VCS privacy notice despite parking with their permission

december2023

I rent an apartment complex parking space in England which is supposedly patrolled by VCS. I say supposedly because whenever I drive home, on a frequent basis I will find some !!!!!! parked in it, undeterred by the sign directly above it saying private.

This happens so frequently that I came to a verbal agreement over the phone with the network control manager at VCS last year that I can park in the adjacent bay because no on rents it. When it happens I ring the 'request a patrol officer' line to give the reg of the vehicle in my space and explain the circumstances. If I checked my phone records I've probably had to call them 50 times over the last two years, and that's with not being at home and staying elsewhere for about 6 months due to a bereavement.

I have tried to solve this for months with the useless letting agency that manage the site and finally, after previously being denied several times, got permission to install a bollard but entirely at my own significant cost. After the events below I've finally snapped and ordered one.

As is constantly the case, when I got home earlier this week I found someone was parked in my bay. Unfortunately the adjacent bay was also occupied by a vehicle without a permit.
As usual, I took photos, and then rang the patrol officer line. The VCS staff member mentioned that he remembered me as I’ve spoken to him so many times, I have also had to speak at length in the past with both the aforementioned network control manager and also the regional manager about my space CONSTANTLY being pinched and then the hassle that then leaves me in.

I spoke to the guy at length who eventually listed a number of bays that were not patrolled, I definitely would not get a ticket for parking in one even if I hadn't spoken to him. He told me, he effectively instructed me, on the recorded line to park in a particular numbered bay. He knew my reg from the log and all the recorded past times I've had to call in, he said he’d note it so I wouldn’t get ticketed. I parked in that specific bay, and took photos.

I came down yesterday to move my car to its proper space and found I have been wrongly been given a privacy notice by VCS despite being told to park their by their own staff, on a recorded phone call, and being told by that that it was being noted in the log that my reg should not be ticketed.

Problematically, my vehicle is leased, requesting the registered keepers details from the lease company will incur an administrative charge from them. This is an issue because VCS haven't posted a PCN with an online fee portal but have gone straight to requesting the keepers details, setting in motion of a chain of events where that fee will be charged. I will NOT be paying, I haven't done anything wrong, but looking at the customer reviews of my leasing company, they sometimes automatically pay any charges and then without warning direct debit the customer for the PCN and and the admin charge!?

I emailed VCS with the circumstances yesterday expecting it to all get cancelled immediately. I instead got a template response today saying they can't do anything and I'd need to appeal in accordance with the letter I've received. I haven't had a letter. Any correspondence will go through the leasing company that owns my car, incurring, as previously advised, an administrative fee.

I am about to go away to France for 15 days, what if I miss any letters and then the two week 'response' period times out?

I am currently forced off work at the moment having unfortunately suffered a horrendous traumatic bereavement, I really don’t need this stress right now when I am already utterly knackered. They are making me worse.

Trying to give me a PCN for parking in a bay after instructing me on a recorded line to park in that bay and causing me to probably incur admin costs - do I need to start instructing solicitors?

Coupon-mad

Recorded phone call? You have a recording?

VCS will send a NTK this week to the lease firm (NOT TO YOU) so you need to get in first and tell the lease hire firm not to pay it and simply to transfer liability to you.

DO THAT NOW.

No letter will come to you until you do that.  

december2023

Coupon-mad said:

Recorded phone call? You have a recording?

VCS will send a NTK this week to the lease firm (NOT TO YOU) so you need to get in first and tell the lease hire firm not to pay it and simply to transfer liability to you.

DO THAT NOW.

No letter will come to you until you do that.  

Thanks for your reply.

The automated phone system advises all calls to VCS are recorded. I rang them up earlier after getting the template response in attempt to get hold of either of the managers I've previously dealt with, they advised on the phone that yes, calls are recorded and stored.

In addition, immediately after that phone call, I sent them this in an email earlier -

Please ensure the recorded phone call I had with VCS telling me to park in bay 3 and that my vehicle was noted on the log as not to be ticketed is archived and saved, plus the written log.

In relation to the lease firm, I sent them this email earlier, they have yet to respond.

I was wrongly issued a PCN by a private parking firm called VCS on 20/12 for vehicle reg *******; Without getting into the convoluted details, I had been instructed by one of their staff on a recorded phone call to park in a particular bay after coming home to find mine had been pinched by a third party. This happens so often despite their motto being "protecting your space" that I have probably had to call them 50+ times in 18 months when it's happened, I am on first name terms with the network control manager and the regional manager.

I was assured my vehicle would not be ticketed, the bay I was instructed to park in was not even patrolled by them and that I wouldn't be ticketed even if I hadn't spoken to them, that bay is out of their remit. I came down the next day to find a notice on my windscreen they were going to request the registered keepers details in relation to issuing a PCN. As you know, with [LEASING FIRM] that incurs an administrative fee.

 I understand that you guys sometimes automatically pay any PCNs and then direct debit it, plus the admin charge, from the lease customer.

Please do NOT do this, and please reply with your acknowledgement of this request, it would only complicate matters and force me to have to initiate legal proceedings to recover costs. When you receive correspondence by letter from them, can you instead please email me to let me know the PCN number on the letter so I can initiate their so called appeals process as that is the only way they will acknowledge any correspondence. I am away for much of late December and January, I will probably miss any written letters in the post, please please please email me.

Coupon-mad

No.

You have to tell the lease firm to transfer liability to you.  So you get sent a Notice.

december2023

Coupon-mad said:

No.

You have to tell the lease firm to transfer liability to you.  So you get sent a Notice.

Follow up email sent specifying that exact terminology, thanks.

december2023

Coupon-mad said:

No.

You have to tell the lease firm to transfer liability to you.  So you get sent a Notice.

I earlier spoke to a very kind lady at the leasing company who shared my disgust at VCS trying to ticket a vehicle in a bay their agent told me to park in and repeatedly said they don't even control, and she later sent me this email -

I have spoken to my senior manager, and we have now put notes on your account, so if any colleague goes into the application we use for motoring offence they will see the notes left for them NOT to pay it.