Car Parking charges and false information from Ipserv Ltd

Coupon-mad

Protection of Freedoms Act 2000 

No such law!


I would end it: 

f you do not provide this information within 14 days then I shall be reporting this matter to the Information Commissioner’s office as well as adding it to my complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Cardriver45

Coupon-mad said:

Protection of Freedoms Act 2000 

No such law!


I would end it: 

f you do not provide this information within 14 days then I shall be reporting this matter to the Information Commissioner’s office as well as adding it to my complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Thanks. I don't know why I put that, I meant freedom of information act 2000. I'm getting mixed up with POFA.

1505grandad

"Protection of Freedoms Act"  -  I think you mean Freedom Of Information Act

Cardriver45

Here is the next letter from Trace. I'm going to take this to the local press as well because I think the public deserves to know about the dubious practices by a Borough Council owned company and their agent. Will that affect my LBC against Ipserv if I do it now and should I wait until after that, please?

Coupon-mad

Dear Trace 'sympathetic team'

You are not the creditor so you can't instruct solicitors about an alleged debt that isn't yours  Stop misleading the public about your ability to conduct litigation.

Nor do you have a supervising solicitor or a 'Legal Department' so cease and desist.

Take note: no sending your pseudo 'Trace Legal Department' alternative headed notepaper threatogram, conspicuously unsigned by an anonymous 'Litigation Manager'.

Did you know that Wonga were referred to the MET Police for similar impersonation of authority?  Oh yes, of course you do, because the BPA asked you about this only last month and you told their Head of AOS: 'There's nothing to see here. We are not doing anything illegal' (paraphrasing).

So the BPA pulled up the carpet, swept your dirt underneath and refused to investigate.  How convenient for you. 

Pass the case back to Ipserv and stop harassing me.  You do not have a 'sympathetic call centre team'.  No unregulated 'PCN DCA' does and you advertise openly that you operate at no cost to the parking industry, so they will not be able to claim a loss of seventy quid for your free of charge harassment phase.

The alleged debt is disputed so you must stop 'work' on it and pass it back to the actual alleged creditor.

This case will be referred to the national press now and your Wonga-esque letter chain exposed to more scrutiny than the BPA were prepared to offer.

yours faithfully,

Cardriver45

Here is my draft email for the local press

Dear Sir/Madam

I am contacting you about the dubious practices of Ipswich Borough council-owned parking company Ipserv Limited. Ipserv are a private company whose debts and pensions are fully underwritten by the council. Several of Ipserv's directors are also board members of the Borough council including the chief executive.

You can see the full story and thread by going to this Money Saving Expert forum Link here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6283452/car-parking-charges-and-false-information-from-ipserv-ltd/p1

I first received contact from Ipserv after receiving as keeper 2 Notice to Keeper letters.

They provided incorrect information on dates of the parking contraventions after I appealed, which made the Notice to Keepers sent to me appear as if they met the time limit for NTKs to be sent to the keeper as stipulated by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, when one clearly did not.

Ipserv canceled one charge but refused to cancel the other.

They have passed the debt onto Trace Debt Recovery Limited. This company falsely claims not only in the letters sent to me but many others too that if I am taken to court I will receive a CCJ. This is untrue as I would only receive a CCJ in the event that the judge ruled in the claimant's favor and the defendant refused to pay within 30 days.

Trace Debt also threaten to instruct solicitors which as they are not the creditors, they are not entitled to do. They send a Trace Legal department headed letter even though no such department exists signed by litigation manager with no name.

This is clearly an illegal attempt to intimidate motorists in an attempt to frighten them into paying.

Trace have added an illegal £60 charge even though they openly advertise that they operate at a no fee cost to the parking company.

I believe that the public deserves to know, at a time when parking companies are facing government scrutiny, about these shameful practices by a Borough Council company and their agents designed to intimidate potentially vulnerable members of the public and that taxpayer money is being used to underwrite the debts of a private parking company.

I have attached the reply letter I will be sending to Trace Debt Recovery for your information.

Yours Faithfully

KeithP

Cardriver45 said:

Several of Ipserv's directors are also board members of the Borough council including the chief executive.

I'm not suggesting that it becomes part of your letter, but it might be interesting to note that of the five Directors of Ipserv Ltd...
three are officers of Ipswich Borough Council, being...
The Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer,
The Head of Culture and the Environment, and
The Human Resources Operations Manager.

The other two directors of Ipserv Ltd are both Labour Councillors.

pustit

4th para.  They have passed the "alleged" debt.  might be better

Le_Kirk

Is the £60 illegal or might it just be unlawful?  Certainly it is morally reprehensible but I am not sure you will find anything that states it is illegal.

Cardriver45

Le_Kirk said:

Is the £60 illegal or might it just be unlawful?  Certainly it is morally reprehensible but I am not sure you will find anything that states it is illegal.

Thanks. I never knew there was a difference between unlawful and illegal.

Just goes to show how careful I have to be when it comes to legal jargon.