Response from VCS - advice please?

bdee83

So this is the response I have just received (in my junk mail folder) - any ideas what I should do next?:

"We refer to your appeal in respect of the above Charge Notice (CN) received on 02/07/2018.
Having considered the points you have raised and reviewed our records, we are unable to accept your appeal. Our
main reason(s) for this decision are as follows:
The signs at the car park make it clear that the land is private property and that a charge of £100 will be levied if
vehicles park outside of the Terms and Conditions displayed. The signs make it clear that a valid permit must be
clearly displayed in the vehicle parked; on this occasion the above detailed vehicle was observed parked whilst not
correctly displaying a valid permit and therefore you became liable for the Charge advertised.
In your appeal it is unclear who the driver was when your vehicle was seen to be parked in the car park and you state
that our Notice is not compliant with the Protection Of Freedoms Act (POFA) 2012 on the Notice issued to you;
however we have not cited POFA 2012 nor stated that you are liable for the Charge as the vehicle keeper. It is
important we highlight that we will continue to pursue this matter on the reasonable assumption that you were the
driver of the vehicle on the date in question until information/evidence to the contrary is provided.
We have fully reviewed this case and we are satisfied that the Charge Notice was correctly issued. We are unable to
accept the mitigating circumstances raised in your representations, your appeal is therefore rejected and the charge
will stand; photographic evidence which supports this can be viewed at my parking charge
What you should do next - Either:
1. Pay the Charge Notice (CN): In order to settle the Charge, the payment of £60 to reach us by 06/08/2018 or
£100 to reach us by 20/08/2018 must be made. Failure to pay this charge within the stated times, may result in Debt
Recovery Action being taken and further costs up to an additional £60 being incurred.
Payments can be made online at my parking charge by following the links for "Pay Now", or over the
phone by calling 0845 226 9138 by using a valid Credit or Debit Card.
OR:
23 July 2018
2. Appeal to the Independent Appeals Services (IAS): If you believe this decision is incorrect, you are entitled to
appeal to the IAS. In order to appeal, the IAS will need the following information (which is also contained in the
subject header of this correspondence).
Notice Serial No: VXXXXXX
Vehicle Registration Mark: XXXXXX
Appeals must be submitted to the IAS within 21 days of the date of this correspondence. Please visit IAS dot org
for full details on how to submit an appeal online.
It is important you note that if you do make an appeal to the IAS, the reduced charge offered above will no longer
apply. You should also be aware that if a payment is made prior to an appeal being made to, or adjudicated by, the
IAS AND this is accepted as Full and Final settlement against the CN, the appeal will automatically be dismissed and
the matter will be deemed closed. Should you appeal to the IAS and it is unsuccessful, the full amount outstanding
(£100) against the CN will be pursued.
It is important we also highlight that no further appeals will be accepted at this office; any such appeal must be
made to the IAS.
Please also note that further costs may be incurred should it be necessary for us to subsequently recover any
outstanding charge using debt recovery and/or court action."

Umkomaas

Standard rejection of appeal template. Now you're in ignore mode (including ignore and debt collector letters) and await any Letter Before Action/Court or real court papers - which they have 6 years to issue.

That's about it, unless you can contact the landowner and as if they can intervene and get this cancelled.

Coupon-mad

Yawn yawn yawn, another IPC thread. Why do we need any at all?

Court claim stage only is when a thread is needed for any IPC firm. The NEWBIES thread already tells you there is no next step at this point, no need for any thread.

I also already told you that, in June, in post #3.

bdee83

I was asking for advice because I don't want to be taken to court, end up with a CCJ etc when I could just pay off the fine? I've researched the newbies thread for hours and done everything I've been advised to do and the case still stands hence i'm back here asking for further advice.
I'm sorry i'm not as clued up on the matter as you but there's really no need to be sarcastic and arsey about it - I thought this was meant to be a community...

Fruitcake

It is not a fine, it is an unregulated scam.
You won't end up with a CCJ even if you go to court and lose, as long as you follow the advice here.

MSE has a near 99% success rate at beating court claims, provided the advice here is followed.

It's entirely up to you if you want to ignore the advice that you have been given here and instead pay a scammer.

We can't force you to follow the advice, but please don't complain if you do not want to follow this advice.

Coupon-mad

It's not a fine. Do not pay it, sit tight.

Please no more discussion needed at this stage, we can't clutter up the forum with IPC and debt letter discussion, all of which is to be ignored.

You will be grateful that we insist on this, when you are at court claim stage, as we won't be distracted by pointless threads about a 'nothing to see here' stage!

I was asking for advice because I don't want to be taken to court, end up with a CCJ

Same.

No-one here does (want court, or end up with a CCJ either - not even if they lose...). No CCJ, nothing bad, no huge costs, no effect on credit rating - and we win 99% of claims defended.

Come back at court claim stage, honestly. Get on with your life!

Ian011

What did Trading Standards say when you reported the illegal usage of a premium rate 0845 number? You did report it?

bdee83

Fruitcake wrote: »

We can't force you to follow the advice, but please don't complain if you do not want to follow this advice.

Please don't get me wrong, i'm incredibly grateful for all the help and i'm certainly not complaining. It's just all a little intimidating given this is the first time i've ever had to deal with something like this.

bdee83

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Come back at court claim stage, honestly. Get on with your life!

Sorry to trouble you..

So i've had an interesting letter arrived at my parents house today - not sure how they obtained their address?! It appears to be an imitated court letter from 'County Court Business Centre - Nottingham' judging by the fake stamps threatening a CCJ if I don't pay.

I'm guessing I need to contest this as from what I've researched, they do have the power to be able to apply for a CCJ?

Please could you advise what my next step should be? Apologies I don't know how to upload images as i'm a new user and do not have permissions.

Many thanks in advance.

Redx

it will be genuine , not fake

read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread, because you now need to defend this GENUINE court claim (from NORTHAMPTON, not Nottingham)

what is the DATE OF ISSUE on the form ?