Thought this would be a slam dunk, requesting advice for UKPC PCN

holiam

Parking Charge Notice Dispute - Request for Guidance

I regret not finding this forum sooner, as it seems I may have diverged from the excellent advice provided here regarding Parking Charge Notices (PCN) issued by UKPC for not parking correctly within the markings of the bay or space at an Edinburgh retail park. 

I would greatly appreciate your guidance on how to proceed, given the following summary of events.  Apologies for the length, but felt it necessary for you to have all the facts in case I mave made any challenge weaker as a result of my actions.

Background

I have obtained both a Subject Access Request (SAR) from UKPC, correspondence from their complaints department and correspondence details between UKPC and Lex Autolease.

Timeline of Events

• 27/04/2024: Parking charge date on PCN
   
• 29/04/2024: UKPC sent Notice to Keeper (NTK) to Lex Autolease
   
• 09/05/2024: Lex responded notifying them of my details and requested transfer of liability
   
• 09/05/2024: Lex send me £10.00 admin charge and notified me of PCN 
   
• 13/05/2024: UKPC sent final reminder to Lex 
   
• 24/05/2024: Lex reiterated previous response and requested removal of their liability
   
• 25/05/2024: Date of PCN received from UKPC - Notice to Hirer (NTH).  Letter states that I have been identified as the hirer of the vehicle.
   
• 13/07/2024: Date of Final Reminder received from UKPC - this time letter states they wrote to me previously explaining that I was the driver of the vehicle (they didn't).  This letter also states that PCN was issued on vehicle windscreen (it wasn't)
   
• 14/07/2024: Viewed Paycharge website to view photographic evidence and it confirms no notice was placed on vehicle - was this perhaps to buy them more time?
• 14/07/2024: Submitted 1st appeal on their appeal website informing them that I was not the driver and that although unable to confirm if my estranged wife was the driver at the time of the incident as I did not know her address or any contact details.  I requested guidance on how to proceed.
   
• 15/07/2024: UKPC respond that I have 7 days to provide her name and address
   
• 15/07/2024: Submitted 2nd appeal repeating pretty much the same information from previous appeal reiterating that I do not have the address or any other contact details.  I also reiterated my previous query requesting they provide guidance on how I should proceed.
   
• 15/07/2024 UKPC responded with an exact duplicate of their last response.  Important to note that I did not receive this email as it was quarantined by my email security software as after probing the embedded links within, had deemed email as suspicious
   
• 06/08/2024: UKPC sent email stating that as they had not received any further information that the appeal had concluded and that parking charged has been issued correctly.  Email also quarantined.
   
• 07/08/2024: Shortly after returning from holiday and under the impression that I had not yet heard back from my request for guidance on how best to proceed - as stated in both prior appeals, I decide to submit a third appeal.  My thinking being if a contact address is the only thing preventing them from processing my appeal, I had managed to find a contact address from when my estranged wife was living in San Jose in 2008 prior to her moving to Scotland.  It was all I had and clearly this was not going to find it's way to her but it did allow the form to be submitted.
   
• 09/08/2024: Email sent to me stating that they had already concluded the appeal and this had been sent to me in previous communications.  Email sent directly to me from different sender address and it was received.
   
• 09/08/2024: Totally fed up by this point so submitted SAR to their DPO and raised formal complaint to their complaints team.  I also provide car insurance certificate stating that my wife was the named driver of the vehicle in question, and I was the named driver of my own car
   
• 28/08/2024: UKPC DPO email to request photo identification, proof of address and a copy of my V5 to prove proof of ownership before they process SAR.  I contacted ICO made them aware, they dated they had no legal basis to request photo ID nor the V5 as you are not the registered keeper.  I reminded them that I had sent my insurance documents which would provide proof of address and ICO confirmed you have no legal basis to request anything else.
   
• 05/09/2024: Received response from Complaints department regurgitating same waffle but ending with my parking charge currently stands at £60.00 despite it being £100 in many previous correspondences.  Also informed if I don't pay within 35 days charge will go up to £100 and matter will be passed to debt recovery where an additional £70.00 will be added.
   
• 06/09/2024: Received SAR details from UKPC DPO.  Details contained emails I did not receive from my 2nd appeal (15/07) and from appeal determination 06/08.
   
• 07/09/2024: I respond to both DPO and Complaints stating that I have provided all the information they requested, I provided evidence of named driver of vehicle, that I had been falsely accused of being the driver of the vehicle and that they incorrected stated the PCN was stuck to the windscreen both in their final reminder.  I also stated that they had failed to disclose all personal details that they held (missing correspondence that I received from Complaints Department).  I end by requesting my write to withdrawn permission for UKPC to contact me by email or telephone and for these details to be erased.  Finaly, as I knew they used embedded webclick tracking in their responses, I asked they share the logs of the two emails that I did not receive
   
• 03/10/2024: Despite my explicit instruction under GDPR to have my email address erased and for all communication to be sent by post, I received email from UKPC complaints showing that there was an IP address linked to the response to my 2nd appeal but no response to the determination on 06/08.  I realise after identifying IP address was located in Netherlands that this was due to my email security software blocking those two emails.

Important note, this email was the first mention of POFA "The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 states that if after 29 days, the Parking Charge has not been paid in full, and the operator does not know both the name and current address of the driver, that they have the right to recover any unpaid part of the Parking Charge from the Registered Keeper." 

Well I am not the registered keeper, but as Lex transferred liability to me then I assume this still stands.  But then after reading your forum, it would appear POFA does not exist in Scotland, and although they have implemented a new transport bill to try and bring Scotland inline with E&W, my understanding is keeper liability is not current enacted.

Personal Circumstances

It's pertinent to note that my wife and I separated in May 2024, after which she returned to Costa Rica. The vehicle lease was in my name as she was not eligible for credit as a non-UK resident. I currently have no contact details except an email address.

Data Protection Concerns

• Multiple GDPR compliance issues identified including not providing IP address details that they store each time you click view response.  IP is classed as personal identifiable information and therefore falls in scope of GDPR SAR.
• Continued email communication after withdrawal of consent
• Questionable handling of personal data

Current Status

• Received debt collection letter on 24/10 from ZZPS (amount increased to £170 as expected)
• Letter contained no date of issue, nor does it contain a date by which debt must be paid before they escalate.
• Thankfully by this stage I had discovered your forum and will clearly be doing nothing with this or any further debt collection letters.

Proposed Actions

1. Contact retail park landowner (All I could find is its owned by BP Pension Fund)

2. Submit formal complaint to ICO regarding GDPR breaches

3. Raise concerns with:

• Local MP
• British Parking Association
• UKAS and ISO.org regarding ISO27001 compliance issues

Request for Guidance

I seek advice on:

1. Most effective approach to resolve this dispute given that all the previous correspondence by me which of course I would have gone about a different route should I have come across the newbies section prior to engaging with UKPC
2. Priority ordering of proposed actions
3. Additional steps that might strengthen my position

Thank you for your consideration of this matter. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

On a plus note, when I spoke with Lex to get copies of the correspondence they received from UKPC and explained the circumstances, as soon as I said I lived in Scotland he said, oh yes in that case I'm refunding your £10.00 fine - ahead of official outcome!  Gave me a glimmer of hope

Regards,

Holiam

Umkomaas

1. Ignore everything from now!  No more correspondence with UKPC. 
2. First, second and third priority - ignore UKPC. 

3. Working on 1 and 2 above, there are no further steps. 

The only reason this is dragging on is because you have been engaging with UKPC. Let it wither. 

Grizebeck

Sorry you really have wasted a lot of work /time there.

Coupon-mad

Yep.  It's in Scotland.  Why do anything?

holiam

Umkomaas said:

1. Ignore everything from now!  No more correspondence with UKPC. 
2. First, second and third priority - ignore UKPC. 

3. Working on 1 and 2 above, there are no further steps. 

The only reason this is dragging on is because you have been engaging with UKPC. Let it wither. 

Thank you for your considered view.  I will no longer engage with UKPC nor will I engage at all with ZZPS.
Is it worth writing to my MP and lodging a complaint with ICO regarding GDPR breaches?  If for no other reason than to give them more admin and raise their profile with ICO so that the more complaints they receive in the future may actually result in ICO serving a fine to UKPC? Perhaps wishful thinking!

holiam

Grizebeck said:

Sorry you really have wasted a lot of work /time there.

I appreciate your point of view, but if valuable learning and excellent feedback from people in the know is a result of some pointless correspondence (not to mention finding this excellent forum) then while I agree to a lot of work / time, I disagree to it being wasted.

It really is a well executed and collaborative forum, and I applaud you all for your dedication in the pursuit to helping those who, like me, really depend on your guidance and support!

Thanks!

holiam

Coupon-mad said:

Yep.  It's in Scotland.  Why do anything?

It really was due to trying to navigate through the recent introduction of the new transport bill in Scotland (which I believe is to bring it into line with E&W, but when researching, I was getting conflicted messaging on whether keeper liability was currently enforceable in Scotland.

But thank you @Coupon-mad for taking the time to respond and in 1 line of text put my mind at ease.

Thank you to everyone who responded and I will continue to check in on this forum as I find some of the posts remarkable for all the wrong reasons

Coupon-mad

Certainly make sure your MP is alerted to the scam and ask him/her whether they think Scotland is ready for the speculative Simple Procedure court claims that will flow from the Scottish Government's mad decision to copy the English 'keeper liability' law that (in E&W) now sees an entire industry built around almost half a million claims per year.

holiam

Wow half a million claims / year - I certainly will raise this with my MP in the hope this will go some way to prevent the madness from spreading northwards! 

Nellymoser

Yes we certainly need to stop the parking cowboys galloping up here convincing our landowners they need parking management.

@holiam please also tell your MP one of the DLUHC 3 proposals was for a PCN cost to be £50 higher in Scotland than in England/Wales.

I'd raised this cost unfairness with my MP. Surprisingly she and the Scottish Transport Minister didn't seem to object to DLUHC higher cost proposal for Scotland. Though I'm not sure she'd even read the Private Parking Code of Practice as she believed Ministers had no control over private companies PCN cost!!

The previous Govt didn't complete the decision making process on PCN cost so now Labour must review and decide. You can view the 2023 proposed options here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/private-parking-code-of-practice-call-for-evidence

holiam

Nellymoser said:

Yes we certainly need to stop the parking cowboys galloping up here convincing our landowners they need parking management.

@holiam please also tell your MP one of the DLUHC 3 proposals was for a PCN cost to be £50 higher in Scotland than in England/Wales.

I'd raised this cost unfairness with my MP. Surprisingly she and the Scottish Transport Minister didn't seem to object to DLUHC higher cost proposal for Scotland. Though I'm not sure she'd even read the Private Parking Code of Practice as she believed Ministers had no control over private companies PCN cost!!

The previous Govt didn't complete the decision making process on PCN cost so now Labour must review and decide. You can view the 2023 proposed options here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/private-parking-code-of-practice-call-for-evidence

Now that I have a new MP (Labour), I will wait and see what response I get - fingers crossed - I also attached the link you shared, so thank you for that.