Private Parking Company Ignore My Appeal - Ridiculous

Scorpion70

Hello all, first post here. Would like some advice on having to deal with the "people" (for use of a more polite term) from the private parking company "Premier Parking Solutions."

So I got a parking ticket in Exeter about a month ago. I bought a parking ticket and put it on the dashboard clearly visible. Problem is, I was in a work vehicle (for a large company) and I made an easy yet harmless mistake of entering my own personal vehicle's registration, into the ticket machine! I am fairly new in the job and haven't been driving the work vehicle long.

Anyway, one week passes from mid-July and I get a letter addressed to my workplace, forwarded to me from my boss. I see the people at PPS in their initial email, state that I had not bought a ticket for the vehicle photographed. This is technically correct. However, I had kept the parking ticket I bought, and got back to the car within the time paid for. I emailed PPS explaining I had merely entered the wrong number plate into the machine, and attached to them a photo of the parking ticket (with my personal vehicle's REG on it), a photo of the work vehicle penalised parked next to my own personal vehicle at my work, and a photo of the work vehicle mileage log. I thought this would be enough evidence for these people to have the decency to realise I had bought a ticket, returned to the car within the time paid for, and just entered my own vehicle's registration!

They sent me some nonsense letter back asking for my own personal address. I asked them what are their reasons for requiring this, and over a week later, they now tell me:

"We have looked into your appeal and found that you have left site without making any payment for **** *** and you have confirmed this in your appeal.
In the attached terms and conditions you will see paragraph 11 states that if required to enter your registration number to authorise parking full and exact details must be entered and also paragraph 12 states full payment must be made before leaving site.
The site is operated by cameras and therefore if the vehicle has not been authorised to park on site then a charge will be issued.
We are therefore unable to cancel the Parking Charge Notice as it was issued correctly. Please forward a payment of £60 to reach us by 29/08/2017 or £100 to reach us by 12/09/2017 in order to avoid Debt Recovery proceedings; incurring additional costs."

I'm not paying these people. I've bought one of their damn tickets and made a harmless mistake. Where do I go from here? I see numerous people in Exeter and the South-West have had trouble with this company. I've read about POPLA, are they the right people to lodge an appeal with?

PPS mention appealing with the "IAS" but I don't trust them. I also notice that PPS have a BPA logo on their parking sign at the place I was done, (as attached by the PPS rep who emailed me), yet I looked at BPA members and PPS are not listed as of August 2017.

What is my next course of action?

Quentin

Before posting everyone is politely asked to read through the newbies faq thread near the top of the forum to understand the game they are caught up in and get answers to all your questions!


Please go there now and learn the appeal process/ futility of appealing IPC members/process from issue of charge to court claim


Then come back if you need answers

Coupon-mad

I thought this would be enough evidence for these people to have the decency

Therein lies your mistake! This is a firm of ex-clampers. Nuff said.

There is no appeal to an IPC firm that has any effect; the only reason a template 'challenge' is shown in the NEWBIES thread is to stop people asking what the next darn step is and writing their own or ringing the firm...because people can't seem to get their heads around sitting tight and ignoring the scam, they always want to do something.

What is my next course of action?

See what I mean...you want a next step!

People need to know there is no next step with an IPC firm, get on with your life and laugh at the debt demands, keeping your evidence for any possible future small claim they might make.

I also notice that PPS have a BPA logo on their parking sign at the place I was done,

They are allowed to use the BPA membership logo, just not the BPA AOS roundel.

I've read about POPLA, are they the right people to lodge an appeal with?

No, you can't. It's not connected to the IPC.

PPS mention appealing with the "IAS" but I don't trust them.

Same.

Read the NEWBIES thread, post #2 (court defences), post #3 (why not to bother with IAS) and post #4 (ignoring the debt demands stage).

Come back if you happen to get a small claim; in this Country the law allows six years for a claim.

Scorpion70

Thanks for your response, Coupon-mad! I've read through the thread for newbies and realised what I should have sent in response. In reality, given the company I work for, I think my boss could have just ignored this because then they'd have no confirmed or registered driver of the company vehicle, but now they know my name given my emails to them, admitting I was driving the company car and attaching a photo of my personal car's reg, which was the car I mistakenly bought a parking ticket for!

You appear to suggest that appealing to the IPC as it's a total waste of time, so I won't.

I am actually in the process of selling my car. Of course, I'm sure if they wanted to, these people could ask the DVLA for my address, but hey-ho.

Next course of action then - to ignore any emails they send and not pay them a penny. But if they want to take me to court? I suppose how to approach that is laid out in the newbies thread. I'm just a tad confused as some people on here say "don't ignore" but you've said "sit tight and ignore their scam?"

Redx

a few pointers for you

initially, EVERYBODY is encouraged to appeal to a sc@mmer PPC , meaning ALWAYS APPEAL in the first instance , you have done this although you blabbed about being the driver , a bad mistake

for an IPC member, you IGNORE them after the initial appeal, UNLESS they send you a genuine LBC or an MCOL

she has said IGNORE THEIR SCAM, because YOU have already appealed, and failed

the PPC or their solicitors have 6 years to pursue this through the small claims court (MCOL , google it)

no they cannot apply to the DVLA for your details , that would be a DPA breach and a breach of their KADOE contract

if they wish to issue a pcn for a vehicle, they must give the VRM of that vehicle , once only , not run a database search looking for people (not allowed) and definitely not looking for people with different vehicles that have done nothing wrong

in theory, they must pursue a DRIVER, but if they followed POFA2012 they can try to pursue a KEEPER, only the RK is listed on the DVLA database

I could have been the driver , millions of others in this country could have been the driver (but you blabbed)

a PPC can be a member of either or BOTH trade bodies , so depending on the logo will depend which AOS they belong to , they can only use one AOS , so many sc@mmers jump ship to the IPC because they lose a lot at popla

PPS moved in March 2016

Premier Parking Solutions Ltd

01/03/2016

pps.uk.com

Scorpion70

Hi all, one month on, I have an update, and any advice would be most appreciated:

I ignored their £60 fine, of which went to a £100 fine after two weeks, which I ignored too. Now I have received a letter at my place of work, stating that I now owe these morally void scumbags £130. As it is £100 plus "£30 in administration fees." I'll be damned if I'm paying this.

Spoken to people at my work who are on my side and think considering I bought a ticket and made a trivial but technical mistake, I should be on reasonable standing if it went to court. However....

Spoke to someone more senior who advised me that while he/she can see where I'm coming from, it may be more sensible to swallow some humble pie and pay up, because I risk bringing my company into disrepute, the potential for the media to get involved and distort things etc. (Although surely, if any tabloid somehow got involved, which I don't see how they could, given how many tabloids have covered private parking companies negatively and took the side of the PPN recipient, why would it be any different here?) Anyway, it's food for thought, but I was referred on to an employee assistance programme who I've just spoken to their legal team this evening.

The person from there told me over the phone, the following, in a nutshell:

- Since the Beavis judgement, private parking companies are pushing their weight around and there is now less leeway when it comes to private parking claims in court.

- As much as the mistake I made (entering the wrong registration accidentally, despite paying for a ticket and leaving the car park within my time period paid for), it is still a technical error on my part and if this is in the contract of PPS for their terms of conditions when entering/leaving that car park, it's that black and white in court and I may not succeed.

- The legal person also said I should at least try with the IAS despite a slim likelihood of me being successful in my appeal to them. I thought that appealing to the IPC was totally useless?

- I could offer them £60 for the initial parking fee as a full and final settlement.

- I asked about employing my own top lawyer (as I am very prepared to fight my corner with these scum), to which the legal person said it is possible you can get an injunction on them for harassment but then they could just dispute this and carry on through the small claims court.


I would like some genuine recommendations on this. Had this been my own personal vehicle, I believe I'd be in more of a position to fight this successfully, but as it involves a work vehicle, I do believe this complicates things. This is a big company I work for, and I would not want to bring them into disrepute, although I'd have thought not paying a private parking ticket merely because I entered the wrong reg (despite paying) is not exactly murder.

I am frankly prepared to go to court and will fight this tooth and nail because these morally-defunct vermin exist and thrive over the misery they cause to vulnerable or unknowing members of the public.

Scorpion70

In addition, is it worth doing a land registry check to find who the landowner is where the private car park of PPS where I was done?

Also, I find it interesting how on the parking board at this car park (as attached by photo from PPS themselves to me in email) there is a BPA logo and it also says "Member of the BPA" or something in small-print, but according to google search, this car park was opened by PPS in March this year, when PPS were no longer members of the BPA.....

Scrap the above.....found the entry on their page for when that car park was actually opened, it wasn't March this year, it was in 2013.

Umkomaas

Spoke to someone more senior who advised me that while he/she can see where I'm coming from, it may be more sensible to swallow some humble pie and pay up, because I risk bringing my company into disrepute, the potential for the media to get involved and distort things etc.

Well you can see why he/she has become 'more senior'. Obviously someone in the company has swallowed their bull chit! Don't you. If you're dealing with this, it won't involve the company. Why on earth would the media be the slightest bit interested in this unless you got them involved. The PPC for sure won't want them involved.

Since the Beavis judgement, private parking companies are pushing their weight around and there is now less leeway when it comes to private parking claims in court.

Possibly for the naive, unwary and ill-prepared, but this forum has an almost unblemished record in defeating PPC court claims where we have assisted.

it's that black and white in court and I may not succeed.

Nothing, absolutely nothing is 'black and white' in the small claims court. Do a search on 'judge bingo' to read about how unpredictable (on either side) the small claims court is - but I reiterate, our success rate is exceptional.

The legal person also said I should at least try with the IAS despite a slim likelihood of me being successful in my appeal to them. I thought that appealing to the IPC was totally useless?

And their 'qualifications' for making that recommendation. Have they been coming here every day since the inception of the IPC and its IAS in 2013, as we have? Too late now, in any case, to appeal to the IAS. A positive to take from this!

I asked about employing my own top lawyer (as I am very prepared to fight my corner with these scum), to which the legal person said it is possible you can get an injunction on them for harassment but then they could just dispute this and carry on through the small claims court.

Do you have money to burn? You do know that the amount you can reclaim for legal assistance in a small claims court case is heavily capped at £50.

Did your legal tell you how high the bar is set for a harrassment case?

I would like some genuine recommendations on this.

You won't get any more genuine recommendations than those given to you by Coupon-mad, who is without doubt the most knowledgable expert on private parking cases in the country, in post #3.

I'm not sure what more you are expecting at this relatively early stage.

Scorpion70

Thanks for responding umkomaas.

"Why on earth would the media be the slightest bit interested in this unless you got them involved. The PPC for sure won't want them involved. "

Well that's what I thought!

"Possibly for the naive, unwary and ill-prepared, but this forum has an almost unblemished record in defeating PPC court claims where we have assisted."

Good to hear!

"You won't get any more genuine recommendations than those given to you by Coupon-mad, who is without doubt the most knowledgable expert on private parking cases in the country, in post #3."

Ok, so it's just sit tight and let the scumbags send more letters to my company, each of which eventually come back to me. Until they then potentially decide to take me to court, all the while upping my charge from £130 to a heftier price next time.

BTW - something very interesting I just found out:

The parking board in the car park where I was done, states "Payment is required 24/7," in the tariff section. However....It also states, which I missed - "Monday to Sunday - 8 am to 8 pm." I paid £3.30 for 3 hours. I paid at 19:54pm and got back to my car at 22:40pm. According to google reviews, these scumbags are giving people tickets after 8PM when their parking board implies 8PM and after it's free to park.

Umkomaas

Ok, so it's just sit tight and let the scumbags send more letters to my company, each of which eventually come back to me.

Why not get the company out of the loop by getting them to name you (with your address) as the keeper of the vehicle on the day and for the PPC to deal directly with you. Then your 'senior' needn't be lying awake at night worrying that your case is going to trash his beloved company's reputation.

The parking board in the car park where I was done, states "Payment is required 24/7," in the tariff section. However....It also states, which I missed - "Monday to Sunday - 8 am to 8 pm." I paid £3.30 for 3 hours. I paid at 19:54pm and got back to my car at 22:40pm. According to google reviews, these scumbags are giving people tickets after 8PM when their parking board implies 8PM and after it's free to park.

There's so many many misleading signs in PPC land, you're not the first, nor last to be ensnared by them. But until you get a judge to get his/her head around this, you're bumping your gums at present. For future reference, should this go further down the legal route, check out 'Contra Proferentem'.

Scorpion70

It's not a bad point, but then they have my address.....not that they can do much with it until a potential court date, but still....No one would be lying awake at night worrying that the case will trash the company's rep, trust me, it's complicated, but this is more of a large corporation....that's all I'll say.

I'm in a half a mind to just pay the pond scum £100 to be honest. I'm not paying the extra £30 admin fees, they can forget that. But I don't have the time to deal with this.

Lesson learnt: I'll never, EVER use a private car park again. And if on the off-chance I slip up, and somehow get done by one of these pathetic excuses for an existence, I'll play it by templates on here.

I'm in two minds about it.