VCS claim form/court papers received today

Velocifero

I received a "letter before claim" from VCS at the beginning of November 19 about a penalty charge issued in June 16 of which I have no knowledge. I initially thought it was a hoax/scam as the quality of the letterhead was dubious at best as the images are blurry and low resolution. This was the first I had ever heard from VCS and at this point I have no idea what this is about or what it relates to.


At the time that this penalty charge was issued I was living in a flat with a shared post box and an address that often meant items were delivered to the wrong address. In short getting my mail was never reliable.


I replied via email saying as much and asking for some clarification on at the end of November 19 as it took me a while to find an email address that might be valid (I used [EMAIL="cpo@vehiclecontrol.co.uk"]cpo@vehiclecontrol.co.uk[/EMAIL] as it was the only one I could find) and got an automated response but no actual response from a human, I sent another copy of my initial email a week later to the same email address as well as another one (info@vehiclecontrol.co.uk), again another automated email but no human response.


Tired of waiting for them to respond I decided to send a third email to the two email addresses I have been using in the middle of December 19 asking them to provide me with any information they hold about me under the GDPR, as usual I received an automated response but no contact from a human.


Today I have received a claim form from the county court business centre in Northampton which is just shy of 150 miles away from where I live in Liverpool and where this supposed "breach of contract" took place. Its also about 100 miles away from the address VCS have entered on the claim form.
They are claiming costs of £185 (£160 penalty charge and £25 court fee) with no legal costs which I assume means they hope it will never go to court or that they will represent themselves.


Before posting this thread I had another look at the VCS website and found yet another email address (dataprotection@vehiclecontrol.co.uk) to which I forwarded my GDPR email and I have asked for an update.


I know the newbies thread says that most cases are not different but I feel like I'm stuck with this as I don't really know what exactly it is that I am fighting as all I have is a date and a rough location.

Questions;

• Have I done a SAR/GDPR request correctly or do I need to more?

• If this goes further will I have to travel to Northampton or can it be moved somewhere closer (ie Manchester, Liverpool)?

• What happens next? I have only just started working after a long period of unemployment due to redundancy and the loss of a family member and as I only work part time they are asking me to pay over a weeks wages for something I have no knowledge of.

Half_way

Judging by your opening post, you dont appear to be familiar with the private parking world, or Simon renshaw Smiths VCS , so at this stage you should not attempt to name the driver


1: this is not a penalty
2: how did they get to £160?
3: why did the vehicle receive a parking charge notice?
4: your opening post is hard to read, please break it up into bits ( paragraphs)

beamerguy

They are claiming costs of £185 (£160 penalty charge and £25 court fee) with no legal costs which I assume means they hope it will never go to court or that they will represent themselves.

Be aware this is not a penalty ....... VCS are far too low in the pecking order to penalise anyone.

They are however scamming you though by adding a fake £60

The courts call this ABUSE OF PROCESS and VCS has already been spanked and kicked out of court for this

ABUSE OF PROCESS
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal
Pay attention to post #14 by coupon-mad which has the defence you can use

Velocifero

Thanks for your reply. I've tried breaking my first post up a bit, is that any better? I have dyspraxia so I find writing things very difficult (my first post took me about three hours to write) and I always struggle to get my point across.


In answer to your points;


1) I understand its not a penalty, I just couldn't think of the correct word when writing my post
2) & 3) No idea, their letter states that the sum includes a £60 collection charge. The claim form I received today says the vehicle was parked in a restricted bus stop.



As I said in my post I have only ever received the "letter before claim" that simply states a date, registration of a vehicle (of which I was the owner at the time) and a rough area in Liverpool. Despite their letter saying they have tried contacting me several times it is the first time I have ever heard from VCS.

Redx

It was probably an airport bus stop , maybe RHA airport ? Or possibly LJLA ??

In which case it was either penalty or parking , they mix them up to hoodwink everyone , including me and you

Nobody is going to Northampton , that is just a government office where all the claims come from , same as the DVLA is in Swansea , but you might never have been there either ( neither have I )

Your local civil court will be where you choose to have it , so Google it , probably in Liverpool city centre ?

VCS will be the ones who issued the myparkingcharge invoice

Yes your SAR should go to that DPO vaddress for VCS

You need to do the AOS as well , post the issue date from the claim form if not done already , then read other VCS airport threads and plagiarise their defences for your own defence, there are several or dozens on here to read and choose from

KeithP

Velocifero, as Redx said, please post the Issue Date from your County Court Claim Form.

Velocifero

Sorry for the delay, had to go to work so I've only just got back and had my tea.

The Issue Date is 30/12/19. Once I've posted this post I'll do the AoS.

It wasn't the airport but the Princess Docks area near the ferry/cruise terminal although I guess the defences relating to the airport will be similar.

I was reading around and found an article on ThisIsMoney.co.uk (which I can't link to ) which states that double yellow lines on private land mean nothing so I assume I could also throw that in my defence too in relation to stopping at a bus stop.


How long do I have to submit my defence? Is it 28 days from the issue date (26/01/20) or 28 days plus 5 days from the issue date (01/02/20)? I guess it doesn't matter too much as I won't be leaving it until the last minute but not having a response to my SAR isn't going to help.

Redx

Don't do the AOS yet , wait for guidance , which is why you were asked for the issue date , if you had posted it in post #1 above you would have received the answers you are asking for

Port , airport , station , all are non relevant land

Ps , being the owner is not relevant , it is the Registered Keeper that they asked the DVLA for , not owner

Coupon-mad

The Issue Date is 30/12/19. Once I've posted this post I'll do the AoS.

No, too soon! Wait FIVE DAYS.

Velocifero

Oh sorry, I thought the AoS had to be done as soon as possible. The whole process really isn't geared towards the poor people on the receiving end of it.

Redx

Next week , after the 5 days has expired