Parking Charge from UKPC - Stevenage Leisure Park

fairway76

Hi,

I have received the NTK from UKPC for an alleged incident on 07/03/2015 where my car was parked at Stevenage Leisure Park.

Their reason for issuing the charge was that the "vehicle owner/driver left site". They have provided a link to their website that shows several pictures of my car from various angles parked in the bay. There is one that shows the ticket attached to the windscreen but you couldn't identify the car from this picture as it is a close up. There are no pictures whatsoever of anyone leaving the car and leaving the site.

I have fired off the standard letter on the Newbies page as an appeal and I have written to the CEO of Stevenage Leisure Park. I also have a receipt from the Bowling alley at the Leisure park where my daughter was bowling with the date and time of the alleged event.

I am assuming that UKPC will still reject my appeal but I feel I have a pretty strong case for the POPLA appeal.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Fruitcake

You are doing fine as you are. Wait for the rejection and use the PoPLA code they must provide so you can beat them at PoPLA.

Did you send the appeal by first class post from a Post Office with a free certificate of posting? If not, send the appeal again but make sure you get a proof of posting just in case the PPC lose your appeal and deny that you sent one.
Never send anything by recored delivery becaus ehte PPC may refuse to sign for it thus giving them proof that it was not delivered.

fairway76

Thanks Fruitcake.

I sent it from work 1st class but I will send again from the Post Office to get the certificate of posting.

I'll update this thread as and when anything happens.

neil.net

fairway76 wrote: »

Thanks Fruitcake.

I sent it from work 1st class but I will send again from the Post Office to get the certificate of posting.

I'll update this thread as and when anything happens.

If you do it online, you'll get an email confirmation.

fairway76

Thanks neil.net

I've done both as the online appeal doesn't let you put in more than 2000 characters so I've made the outline of my appeal (basically the top part of the letter) and then referred to the hard copy letter that outlines the formal challenge, the drop hands offer and the cancellation of the alleged contract and that they should read the letter in conjunction with the online appeal.

I'm sure they will ignore one or the other which probably won't look good in a POPLA appeal.

Thanks for all the help, I will update you when I get the next letter.

** NB - IF YOU SUBMIT AN ONLINE APPEAL TO UKPC, MAKE SURE TO DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOU HAVE SET THE DROPDOWN BOX TO "REGISTERED KEEPER" AS IT DEFAULTS TO DRIVER IF YOU MAKE ANY MISTAKES IN ANY OF THE OTHER FIELDS AND HAVE TO RE-SUBMIT. I ALMOST GOT CAUGHT WITH THAT! **

fairway76

Another point on this before I get my rejection letter - as they haven't provided any proof of the driver leaving the site, couldn't they have got CCTV images as proof?

fisherjim

No they will not have any proof except their attendants witness statement.

fairway76

OK - Thanks for that!

They state on their signs that a Parking Charge will be applied if the driver/registered keeper leaves the site. What if the Registered Keeper didn't leave the site but the driver did - where would they stand on that?

Thanks for all of your help.

fisherjim

Yes exactly thin ice isn't it some might even say scam.
There is an example on here somewhere where a judge threw one of these ridiculous claims out of court, not from UKPC though who tend to stay away from court.

The_Deep

Indeed and what do they do when someone parks there and leaves and a person already in the shop drives away. Who has a contract with whom?

fairway76

I have received the standard rejection letter today from UKPC which banged on about the PE v Beavis case and how "This ruling now represents the most authoritative judgement in the area of parking law and must be strictly adhered to". They totally ignored the other parts of my appeal about them not providing any evidence of any breach of their rules or the fact I have a receipt from one of the facilities on the Leisure Park proving that we were using them at the time the charge was issued!

What a surprise!

I spoke to the people at the Management office of the Leisure Park and explained the situation (I had already written to them but had received no reply). The guy there told me not to worry as the parking charge was unenforceable and that I could just ignore any further letters from them or their "debt collectors".

I told him that I could appeal through POPLA but he advised me to email Matthew Chambers at Jones Lang LaSalle (matthew.chambers@eu.jll.com) who are the Management Company for Stevenage Leisure Park and he should be able to get it cancelled.

I have emailed him with all the details and attachments of all the letters etc so I will see what he comes back with before I appeal to POPLA.

Funnily enough, the rejection letter from UKPC is dated 7th May but I didn't receive it until yesterday, therefore losing me 6 days of my 28 day appeal window - not exactly fair.

I've also noticed that the reference no. on the letter and the NTK is different from the number on the actual parking charge issued. Does this matter at all?

I'll keep you informed as to what happens.