Aging newbie requires help re Parking Dispute

SGL54

Advice required please.

My son had a ticket on his windscreen parked near his workplace, spoke to others who told him to throw it in the bin, as where he was parked was not a private car park.

He then received a ‘Notice to Keeper or Hirer’ from Parking Collection Services, on behalf of their client UKPS (NW) Ltd., dated 25.04.14. demanding payment of £120.

By this time my son was working in Australia, so, on 09.05.14., I forwarded the following reply on his behalf:


Your client issued me with a parking ticket on 14.02.13. but I believe it was unlawfully issued and I will not be paying your demand for payment for the following reason:


 I was not parked on the land in question
I received a ticket for supposedly breaking your parking restrictions yet I was actually parked at the entrance to an adjoining car park, meaning you had no authority to issue a ticket. If you dispute this please provide photographic proof to the contrary.

Furthermore:

 The fee is disproportionate
According to the Unfair Consumer Contract Regulations, parking charges on private land must not exceed the cost to the landowner during the period the motorist is parked there. In my case, the £120 charge you are asking for far exceeds the cost to the landowner.


If you choose to pursue me please be aware that I will not enter into any correspondence and this will be the only letter you will receive from me until you answer the specific points raised in my letter.


Parking Collection Services replied on 28.05.14. enclosing photographic evidence and attempting to justify the charge of £120.
As far as we could see the photographs confirmed our view regarding the position of the car.

As we considered their response did not satisfactorily answer our grounds for refusing to pay we decided to ignore any further correspondence from them and looked forward, if necessary, to seeing them in court.

There then followed a number demands for money:
19.06.13.
Notification of liabilty from Parking Collection Services demanding £120.
03.07.13.
Demand for payment of an unpaid parking charge from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd. Demanding £149.
They stated that if payment not made by17.07.13. then they would recommend to creditor’s solicitors that court action should be taken.
18.07.13.
Notice of intended court action – unpaid parking charge £149, from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd.
They then stated that if payment not made by 01.08.13. then they would pass file on to creditor’s solicitors with recommendation to commence court action. They also stated that a court judgement against you could seriously affect your ability to obtain credit in the future.
02.08.13.
Reduced payment offer to avoid court proceedings £119.20 from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd. stating that In order to comply with all aspects of pre-action protocal and to demonstrate to the courts their attempts to settle this matter before the need for court proceedings, our client is prepared to accept a reduced payment…
18.11.13.
Letter from The Ellen Court Partnership, Solicitors, acting on behalf of UK Protection Services, stating that given the low level of debt it is not our wish to have recourse to court proceedings.
They therefore extended deadline for payment of £149 to 02.12.13. but then proceeded to detail additional court fees and solicitors fees plus interest at 8% pa. If payment not received.



We continued to ignore all the above demands and heard nothing more and therefore considered the matter closed until some 13 months after the last correspondence we received the following:

13.12.14. (over a year later!)
Notice of Intended Further Action from TNC Parking Services, which starts:
We refer to the recent letter of in respect of £184 owing to UK Protection Services.
There should obviously be a date between of and in but there is no recent letter.
Fee has gone up to £184 due to £35 admin charge!
They state that if payment not received within 7 days then they will recommend commencement of court proceedings. They then say that we could then be additionally liable for court fees, statutory interest and costs awarded against you by the court.


One further point.
In their letter of 28.05.13. they state that;
Parking restrictions are put in place for a variety of reasons:including trafficc ontrol,congestion avoidance, etc and as such must be strictly enforced.
As these terms were breached on 14th February 2013 (no parking at any time), a PCN was correctly and legitimately issued.

If it is a no parking area then it clearly is not a car park – how then can there be any contract?


I am now getting fed up and a little stressed.
Can they just recommence these threatening demands after more than a years silence?
Is there any way that I can force them to either proceed to court or desist?
What are the chances of them proceeding to court?

Redx

you can be chased for up to 6 years under the small claims rules (MCOL) for an alleged debt or invoice, so 1 year is neither here nor there

please read the newbies sticky thread which has a debt collector section and other valuable information

no you cannot force anything, you are dependent on them until the statute runs out (after 6 years)

if its private property then its alleged trepass, but only a judge can decide as private parking is unregulated

bazster

Is your son still in Australia? If so, you could send this:

G'day cobbers, please note my new address, good luck with your claim,

See ya mates!

This tinpot outfit isn't going to attempt a court claim, but even if they were so inclined a County Court in England can't hear a case against someone who is not a UK resident.

BenefitMaster

I'd support Bazster's plan.

SGL54

Thanks for reponses.

My son returned to Uk last summer.

BenefitMaster

SGL54 wrote: »

Thanks for reponses.

My son returned to Uk last summer.

Are you sure :snow_laug

bazster

BenefitMaster wrote: »

Are you sure :snow_laug

:rotfl: Maybe it's just a long holiday back in the motherland.

Either go with BM's plan or just ignore them. It's a pity you didn't send the "I live in Australia" letter way back then.

Coupon-mad

Just ignore TNC, they are just a bunch of chancers scraping the barrel of old cases. These are last gasp letters hoping some idiots pay them - DON'T.

HO87

That's the first UKPS (NW) Ltd case that I've seen rattling around the woodwork for some time. UKPS (NW) Ltd is now registered at Companies House as a "micro" company so has less than £632,000 turnover/less than £316,000 on its balance sheet/fewer than 11 employees (whichever 2 apply).

For those of us who were around on the forum 5 years ago and witnessed the slow, messy, though quite entertaining demise of PCN-UK Ltd (aka Vibe Leisure), UKPS (NW) Ltd is the last remaining link to that sorry saga.

UKPS (NW) Ltd's immediately preceding iteration - UK Protection Services Ltd shared a small office with PCN-UK Ltd in Chorley for quite some time in 2009 before Ash and Amy's little venture nose-dived into the front lawn of Fields House (or was it Fileds House?) down in Bridgend. Sharing a small office (above a shop in the town centre) implies a fairly close relationship but none of the names matched. Strange that?

Strange too how PCN-UK Ltd and UK Facility Services Ltd* - that reputedly acquired PCN-UK Ltd both ended up being being dissolved at registered offices which happened to be the separate home addresses of two gentlemen directors of a series of companies based at Fields House. Now why on earth would that be?

* Not in any way connected with another company now known by that same name.

fil_cad

Send the jockstraps some monopoly mony.