Have I messed up? Help!

LittleBeak

I have a company car on lease. I received a Notice to Hirer from UKPC addressed to my employer which I appealed as day to day keeper stating non-compliance with POFA (no copy lease docs provided) and withholding driver details. I then received a letter asking for the driver’s details, which I ignored and heard nothing further until I received notification from my employer that £125 was being deducted from my salary because the lease company had paid the invoice :mad:.

I felt I had been denied my right of appeal so complained to UKPC who just said they responded to my appeal with the letter asking for the driver’s details and, because I didn’t get in touch, they went back to the registered keeper. They’d received payment and the matter was closed.

I complained to BPA who said that, because I am not the keeper or the driver, UKPC did not hear my appeal (why not tell me straight away as I would probably have paid up at that point?) but invoked keeper liability on the lease company because they had not provided the docs required under POFA. Apparently, the notice to hirer was non-POFA. They have closed their investigation.

This is where I’m confused because I thought there was a memorandum of understanding between BPA and BVRLA that lease companies only had to name the hirer to discharge their liability. Am I mistaken? Also, I’ve seen many cases of company car drivers appealing to POPLA as keeper.

I have also complained to the lease company but haven’t had a response from them yet. I am considering offering them full and final of £50, being the initial invoice amount, because they failed to provide the right documents to absolve themselves and now I am paying the price. Worth doing?

What do I do? Who do I contact? If I had known the lease company had not provided the docs then I would’ve just paid the £50! Do I just have to take this on the chin now because I’m being shut down at every turn?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated because I’m tearing my hair out! :wall:

Le_Kirk

Check your lease documents to see if it has a clause stating you are responsible for parking and speeding FINES and then point out to them that this was not a FINE but a speculative invoice.

Umkomaas

Ask the lease company for a copy of their response to UKPC to check they actually transferred liability. If they have done this correctly, UKPC had no reason to contact them again.

Can we see what you wrote to the BPA and also their response. Was Steve Clark involved in the reply?

We need to check each stage before grabbing at a 'solution'.

The_Deep

These are not fines, they are private invoices for the damage the PPC alleges they suffered when, allegedly, you breached a contract they allege you had agreed with them, we call them scams. They only need to be paid if a judge so directs,

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your 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.

LittleBeak

Thank you. I have asked the lease company for copies of all correspondence but have not yet had a response. Steve Clark wasn’t involved, I actually only came across his name today. Will copy and paste my complaints and replies shortly if you think that will help

Coupon-mad

I then received a letter asking for the driver’s details, which I ignored...

That was a mistake, in your case.

IMHO lessee/hirers should never ignore that template letter. You needed to protect your position at all times and replied to reiterate that you were the hirer/lessee and attach something to prove it/prove your authority to appeal for the employer company, and warn UKPC off writing to the rk at all.

Your silence meant they didn't know the name & address of the driver, you were essentially a third party not named on the NTH, so legally they were entitled to send a reminder to the lease firm. Sneaky but probably right.

I received a Notice to Hirer from UKPC addressed to my employer which I appealed as day to day keeper

It wasn't yours to appeal, the named hirer (employer) should have formally answered it transferring liability, not passed it to you, as it wasn't addressed to you.

It is a fine line to get right and now you are stuck with formal complaints to your employer which makes like at work highly uncomfortable.

LittleBeak

Fair enough but the letter just said if I didn’t provide the driver’s details then they would have no option but to decide my appeal on the information they had and a POPLA verification code would be provided so I had no reason to think it was necessary to reply - I was happy with the proposed course of action.

I followed the advice on here to appeal as day to day keeper and wasn’t to know that the lease company hadn’t done their bit to transfer liability (although, again I was thinking the memorandum had that covered). I did try to check but the lease company wouldn’t correspond with me and my employer wasn’t willing to do anything to help me appeal, they just wanted to pay it. I don’t work there anymore which complicates matters.

Coupon-mad

Fair enough but the letter just said if I didn’t provide the driver’s details then they would have no option but to decide my appeal on the information they had and a POPLA verification code would be provided so I had no reason to think it was necessary to reply - I was happy with the proposed course of action.

That's a fair point to put to Steve Clark. But I think you will get knocked back.