Illegible PCN from PCN Parking Solutions

daveenigma

Hello all, I've been through the newbie threads and have searched the forums but cannot find anything that is like my situation.

On 12/08/2016 I parked in a car park managed by PCN Parking Solutions. At this time they were in the process of switching from Pay and Display to a barrier ticket system. This was my first visit to this car park and upon walking up to the ticket machine I found that it was inoperable with no visible sign instructing me to use the pay and display machine.

Consequently, I did not pay and received a PCN. It was only upon leaving the car park, that I saw a Pay and Display sign, at kerb level upon entry to the car park.

The PCN notice itself was very poorly printed. So poorly printed in fact that I could not read any of the text regarding how to pay or how to appeal. When I received a letter from them on 13/09/2016, increasing the charge I ignored the letters from PCN and subsequently missed the window to appeal. I admit that this probably wasn't wise and now I'm in a situation where I'm getting threatening letters from Ultimate Customer Solutions and PCN have advised me to speak to the CAB, which I'm not going to waste my time with.

My question is, can a PCN that is totally unreadable even be valid? What steps can I take next?

Many thanks

pogofish

The Newbies Sticky at the tip of this forum covers your situation exactly.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that PPCs give a hoot about what actually happened on the day!

Umkomaas

I take it you made no appeal to the PPC? You're now out of time and are at debt collector stage. Ignore debt collectors, they are powerless - see newbies FAQ sticky, post #4 about dealing with debt collectors.

Be awake for any Letter Before Action (or similarly headed) from the PPC or their solicitor, or real court papers. They have the balance of six years to pursue you through the courts.

Can you confirm the precise name of the parking company. There are loads called xxx Parking Solutions (none bring solutions, just misery!), but I can't find one called 'PCN Parking Solutions'.

Half_way

m. This was my first visit to this car park and upon walking up to the ticket machine I found that it was inoperable with no visible sign instructing me to use the pay and display machine.

OK, one way to stop this would be to complain to the car park owner, who would have appointed the parking company to act as his/her agents.
The Parking companies are only after the money, dont care about the motorist, and dont care about car park management, poorly maintained/faulty ticket machines help the parking companies make a hefty profit.

From what i understand the BPA ltd, advise that motorists should go elsewhere if the machines are faulty, and from that i would assume they mean the car park should be closed

daveenigma

I take it you made no appeal to the PPC? You're now out of time and are at debt collector stage. Ignore debt collectors, they are powerless - see newbies FAQ sticky, post #4 about dealing with debt collectors.

Be awake for any Letter Before Action (or similarly headed) from the PPC or their solicitor, or real court papers. They have the balance of six years to pursue you through the courts.

I didn't appeal no, on the original ticket, it is so poorly printed that the information about how to appeal is not even readable. It was only after 1 month did I receive a letter from the company with an appeals process to follow. Happy to ignore the debt collectors!

Can you confirm the precise name of the parking company. There are loads called xxx Parking Solutions (none bring solutions, just misery!), but I can't find one called 'PCN Parking Solutions'.

Unfortunately I can't post a URL as a newb, but they operate as Secure Parking Ltd, they come top of Google if you search for that name.

The car park itself was Eagle Meadow Shopping Centre, Wrexham.

What I'm most intrigued about however is the state of the PCN they issued me, how can it even be valid if I can't even read it because it's not printed clearly?

OK, one way to stop this would be to complain to the car park owner, who would have appointed the parking company to act as his/her agents.

That's my next step.

Umkomaas

Please host a redacted copy of the letter on tinypic or photobucket copy the URL, paste it into the reply box and change http to hxxp. We'll do the conversion to a live link.

Does the letter have either a BPA or IPC logo in a roundel (not a basic oblong logo) on it?

Coupon-mad

What I'm most intrigued about however is the state of the PCN they issued me, how can it even be valid if I can't even read it because it's not printed clearly?

Yes but it's a private one so anything goes...

Ignore debt letters and try landowner complaint, as others have said. DO NOT say who was driving, say 'we'.

daveenigma

Please host a redacted copy of the letter on tinypic or photobucket copy the URL, paste it into the reply box and change http to hxxp. We'll do the conversion to a live link.

Does the letter have either a BPA or IPC logo in a roundel (not a basic oblong logo) on it?

There are no logos and I can't find this company listed with any trade body or organisation, despite the debt collectors saying that the PCN was issued "inline with the requirements of the relevant Approved Trade Association, of which our client is a member".

Thank you.

Here's a link to the letter:

hxxp://tinypic.com/r/25kc0/9

Here's a link to the PCN itself:

hxxp://tinypic.com/r/1zlf7yq/9

Fruitcake

daveenigma wrote: »

There are no logos and I can't find this company listed with any trade body or organisation, despite the debt collectors saying that the PCN was issued "inline with the requirements of the relevant Approved Trade Association, of which our client is a member".

Thank you.

Here's a link to the letter:

hxxp://tinypic.com/r/25kc0/9

Here's a link to the PCN itself:

http://tinypic.com/r/1zlf7yq/9

Here's a link to the letter:

http://tinypic.com/r/25kc0/9

Here's a link to the PCN itself:

http://tinypic.com/r/1zlf7yq/9

It took me two minutes to find them. S & K Car Park Management Limited, trading as Secure Parking.

They are IPC members.

Coupon-mad

Yep, took me two minutes to conclude the same thing, going by the mention of S&K Car Park Management at the bottom of the letter:

https://www.theipc.info/aos-members/s

Ignore debt letters and the only step worth taking is to try landowner complaint, as others have said.

DO NOT say who was driving, say 'we' in the complaint. Do not expect it to be cancelled, do NOT contact UCS at all.

daveenigma

Hello, I've now received a Soliticors letter from CSB Solicitors, acting on behalf of Ultimate Customer Solutions, the debt management firm appointed by the S & K to harrass me. They've been very sneaky in the way it is written.

I take it that this letter is not in any way lawful as it's not come from S&K's solicitor direct?