Parking charge notice help

Umkomaas

Chloe165 wrote: »

My mistake it was PePiPoo that it came from. It won’t allow me to post the link but if you google ‘not parking wholly in bay’ it is the first pepipoo link

Spotted it - advice given by 'boomer' who has only 52 posts to his name in the 13 years he's been a PePiPoo member. An average of 4 posts a year. Wth such little input volume, it wouldn't be advice that I'd be relying on as 'expert'.

In fact the post to which you are referring looks closer to Freeman on the Land stuff.

Chloe165

Ahh okay. Apologies I’m not very clued up on parking charges laws etc. I just want to find a solution that won’t end up with me getting a CCJ

iolanthe07

Just pay the £160 and be done with it. Yes, they are rogues and chancers, but sometimes you just need to acknowledge that you've been screwed and move on.

Umkomaas

I just want to find a solution that won!!!8217;t end up with me getting a CCJ

So you need to get back in control of this by firstly getting any correspondence flowing from the PPC and from any debt collectors coming to your current address.

I know you are going to notify the DVLA of the change, but please be aware, the DVLA will not be notifying VCS of the change. The PPC has only one shot at getting your address - that's at the time of the parking incident. They get no further opportunity, nor do they receive updates on address changes.

So, it's write to VCS to tell them of you current address (to where you want all future correspondence to be sent) and get them to pass the message to any other agent they are using in the context of your case. You send this by first class post, obtaining a free Certificate of Posting (not Recorded/Registered/Signed For Delivery) and you staple the Certificate to your copy of the letter you have sent to VCS. You file that copy and retain it safely for 6 years (the time available to VCS to issue court proceedings).

VCS do sometimes issue proceedings via Gladstones Solicitors, so in this context it is vital you receive any such documentation immediately to your current address. Having it go to a former address, and you blissfully unaware of it, is almost certainly bound to result in a default judgment against you and a credit trashing, life affecting CCJ.

Getting back in control of this situation right now will hopefully guard against the above.

Chloe165

Okay I will do that straight away. So the letter to the VCS, should I accept that I will pay the charge or should I appeal? I’m just getting worried about what may happen

Fruitcake

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Just pay the £160 and be done with it. Yes, they are rogues and chancers, but sometimes you just need to acknowledge that you've been screwed and move on.

What a dreadful and uneducated thing to say.

Why ever would someone on a money saving site tell someone else to pay a scam, especially on a residential property where the resident may already has free use of the parking space?

Fruitcake

Chloe, can you tell us more about the parking space? Is it part of the residential land where the keeper lives?
Does the lease/AST mention anything about parking at all?
Does the property come with a demised parking space?

This is the sort of thing that will help you.

Umkomaas

Chloe165 wrote: »

Okay I will do that straight away. So the letter to the VCS, should I accept that I will pay the charge or should I appeal? I’m just getting worried about what may happen

You are way beyond any point where VCS will consider an appeal - but, in any case, they never uphold appeals. Once debt collectors are involved you just ignore anything other than a LBC or MCOL (see NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #5 for acronyms) from VCS, not the debt collectors because they are not in any legal position to be able to do so.

You then take the chance on whether or not VCS issue proceedings. Here is their record of court cases over the past 2.5 years

231,000 tickets issued, 533 court cases.
In round figures, that's a 1 in 400 chance of a court case against you.

http://www.parkingappeals.info/companydata/Vehicle_Control_Services.html

It's obviously your decision whether to pay or not. Should it go to court, and lose, the likely cost to you (everything included) would be in the region of £175 - £200. In the small claims court there are no huge legal fees to worry about, and no CCJ as long as the amount determined by the Judge is paid by the deadline (usually 1 month).

Chloe165

The land is just near my block of flats. There are parking spaces outside my flat with no signs and then there is a strip of parking spaces where that is sign posted. I have emailed my landlord as I’m not sure if the land belongs to them but to me it looks like it belongs to the landlord. I have checked my lease and terms etc but there is nothing About parking stated In it. I am waiting for an email from landlord to see if the land is theirs but won’t expect an answer till tomorrow with Bank holiday

Chloe165

I forgot to mention that the parking with private land signs is free parking there is no pay and display so the charge is just because I wasn!!!8217;t fully in the bay provided so they wouldn!!!8217;t of had any loss of earnings