UKPC - "Vehicle Owner/Driver Left Site" - Go Outdoors, Swindon

steadyrollingman

I know there are plenty of these posts on the site and the regulars are very helpful and patient, thank you! For those getting caught up in this trap it is good to see some recent outcomes for assurance purposes, so here is one:

Not too long ago the driver returned to vehicle only to find a small plastic bag attached to the windscreen, with an invoice inside of it. "Vehicle Owner/Driver Left Site", it said. This wasn't long after lockdown finished, the roads were very quiet, the car park was almost empty, and more workers than shoppers in the store itself. Whoever it was that applied the ticket had some super stealth ninja moves to apply the ticket without being noticed! Needless to say though they didn't approach the driver to warn them, either. We know the reasons why, of course. Sadly Go Outdoors, for whatever reason, were not at all interested in resolving these situations for a loyalty card customer, neither in store nor through their centralised customer services department (all I would say to that is, you pays your money and you takes your choice), so the only sensible course of action is to contest the invoice.

It is a familiar story by now and there are no crazy twists here, but anyway... at this particular car park, as with many apparently, there is no map outlining what the site actually is and where the boundaries are. Also, the photos uploaded by UKPC didn't include anything other than a photo of a car, and a photo of a sign with some writing on (but no map). No evidence of a person crossing an unknown boundary.

Before appealing, some time (not much in honesty), was spent on this very site, reading through the start of the "Newbies" thread as well as checking out what other people had experienced. The appeal was submitted as per the advice, using the suggested timing, on the basis of the above two points, and hey presto, on day 50 (ish), the appeal was accepted. For what it is worth, no "Notice to Keeper" was received either.

A few things to note about the appeal, firstly the UKPC appeals site seemed to have an expired security certificate (!) so some browsers may not let someone navigate to it, and secondly that the appeals text max's out at 2,000 characters, which may mean some of the more cathartic aspects of the appeal may need to be watered down a little bit.

Fruitcake

Well done, and thanks for letting us know.

Leaving site is one of the hardest things for a scammer to prove so perhaps they decided to cut their losses with such overwhelming evidence of their inadequacy.

Coupon-mad

steadyrollingman said:

I know there are plenty of these posts on the site and the regulars are very helpful and patient, thank you! For those getting caught up in this trap it is good to see some recent outcomes for assurance purposes, so here is one:

Not too long ago the driver returned to vehicle only to find a small plastic bag attached to the windscreen, with an invoice inside of it. "Vehicle Owner/Driver Left Site", it said. This wasn't long after lockdown finished, the roads were very quiet, the car park was almost empty, and more workers than shoppers in the store itself. Whoever it was that applied the ticket had some super stealth ninja moves to apply the ticket without being noticed! Needless to say though they didn't approach the driver to warn them, either. We know the reasons why, of course. Sadly Go Outdoors, for whatever reason, were not at all interested in resolving these situations for a loyalty card customer, neither in store nor through their centralised customer services department (all I would say to that is, you pays your money and you takes your choice), so the only sensible course of action is to contest the invoice.

It is a familiar story by now and there are no crazy twists here, but anyway... at this particular car park, as with many apparently, there is no map outlining what the site actually is and where the boundaries are. Also, the photos uploaded by UKPC didn't include anything other than a photo of a car, and a photo of a sign with some writing on (but no map). No evidence of a person crossing an unknown boundary.

Before appealing, some time (not much in honesty), was spent on this very site, reading through the start of the "Newbies" thread as well as checking out what other people had experienced. The appeal was submitted as per the advice, using the suggested timing, on the basis of the above two points, and hey presto, on day 50 (ish), the appeal was accepted. For what it is worth, no "Notice to Keeper" was received either.

A few things to note about the appeal, firstly the UKPC appeals site seemed to have an expired security certificate (!) so some browsers may not let someone navigate to it, and secondly that the appeals text max's out at 2,000 characters, which may mean some of the more cathartic aspects of the appeal may need to be watered down a little bit.

Very good, and thanks for confirming it worked again!

Were_Doomed

So nice to see a new thread which starts with a success story. It shows that all the information is here... if people would bother to look (like the OP did).

fisherjim

Well done at beating the famous UKPC invention "The leaving site maximise profit scam"

beamerguy

Well done, a good read.
UKPC with their "driver left site" rubbish" blotted their copy book years ago when their wardens attempted a fraud by doctoring a time stamp.  That lost them a month's access to the DVLA. The BPA should have kicked them out then. 

I drove in to a car park yesterday known as a UKPC honey trap.   Normally the car park holds at least 300 cars but yesterday and until at least 2nd Dec, there were 6 cars ?