Old Ticket

DidoAnders

Hi All,

In 2013, I received a parking fine on a Retail park, at 20.10. The Retail Park pretty much closes down at 8pm, with the exception of Burger King & a gym. I parked here to go to a rugby match nearby & previously had no issues.

However, it stated on the ticket "Driver - Passengers observed leaving site". I ignored the ticket (which I now realise was a dumb idea) along with the 2 follow-up letters & finally received a letter from the notorious 'The Miah Solicitors' a few weeks ago.

I have read through the newbie threads & have got the template letter to send to UKCPS & The Miah Solicitors, however I'm not sure what to put as my 'challenge' i.e. why is the charge a non-sense? Do I quote the time of the ticket? The fact that there was no / disproportionate estimation of loss?

From the letters / examples I have seen on the forum pages, what do you think of the below proposal to send to UKCPS?

Dear Sirs

Ref ****

I wish to challenge this notice and refer you to the consequences of Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust if you refuse to consider an application outside your normal deadline.

1 Vast majority of retail units close at 20:00, only Burger King remains open.

2 The amount you claim does not represent a genuine pre-estimate of any loss.

As far as I am concerned, I have made a valid challenge (16/07/2015) and if you do not accept this challenge, or if I do not receive a clear rejection letter within 35 days, I will consider the matter closed. If you do not accept this challenge, I require the validation code to refer the matter to POPLA.

Yours faithfully

All feedback is welcome & much appreciated

I will post the pics of the letters if that would help?

Thanks

Redx

its too late to challenge it, but they were BPA members back then so if they start court you can ask the judge for ADR by POPLA

as you have ignored it thus far, I would not respond and let it lie, only responding to an LBC or an MCOL

the NEWBIES thread tells you all about it

responding tells them they have a "live one" on the hook

they have 6 years to chase you by the way (small claims rules)

The_Deep

The Miah Solicitors are well known to us here, they are not a firm to be taken too seriously. Read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5284070=

Are they claiming contractual charge or breach of contract.

Grimble

If you were observed leaving the site, you should have been told so the mitigated any loss.

DidoAnders

Oh ok, I thought that you could challenge under the case mentioned in my example? Apologies if this is out-dated.

There is now a sign on the car park in question which states that leaving the car park on MATCH DAYS will result in a penalty / charge.Unfortunately, I didnt get any pictorial evidence at the time to see if the sign has been amended in the interim.

I am conscious that 'leaving it' has been the wrong thing to do thus far - do I continue with this approach now? And then act if i get a letter with a court date?

Thanks again

bazster

Grimble wrote: »

If you were observed leaving the site, you should have been told so the mitigated any loss.

Plus, of course, there's that usual UKCPS nonsense "Driver - Passengers observed leaving site". Well which was it? There is nothing to prevent the passengers leaving the site: if anyone entered into a contract it was the driver, not the passengers, and there is no chance of UKCPS producing any credible evidence at this distance in time to clear up this doubt that they themselves have introduced!

bazster

DidoAnders wrote: »

There is now a sign on the car park in question which states that leaving the car park on MATCH DAYS will result in a penalty / charge.

What a stupid thing to put on a sign. If you are not interested in whatever sport it is then how are you supposed to know if it's a match day? Even lots of people milling about is not necessarily a clue, maybe it's a rock concert? And anyway, surely any day is a match day somewhere?

A stadium I visit regularly has a huge match-day Controlled Parking Zone surrounding it. There are signs everywhere stating the event (not match!) day parking restrictions and, crucially, the date of the next event. And then, on the match day, the signs all change to show "Event Day Today".

Without doing something like that UKCPS doesn't have a hope in hell of making a match day parking restriction stick.

DidoAnders wrote: »

I am conscious that 'leaving it' has been the wrong thing to do thus far - do I continue with this approach now? And then act if i get a letter with a court date?

What you've got is a boring debt collector letter and, like all debt collector letters, you ignore it.

Miah has never taken anyone to court on behalf of UKCPS. UKCPS themselves produce a steady trickle of court cases (without using any solicitor) but they'd be stark staring mad to try this one.

DidoAnders

Thanks for all of your help, guys! Really appreciate it

DidoAnders

P.s. I will let you know how I get on

monstermunch01

How did you get on?
I'm in the same boat...ignored a 2013 UKCPS ticket... didn't even see a sign in a closed workshop carpark on a sunday evening...
Recieved a miah solicitor letter a couple of days ago... advice from family and friends is to still ignore it but would like to know what people in the same boat have found!

fisherjim

monstermunch01 wrote: »

How did you get on?
I'm in the same boat...ignored a 2013 UKCPS ticket... didn't even see a sign in a closed workshop carpark on a sunday evening...
Recieved a miah solicitor letter a couple of days ago... advice from family and friends is to still ignore it but would like to know what people in the same boat have found!

Why not do a search of the forum and you might find out!;)