Charge notice '46) stopping in a zone where stopping is prohibited' at Leeds Bradford airport

Anton21

Hi, I’m hoping that someone can give me some advice about what to do.

As the registered owner of my vehicle I’ve been issued with a Charge Notice from VCS  -  ‘46) stopping in a zone where stopping is prohibited’ at Leeds Bradford Airport.

I was not driving – the fully qualified & insured person with me was driving. I have tried to appeal but they won’t accept my appeal because they want to know the name and details of the driver. And so, at this moment, VCS does not know the name or any details of this driver.

VCS has given me until the 18th Oct to either give them the drivers details (and the driver will then be fined I presume) or to pay the fine myself - £60. After that it’s a £100 and threats of debt recovery/court action and extra costs in that order.

This is what happened….

We were dropped off to collect our car (after a one week holiday) by Park2Travel at around 9.20pm in the dark. We did not know that they had disabled all the external automatic lights in the car. I can’t imagine why they would do this. This has never been done before and we have never done it ourselves. We set off from their car park in bright lights and did not realise until we were just outside the area. We were flashed by an oncoming vehicle and quickly realised we had an issue. We pulled aside momentarily to switch all the lights back to automatic and then continued on. It was very dark, there was no traffic, no danger, and we NEVER saw any sign saying we could not momentarily pull over. Our engine never stopped, we NEVER parked, and we were on the road straight away on our 2 hour drive home.

First of all, the whole problem was caused by the Park2Travel people who should NOT have fiddled with our car or should have informed us that they were going to. I have looked at recent reviews of Park2Travel on Trustpilot and I am shocked by some of them.

The reviews for VCS on Trustpilot are dreadful – 99% of reviews give 1* and some of the stories are pretty upsetting and actually a bit frightening in my opinion. 

We booked the parking through Holiday Extras and although they promise to get back to you within 5 days when you send a complaint in to them, they have completely ignored my 3 emails so far.

I have contacted the Airport Customer services and asked about all of this. I managed to get out of them that the ‘no parking’ and ‘no stopping’ signs are NOT illuminated – they are only reflective. Most of my other questions and issues have been totally ignored. It is not clear who owns the land/roads in this area but I am now presuming it is the Airport. I have asked for the email of the head of customer services but so far this has not been forthcoming.

 If you lived in this area you would know these issues about not stopping/parking and avoid them at all costs, but most people are coming to the airport from many miles away like us, and many of the flights are at night from this airport. It seems to me that it’s all designed to catch out those people.

 No one has my corner and I do not know what to do next. I am one of those people who cannot stand unfairness, unjustness and disingenuousness, whether it’s aimed at me or anyone else. I would be very grateful for any advice.

Le_Kirk

Don't, under any circumstances, tell them the name of the driver.  Check out other VCS threads particularly those referring to LBA by using the forum search facility.  Change the drop down box to "Newest" from "Best Match".

UncleThomasCobley

Do not, under any circumstances identify who was driving. You will respond only as the RK. When you say you have a "Charge Notice" from VCS, is it a Parking Charge Notice or a Penalty Charge Notice?

UncleThomasCobley

On "non-relevant" land, such as an airport which is covered by bylaws, the RK cannot be held liable, only the driver and we know that they don't know the identity of the driver.

If it is a Parking CN rather than a Penalty CN, then it is not a "fine". It is just a speculative invoice from an ex-clamper thug, unregulated private parking company.

Anton21

Hello all, thank you very much for responding to my post. 
The charge is a red lettered Charge Notice (CN) and its a Notice to Keeper.
The email response I got from VCS when trying to appeal begins "Please note that responsibility for this Charge lies with the driver of the vehicle at the time the contravention was observed".
They want me to tell them the name and address of the driver who was driving and submit it through their portal - www.myparkingcharge.co.uk.
Do you think that if I tell them nothing then they can do nothing too?

KeithP

Anton21 said:

The email response I got from VCS when trying to appeal begins "Please note that responsibility for this Charge lies with the driver of the vehicle at the time the contravention was observed".
They want me to tell them the name and address of the driver who was driving and submit it through their portal - www.myparkingcharge.co.uk.
Do you think that if I tell them nothing then they can do nothing too?

Don't bother responding to that.
Wait for their appeal refusal.

Anton21

They have already refused my appeal - they only want me to tell them who the driver was or pay the fine by the 18th.
Will they continue pursuing me for money for ever? That's what it feels like! 

KeithP

Anton21 said:

They have already refused my appeal - they only want me to tell them who the driver was or pay the fine by the 18th.
Will they continue pursuing me for money for ever? That's what it feels like! 

They can hound and threaten you with court action for up to six years.
Can you imagine how many people pay up just because they don't like the letters dropping through their letter-box.
Be strong.

And if you move house during that time, you must tell them your new address. Otherwise they will seek a default Judgment against you at your old address.

You have read all the other replies you've received on this thread, haven't you?
It's clear that the message is - DO NOT DISCLOSE THE NAME OF THE DRIVER.

Coupon-mad

Anton21 said:

They have already refused my appeal - they only want me to tell them who the driver was or pay the fine by the 18th.
Will they continue pursuing me for money for ever? That's what it feels like! 

Did they say in this rejection letter that you can now appeal to the IAS?

It's not independent and is widely considered a steaming pile of BS (so say MPs, motoring groups and consumers like us who are in the know).

BUT parking firms pull out in one in 5 cases.

So do an IAS appeal stating three things:

- you were not driving and were only the passenger

- what happened re the car lights emergency (call it an emergency). DO NOT accidentally type 'I pulled over' by mistake. You didn't.  The driver did.  Careful how you word it.

- quote the Airport byelaws that say stopping in an emergency is exempt and provide a link to the Airport byelaws and state the exact paragraph that provides for an emergency being 'reasonable excuse' to stop

Then as soon as you have submitted that, escalate your complaint to the Airport that their ex-wheelclamper agents, VCS are not letting registered keepers appeal yet they are suing them.  This despite keepers not being liable and not having to name the driver.  Even worse, they have rejected the appeal even though the vehicle stopped in an emergency which is covered by byelaw number xx and no charge is payable.

Tell the Airport you will get your MP to write to their Chief Executive if they don't stop VCS from ignoring the byelaws and operating against the emergency stop clause, and if they don't stop trying to force keepers to name the driver, by intimidating keepers (and threatening to sue them despite no lawful liability existing).

FINALLY please post the email or letter here that said you can't appeal and must name the driver (or screenshot it if it's on a webpage).  Cover your data of course. before posting images, and if its an email chain, first cover all names and email addresses including redacting any VCS employee name/email.

I want to show this evidence to the Government.

Anton21

Thanks for the information. I am not able to send pictures or links yet as a Newbie but will sort something out tomorrow. Many thanks to both for your advice. I will not be disclosing the name of the driver anytime in the next century! 

Le_Kirk

You just put hxxps:\\ and the rest of the link and one of the regulars will, after checking the link, post it for you.