VCS - Albert St B'ham 09/2016 - Claim Form Received

outoftown

Good evening all,

I'm looking for a bit of advice on how best to proceed with a Claim from VCS (made through Northampton CCBC).

The story goes like this:

Back in Sept 2016 my Sister parked my Mom's (RK) car in Albert Street Car Park in Birmingham and paid for one hour of parking at the P&D machine. She went about her business and returned within the allotted time and left the car park. (I should mention that my Mom was out of the country at the time). A short time later, my Mom gets a postal PCN from VCS looking for the usual £ 100, reduced to £ 60 should she pay within 28 days.

Mom checks with my Sister who is adamant that she paid the parking fee at the P&D machine and that there must be some mistake (the ticket had since been disposed of). Mom emails VCS explaining that there is clearly a mistake but fails to receive any acknowledgment / response from them.

What does follow at about 6 - 9 month intervals are various letters demanding settlement of the outstanding monies. It was felt that as the mistake was on the part of VCS that if these were ignored, eventually they'd go away. These letters stopped about a year ago but on Saturday she received a County Court Claim Form filed looking for £ 185.00 inc costs.

I've read through the Newbies thread, the Parking Prankster blog and have submitted AOS (on behalf of my Mom) with the CCBC.

Where I'm really stuck is how best to proceed from this point. I understand that I should now make a SAR (on behalf of my Mom) to VCS and prep a defence. However, it's pretty well documented (on PP blog) that the Albert Street Car Park signage at the time (up to late 2017 at least) indicated that the car park was operated by Excel Parking Services Ltd and as a result, no claim can be made by VCS on their behalf. Numerous cases / claims brought by VCS (incl. BW Legal) have either been discontinued / dismissed on that basis. In addition, there have been known issues at this parking location where valid parking fees paid have not, due to technical issues, been reconciled to VCS head office resulting in incorrectly issued PCNs.

So before I go any further my question do I/we:

a) make the SAR and proceed as normal and prep the defence based on the details above (including evidence showing that Mom (RK) was out of the country and therefore could not have known who the driver was;

b) make the SAR and contact VCS pointing out that the signage was incorrect and that they are knowingly chasing a debt that can not be enforced and demand a notice of discontinuance (as has been a successful approach for some on the Parking Prankster blog.

c) do not make a SAR and contact VCS demanding a notice of discontinuance based on the points in option b above.

I'm confused as to where within the 'legal' process we are and what is now acceptable. Obviously the last thing I want to do is waste time either defending when we could secure a discontinuance by going direct to VCS or vice versa.

I hope our situation is clear and would really appreciate any advice that you could offer.


(PS - I had included links to a shot of the claim form and the parking prankster blog post that I referenced but as a new user I had to delete them - this is the suffix for the post on the parking prankster blog: /2017/03/bw-legal-discontinue-albert-street-claim.html)

KeithP

Hi and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

I hope you did the AoS in the Defendant's name?
Everything from this point onwards must be done in the name of the Defendant even if you do all the legwork.

outoftown

Hi Keith and thank you.

The issue date on the claim form is 12 July 2019 and I can confirm the AoS was completed in the Defendant's name.

KeithP

outoftown wrote: »

The issue date on the claim form is 12 July 2019.

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th July, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 14th August 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep you under pressure.
   
7. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Coupon-mad

b) make the SAR and contact VCS pointing out that the signage was incorrect and that they are knowingly chasing a debt that can not be enforced and demand a notice of discontinuance (as has been a successful approach for some on the Parking Prankster blog.

Do the above.

And at the same time, search the forum for Albert and (separate search) Zozulya, and from those searches, read the recent defences re Albert Street. Copy & adapt!

The_Deep

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your motter's MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

outoftown

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Do the above.

And at the same time, search the forum for Albert and (separate search) Zozulya, and from those searches, read the recent defences re Albert Street. Copy & adapt!

Thanks CM - I've submitted the SAR request (in the name of the RK) to VCS to these two email addresses:

[EMAIL="info@vehiclecontrol.co.uk"]info@vehiclecontrol.co.uk[/EMAIL]

[EMAIL="dataprotection@vehiclecontrol.co.uk"]dataprotection@vehiclecontrol.co.uk[/EMAIL]

I'm currently drafting a request for a discontinuance and will post a variant of it here prior to sending it to VCS.

Thanks again to you all for your help and advice so far.

outoftown

The_Deep wrote: »

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your motter's MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.


<link removed as new user>

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Thanks for the advice TD.


This is a course of action that we'll definitely undertake - luckily my Mother's local MP is really pro-active regarding matters like these.

outoftown

This is what I'm thinking if sending to VCS - it's loosely based on a letter that 'Ms C' as mentioned on parking prankster sent to BWL which resulted in a discontinuance.


[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Head of Litigation – Vehicle Control Services Ltd.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Dear Sir / Madam,[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]I am writing in relation to your County Court Claim (Claim No: XXXXXXXX) against me as the registered keeper of vehicle XXXX XXX. [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]In advance of submitting my defence I would like to point out to you that at the time of the alleged parking incident to which your claim relates, your signage at Albert Street Car Park in Birmingham was in the name of Excel Parking Services (Excel) and not that of the claimant, Vehicle Control Services Ltd (VCS).[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]As such, any contract made by the driver of the vehicle would have been made with Excel and not VCS. Therefore, VCS are not party to any contract and have no legal standing to bring a claim.
[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
To that end, I look forward to receiving your notice of discontinuance to this claim within 7 days.
[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
If you fail to cancel proceedings I will seek to recover costs from you at the litigant in person rate of £ 19 per hour. Further details of this entitlement can be found under 27.14(2)g
h t t p s /www. justice. gov. uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27#27.14
[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
I refer you (and will refer any subsequent court) to the following blog posts, which confirm you are well aware of this matter from other cases:[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]h t t p /parking-prankster.blogspot. co. uk/2017/02/vehicle-control-systems-lose-wrong . html
h t t p /parking-prankster.blogspot. co. uk/2017/02/vehicle-control-services-discontinue . html
[/FONT] [FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
I will also make the court aware of the following discontinued / dismissed cases where VCS are erroneously named as the claimant.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Claims Discontinued[/FONT][FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]VCS v Zozulya - A8QZ6666[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]VCS v Ms M - 3QZ53955 [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif] VCS v Ms O - C8DP9D8C[/FONT][FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]VCS v Mr H - C2DP0H7C[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]VCS v Mr W - C1DP3H5V[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]VCS v Ms C - C8DP37CH[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Claims Dismissed[/FONT][FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]VCS v Ms A - C6DP7P37[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]I trust that this email will be sufficient to put an end to your baseless claim and that this situation can be laid to rest without wasting the valuable time of our Courts.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Yours faithfully,
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Mrs Registered Keeper[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

outoftown

I'll now set about prepping a defence that I can submit to the courts in the event that the above doesn't achieve the desired result.

Le_Kirk

outoftown wrote: »

I refer you (and will refer any subsequent court) to the following blog posts, which confirm you are well aware of this matter from other cases:

[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/vehicle-control-systems-lose-wrong.html
http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/vehicle-control-services-discontinue.html[/FONT]

It might be better if you include a short extract of the blogs rather than expect VCS to go searching the internet for them.