PCN from UKPC, retail parking

Savingallmymoney

Hi all, I have received a PCN from UKPC as I'm the registered keeper of the car that was alleged to have been parked in a retail park without 'clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket'.

The notice I received is very similar to the UKPC example on the 'pictures of NTK' thread. The wording is the same but the layout slightly different, so it would appear to be POFA compliant.

The alleged breach of terms and conditions happened on 12/9/24, letter dated 14/9/24 and only received in the post on 20/9/24.

The driver paid for the amount of time parked and has a bank statement to prove a ticket was purchased, although they can't find the actual ticket right now. They visited the gym at the retail park and then did some shopping too.

As RK, I have just made a complaint to the gym in question: 

"I am unhappy to report that I received a parking charge notice in the post from UKPC who say the driver breached their terms and conditions. I am the registered keeper of the vehicle and the driver was using your gym at the time. They did purchase a ticket and can prove this with a bank statement. The incident happened on 12/09/24 and the letter was received on 20/09/2024. This makes the driver and I very unlikely to want to use the gym in future if parking charge notices are dished out even though a ticket was purchased and I thought it worth pointing out that your gym may lose business if other people are being treated the same way. Please take this matter up with UKPC as I can't see that your business would find it acceptable to lose revenue through ridiculous parking charges. Use my vehicle reg (XXXXX) and UKPC reference number (XXXXX) as an example of  why you may be losing memberships. If UKPC won't drop the matter then the driver of the vehicle will be forced to move to a different gym that doesn't have a company farming the car park for extortionate charges."

I can't see that the generic template appeal in the newbies thread will do anything in this case. Is that correct? The pictures on the paycharge.co.uk website do show a lack of ticket displayed on the dashboard of the car, so it must have blown elsewhere in the car with doors being opened/closed.

Should I, as the RK, bother to try an appeal or just pay the charge? Fingers crossed I won't need to do that if the gym have a positive attitude towards complaints about the parking situation.

Hopefully someone more experienced in these matters will be able to guide me :-)

Fruitcake

That's a good complaint letter. Have you complained to your MP as well? You should, and ask them to forward it to the MP of the area where the alleged event took place. They should be warned that business will be losing money in their constituency as a result of this sort of behaviour by the unregulated private parking industry.
Also ask you MP when the Parking Bill approved in 2019 will become active, as the previous government dragged their feet over an issue that affects 12 million people a year. 

If Plan A fails, then you should appeal using the template, then appeal again at the PoPLA stage. Note that UKPC signs are always inadequate and incapable of forming a contract with a motorist because the font is too small to be readable from a car length away.

Savingallmymoney

Fantastic, I'll see what I can do re complaints.

Coupon-mad

Show the proof and appeal with that evidence.  Don't use the template, just do it in your own words (as driver, given it's a POFA PCN) and prove payment was made. UKPC often offer to settle at £15 or £20, especially if you also say you have formally complained to the gym and will boycott it if UKPC fail to back down.

P.S. Keep some Blutack jn your glovebox!  Don't ever leave a piece of flimsy paper that could cost you £100 lying loose on your dash. This what Blutack is for...

Savingallmymoney

Sounds like a plan, thanks for the advice!