Charge for stopping in traffic Bristol Airport

Umkomaas

Le_Kirk said:

YankeeBrit said:

What has the fact that there are over 80 signs "advising" drivers not to stop got to do with the price of eggs in China? You could probably use that bit to argue, if it ever got to court, that VCS themselves state that the signs are only "advisory".

Dear VCS, if one of your operatives was standing in the roadway, would you want me to stop or .............

I think there might be too many opting for the £100 ticket! 

Fruitcake

Boudouche1 said:

Here is the redacted text

I reported this misinformation to my MP, John Penrose, about VCS claiming the byelaws are not currently in use and considered obsolete by the airport operator. 

He contacted Bristol Airport Ltd, who are the sub-contractor that manages the airport on behalf of the foreign investment owners, and this is their reply. Apparently, "the operative used incorrect phrasing."

Body of the response from my MP follows: -

21 September 2023 
Dear Mr Fruitcake, Please find below a reply from Bristol Airport in response to the points that I raised on your behalf about bylaws.

They write:

Firstly, our Byelaws are definitely in place and are not obsolete. We have of course contacted our third-party parking enforcement provider who have identified an issue with the wording used in the response to the constituent, which does not align with their usual communication standards. The operative used incorrect phrasing with regards to Byelaws in this particular response. Excel Parking Services have assured us that this wording anomaly is not consistent with the response typically used in other communications.

The processing office manager, Charlotte Binns has requested the reference number or vehicle registration associated with the complaint raised in order to review this case thoroughly. May I ask that your constituent, Mr Fruitcake contacts charlottebinns@excelparking.co.uk direct with further details. We are grateful to Mr Fruitcake for making us aware of the issue and would be grateful if you can pass on our apologies for the error.

I hope it helps – let’s see how their parking contractor responds once you’ve sent the detail they’re requesting – and if it isn’t satisfactory then please feel free to contact me to discuss how to take this forward.

Yours sincerely, John Penrose

MP for Weston-super-Mare


Points to note,

I never said it was my PCN, so assumptions have been made by all parties concerned.
The PPC's response came from Excel, yet the operator at the airport is VCS. 

I have responded to Mr Penrose thanking him for dealing with this, but expressed my concern about my data being shared with Excel, which I said I believe may be a DPA/GDPR breach. I have asked him to respond to the DLUHC about VCS's misleading wording about byelaws, which in my opinion is an attempt to obtain monies by deception, and the sharing of my personal data with Excel.

I will of course use the above information with a copy of the correspondence from my MP in response to the DLUHC's call for evidence.

I will also complain to VCS, Excel, Bristol Airport Ltd, and the IPC about my data being shared without my permission, then follow it up as appropriate with a complaint to the ICO.

I will also send a copy of the letter to the OP. 

By the way, having read VCS's Excel's response, can anyone smell anything farming related, and does anyone know how to remove whitewash?

B789

Ask them "how do bylaws become obsolete?" Then continue to assert that they must be intellectually malnourished if they expect you to believe that they are not liars. 

Point the eejits to this piece of legislation:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/70/part/XI/crossheading/byelaws

Umkomaas

That 'byelaws regarded as obsolete as they refer to the old airport' is the exact same guff they spout about Liverpool John Lennon Airport.  Either they have their templates mixed up, or they are using it as a general fob-off line for any airport where byelaws are challenged, in the hope the motorist conveniently lacks sufficient understanding to enable full exploitation.

Coupon-mad

Nice fightback.  Very very good.

Also ask the Airport and your MP and all & sundry, why VCS (or is it Excel) are pretending that they can lawfully "pursue a keeper on the assumption they were the driver", given the fact that both companies have lost persuasive higher appeal cases on that exact point:

Excel v Smith (judgment by HHJ Smith)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xfx25wgm3nlqkyc/Claim%20No.%20C0DP9C4E%3AM17X062.pdf?dl=0

VCS v Ian Edward (last month by HHJ Gargan:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/w0k19zxzlpf9eumu68u7b/VCS-v-EDWARDS-Transcript.pdf?rlkey=5t2gilebrjx7g0d6jmy32lou4&dl=0

Fruitcake

My opinion is that it is/was deliberate and not a genuine mistake, but I can't prove it. I think it's a standard trick they try to pull in every byelaws case in the hope the motorist doesn't know any better. 

VCS got caught out this time because the OP posted their "incorrect phrasing" on this forum, and I got my MP to look into it. Now he knows, and Bristol Airport Ltd know. Moreover, VCS/Excel now know they have been caught out.
Whether they try it on again at Bristol, or any other airport where they operate remains to be seen.

Any evidence of a previous/future occurrence will be proof it was not a one off by one employee.

Boudouche1

Good morning

 

I have been away from the country for a while, unable to return as I was hold up by a natural disaster. After my return, I faced a non-natural disaster at home in the form of a Letter Before Claim from VCS. I would appreciate your advice on how to proceed with my response.

 

Having read the Newbies thread posted by @Coupon-mad and updated by the MSE forum community, I can see that I do not need to complete the paper Reply form. I have also read the advice on completing the Subject Access Request to VCS. I would be grateful if you could clarify couple of practical issues in relation to SAR:

 

1. I assume that I should send SAR by post, and not by email, to the VCS’s Data Protection Officer. Am I right? The LBC says that VCS do not accept the service of documents by email, but the advice on the Newbies page seems to indicate that sending email is possible (i.e. “write another email”).

 

2. In the SAR, I will ask VCS to provide the following (as per the Newbies post):

 - ALL photos taken
- all letters/emails sent and received, including any appeal correspondence earlier
- all data held, all evidence they will rely on, and a full copy of the PCN, NTK
- and a list of all PCNs outstanding against me and/or this VRN, and remind them that any claim must be for all PCNs, not several separate claims.

Is there something that should be added here, relevant to my specific case? @Umkomaas @B789

 

3. If I ask about all PCNS outstanding against me, will it make my case more difficult? I have another outstanding saga about stopping in Bristol airport in March 2023. Can the facts from that case be used against me? Or can I use the previous case as the evidence of VCS’s vindictive behaviour?

 

4. The Letter Before Claim I received refers to the incident in June 2023, for stopping in traffic. VCS selectively used the still images from the video footage to provide evidence in support of their position, but they did not select the images which show the traffic jam before and after the incident. Can I request VCS to provide these missing images?

 

5. The advice on the Newbies page suggests that I write an email to the VCS solicitors. On the LBC, I cannot see any mention of the solicitors acting on behalf of VCS.

 

6. The advice on the Newbies page suggests that I need to complain to the Landowner. In case of the Incident, this is particularly relevant as I paid for parking in the Multi-Storey Car park at Bristol airport and was stopped in traffic 1 minute away from it (i.e. there was no reason for stopping other than the traffic jam). I have previously emailed Bristol airport but did not receive any response. Shall I try again – turning this into a letter of Complaint? Shall I sue their Contact page, or another address?

 

7. I have not had a chance to follow the advice of @Fruitcake and write to The International Parking Community about VCS’s untrue claim that the airport laws were obsolete, contrary to what the airport operator (Bristol Airport Ltd) said. I will also complain about the sharing of my personal data between VCS and Excel, two different companies. I will appreciate advice on the wording of this letter to the IPC, once I deal with the Letter Before Claim first.

 

Many thanks for your help.

Boudouche1

@Fruitcake, thank you for your help and all investigative work. As I mentioend to you earlier, I have been away - but now back trying to deal ith this nonsense from VCS.

UncleThomasCobley

Which solicitor are VCS using? Show us the PoC in the claim.

Boudouche1

I cannot see the particulars of the claim. Is it the Reference - MR/Lit/VCS.... ? The letter is igned by the Litigation and Debt Department of the VCS