NCP Store street Manchester

Coulrophobia

yesterday my car was parked on NCP car park near piccadilly station. It was parked before it was daylight and the 'new' (since the car was last parked there machines) are complicated to say the least.

First problem is that the area around the machine (all the machines) is not lit to any standard (i.e there arent any lights on the machines)which taking into account the tiny buttons the driver has to use to enter the car reg it is very difficult (especialy with less than brilliant BUT well upto DVLA driving standards) eye sight.

the next problem is that the machines have written on them that they have contactless pay facilities - but in the damp air it wouldnt work and booted back to a fresh start - re enter vehicle reg.

Next problem it says that they accept chip and pin payments - it wouldnt accept the one offered and declined the card,

So start again re-enter reg on fiddly keys and again card declined.

Add into that a by now angry queue (the driver didn't mind bad language - but threats could have been done without, from builders late for site - the threats to get a move on or else) and it started to get interesting with the train depature time now about 15 minutes away.

the driver rumaged the car and found the £4.20 in cash, went back to the machine, re-entered the reg and the machine accepted cash and gave a valid 12 hour ticket.

the ticket was put on the car dash in plain sight and had been paid for, but due to the 'turmoil' at the machine and the pressure from the queue was 'upside down'

When the driver returned there was an NCP "parking contravention charge notice" stuck to the screen. the notice code is C2 which they then quote as being "parked after the expiry of time paid for in a pay and display car park " the issue time, and the time first seen are ONE minute apart and at that time the fee paid still covered another six hours.

Is it worth appealing at this stage or waiting for the letter to be sent to the registered owner/keeper?

The poor lighting around the machine make it difficult for anyone with less than brilliant eye sight (or key board touch reading skills) will be brought to the attention of NCP separatly for the sake of others, and as for the complicated pay and display machine.....

Quentin

Follow the advice in the newbies FAQ thread near the top of the forum on the optimum timescales for sending appeals

Coulrophobia

Update.
I followed the advice in the thread and used the template letter,I enclosed a photocopy of the pay and display ticket from the machine issued when the driver paid to park the car, it clearly still had six hours left to park at the time the parking attendant decided to issue the parking charge notice.

I recieved a response from NCP which is strange to say the least and offers little hope of any succes - other than teaching me to avoid NCP car parks in future.

My reason for that belief is that they have failed to uphold my appeal and have given me a reference number to appeal the case further - on the basis that the pay and display ticket displayed in the vehicle when the parking charge notice was issued is only valid on Manchester City council car parks - even though it came out of the machine on the car park in question.

Any suggestions will be gratefully recieved.

Coupon-mad

Yep, just do a POPLA appeal as keeper, using the templates in post #3 of the NEWBIES thread {'unclear signage' and 'no landowner authority' always go in and you must copy those templates verbatim). But your first appeal point will be the template(ish) point that NCP has failed to serve a Notice to Keeper before day 56 (a NTK is not the rejection letter).

So, as keeper you can't be liable, job done, you win. NCP will give up!

typistretired

I was locked in the NCP car park last night for over an hour due to a problem with the barrier, which completely disrupted my evening plans. I pay by card but was unable to pay exiting last night due to the barrier problem. I rang their customer service department to pay today as their computer would show I was still inside the carpark. The customer service lady offered no apology, no discount, in fact she didn't careless about my disrupted evening. Perhaps one day in the future she will be locked in for an hour in a car park and will then understand how upsetting it can be especially when it is dark outside.

DollyDee_2

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ncp-drivers-locked-car-parks-12702016

Coulrophobia

I sent off the appeal letter to POPLA and heard nothing back, I assumed they were dealing with a lot of appeals and would get back to me.

they didnt.

I have now recieved a letter from ZZPS, a debt recovery agency, who say that the cost is now £160.00

should i just pay this and have done with it? My initial reaction is that no matter what I do NCP and the entire system is designed to just keep increasing the costs until I either eventually pay or end up with an enormous charge which I cant afford to pay.

Umkomaas

Coulrophobia wrote: »

I sent off the appeal letter to POPLA and heard nothing back, I assumed they were dealing with a lot of appeals and would get back to me.

they didnt.

I have now recieved a letter from ZZPS, a debt recovery agency, who say that the cost is now £160.00

should i just pay this and have done with it? My initial reaction is that no matter what I do NCP and the entire system is designed to just keep increasing the costs until I either eventually pay or end up with an enormous charge which I cant afford to pay.

Have you checked your Junk email folder? Some POPLA Decisions have diverted to Junk folders in the past.

If there's no trace there it could still be with POPLA. Phone them and ask.

Do not entertain paying anything. Debt collectors are powerless - they can only send you letters. NCP don't do court - at time of writing, but having copped for over £100,000 in damages against them (Mayhook v NCP), it's hardly surprising they don't want to risk another appearance.

Fruitcake

You should complain robustly to PoPLA, the BPA, and the DVLA that the parking scammers have gone to debt collectors during the appeal process.

You should also complain to your MP, Mrs May, and Andrew Jones MP (who thinks the unregulated private parking industry has a fair appeals system.)

You can safely ignore debt collectors. The NEWBIES thread already tells you why it is safe to do so.

fisherjim

I have now recieved a letter from ZZPS, a debt recovery agency, who say that the cost is now £160.00,
should i just pay this and have done with it?

Why on earth would you pay Debt Recovery idiots that have slapped on another £60 for just sending silly letters?

They can't do anything and will eventually give up, and crawl back under their smelly little stone and move on to someone else they might succeed in frightening.

Coupon-mad

No-one get anything except letters from NCP. Nothing to worry about, not litigious at all, you would be mad to pay even a pound. Come on, search the forum, this is only NCP so put that acronym into 'search this forum' and show me ANYONE who took one of their PCNs seriously, let alone PAID it!!

Especially not anyone being so naive as to actually PAY just because they are getting the usual, laughable debt recovery plus or ZZPS/Wright Hassall/Gladstones debt recovery letter chain.

This is going nowhere and WILL NOT increase. Oh, and don't pay either when you get the debt recovery desperate 'reduced payment offer'!!