Total Parking Solutions fraudulently changing PCN issue time to invalidate my appeal.

alexandermac

On the 4 March 2020, whilst parked in Halfords car park in Chatham, Kent I received a parking charge notice from Total Parking Solutions Limited because I had left my car and popped to the bank. I was sure I was not gone more than 10 minutes so when I got home I checked the 'time of issue' of the PCN and it clearly reads 14:34. I checked my Halfords receipt and the time read 14:24:58 so by the time I placed my credit card back into my wallet, walked outside the building it was now after 14:25. I then walked over to my car, placed my items inside on the passenger seat and then walked to length of the carpark and was still 'on the premises' until at least 14:25:15. I did a little research and, as Total Parking Solutions are a member of The British Parking Association, they have to abide by their 'code of conduct' and allow a 'compulsory minimum 10 minute grace period' before issuing a PCN. In order for the parking charge to be valid the attendant would have to have witnessed me walk out of the carpark at 14:24, but the time on my Halfords receipt clearly places me still inside Halfords, stood at the till at 14:25. As Total Parking Solutions clearly only gave approximately 8 minutes and 30 seconds 'grace period' I decided to gather all my evidence, a copy of my till receipt and I even downloaded a map of the carpark and created a 'time line' clearly showing where I was, the distance I walked to exit the carpark and at what time, clearly proving that the PCN was issued too early breaching The British Parking Association code of conduct . I then went to the Total Parking Solutions website and submitted my appeal, but as a matter of precaution, and unbeknown to Total Parking Solutions, I photographed every page of my appeal on my computer screen, making sure the time and date were also clearly visible, just in case Total Parking Solutions denied ever receiving it. Total Parking Solutions took this information and I then received in the post a 'Notice To Keeper' dated 27/4/20 BUT they have now changed the time of the event to 14:36, falsely claiming the PCN was issued 2 minutes later in order for my appeal of them issuing my PCN too early to be 'invalid'. I then decided to only contact Total Parking Solutions via recorded mail and resubmitted my appeal by post on 13/5/20, I also amended my appeal clearly pointing out the the time on my parking charge notice was correct at 14:34 and the Notice To Keeper time of 14:36 was wrong. I even included a high resolution scan, enlarged it and printed it out with my appeal so they could see the correct time on my PCN.
 I received a rejection letter for my appeal from Total Parking Solutions on 21/5/20, but after reading through the letter they never included the '10 Digit Verification Code' I needed in order to present my evidence and appeal POPLA. I replied in a letter dated 2/6/20 requesting the POPLA 10 digit code and they replied with a letter dated 10/6/20 still claiming that the 'PCN was correctly issued and the full amount of £70 remains outstanding'. They also claimed that a POPLA code was provided in my first rejection letter dated 27/3/20, which I never received. They also wrote, 'No further correspondence will be entered into regarding this matter'. I decided to call POPLA and explained the situation to them and informed that I am totally within my rights, not only to request the 10 digit code, but also a copy of the letter they 'claimed' to have sent dated 27/3/20 and proof of postage of 'said' letter. Between the 17th June up until the 3rd August 2020 I written six times, all recorded delivery, to Total Parking Solutions requesting the POPLA code and a copy of 'said' letter and it is now the 19 August and I have still not had a reply.
Now 'the plot thickens!' On the 17th June 2020 I gathered all this evidence, except the 6 letters as they hadn't been sent yet, and I submitted a formal complaint to the British Parking Association. I also included the photos I took of my computer screen, that Total Parking Solutions knew nothing about, which would clearly prove that they read my appeal and then changed the time of the event in my 'Notice To Keeper' letter in order to reject my appeal. I received a response from the British Parking Association on the 18th August and not only have Total Parking Solutions claimed to have 'emailed' my the letter dated 27/3, which I once again never received, but they have also included a 'copy' of the PCN issued to me as a PDF with the time of issue falsely changed from  '14:34' to '14:36' and the British Parking Association have decided 'in favour' of Total Parking Solutions and that no 'code of conduct has been breached'!
I still have my original PCN with the correct time printed on it and I also now have the 'doctored' PCN Total Parking Solutions submitted to The British Parking Association in order to avoid being penalised for breaching their code of conduct. I now have rock solid undisputed evidence that fraud has been committed and my question is 'what is my next step?' Who do I contact to escalate this matter? Clearly Total Parking Solutions has falsified documents, so has an actual crime been committed?

Umkomaas

Stick some paragraphs in that please to make it readable. You're likely to get many more inputs than as it is now.  Over 900 words with no real breaks. 

DoaM

alexandermac said:

On the 4 March 2020, whilst parked in Halfords car park in Chatham, Kent I received a parking charge notice from Total Parking Solutions Limited because I had left my car and popped to the bank. I was sure I was not gone more than 10 minutes so when I got home I checked the 'time of issue' of the PCN and it clearly reads 14:34. I checked my Halfords receipt and the time read 14:24:58 so by the time I placed my credit card back into my wallet, walked outside the building it was now after 14:25. I then walked over to my car, placed my items inside on the passenger seat and then walked to length of the carpark and was still 'on the premises' until at least 14:25:15.

I did a little research and, as Total Parking Solutions are a member of The British Parking Association, they have to abide by their 'code of conduct' and allow a 'compulsory minimum 10 minute grace period' before issuing a PCN. In order for the parking charge to be valid the attendant would have to have witnessed me walk out of the carpark at 14:24, but the time on my Halfords receipt clearly places me still inside Halfords, stood at the till at 14:25. As Total Parking Solutions clearly only gave approximately 8 minutes and 30 seconds 'grace period' I decided to gather all my evidence, a copy of my till receipt and I even downloaded a map of the carpark and created a 'time line' clearly showing where I was, the distance I walked to exit the carpark and at what time, clearly proving that the PCN was issued too early breaching The British Parking Association code of conduct . I then went to the Total Parking Solutions website and submitted my appeal, but as a matter of precaution, and unbeknown to Total Parking Solutions, I photographed every page of my appeal on my computer screen, making sure the time and date were also clearly visible, just in case Total Parking Solutions denied ever receiving it.

Total Parking Solutions took this information and I then received in the post a 'Notice To Keeper' dated 27/4/20 BUT they have now changed the time of the event to 14:36, falsely claiming the PCN was issued 2 minutes later in order for my appeal of them issuing my PCN too early to be 'invalid'. I then decided to only contact Total Parking Solutions via recorded mail and resubmitted my appeal by post on 13/5/20, I also amended my appeal clearly pointing out the the time on my parking charge notice was correct at 14:34 and the Notice To Keeper time of 14:36 was wrong. I even included a high resolution scan, enlarged it and printed it out with my appeal so they could see the correct time on my PCN.

 I received a rejection letter for my appeal from Total Parking Solutions on 21/5/20, but after reading through the letter they never included the '10 Digit Verification Code' I needed in order to present my evidence and appeal POPLA. I replied in a letter dated 2/6/20 requesting the POPLA 10 digit code and they replied with a letter dated 10/6/20 still claiming that the 'PCN was correctly issued and the full amount of £70 remains outstanding'. They also claimed that a POPLA code was provided in my first rejection letter dated 27/3/20, which I never received. They also wrote, 'No further correspondence will be entered into regarding this matter'. I decided to call POPLA and explained the situation to them and informed that I am totally within my rights, not only to request the 10 digit code, but also a copy of the letter they 'claimed' to have sent dated 27/3/20 and proof of postage of 'said' letter. Between the 17th June up until the 3rd August 2020 I written six times, all recorded delivery, to Total Parking Solutions requesting the POPLA code and a copy of 'said' letter and it is now the 19 August and I have still not had a reply.

Now 'the plot thickens!' On the 17th June 2020 I gathered all this evidence, except the 6 letters as they hadn't been sent yet, and I submitted a formal complaint to the British Parking Association. I also included the photos I took of my computer screen, that Total Parking Solutions knew nothing about, which would clearly prove that they read my appeal and then changed the time of the event in my 'Notice To Keeper' letter in order to reject my appeal. I received a response from the British Parking Association on the 18th August and not only have Total Parking Solutions claimed to have 'emailed' my the letter dated 27/3, which I once again never received, but they have also included a 'copy' of the PCN issued to me as a PDF with the time of issue falsely changed from  '14:34' to '14:36' and the British Parking Association have decided 'in favour' of Total Parking Solutions and that no 'code of conduct has been breached'!

I still have my original PCN with the correct time printed on it and I also now have the 'doctored' PCN Total Parking Solutions submitted to The British Parking Association in order to avoid being penalised for breaching their code of conduct. I now have rock solid undisputed evidence that fraud has been committed and my question is 'what is my next step?' Who do I contact to escalate this matter? Clearly Total Parking Solutions has falsified documents, so has an actual crime been committed?

Newbies may not be able to edit their posts until they've been forum members for a certain time and/or made a certain number of posts.

But a note to other Newbies ... please, please do not post walls of text like this OP has.

Redx

There is no escalation point

Save everything for any future court case

In the meantime , complain to your !oval MP

TPS have 6 years to issue a court claim pack from the CCBC in Northampton

D_P_Dance

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP., it can cause the scammer extra costs, and in some cases, cancellation. 

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, 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 later this year,

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

Coupon-mad

Have you sent your evidence to Steve Clark?

steve.c@britishparking.co.uk

alexandermac

Umkomaas said:

Stick some paragraphs in that please to make it readable. You're likely to get many more inputs than as it is now.  Over 900 words with no real breaks. 

Ooops sorry, I was so busy concentrating on making sure I didn't miss anything out I didn't even realise to break it down into paragraphs, also DoaM is correct as I can't edit my post because I have just joined.

alexandermac

Coupon-mad said:

Have you sent your evidence to Steve Clark?

steve.c@britishparking.co.uk

No I haven't, who exactly is Steve Clark?

Umkomaas

alexandermac said:

Coupon-mad said:

Have you sent your evidence to Steve Clark?

steve.c@britishparking.co.uk

No I haven't, who exactly is Steve Clark?

Senior manager within BPA. Their general troubleshooter for serious issues. 

Molts

He's the Head Clown at the BPA circus who will fob you off and side with the parking operator irrespective of the compelling evidence you have. Still worth doing, however, as a complaint now may work in your favour down the line, whether it falls on deaf ears or not.

Umkomaas

Speak as I find, and set in the context that no one complaining to him pays his wages, Steve Clark has been pretty straight, straightforward and helpful. Way and above any counterpart at the IPC (if you can ever bring one to mind by name!).