Vehicle Control Services [Liverpool Airport]

aaarrrggh

Hello there,

A few months ago I was picking up some relatives from Liverpool airport. Just before you get into the drop off area there, there is a road you can drive down that gives you access to people coming out of the airport, seemingly without having to pay the fee that they charge you just for picking people up (they now charge you £2 and then add another £2 every 5 minutes after that while you wait). There is nothing else on that road - it just lead at the time to a closed gate.

I parked there for no more than 2-3 minutes, as I'd already spoken to my relatives on the phone and knew they were waiting for me. Literally parked, got their stuff into the car and drove off.

However, there is a small roundabout nearby, and a van seemingly permanently parked there. I'd noticed this van on prior visits to Liverpool airport, but had never tried parking on this road before so had not realised what it was for. The moment I drove down this road, the van sprang into action - it drove a right past my car and obviously took pictures of it.

A couple of weeks later I got a letter in the post from "Vehicle Control Services", demanding £60 from me. I was pretty shocked. It said in the letter that the area was clearly sign posted, but actually I didn't notice any signs at the time.

I found some letters on here that were templates for appeals, and sent one off. I could find it if I hunted hard enough, but I don't have the exact letter to hand right now.

They rejected my appeal. A few days ago I received a letter from an apparent debt collection agency, now demanding £150 from me and threatening me with further action if I do not comply.

At no point have I admitted responsibility for driving the car, and the pictures they had did not prove who the driver was.

Ordinarily I wouldn't be that worried about this. However, I'm planning to remortgage our house in a few months, and I obviously can't have a ccj or whatever go against my name right now - my credit rating is excellent and I need to keep it that way.

Here is a scan of their letter rejecting my appeal:
h**p://imgur.com/26gEWlH

Here is a scan of the debt collection letter:
h**p://imgur.com/HMogJlU

(The site wouldn't let me post links, so please replace the "**" with "tt" and paste in your browser)

I'm not sure what to do now - I certainly don't want to pay it, as I was at no time aware of the fact that I would be fined for parking there, nor did I ever sign a "contract", as was originally stated in their original letter (that I can't seem to find at the moment).

They are quite clearly a scam company, but the fact that I want to remortgage in the next few months makes this a bit more worrying. Can any of you kind people please help me and tell me what I should do?

Thanks!

The_Slithy_Tove

aaarrrggh wrote: »

They are quite clearly a scam company, but the fact that I want to remortgage in the next few months makes this a bit more worrying.

Why are you worried? How do you think their scam may affect your ability to get a mortgage? Don't you realise that in order to have an effect on your credit rating, they must first take you to court, which is extremely unlikely, they then would have to go the whole distance and ultimately win (VCS don't have a very good record on the very, very rare cases they get that far), and even then, you would have to fail to pay up within 28 days. In other words, there is no risk to your credit record. But do keep any correspondence, and DO NOT ignore real court papers from a real court.

aaarrrggh

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

Why are you worried? How do you think their scam may affect your ability to get a mortgage? Don't you realise that in order to have an effect on your credit rating, they must first take you to court, which is extremely unlikely, they then would have to go the whole distance and ultimately win (VCS don't have a very good record on the very, very rare cases they get that far), and even then, you would have to fail to pay up within 28 days. In other words, there is no risk to your credit record. But do keep any correspondence, and DO NOT ignore real court papers from a real court.

Thanks, that does help a little. I don't really know much about how this all works. I didn't realise that I'd have 28 days even if I did somehow lose in court. I understand that they've not won many (if any?) cases in court, but I'd rather not end up being the first (sod's law) just when I'm about to remortgage.

If I did end up getting taken to court by them, what would I need to prove?

Also, as a bit of a side issue, could people who have been the victims of this company not come together to sue the hell out of them? They're just such a blatant scam company. The way their van is parked right next to this road in Liverpool airport makes what they are doing so blatant. They just sit there all day waiting for people like me to take a wrong turn...

Thanks for your help so far - I didn't know about the 28 day thing even if I lost in court (if I'm understanding you correctly?).

Redx

they would not have said you "signed" a contract, they would have said you "entered" into a contract

this site is so notorious its been featured heavily in the press and tv like rip off britain not long ago

challengethefine is trying to do something like you asked

if this problem occurred whilst they were in the BPA then the appeal route is to the ppc and then to popla, if its since they joined the IPC (so they can get away with it) then it would be down to appealing to VCS and then to IAS

too many people make assumptions instead of checking out the facts on things like CCJ and credit ratings, those subjects appear on here daily , despite hundreds of replies explaining the position

its the triggering of the CCJ after 28 days that affects the credit rating, as its not been paid within the 28 days after the decision by the judge, hence CCJ and enforcement, none of which has anything to do with parking or stopping , a ccj can be had for numerous other problems that are not car or parking related

if you use the search box on here and put in JLA you will see dozens or hundreds of threads, mainly when they were in the BPA, its an extremely common theme on here

I have been reading about this on here for nigh on 2 years now, and you have been a member here much longer than I have

have a read of this too https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5161978 posts #12 and #13 , posted only 2 weeks ago

never mind post #4 of the NEWBIES sticky thread

bear in mind if they take you to court its their job to prove their case to the judge , not up to you to prove anything, because you will file a defence as a rebuttal to their claims

aaarrrggh

Makes sense.

I did actually read around before posting, but there's quite a lot of information to take in, and it seems that the rules changed around 2012, so it made it quite hard to figure out what's what. Anyway, thanks for your help.

Redx

JLA is not relevant land under that new 2012 law so POFA 2012 does not apply , so as far as that location goes nothing has changed from previous

Ralph-y

During the time take to become better aquainted with the 'world of private parking' concidder writting complaints to your MP, the local papers and the DVLA .

Many people have gone down this route .... the more that do the better, try searching the forums for such.

My thread re DVLA is here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5130131

there are many more.

Ralph:cool: