Appealed, never received a rejection and now received final notice letter.

Ridiculous123

I have spent quite some time reading the newbies thread and searching across the forum but I've not been able to understand definitively what I should do in my case.

Received a Notice to Keeper 5 days after alleged contravention from UKCPS saying no valid ticket on display. As registered keeper, I appealed online (zatappeal) within 14 days, showing proof of the ticket in question along with photograph of proof of payment from bank statement. I received an auto email back at the time saying they had received it with the ref no and that usually hear back within 28 days. 

Heard nothing and 28 days has passed. I've checked my email regularly including junk and nothing! Their own original letter states "appeal decisions should be provided within 28 days and if unsuccessful they will provide appropriate details to lodge an appeal with IAS." But yet no response received to appeal! 

Since received a final notice letter with demands to pay 130 (up from 60/100 initially). They appear to have completely ignored the fact that an appeal has been lodged and have said that the "charge hasn't been paid despite previous attempts to gain payment". 

Where do I stand now as they clearly haven't followed their own processes? I'm tempted to put a letter of complaint into them which has to be posted to their address but my gut having read everything is saying I shouldn't. What do you knowledgeable people recommend?

Grizebeck

Ignore UKCPS/DRP

Coupon-mad

I agree, you can ignore UKCPS.

Appeal was always a doomed farce anyway.

Always complain to the landowner - but you already know that is PLAN A from reading the NEWBIES thread.  

Ridiculous123

Thanks. I really don't want this to go to court/get CCJ and I know it's unlikely but it's not unheard of. I'd rather head it off early on as I know the threatening letters will impact me mentally and I'm not sure I can cope with that. Is there another way or is the only way to ignore and see what happens?

Yes I've complained to landowner but only done so after reading the thread today (so not at first stage)

Coupon-mad

It doesn't go to court.  UKCPS don't sue.

Even if it did, you risk no CCJ with our advice.

Not_A_Hope

You could also try complaining to their trade association the IPC that UKCPS have not responded to your appeal. They might even give them a light tap on the hand but that would be like them biting one of the scammers hands that are feeding them. If you want it to disappear follow up and chase the landowner / retailer. Otherwise they have up to 6 years to raise a claim.

Have UKCPS actually supplied any evidence of ‘no ticket on display’. Did their operative manage to take an angled photo of your windscreen in such a manner that the ticket you bought was hidden. Or is it a case of a fluttering ticket that might have moved as you exited the car?

Either way don’t pay and keep hold of your evidence. They know their letters upsets or frightens people into paying and they are having another go at shaking the ‘magic money tree’. You are only at debt collector stage and you may find they issue several more ‘final demands’. You can ignore these until you receive a Letter Of / Before Claim at which point you should come back and follow the advice in the Newbies thread.

If they do eventually issue a County Court claim the only way you can get a CCJ is if you ignore it or in the unlikely event you lost the case didn’t pay within 30 days. Meanwhile if you move house you must inform UKCPS of the change. You wouldn’t want a sneaky default CCJ to have to unpick as a result of them using a former address to issue a claim to.

Ridiculous123

Not_A_Hope said:

You could also try complaining to their trade association the IPC that UKCPS have not responded to your appeal. They might even give them a light tap on the hand but that would be like them biting one of the scammers hands that are feeding them. If you want it to disappear follow up and chase the landowner / retailer. Otherwise they have up to 6 years to raise a claim.

Have UKCPS actually supplied any evidence of ‘no ticket on display’. Did their operative manage to take an angled photo of your windscreen in such a manner that the ticket you bought was hidden. Or is it a case of a fluttering ticket that might have moved as you exited the car?

Either way don’t pay and keep hold of your evidence. They know their letters upsets or frightens people into paying and they are having another go at shaking the ‘magic money tree’. You are only at debt collector stage and you may find they issue several more ‘final demands’. You can ignore these until you receive a Letter Of / Before Claim at which point you should come back and follow the advice in the Newbies thread.

If they do eventually issue a County Court claim the only way you can get a CCJ is if you ignore it or in the unlikely event you lost the case didn’t pay within 30 days. Meanwhile if you move house you must inform UKCPS of the change. You wouldn’t want a sneaky default CCJ to have to unpick as a result of them using a former address to issue a claim to.

thank you. This is really useful. There's quite a lot of info to take in when reading through everything and I've read so much I'm not sure any of it is going in anymore. I think a case of fluttering ticket as I can't see the ticket on the pics. But still have the ticket and have proof of payment through bank statements. Hopefully landowner will come up trumps. 

Ridiculous123

So I've literally just had a reply (below) from the landowner...they aren't going to help.....

We do own the car park, but UKCPS run the ticketing contract and we don’t have much say over it.

I think the main issue is that part of the terms & conditions for parking is that there needs to be a ticket ‘clearly displayed’,  if they have a photo of your car with no ticket displayed then they are legally entitled to issue the penalty notice.     This isn’t unusual and is the same for all types of car parks whether they’re private or run by the Council etc.  

 The fact they haven’t responded within the 28 days is another matter though so I would challenge them on that but I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do to intervene in the process.

Coupon-mad

Ignore it like we said.  It's going nowhere.

B789

@Ridiculous123 do not ignore the advice of @Coupon-mad and @Grizebeck above. If they say you will not go to court over this, you can take that advice to the bank.

The only other thing I would advise is to respond to the Landowner's pathetic response reminding them that they are jointly liable for the actions of the agents and should this not be cancelled by them, you will take further action as necessary.

Not_A_Hope

I think a case of fluttering ticket as I can't see the ticket on the pics.

Whether a sneaky angled photo or lack of adhesive of the ticket you will be able to successfully defend this if they are daft enough to issue a claim. Most judges would consider this ‘de minimis’. Meanwhile as @Coupon-mad suggests ignore it for now and get on with your life.