UKPC Parking ticket, Admitted I was Driving - Scotland

Melon93

Hello

I struggle with moderate learning disabilities and have tried to read the forums but get overwhelled and cannot understand where i fall into the catergories. If you could give me any advised please.

I have spoke to CAB who have advised me to pay the debt collectors £160.
I received a parking ticket in Scotland for a UKPC undisplayed parking ticket 12/5/19. I appealed on the grounds of owning a parking permit which i still have in my possession. During the initial appeal, where i showed the proof of the permit, I admitted I was driving.  This has made the forum hard to understand as I cannot evaid the ticket by claiming i was the registered keeper and not the driver. 

UKParking control reduced the fee to £15 but I missed the deadline to pay the reduced amount by 5 days or so. I called them and they said tough basically.  I did not follow up any process nor did i hear from UK Parking Controll after that. This meant my POPLA code has expired.

December 2020 i rreceive a debt collection letter from DCBL asking for the full amount and i have ignored this and the second letter. I know have a Final Notice of Debt REcovery letter from DCBL.

As i said, Citizens Advice Bureau have advised me to pay as they said i do not have a case. 
The parking permit specifically states i show display the permit in the windscreen ortherwise i will receive a ticket. I ready to set up a paymetn plan to stop this stress but i wanted to reach out for help firstly. Can you offer any advice? 

Melon93

2. ONLY after exhausting the complaints option, then as Plan B, the keeper appeals.

Appealing a private PCN

Windscreen ticket from a BPA member? = STOP - wait and research before appealing!! If it was a windscreen 'PCN' (not postal, not an IPC member and not a SABA Railway 'penalty' - see Q&A above) wait 3 weeks.

In the case of CURRENT (NON-DVLA-BANNED) BRITISH PARKING ASSOCIATION (BPA) AOS MEMBERS ONLY, appeal online or by email at day 25 or 26 after a windscreen PCN but as the KEEPER, not driver, using the ''one size fits all'' blue appeal template below.


No one tells you to come to MML website before appealing. I appealed within 24 days online and admited i was driving

Umkomaas

I have spoke to CAB who have advised me to pay the debt collectors £160.

Dreadful advice, especially as £60 which has been added is double recovery and likely to be deemed unlawful. 

While you might have admitted who was driving, for an English company to sue you for £100 through the Scottish court system when neither they nor their debt collectors have knowledge of it, is so unlikely as to be almost unthinkable. 

Put this away and only come back if you get a real Sheriff Court Claim. I don't think we'll see you again!

Fruitcake

The keeper is not involved if the driver has already been identified to the scammers.

You can safely ignore powerless debt collectors such as DCBLimited.

It is never too late to complain to the landowner.

Ignore anything and everything from now on for the next five years unless it is real court papers from a Scottish Court. Come back to this thread if it happens.

CAB are good at somethings, but are absolutely clueless about the unregulated parking industry. They give bad, incorrect, and out of date advice.
There is no debt unless a judge says so, and you are nowhere near that stage.

D_P_Dance

Do not forget to complain to your MP.  

Melon93

Umkomaas, The Final Notice of Debt Recovery letter.
It states to prevent legal action i should pay. If i do not pay, the Company DCDL will recommend UK Parking Control to take legal action againt me to recop the £160. Is your advise is not to do anything until I receive a letter from the Sheriff Court Claims? But at that stage the cost will have increased and I'm not eligible for legal aid. Have you seen this before where the English Debt Company persue a scottosh residents debt? Could they inviite me to an English court?

Melon93

Fruitcake, I will complain to the land owner but you please help me find a thread to gudie me with this? I don't know how to find the landowner but I have the details of where the parking ticket was issued.   How do you know the persuit for the fees have stopped? Do DCBL or UkParking Controll just stop sending letters to my address? 

DCBL will not notifiy UKparking control to start legal action, does that mean that UKParking controll at that point may decide not to continue or they have up to 5 years to decide so that means in 3,4 or 5 years i might start to get letters again persuing this? 

Fruitcake

Unregulated private parking companies tell lies, as do the scammers they employ.

If the driver lives in Scotland then yes the scammers could invite you to England for a chat and a nice cup of tea, but a resident of Scotland is outside the jusrisdicion of en English court.
If legal action were to take place, it would have to be in a Scottish court using the Act of Sederunt (Simple Procedure Rules).
Before that can happen, the parking scammers would have to learn how to do it because it is completely different to the process south of the border.

Just put it in a drawer and forget about it for the next five years. 

Jenni_D

The Simple Procedure in Scotland is what is used - there is no online system like in E+W. In Scotland the claim must be formally served on the defendant - this means physically passed into the possession of the defendant, not simply posted. The probability of UKPC pursuing a claim for a single PCN in Scotland is negligible. And no - they cannot raise a claim against a Scottish defendant in an English court. (Well, they can, but you'd challenge jurisdiction  and so they'd need to make it an out-of-jurisdiction claim - the cost would be prohibitive as this would not be a reasonable cost for a defendant to be liable for).

You say you had a permit ... where was the event? At your home? If yes, what do the terms say in your deeds / lease about parking and the need to display a permit?

What evidence did they give that you didn't display your permit? (Photos can be taken to suggest a transgression that didn't actually happen). Do the signs say anything about how the permit should be displayed? If they even exist I bet a bus could be driven through the gaps in it.

As you can see - there's lots that UKPC would need to prove, so the chances of this going to a claim are slim to non-existent in Scotland - even where there is an admitted driver.

Umkomaas

If i do not pay, the Company DCDL will recommend UK Parking Control to take legal action

Recommend (certainly south of the border) does not mean that the recipient of any such recommendation will do any such thing!

Is your advise is not to do anything until I receive a letter from the Sheriff Court Claims?

Letter, Claim, anything from the Sheriff Court. But don't stay awake waiting for anything!

But at that stage the cost will have increased

How much by?

I'm not eligible for legal aid.

Jeez, no one needs (or gets) legal aid to argue about an unsolicited invoice for £100!

Have you seen this before where the English Debt Company persue a scottosh residents debt? 

Not a debt collector (they never can), only a  PPC can and so, just the one of note. VCS v Carly Mackie - Google it, but please read it in context and proportionally!

Could they inviite me to an English court?

If you mean that literally, then yes they could, but if you mean legally, then no they can't!  In any case, Wee Knickerla wouldn't let you out, and Boris wouldn't let you in! 😄

Stop letting this get to you, it's not good for your health or mental well-being. 

Fruitcake

@Jenni_D, you have only been a member for a few weeks, but you are already an asset to this forum. Please keep it up.