UKPC - What part of the appeal process is this? Should i give them my details?

teimaj

On the 24th October, my mother was issued with a parking ticket for allegedly leaving a car park (“Vehicle owner/ driver left site”) that is run by UKPC, despite the fact she merely went to McDonalds for lunch and was in the car park for less than an hour.

EDIT: The car park was the Stevenage Leisure Park

Immediately after receiving the PCN she sent an appeal as she was annoyed that she had received a ticket for something she had not done, she uses the car park frequently and has never had a problem with it before. The only reason that i can think that she received a ticket was because she was parked nearer to the train station than normal, and as she parked there, they assumed that she had left the area. She told me that all the cars in that area had been given tickets, which already seems a bit dodgy.

She wrote the appeal explaining how she had not left the area and that she just went to have lunch and they had no evidence of her leaving, at the time i was not present, otherwise i would’ve done some research into UKPC and realised that they had been suspended from accessing the DVLA database, and therefore would’ve questioned the validity of the ticket, or start a new thread to ask for advice.

The photographic evidence they provided simply shows the car at 14:05 in the car park, and at 14:50, and a picture of a sign post with tiny lettering that you can’t even read on the photo they took. So i guess sometime in between here they determined that she had left the area? There are no pictures of her actually leaving the area, for obvious reasons (she didn’t leave the area), unless they are holding evidence?

So on the 24th November, my mother receives an email that says the following :

Thank you for your recent correspondence in relation to the above Parking Charge.

In order to make a final decision regarding your appeal, please can you provide a copy of any receipts from the leisure park on the day in question and the drivers full details so we can liaise with them directly to our Appeals Department within 21 days of the date of this letter.

Paragraph 9(2)(b) of schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, states that we must inform the registered keeper that the driver of a vehicle is required to pay the parking charge in full. It also notes that as we do not know the driver’s name or current postal address, the registered keeper, if they were not the driver at the time, should inform the operator (i.e. us) of the name and current address of the driver and pass the notice to them.
The Act also warns that if, at the end of the period of 28 days (beginning with the day after the Parking Charge is sent), the parking charge has not been paid in full and the operator does not know both the name and current address of the driver, the operator has the right to recover any unpaid part of the parking charge from the registered keeper. This warning is given under Paragraph 9(2)(f) of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and is subject to us complying with the applicable conditions under Schedule 4 of that Act (which we consider we do comply with, to the letter).

Failure to provide this information will give us no alternative other than to make our final decision based on the previous information received, at this stage a POPLA verification code will be provided.

Further correspondence can be sent to our postal address below or on our website at. Please can you ensure that your parking charge details are attached when sending further correspondence.

The Parking Charge has been on hold whilst under appeal and may be settled in full at the reduced rate of £60.

PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS LETTER. UKPC REGULARLY TAKES MOTORISTS TO COURT WHO IGNORE THEIR PARKING CHARGES.

So she then called them as she was not sure where to submit her details online, she was then told to fill the appeal form out again and the charge would be put on hold for another 35 days? This doesn’t seem quite right to me, as she has already submitted an initial appeal, so surely they should’ve rejected this? Also surely if they now have access to the DVLA database again, they can determine the registered keeper of the car?

Unfortunately she doesn’t have a receipt from McDonalds as she paid with cash, so i’m certain they’re going reject the appeal. Which will then require me to right an appeal to POPLA. So basically i’m here asking for advice in what to do in this situation, as I’m new. I have read the Newbie sticky thread, but couldn’t find something similar to this, so i thought it would be best to start a new thread. So to summarise, my questions are

• Is the ticket even valid?
  
• Would they be holding evidence that proved my mother left the area?
  
• Should i fill the appeal form out again?
  
• If i do fill the form out, should i give them the registered keepers details?
  
• What part of the appeal process am i at?

Thanks for reading this, any advice would be appreciated

Zero_Gravitas

One of the regular experts will be along shortly to give a full explanation, but you or you mother should make no further contact with UKPC.

UKPC are currently banned from accessing the DVLA database because they were falsifying parking evidence. Therefore the only way they can find the name and address of the registered keeper is if you tell them - which you should not do!

catfunt

Oh no. What a shame she sent an appeal.

They should have given a POPLA code when they recieved the appeal, so a complaint to the BPA may well be in order on that score.

Wa it a MacDonalds car park? Try a search on MacDonalds in this forum to see how others have dealt with PCNs collected when visiting Maccy Ds. Plenty of examples. Make a complaint to them.

Await one of the regular experts.....

teimaj

Zero_Gravitas wrote: »

One of the regular experts will be along shortly to give a full explanation, but you or you mother should make no further contact with UKPC.

UKPC are currently banned from accessing the DVLA database because they were falsifying parking evidence. Therefore the only way they can find the name and address of the registered keeper is if you tell them - which you should not do!

Thank you for your reply, as far as i know, they have now had their suspension lifted by the DVLA (according to the DVLAgovuk twitter account) , which is why i don't understand why they would require this information, unless they had written this reply a couple of weeks back, and just waited until it was exactly a month before sending the email back

teimaj

catfunt wrote: »

Oh no. What a shame she sent an appeal.

They should have given a POPLA code when they recieved the appeal, so a complaint to the BPA may well be in order on that score.

Wa it a MacDonalds car park? Try a search on MacDonalds in this forum to see how others have dealt with PCNs collected when visiting Maccy Ds. Plenty of examples. Make a complaint to them.

Await one of the regular experts.....

Sorry, i should've made it clearer, it was the Stevenage Leisure Park car park, which contains a number of food places, a cinema, bowling alley etc. Let me edit my post

Fruitcake

As far as I know, the PPC can't retrospectively request keeper details from the DVLA if they were banned from doing so at the time of the alleged event.


Do nothing. They have said themselves, Failure to provide this information will give us no alternative other than to make our final decision based on the previous information received, at this stage a POPLA verification code will be provided.

So just await the PoPLA code and then appeal to PoPLA when it arrives.

catfunt

Yes, DVLA tweeted on Nov 20 in response to a question that UKPC have access again.

Zero_Gravitas

Quick question - when your mother wrote to UKPC, did she send an email or write a letter - and did she give her name and address? I ask because it seems strange that UKPC sent you mother an email if she had written to them.

And a question for the experts - does a Popla code have to be sent by letter to an actual address, or can be be sent by email?

Fruitcake

Zero_Gravitas wrote: »

Quick question - when your mother wrote to UKPC, did she send an email or write a letter - and did she give her name and address? I ask because it seems strange that UKPC sent you mother an email if she had written to them.

And a question for the experts - does a Popla code have to be sent by letter to an actual address, or can be be sent by email?

There have been a couple of threads where a PoPLA code was allegedly sent by email but never received by the victim. By that time the PoPLA appeal deadline had passed. Of course, no PPC would do that deliberately now would they.

teimaj

Zero_Gravitas wrote: »

Quick question - when your mother wrote to UKPC, did she send an email or write a letter - and did she give her name and address? I ask because it seems strange that UKPC sent you mother an email if she had written to them.

And a question for the experts - does a Popla code have to be sent by letter to an actual address, or can be be sent by email?

Sorry i should've stated, she sent them an email, and unfortunately she didn't save what she wrote to them as she thought that would be included in the confirmation email... But it wasn't.

She gave her name and address as the letter they sent via email contained the name and address at the top. However the email she initially received when she submitted her appeal via email stated that they would send a letter in the post.

teimaj

Fruitcake wrote: »

As far as I know, the PPC can't retrospectively request keeper details from the DVLA if they were banned from doing so at the time of the alleged event.


Do nothing. They have said themselves, Failure to provide this information will give us no alternative other than to make our final decision based on the previous information received, at this stage a POPLA verification code will be provided.

So just await the PoPLA code and then appeal to PoPLA when it arrives.

Ok thank you for your help, my only concern is not having any receipts or other proof she was there, because surely then it just comes down to the parking attendents word vs. her word, unless they have evidence they may have withheld. Is this a possibility?

Thanks