Vehicle Control Services Ltd.- Claim Form issued

Mat210

Good morning,

First of all I'd like to apologise if this has already been addressed previously, I did a quick search and couldn't find anything..

Back in Sept 18' The driver parked a car at which I was the registered keeper, at a car park of a closed retail store one evening for about an hour (No on-street parking). Came back to my car- no ticket visible, drove off.

2 weeks later i received a letter through from VCS Ltd. stating that I now owe x amount for using the site, along with some close up photos of my license plate which did not put my car in shot/ showing where it was or with a ticket attached. In fact the photos could have been taken anywhere at any time.

Thought this couldn't be serious and avoided contact IGNORED.

Few reminder letters later now I've been issued a claim form DATED 11/2/19 from the County Court Business Centre, Nottingham.

Too late for POPLA (I'm presuming?) I'm now thinking of three routes to take:
- Pay the now claimed £180
- Approach the store and ask fro them to have it dropped due to no ticket, poor pictures etc.
- Make contact with VCS and ask for the proof to be sent again

I apparently have 14 days in which to reply..

Many thanks in advance for your support!

nosferatu1001

You never could use POPLA. Wrong ATA

HOw on earth did you miss teh NEWBIES thread, all in caps, right near the top of the forum? No searching needed!
Do the following, immediately:

1) EDIT YOUR POST. The drivers identity MUST NOT BE REVEALED. "The driver parked..."
You are the keeper
You are the defendant
2) Go ONLINE and ACKNOWLEDGE the claim. NOTHING else. DO NOT start the defence, do not contest jurisdiction. This gives you 33 days from DATE OF ISSUE to get the defence to the corut
3) Tell us the DATE OF ISSUE
4) Get your defence together. Read Bargepoles concise defence and adapt it.
You will not be reminded when to file your defence
Miss the deadline, and you lose.

Mat210

Thanks for the quick reply @nosferatu1001 . Will do as stated. Acknowledge the claim as in go through the county court or make contact with VCS?

nosferatu1001

Read the newbies thread, post 2. EVERY question you have on this, plus a whooe lot more, is covered in this thread.
Acknowledging the claim is MCOL, you will need to register for this

Redx

POPLA is not and never was an option because VCS are IPC members

at this time there is no county court, only the CCBC (who posted the claim to you)

and the CCBC is in Northampton (not Nottingham) (its a government office)

post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread tells you exactly how to do the AOS online, with a walkthrough

it also will help you formulate a defence as well, once the AOS is completed online

post the DATE OF ISSUE on that claim form, plus post the POC and the charges breakdown, MINUS any personal info or references, in your reply below

then draft your defence and post it further below, for critique

you need to spend a lot more time studying your paperwork and also that NEWBIES thread as well

lastly, send an email with a SAR to the DPO at VCS and obtain all their data on you

Mat210

Thanks again for the response guys, I'm sure many in my case as too panicked and NEED ANSWERS NOW lol, so apologies for not trawling through the newbies thread before now. I'll go off and do my digging and get back to you guys

Mat210

AOS form completed online, now onto the defense..

I've looked up the PCN and they've taken further photos than I was sent- showing the vehicle at the location and apparently with a ticket on the windscreen?! Which I never received..great. Major blow to my defense but still looking to fight it.

Coupon-mad

Not a major blow to your defence, at all. As you will see from the example defences.

Mat210

DOI- 11/02/2019
POC-

"The claimant's claim is for the sum of £160 being monies due from the defendant to the claimant in respect of a charge notice (CN) for a contravention on 8/20/2018 at LOCATION.
The CN relate to a VEHICLE under the registration of REGISTRATION. The terms of the CN allowed the defendant 28 day from the issue date to pay the CN, but the defendant failed to do so. Despite the demand having been made the defendant has failed to settle their outstanding liability.
The claimant seeks the recovery of the CN and interest under section 69 of the county courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment."

Charges-
Amount claimed £160.00
Court Fee £25.00
Total amount £185.00


I will be cracking on with my defense tomorrow when I'm back at the office, thanks again guys.

Coupon-mad

The NEWBIES thread has a VCS pretend 'CN' defence in it, that you can adapt.

Mat210

Update 6/3/19

Returned from a work trip and began working on my defence this past week. Feel like I just don't have a leg to stand on here and that I should just fork out the £160 to put an end to it.. unfortunately got 1001 things going on at the moment and just need this off the list.

Thank you to all of those who took the time to reply and assist me but later on today I think I'll be paying up to these b*****ds. Lesson learnt.

(Unless somebody wants to draft me a solid defence and earn themselves £50? lol.)