VCS at LBC Stage - Initial PCN Letters Sent to Wrong Address

mperor

Hi All,

I have received a Letter Before Claim from VCS (IPC Member) stating they are attempting to recover £160 for an unpaid PCN. The letter was luckily passed on to me as it was sent to a previous address.

I requested and received a SAR from their DPO via email last week and received this from them. Within the SAR, along with 2 photographs of the vehicle in question are the previous letters they claim to have sent out (all sent to the wrong residential address).

Following request of SAR I also immediately sent a email to their email address (from the LBC letter) stating that the SAR had been submitted and to place a hold on the case, within which I advised them of my new address for service.

I have been onto their website (myparkingcharge) to 'appeal' but the only options on there now are to Pay or Enter Liable Party details I assume because the appeal deadline (18/04/19) stated on the NTK has gone.

Am I correct in thinking that I should now write to them (or email?) again using the wording for appeal from the NEWBIES thread? (Wording under "Template appeal for BPA or IPC members") and await their response?

If so, do I state within this that the initial letters claimed to have been sent out were not received?

Am I correct in thinking that I should again provide my Address for Service within this letter or email (as stated in my email to them to hold the case due to SAR)?

Any help would be much appreciated,
Thank you!

Fruitcake

I believe you are past the appeal stage since you now have a LBC, so you should follow the guide to court written by bargepole from post 2 of the NEWBIES.

You need to tell the DPO and any scamlicitors if they are involved of the keeper's current address for service, and instruct them to erase your old address.

You also need to tell them that although you deny any debt, you are seeking debt advice so they must put proceedings on hold.

Why did they send the NTK etcetera to the wrong address? Is the correct address on the vehicle V5.

Have you complained to your MP yet about this unregulated scam?

Do a forum search for a thread called "abuse of process" that details court cases thrown out for scammers adding on £60 to the original charge.

Redx

there is no reason why the appeal template cannot be tried, nothing to lose but as mentioned above you seem well past that stage now

yes give them a data rectification notice stating the new and correct address for service of papers, so they do not go to any old addresses

the fact that the letters did not arrive is probably a red herring for you, because VCS will have obtained keeper details from the DVLA and sent the letters to that address, even if its an "old" address as far as you are concerned

it is the legal duty of a keeper to keep the DVLA details for a V5C and for a driving licence up to date, with a fine of up to £1000 for each offence if the keeper fails to do so

in brief, the keeper is probably at fault for not updating the DVLA and cannot blame VCS for this , which is probably why the letters went to an old address - so blame the keeper

I suggest that the keeper is at fault for that and has narrowly missed a £2000 fine if they failed to update the DVLA records, so I would not be trying that as an argument in a court of law

all VCS have to do is prove they posted them, meaning they are deemed delivered 2 days later

they have probably used TRACE or similat to find the correct address for tthis LoC and for any MCOL, which they are obliged to do since oct 2017 when the rules changed

MonkeyRum

I moved address while dealing with a claim from VCS. Despite me writing to them twice to let them know they continued sending letters to my old address.

In my case the DVLA records were correct at the time of the alleged contravention but I later moved.

I would recommend setting up a redirection with the Royal Mail. I think a small fee is required. Definitely worth it to not miss out on court papers.

If your case is like mine then I would bring it to the attention of the court. The PPC is obliged to keep your records up to date. However, if the registered keeper's detailed weren't correct at the time of the alleged contravention then, as suggested, I'd keep mum.

beamerguy

Abuse of Process

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

Redx

they are only obliged to keep records up to date once the data rectification notice has been issued by the data subject to them under GDPR 2018

they are also obliged to do so under the CPR rule changes in oct 2017 (pre court action rules) , by tracing the correct address for the data subject

mail redirection would have to be in place for 6 years to be sure it gets to the correct recipient, not possible nor practical, but a good idea in the short term for all mail

it is more likely that the data subject failed to update their DVLA details (for both the vehicle and their driving licence, or only did one and assumed the other would be done as well) , in which case do not blame a PPC for mistakes of your own making and do not expect that letters not arriving is a valid defence, it usually isnt