad

They cannot have written to you by name unless you have the same name as your Dad. It is not possible - they could only write to the registered keeper, having got DVLA data. Then they could only have got your name from that person. Maybe Dad/Mum filled in the bit about who was driving and hasn't told you. Not being funny, a PPC cannot have got your name any other way and they would have written to the keeper in November.

Glynn2014

It was my dad that opened the letter today whilst I was working. I'd already explained to him that this may happen and he just said he d let met handle it. There was definitely no letter addressed to either of us before today. Both me and my dad have almost the same name to confuse matters further. Should I e-mail them with the c+p template letter in the newbie thread Coupon-mad? Thanks for both posters that have helped me btw.

Coupon-mad

OK maybe the confusion is the similarity in your names. So yes, I would send the appeal and would also complain to the IPC that VCS have not sent a Notice to Keeper at all, just a liability Notice saying the keeper owes them £100 and that we can 'now no longer appeal' due to the fact that 28 days has passed. In fact no NTK was ever served, so please can they investigate.

Don't say whether you are the driver or the keeper, use 'we' to be really generic in the complaint - and email it and the appeal ONLY with an initial and surname (so it could be from either you or your Dad). If the IPC ask who was driving, just say as fact 'it wasn't me', but decline to say who it was (seeing as they don't even know who 'me' is!).

IPC contact details are in post #6 of the Newbies thread.

The_Deep

What happened on the day is irrelevant

Are you sure? Recently a judge threw out a case where a motorist broke down, also LA guidance is quite lenient on this. See MC22

http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/car_parks_and_parking/penalty_charges/how_to_appeal_against_a_pcn/mitigating_circumstances.aspx

Folkiedave

The_Deep wrote: »

What happened on the day is irrelevant

Are you sure? Recently a judge threw out a case where a motorist broke down, also LA guidance is quite lenient on this. See MC22

http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/car_parks_and_parking/penalty_charges/how_to_appeal_against_a_pcn/mitigating_circumstances.aspx

These are honest mitigating circumstances from a real Parking Charge Notice.

They would not be accepted by Private Parking Companies who are only interested in your money.

Better to challenge the law behind the fine (GPEOL etc) than any mitigating circumstances.

hoohoo

As this is airport land, with byelaws covering parking, keeper liability does not apply. Therefore it is doubly important not to disclose who the driver was.

If the signs have not been changed since the prankster blog, then you will win at the IPC appeal stage, because they always cancel if the charge is for breach of contract.

Coupon-mad

No they don't - look at brutal_deluxe's thread & IAS outcome. The IAS have knocked that on the head as well.