UKCPS- Final Notice Letter

yktosp

I have been reading the guidance on this site to try to solve my problem but have little legal experience so find it a bit confusing. 

I had received a parking ticket from UKCPS on 11/01 for which I paid £60. It was on my friend's rented property for which he said parking should be fine (he has been at the property for 6 months and regularly has guests park with no issue) and I parked on this property as it was close to my lectures during a busy time in my university schedule. I parked on this property for 2 days before I moved the car and unexpectedly received a second parking ticket for the second day which I am currently trying to dispute. I received both these letters to my home address so opened them some time after they had arrived at the house. I wrote an appeal following the guidance in the forum to try to appeal the second ticket.

In my error, I did not check the progress of this and it turns out my appeal was rejected some time ago and I have now received a rather scary "final notice letter" to my university address asking me to pay £130. Is there anything I can do about this or will I have to pay the fine? 

Thank you for taking the time to read this message, please let me know if you need any more information. 

marko2002

If this was on your friends rented property, then presumably he is allowed to have visitors and as such get him to write them a letter stating you had his permission to park there.   Unless the terms of his rental state otherwise, that should really be the end of it.   Curious, but why did you chose to pay the first one and now not this second one?.   It could also be that a neighbour has witnessed you parking there and not necessarily entering a property close by, therefore assumed you are using the car park against the rules and reported it.   If you hadn't been visiting your friend, but instead parked there with his permission, that would likely be against the terms of his rental agreement.

Thing is, with private parking tickets, it's unlikely they will take you to court, but not impossible, and if they do they will attempt to get their fee's back too so could cost considerably more that what you're being asked to pay now.

If you're able to get your friend to write a letter with his address on it, they may accept that, they may not.   Either way, it's unusual for them to take it to court, but it has happened in the past, and as you have already paid one parking ticket you've more or less admitted your guilt on one occasion, therefore it may prove to be very tempting for them to uphold this second ticket by way of court.

As a final precaution, you should ascertain from your friend the exact rules for "visitors" which he, and all neighbouring properties, should be aware of.   If you are only allowed to park there for a certain time which you exceeded, chances are they would win a case in court if they decided to take it that far.

Coupon-mad

as you have already paid one parking ticket you've more or less admitted your guilt on one occasion,

They haven't.  They were sadly duped into paying a scam PCN to an ex-wheelclamper.  The only harm done is to their wallet, and in funding an operation that no-one should be.

therefore it may prove to be very tempting for them to uphold this second ticket by way of court.

UKCPS won't. They are not litigious and would be easy to beat if they tried.

@yktosp  - just ignore them. Don't even appeal.  Tell them if you move house within 6 years.  Come back if you get a claim (which is why they MUST have your address at all times).  That's it.  

yktosp

Unfortunately, although I parked with my friend's permission, I wasn't visiting him so it may have been against his rental agreement, currently getting him to check this. 

As @Coupon-mad suggested, I was scared into paying the parking ticket for the first day but looked into the matter more for the second day. In my appeal I said that I had mistakenly paid for the first one due to duress put on me by the predatory nature of the notice to keeper. I also made no admission to who was driving and stated that no assumptions could be drawn. 

I am moving house later this year, would I be required to let them know and would this affect anything? 

Coupon-mad

But they don't know if you were visiting him. Just leave that unsaid in any defence (don't lie). Not that UKCPS sue people nowadays, so in fact nothing will happen

I am moving house later this year, would I be required to let them know and would this affect anything?  

Yes and yes - eek of course it matters!  That's why I clearly said "Tell them if you move house within 6 years" (obviously...!). I have no idea why people don't do this and then they wonder why they got a surprise CCJ two or three years down the line.

You've seen the LBC response suggested in post 2 of the NEWBIES thread?  That covers the importance of what to say about erasing the old address.

Umkomaas

UKCPS are unlikely to go further than sending out a few letters to you. They haven't pursued a court case in the past 3 years, despite ample opportunities. I don't see them restarting from that absence with your case. Just ignore them now, but obviously come back on this thread if you receive a Letter Of/Before Claim from solicitors representing them, or a County Court Claim via the Northampton CNBC. Both vanishingly unlikely. Sleep easy. 

yktosp

Hi guys, 

I was receiving a few letters from Trace Debt recovery regarding the case but ignored them as they seemed quite mild, but received the following a few days ago. Any thoughts?

KeithP

yktosp said:

...received the following a few days ago. Any thoughts?

Nothing more than a debt collector's letter.

The fourth post of the NEWBIES thread explains exactly how to deal with debt collector's letters, but to summarise that post - ignore them.

Coupon-mad

Yep. It hasn't been escalated.

yktosp

Hello, just thought I'd post an update, I saw another person that received the same letter from Moorside Legal

Just wondering, on the letter it says to post my response using their template? Do I have to do this, or could I just send an email, and also should there be a specific email I send to? 

I have read the newbies thread and the response template to older LOCs, but wondering if I should include the questions as they seem not as relevant to Moorside?

Thanks

Grizebeck

why do you think they are not relevant