UKPC ticket, have I messed up?

Connor1234

on the 2nd of Feb 2016 my car was parked in the student car park at my university run by UKPC.

I paid for parking on the day but received a ticket for non payment, It's been a long time since the ticket was issued but I think it had fallen down the dashboard, I can't actually remember if this is the case.

I still have the original ticket, the card receipt and a bank statement for that month which shows the money going out of the account 3 days after the date that parking was paid.

I spoke to my friends who had also had tickets from UKPC over the past year and I consulted with them about their experiences, I also looked online and the general consensus was that the correct way to deal with the issue was to just ignore their letters and that they'd stop. So, as such I didn't pay, didn't appeal and ignored them.

I went through the UKPC letters phase, the Debt Collector letters and now after a couple of months of silence I have received one from DRP stating they will pass my case onto a solicitor and recommend legal action if i do not pay or appeal.

Am I wrong to have Ignored them, Is there anything I should do from here, I still have the materials to make an appeal but I always felt that they would reject it instantly regardless and I would have shown my hand should they take me to court.

Thanks in advance and thank you for the fantastic forum you guys have built up over the years, if you're willing to dig MSE is a really great database of knowledge.

Redx

yes you were wrong to take your friends advice and ignore them

the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread tells you and them what to do

IGNORE has not been correct for 4 years !!

APPEAL was the correct thing to do , then take it to POPLA

too late for that now , so it all depends if this is a real solicitors letter , or if its a debt collector letter on solicitor headed notepaper

the PPC or their solicitors has 6 years to issue a court claim , an MCOL

the other correct thing to have been done was a complaint to the University that payment was made and the invoice should be cancelled, so you need to get this done asap

Coupon-mad

I went through the UKPC phase, the Debt Collector emails and now after a couple of months of silence I have received one from the Solicitor phase stating they will recommend action if i do not pay or appeal.

I would say now is the time to respond. Which solicitor?

Search the forum for the firm's name and 'UKPC' (together as one search) and you will find other threads who have had that letter. And responded! UKPC have started claims on some cases but MAINLY bothering with those where there are multiple PCNs 'worth' (to them) potentially a four-figure sum.

But also, parking firms sometimes proceed to a claim when they've been ignored, in the hope of you still ignoring court papers and them then getting a default CCJ. The point there is, when people discover the CCJ later, these firms are often getting something like £250 out of the victim, when people panic and 'pay it off' rather than set the judgment aside to remove it.

Neither is a nice experience and I've dubbed this conduct by PPCs as the new type of clamping only it is worse than it was before. Instead of clamping cars and charging £150 or so to release them, they are 'clamping finances'. Wrong, wrong, wrong. An absolute scandal and scam.

So, to avoid all that, now respond robustly and defend any claim with our help.

When you respond, DO NOT say who was driving, do not name that person! The reply must be written in the name of the registered keeper, pointing out that 'the driver' (described in the third person only) did pay and display and there is no evidence that there was any contravention of any transparently displayed terms on a clear sign that could be capable of binding a driver. You can enclose a photocopy of the P&D ticket and the bank statement (name covered) and say that the driver did not agree to pay £100, was unaware of such a penalty, did not contravene, did not avoid paying for parking. You can say that the signs fail to meet the BPA Code of Practice and fail the 'adequate notice' requirement of the sum of the parking charge itself, as is mandatory in the POFA 2012. If as keeper, you are to be held liable, UKPC must have fully complied with Schedule 4 of the POFA and, you can say, they did not.

Anyway, do the search of solicitor's name + UKPC and read what others have done/received back; look for recent posters who have posted this Summer but who are ahead of you.

Connor1234

I believe this isn't a real solicitors letter and that it's a debt collector saying they will advise a solicitor, I'm not currently with the letter and need to second check this.

So if it's not a solicitor I should appeal, If it is however a solicitor what are my options, and how would I stand up in court with the evidence that I have?

Redx

its too late to appeal , you had 28 days from the NTK arriving to appeal, that ship sailed long ago

court is a lottery, all the facts need to be known , including facts you know nothing about , like landowner contracts, if the paperwork met POFA2012 , signage , all sorts

nobody can tell you what sort of case you have , or even if the judge is in a bad mood or has hangups about students !!! lol

it is what it is on the day in court , dont let anyone tell you its cut and dried either way

Coupon-mad

Connor1234 wrote: »

I believe this isn't a real solicitors letter and that it's a debt collector saying they will advise a solicitor, I'm not currently with the letter and need to second check this.

So if it's not a solicitor I should appeal, If it is however a solicitor what are my options, and how would I stand up in court with the evidence that I have?

OK if it is DRP or Zenith or ZZPS then they are not solicitors.

You will find out how people fared in court by searching for the solicitor's firm and UKPC. Best to read what has happened in other cases. e.g. Anthony94 won his case but another poster lost...small claims court is a lottery but you get no CCJ and indeed, even if you lost you would pay no more than the daft letter is demanding right now!

So, that's why people fight and defend it. No reason not to.

No-one will tell you to pay this. We are telling you to respond robustly as keeper, to any solicitor's letter.

Connor1234

Hi guys, got an Update, done some more reading and I've constructed a letter to send to DRP, I've offered a £10 settlement as a good will gesture as since I missed the deadline for appeal they had to pay for my details (£2.50), I also included 10 second class stamps in this (£5.50) so there is an excess for other expenses.

I've tried to make this firm, fair and reasonable, I read the notes of one case where offering £10 as a reasonable settlement came up in their favour too and thought since I had missed the appeal this may help with that.
could any one offer any advice?


To whom it may concern.

I am writing to you regarding your letters requesting collection of perceived ‘debt’ on behalf of UKPC for an accused breach of contract by the driver of XXXX XXX on the 3rd February 2016 in the Gulson Road Car Park adjacent to Coventry University. Please find on page 2 references to claims I make in this letter.
On this date, XXXX XXX had a full days parking paid to the correct cost of £2, UKPC incurred no perceived or actual financial loss. I have both the ticket and the card receipt for this transaction, and the card referenced on the receipt (1).
I would advise that XXXX XXX is clear of all wrong doing regarding the accusations made. The images provided by UKPC are of poor quality and are ambiguous, the glare on the windscreen from the sky and reflections on water drops make the images unclear and nearly impossible to gain any meaningful interpretation from (2).
Shortly after the issue of an invoice from a UKPC warden I requested the CCTV of the car park from the Coventry University Protection Service, this request was once denied over the phone and I was then told via email that a technical error had prevented this footage from being retrieved. If UKPC/DRP do in fact have a copy of this footage I would suggest that following the driver of XXXX XXX on video from the car to the ticket machine should suffice as evidence that payment was in fact made.
As this is my first ticket issued by a private firm I missed the appeals window due to not realising that there were independent bodies to adjudicate these issues. Since my reply comes after UKPC/DRP have incurred minor costs to find my details, whilst I maintain that I am responsible for no wrong doing, I am willing to offer a generous settlement of £10.00 as a gesture of good will to reimburse UKPC/DRP for the expense of the release of documentation from the DVLA and for the cost of posting between 5 & 10 letters second class, this leaves excess for other costs I may have not been aware of. (3). I believe this a reasonable settlement and in the best interest of both parties.
I firmly believe that as the registered keeper of XXXX XXX I owe no money to UKPC or DRP and am clear of any wrongdoing and would request that both parties strongly consider my offer for settlement and stop attempting to make contact with myself or anyone at the address that has been used for correspondence. I have also contacted Coventry University and requested that the issue be dealt with internally.

I hope you find this letter a suitable resolution to the issue.

Umkomaas

I've tried to make this firm, fair and reasonable, I read the notes of one case where offering £10 as a reasonable settlement came up in their favour too and thought since I had missed the appeal this may help with that.
could any one offer any advice?

Who? DRP accepted a tenner to settle?

Complete waste of energy in my view. They have no interest in the rights or wrongs of the situation. They are a profit making organisation and offering to pay just their disbursements to date, with no margin for them, will result in only one outcome.

If you are to follow your plan above, come back and utterly amaze us!

The_Deep

Some reading

• 
  UKPC are former clampers who have been involved in quite a number of sordid scams, for example
  
  Hull Trading Standards took them to court on 15 counts of fraud. UKPC won all but one, but only because they had a better lawyer, a Q.C. If I recall correctly
  
  http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=63597
  
  They were bested by a Winchester barrister
  http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?377246-UKPC-liable-for-trespass-**SUCCESS**
  
  They were involved in a large scale scam which resulted in a DVLA suspension
  
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11858473/Parking-firm-UKPC-admits-faking-tickets-to-fine-drivers.html
  
  They are in trouble in court
  
  http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2017-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50
  
  And then of course there was Tracey Kiss
  
  http://www.tracykiss.com/product-reviews/my-ukpc-parking-charge/

• You never know how far you can go until you go too far.

Connor1234

Umkomaas wrote: »

Who? DRP accepted a tenner to settle?

Complete waste of energy in my view. They have no interest in the rights or wrongs of the situation. They are a profit making organisation and offering to pay just their disbursements to date, with no margin for them, will result in only one outcome.

If you are to follow your plan above, come back and utterly amaze us!

Since I never appealed I want to make contact so that I'm not taken to court in hope of me missing the letter and them getting a default. I believe the £10 reimbursement is reasonable but from reading about UKPC and DRP I am fully aware and don't expect them to accept it, it's a preventative measure of sorts.

I Intent to send an email and if you can offer any advice I'd appreciate it.

Umkomaas

This won't stop this getting to court (if they - UKPC, not DRP - decide to go down that route).

What defence would you rely on in court? Presumably that you have no liability for the charge. So if you assert you have no liability, then anything sent to you claiming that you do have should be rejected, the sender of any mail in this regard would have to shoulder the responsibility of the costs of their speculative invoicing.

If you're going to offer to pay for, ostensibly, their error, how do you think that will play out in court. Think about it.

Once you start offering anything to a debt crawler they will work on the basis that you are showing signs of weakness by being prepared to pay something - and will press you even harder.

Let us know how it goes if you continue with your plan.