VCS Fine in Scotland

DarkBlueBlood

Hi folks

Apologies if I can find answers to my specific case elsewhere. I've had a read through the newbies thread which has got some really good information.

Just as a background to my case, I received a parking ticket through the post from VCS (Excel perhaps) from the offence at the end of October. £100, reduced to £60 if paid quickly. Unfortunately I kind of panicked and immediately appealed rather than reading threads, google etc and the appeal was dismissed. I think in the appeal I may have said something that landed me in it as the driver too, but would need to confirm that. On receipt of the dismissed appeal letter, I asked for particular reference numbers to take my appeal further, but instead in the middle of December I got another letter emailed to say that the deadline for £60 had been extended for 14 days, after which it was £100 within the stated time (there was no stated time). I again contacted them asking for reference numbers and a clarification of the stated time and have heard nothing back. The £60 deadline passed on the 28th December and I've heard nothing since.

Yesterday I received a letter from a solicitors with a payment demand of £160 (extra £60 for debt recovery fee). Our clients advise they've had no contact from you etc and we have been instructed to raise sheriff court proceedings if payment isn't made in 7 days.

Again I panicked, and emailed the solicitors on the email given on the letter explaining my lack of replies from VCS to my requests etc, but have so far heard nothing back.

I guess my question is, what do I do now? From reading various threads on here I now know I probably shouldn't have made contact with either of them, but it's too late for that now. What would be my next steps? See if I get any replies? Contact VCS to ask for details of all correspondence they have? Or just sit tight and ignore things for the moment?

If anyone can help or point me in the right direction of what to do it would be appreciated as I'm aware there may be differences with regards to how things work in Scotland.

Thanks in advance

Ralph-y

If you have outed the driver ......

Plan A complain to the landlord/ land owner /agent , is the easiest way to sort this.

RalphB)

DarkBlueBlood

Ok, thanks. I'm not sure who the owner is as it was an open air car park at the end of a high street. Where would I find that out?

Fruitcake

Oh no. A vehicle keeper in Scotland cannot (yet) be held liable. 

You will need to look up the Scottish Simple Procedure (Act of Sederunt) because it is completely different to the small claims court system down here. In England and Wales, a real letter before court claim must give 30 days notice, so if it were here it would be obvious that in your case it was a debt collector letter and could be ignored.
I have no idea how long a defendant must be given in Scotland though, although I expect 7 days is still too short for it to be a real LBC.

The good news is that a parking scammer is unlikely to pursue a case for a single PCN as it will cost a lot more than it is worth, and is a lot more complicated to make a claim north of the border.

Umkomaas

Which solicitors are threatening you with the Sheriff Court?  Unless you want to supinely hand your money over, then it's just a question of seeing what they're prepared to do (you can't go to jail for this!) - in my estimation it's just bluff and bluster at a time when times are tough in PPC world (COVID famine -80% in income). There's nothing new in the antics that parking firms will adopt in trying to extract cash. 

Fruitcake

DarkBlueBlood said:

Ok, thanks. I'm not sure who the owner is as it was an open air car park at the end of a high street. Where would I find that out?

Down here we would suggest asking the local council who pays the non-domestic business rates. If it were to go to court then it would be worth paying the Land Registry a few quid to find out.

DarkBlueBlood

Umkomaas said:

Which solicitors are threatening you with the Sheriff Court?  Unless you want to supinely hand your money over, then it's just a question of seeing what they're prepared to do (you can't go to jail for this!) - in my estimation it's just bluff and bluster at a time when times are tough in PPC world (COVID famine -80% in income). There's nothing new in the antics that parking firms will adopt in trying to extract cash. 

It's solicitors in Glasgow that say they are instructed by VCS. Exact words are: 

Our clients advise that they have not received contact from you with regards to payment. In the circumstances, we are instructed to raise sheriff court proceedings to recover the outstanding sum if the payment is not made to us within 7 days of the date of this letter. It may affect your credit rating should decree be granted against you.

We strongly recommend you contact us as our clients regularly litigate these matters.

It then had a link to the Dundee Parking Case, but probably to scare. Also, the date on the letter was the 12th Feb, and it arrived on the 16th - so 3 days.

What would you suggest? Just ignore at the moment?

Fruitcake

Look up the Simple Procedure/Act of Sederunt to see if it gives a defendant 7 days or a different period to respond. If the Scottish Act requires a claimant to give more than seven days, then the scamlicitors are acting as powerless debt crawlers and can be ignored.
If however the Scottish Act requires a claimant to only give seven days, then it is probably a genuine LBC and should be treated as such. Personally I doubt it, but I have never dealt with a claim in the Scottish courts so have no idea what is or is not required.

I suspect the Dundee case was Karl Macky or whatever her name was. She racked up scores of PCNs so was obviously worth the scammers going after. However, she declared herself insolvent and the scammers got not a penny from her as a result. Scaremongering is all it is.

Scottish court claims from parking scammers are so rare that the regulars don't have enough experience to provide anything other than very basic advice.

When the supplementary legislation is introduced to support the Transport Bill (Scotland), Scottish motorists and the courts are in for a big shock because SMPs passed the bill allowing vehicle keepers to become liable. They may have been on holiday, in hospital, or on a gap year the other side of the world, but the Act will make them liable just like our stupid MPs allowed have keepers to be liable down here since 2012.

DarkBlueBlood

Fruitcake said:

Look up the Simple Procedure/Act of Sederunt to see if it gives a defendant 7 days or a different period to respond. If the Scottish Act requires a claimant to give more than seven days, then the scamlicitors are acting as powerless debt crawlers and can be ignored.
If however the Scottish Act requires a claimant to only give seven days, then it is probably a genuine LBC and should be treated as such. Personally I doubt it, but I have never dealt with a claim in the Scottish courts so have no idea what is or is not required.

I suspect the Dundee case was Karl Macky or whatever her name was. She racked up scores of PCNs so was obviously worth the scammers going after. However, she declared herself insolvent and the scammers got not a penny from her as a result. Scaremongering is all it is.

Scottish court claims from parking scammers are so rare that the regulars don't have enough experience to provide anything other than very basic advice.

When the supplementary legislation is introduced to support the Transport Bill (Scotland), Scottish motorists and the courts are in for a big shock because SMPs passed the bill allowing vehicle keepers to become liable. They may have been on holiday, in hospital, or on a gap year the other side of the world, but the Act will make them liable just like our stupid MPs allowed have keepers to be liable down here since 2012.

Yeah it was someone who racked up £20k of fines or something for repeatedly parking in the same spot every day. hardly relevant to a one off ticket and used to scare people. The fact they copied the actual url onto a posted letter, including ?'s and "-"s etc didn't make it look professional but just to scare people into paying.

I've looked up what you said but can't seem to find anything. It all refers to the process in court, which they having reached yet. This is just a solicitors letter threatening court

beamerguy

It's solicitors in Glasgow that say they are instructed by VCS. Exact words are

Solicitors in Glasgow ????   I wonder if they know their client has added a fake £60 and they will have to explain their legal authority to a Sheriff.
I suppose it depends what grade of solicitors they are, meaning will they take such an unreliable case to court and probably be trashed.

Maybe you should explain to the solicitor and ask what the £60 is for ??

nosferatu1001

So did you out the driver? I cant see this confirmed or not