SCS Law letter received regarding outstanding fines. Please help!

[Deleted User]

Ok - I assume there are more pages than that? The letter says they can't ticket ambulances, but it doesn't say who they can ticket (at all).

Some musings. (Not advice, but food for thought)

That letter does appear to be dated 26/4/2017 (mysteriously) - that's 1 day prior to the first notification to the o/p's partner from SCS law on 27/4/2017, by which time numerous tickets had been issued.

The letter is retrospective in effect from December 2016. If it is retrospective and valid, which is quite possible, what terms does it enforce if the signs have changed over that period? The parent contract (which I presume has not been disclosed) may shed proper light on this.

A problem for them - even if it is a valid agreement authorising the pursuit of old charges, they had presumably already contacted the DVLA without authorisation by then to get the op's details, which is a DPA breach and a breach of their obligations as a PPC. Counterclaim territory, perhaps?

Castle

Further food for thought!

The letter dated 26th April refers to "Britannia Parking Services or Britannia Parking Group Ltd".
These are two separate companies; so which one has the contract?

Doodakoff

Thank you Johnersh and thank you Castle!

The contract is the page that I have posted in my previous reply and another which only has a signature from the Managing Director of Britannia Parking Group Limited. There is no other information provided and no mention of what vehicles can be ticketed.

In relation to the date - Wednesday 26th April 2017 - I never spotted that!. I will request a copy of a contract for the times that apply to the PNC's received prior to this. Is there a way to prove that they don't just edit an existing contact and replace the date I wonder.

I will also request a copy of the parent contract in order to better understand the contract set out in both sets of signage considering they have changed. #

I'll also mention the DPA breach and breach of obligations.

Lastly, I will ask which company has the contract considering they seemed to have also changed names as well as signage within this period!

Thank you so much to you both for this. I'll come back with a drafted letter on response.

Castle

Doodakoff wrote: »

Thank you Johnersh and thank you Castle!

The contract is the page that I have posted in my previous reply and another which only has a signature from the Managing Director of Britannia Parking Group Limited. There is no other information provided and no mention of what vehicles can be ticketed.

I think you'll find that the signature on the 26th April letter, is that of their client.

Question; have you contacted DVLA to find out which company requested the RK's details?

Doodakoff

Yes your'e right Castle, apologies, I misread the bottom of the page.

The signature which confirms the authorisation of the contents of the contract is signed by a redacted name. It is dated 5th May 2017 and his position is "Director". Does this indicate that they hadn't received permission in relation to enforcement of the car park prior to the signature been obtained?

I have contacted DVLA and have been informed that it is a V888 Document that I am required to complete and post to them. I will need to attach a covering letter to explain the situation in order to receive the information I am requesting.

Umkomaas

I have contacted DVLA and have been informed that it is a V888 Document that I am required to complete and post to them.

That will cost you. But you can and should get it for free. Have a look at this Parking Prankster blog and it's embedded links.

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.za/2015/06/dvla-reverse-position-on-charging-to.html

Coupon-mad

I have contacted DVLA and have been informed that it is a V888 Document that I am required to complete and post to them.

That DVLA clerk is wrong:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/73319980#Comment_73319980

See post #26 and #28, for the email address and what to email.

Doodakoff

Thank you Umkomaas and Coupon-mad, I've sent an email as per your advice.

I've been swamped with work over the past week but I've finally managed to draft the following response

Dear Sirs,

Re: Britannia Parking Group Ltd

I write further to your letter dated **** received **** and note the contents provided, however I still require the following additional information from you.

You have sent me a copy of a document which you state authorises your client to control parking at ****. Again, I can only assume this document has been created for confusion and intimidation purposes, as it appears to be missing critical information that would set out the terms of an alleged contract between it and a driver.

The document states, "Britannia Parking Services or its parent company Britannia Parking Group Limited in respect of the above car park is responsible for putting up and maintaining signage". These are two separate companies and to ensure it is clear to myself who is responsible, which company has the contract?

Your contract states that a number of vehicles, including fire, ambulance and police, cannot be subject to parking controls or enforcement. The contract does not however state what vehicles are subject to these terms.

The contract is dated Wednesday 26th April 2017. This contract is then signed Friday 5th May 2017 by the "Director". I find it highly suspicious that I received your first correspondence a day after this contract was dated. I am also confused as to how any PCN's were issued prior to this date if the contract that authotrised your client to control parking at ***** was not in effect until after Wednesday 26th April 2017 or in fact Friday 5th May 2017 when the contract was signed.

You have still not provided a copy of signs on display, with times and dates these were taken, or a dated plan of their position in the car park as they were displayed. The times and dates are a key aspect for reasons I have previously explained. The car park remains incredibly confusing to this date due to the number of separate car parks and parking operators in the area and I require a clear dated plan of the above requested documents.

Further to the last, the area in which the car park is situated was a new build at the time of the issued PCN's, the contract you have provided is of a recent date and it is of note that I have since returned to the car park and have observed completely different signage than the images you have provided. This new signage has even more information on it, in small unreadable text unless you are in very close proximity. I therefore request the parent contract, which you have not disclosed, in order to ascertain what terms were enforced and what terms changed over the period that the PCN's issued to my vehicle relate to.

Lastly, I again put you on notice that I will make a counterclaim for damages in respect of such Data Protection Act (DPA) breaches and breaches of your obligations as a Private Parking Company, in respect of each and every individual PCN/DVLA data request.

I again remind you that Britannia Parking Group Ltd have no lawful excuse to use my DVLA data beyond the very basic cause, of enquiring as to the driver's identity. Your client has accessed my keeper details from the DVLA on more than one occasion. Whilst obtaining DVLA data to enquire who was driving is allowed under the KADOE rules, that data must not be further used for any purpose outside the basis upon which it was provided by the DVLA. Your client has stepped outside the DVLA provision of my data by continuing to cause me significant distress by harassing me, the registered keeper.

A request has been placed with the DVLA in order to ascertain how many times your client requested such information.

I expect a substantive response within 14 days of this letter.

Yours faithfully,

********



Thank you for reading and I hope I've grasped and taken on board the advice given so far.

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind most of these companies may well be put out of business by Christmas.

Doodakoff

Thank you The Deep.

I'm in the process of writing to my MP, if anything good can come from such a high value ticket then I hope it's this scamming industry being gone with the wind come Christmas!