NCP won't deal with me

Nevis

I entered an appeal for an NCP parking ticket and got the following e-mail back:



Thank you for your correspondence regarding the above Parking Charge Notice (PCN).
Unfortunately we are unable to progress your appeal further at present, as you are a third party making the appeal on behalf of the driver.

Like many other business sectors, due to conditions imposed by the Data Protection Act we are prevented from disclosing or discussing information or issues with a third party such as yourself concerning an individual driver relating to the issue of a Parking Charge Notice
We can however progress an appeal once we are in receipt of signed and dated written consent from the driver of the vehicle at the time of the issue of the Parking Charge Notice giving you full authority to act on their behalf and to receive any relevant information or data relating to them .

You will appreciate the disclosure, discussion or exchange of information or data relating to an individual is a very sensitive issue these days and as such should not be divulged or discussed unless express consent by that individual is given. We look forward to receiving such consent by return enabling us to progress this particular appeal for review and action.
If you are unable to divulge the above information, payment of £85.00 for the above notice can be made by one of the options below.
Payment can be made:
* Online, by visiting
* By sending a cheque or postal order, made payable to National Car Parks Ltd to: National Car Parks Ltd. Notice Processing, PO Box 839, Northampton, NN4 4AL.
* By Debit or Credit card (except American Express). Please call 0345 452 7780 and have your card details and the information held in this letter to hand.

If payment or written consent is not received within 14 days from the date of this letter, the discount offer will expire and the full amount of £85.00 will become due. I have to inform you that if the outstanding amount remains unpaid we will follow a recovery process which includes passing the case over to a debt collector who will seek to recover the outstanding debt on our behalf and any reasonable administration costs incurred by the debt collector. We further reserve the right to use the courts to recover any outstanding parking charges due to us.
Yours sincerely,
Notice Processing Team National Car Parks


This is all a bit odd, I am the registered keeper , so I've no idea where this third party comes from.

And of course the email arrived with a "no reply" address and the phone number given is only am automated line for payment - I seem to have no way of querying this email.

Any ideas ?

Coupon-mad

Complain to the BPA. Email addy is shown in post #5 of the NEWBIES thread.

And can you appeal online again to NCP, and refer to this reply from them, and reiterate you are not a third party and are the registered keeper, have an absolute right to appeal and NOT name the driver, and they have no right to refuse to consider an appeal from the keeper.

To be clear:

They can 'ask' who was driving (you do not tell them) BUT they can't REFUSE to consider an appeal, pretending a keeper has to have signed authority from the driver. That's b)ll)cks.

DO NOT say who was driving, please not REMOVE that comment from your post above.

Fruitcake

Do as C-m has advised, but in addition complain to your MP about this scam.

These are some of the comments made by the MPs in Parliament concerning the unregulated parking industry (Feb 2018):

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-02-02/debates/CC84AF5E-AC6E-4E14-81B1-066E6A892807/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill

''Rip-offs from car park Cowboys must stop''; unfair treatment; signage deliberately confusing to ensure a PCN is issued; ''years of abuse by rogue parking companies''; bloodsuckers; ''the current system of regulation is hopeless, like putting Dracula in charge of the blood-bank''; extortionate fines; rogue operators; ''sense of injustice''; unfair charges and notices; wilfully misleading; signage is a deliberate act to deceive or mislead; ''confusing signs are often deliberate, to trap innocent drivers''; unreasonable; a curse; harassing; operating in a disgusting way; appeals service is no guarantee of a fair hearing; loathed; outrageous scam; dodgy practice; outrageous abuse; unscrupulous practices; ''the British Parking Association is as much use as a multi-storey car park in the Gobi desert''; and finally, by way of unanimous conclusion: ''we need to crack down on these rogue companies. They are an absolute disgrace to this country. Ordinary motorists and ordinary residents should not have to put up with this''.

These are the exact words used, so you should quote them to your MP in a complaint and ask him/her to contact Sir Greg Knight MP if he wants further information about this scam.

beamerguy

NCP are blatant liars

"We can however progress an appeal once we are in receipt of signed and dated written consent from the driver of the vehicle at the time of the issue of the Parking Charge Notice giving you full authority to act on their behalf and to receive any relevant information or data relating to them"

It is their way of trying to find out who the driver is.

They don't know and you will not be telling them.

As said, a severe complaint to the BPA.
The BPA can now ill afford to have scammers like this
especially after a government minister classed the BPA
as useless and like a multi storey car park in the Gobi desert

KeithP

Nevis, did your original appeal include the name and address of the registered keeper?

If not, I can sort of understand NCP not knowing who the appellant is.

Nevis

No, I had appealed via on line form so they had all my details, which made their e-mail all the more puzzling

Guys_Dad

Have some fun and use their own words.

Dear sirs,

You write "Like many other business sectors, due to conditions imposed by the Data Protection Act we are prevented from disclosing or discussing information or issues with a third party such as yourself concerning an individual driver relating to the issue of a Parking Charge Notice". I accept this. I, as registered keeper, will, therefore, not be corresponding with you further on this matter as you write that you are prevented form dealing with anyone except the driver.

You further write "You will appreciate the disclosure, discussion or exchange of information or data relating to an individual is a very sensitive issue these days and as such should not be divulged or discussed unless express consent by that individual is given. We look forward to receiving such consent by return enabling us to progress this particular appeal for review and action."


Regrettably, I have not received the consent referred to above and as you are unwilling to have further discussions with me, as keeper, without that consent, then it seems we have reached a point where you are prevented by your own admission from contacting me further.

Suits me,

Yours faithfully

Coupon-mad

Yes it's one option, but by doing that, you get no POPLA code.

Whereas by pushing a complaint to the BPA about NCP refusing to entertain an appeal from the keeper, and by insisting on a POPLA code, you will win in the end as keeper (assuming this was a windscreen PCN, there is no keeper liability if they forget to send a NTK). I think their letter is paving the way for them to pretend there was no appeal received, so they can get your data from the DVLA and then issue a NTK.

You don't want them to do that, you want them to reply to THIS appeal, as is your right.

Is this at a station? No keeper liability applies at all, if so, even if they issue some sort of NTK or NTO.

KeithP

Nevis wrote: »

No, I had appealed via on line form so they had all my details, which made their e-mail all the more puzzling

Whilst they had all the registered keeper's details, they are claiming they had absolutely no idea who it was that sent in that appeal via their online form.

Again, not too unreasonable imho.

Coupon-mad

Unless the appeals page asks who the appellant is, and 'registered keeper' was chosen. If it was made clear then it's unreasonable.

I knew it sounded familiar:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=73586468#post73586468

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=73286916#post73286916

Fruitcake

Those other two cases need to be highlighted to the BPA to show that NCP are serial offenders.

... and to the DVLA and the OP's MP.