Help unfair fine in private car park

Savetheanimals

Can anyone help me please? On 01/02/25 I got a letter from UK Parking Control. They said they had written to me previously (they had not). They said I was parked in the Asda car park on 23/12/24 in a disabled space. They said the expiry date on the badge was not clearly visible. This is a car park which has ANPR and you pay on the way out so they must only have enforcers for the sole reason of targeting disabled people. Everyone pays disabled or not so it isn’t a payment issue and is simply that they say the expiry date was partially obscured. 

My main issue was that this was the first time and only time they had contacted me and they said the fine was £100 plus £70 as I had not replied to them/paid the fine. The picture they included was taken from what appeared to be a squatting down position at the front of the vehicle and showed my registration number but did not show the badges. I am very careful about where I place them as the dashboard slopes and they have slipped in the past but I have never been fined, but on this occasion I had my mum with me and she is also disabled and she put her badges on whilst I got something out of the back and in my hurry I didn’t check. They slip when you slam the door. My main concern was that this was the first I heard from them and in saying they had written previously they massively increased the fine and secondly they provided no evidence. The letter simply contained instructions on how to pay the £170. There was no way to challenge or appeal this or to explain that I had not had any previous correspondence from them. No contact details at all. The letter said that I had 7 days from the date of the letter before they were sending it to debt collectors. I received it on Saturday afternoon and 7 days was up on the Monday. 

I noticed a complaints e mail address at the back of the letter. I e mailed them within the hour and explained that this was the first letter and the fine for this was immoral and incorrect as they gave me no opportunity to pay any smaller amount or to ask for evidence to prove the alleged offence which I explained I was entitled to. I got an auto reply to say they will respond within 28 days and 27 days later they replied and simply said that “ it was too late” as they had already passed it onto debt collectors. They sent 3 pdf files, one contained a photo of the badges with one clearly overlapping the other at the edge. It wasn’t very clear but it would have covered a part of the expiry date. The other two were letters that they allegedly sent to me. I was really surprised that it was not one but two previous letters and I did not receive either of them. The first gave the opportunity to pay a reduced fee of £60 within 2 weeks. The second said the fee was now £100 as I had not paid. Interestingly they didn’t send a copy of the only letter I did actually receive stating it was now £170. If they had sent the first letter it would have given me the opportunity to contact them as it does contain details on appealing. Interestingly if I had parked in the council car park where I normally park the fine would have been £50 reduced to £25 if paid within 2 weeks - a massive difference!

A few days later on 7 March I received 2 letters on the same day from ZZPS the debt collection enforcement agents. One letter dated 12 February and the second dated 28 February. The first one basically told me to pay the £170 or they would take me to court. The second was a red threatening letter giving me a final chance to pay. The letter said they want to resolve this so believing this to be true I phoned. Prior to explaining the facts I said I wanted to know why I had received 2 letters from them dated 16 days apart on the same day. Her response was that they had probably been sent out at the same time and that this does sometimes happen!! I think they are in league with the lying car park company and are simply trying to scam people out of more money. 

I asked if it was worth me explaining the situation to the female and made it clear I wanted to resolve it but would not pay the amount stated. She said yes to explaining which I did only to be told that they will not get involved in disputes and will give me a payment plan which I obviously declined. I told the woman that I would pay the £60 that I had never been given the opportunity to pay but not the rest as none of this was down to any fault on my part. She said that this was not possible as it was outside the time frame for a reduced amount. I did ask if she had actually listened to what I told her!!. 

The car park company could have behaved like humans with a heart and simply asked for a photograph showing the expiry date but I know that they don’t have any compassion and if I had received the first letter I would have asked for the evidence and on seeing the photograph I would have paid the reduced amount of £60. I would never have let it go further as I really cannot afford this amount but in this case I genuinely did not receive anything until 01 February and I really don’t believe they posted out these letters. It’s possible for the post office to lose one letter but not two and I think it is a scam but the issue is what do I do now?

Today 24 March I received a warning notice from GCTT enforcement agents stating that the balance remains unpaid and that UK Parking control intend to pursue it through the courts. This is my word against theirs but given the 2 letters  which they claim they sent I am concerned that a court will not believe me. I do believe it is a deliberate scam as I have seen comments on the internet about these private companies claiming to send out letters which they haven’t to extort more money from you. 
UK parking control, on receiving my complaint and the explanation regarding not receiving any previous letters from them could have stopped the process and given me the opportunity to pay the reduced fee. They did not. 

When they responded to the complaint simply telling me “it was too late” as  they had not heard from me (how could they when I was not given any means of contacting them or appealing, the complaint was my only option to get in touch), they could have taken it back from the debt collection agency and tried to resolve it but they did not. 

I offered to pay the £60 and this would have been what I would have paid had I received the letters. The ZZPS company would not allow this. 

Is there anything I can do? It’s an unfair practice. What they have done is unbelievable (2 letters could not have got lost). The amount for a mistake (a minor infringement is ludicrous. 

I can’t afford to pay this amount let alone court costs and I’m worried that if a court believes them I will have to pay costs as well. 

Any advice is greatly appreciated. 

Also, does anyone know if it would be the small claims court that this would go to? It’s a private supermarket car park. If it is small claims and I lost how much extra might I have to pay. 

PLEASE HELP if you can. This is a lot of money for me and I can’t afford to have to pay more because of such disgusting practices. 

Gr1pr

Unfair or not, they do this daily 

As its at debt collectors letters stage,  IGNORE and wait for an LoC from a legal company like DCB Legal 

Your local civil court is where it may be decided in the end, if you were to lose the typical loss is about £212 with 30 days to pay the legal company,  IN FULL

Coupon-mad

Savetheanimals said:

Can anyone help me please? On 01/02/25 I got a letter from UK Parking Control.

They said they had written to me previously (they had not).

They said I was parked in the Asda car park on 23/12/24 in a disabled space. They said the expiry date on the badge was not clearly visible.

This is a car park which has ANPR and you pay on the way out so they must only have enforcers for the sole reason of targeting disabled people. Everyone pays disabled or not so it isn’t a payment issue and is simply that they say the expiry date was partially obscured.

My main issue was that this was the first time and only time they had contacted me and they said the fine was £100 plus £70 as I had not replied to them/paid the fine.

The picture they included was taken from what appeared to be a squatting down position at the front of the vehicle and showed my registration number but did not show the badges.

I am very careful about where I place them as the dashboard slopes and they have slipped in the past but I have never been fined, but on this occasion I had my mum with me and she is also disabled and she put her badges on whilst I got something out of the back and in my hurry I didn’t check.

They slip when you slam the door.

My main concern was that this was the first I heard from them and in saying they had written previously they massively increased the fine and secondly they provided no evidence.

The letter simply contained instructions on how to pay the £170. There was no way to challenge or appeal this or to explain that I had not had any previous correspondence from them.

No contact details at all. The letter said that I had 7 days from the date of the letter before they were sending it to debt collectors. I received it on Saturday afternoon and 7 days was up on the Monday.

I noticed a complaints e mail address at the back of the letter. I e mailed them within the hour and explained that this was the first letter and the fine for this was immoral and incorrect as they gave me no opportunity to pay any smaller amount or to ask for evidence to prove the alleged offence which I explained I was entitled to.

I got an auto reply to say they will respond within 28 days and 27 days later they replied and simply said that “ it was too late” as they had already passed it onto debt collectors.

They sent 3 pdf files, one contained a photo of the badges with one clearly overlapping the other at the edge. It wasn’t very clear but it would have covered a part of the expiry date.

The other two were letters that they allegedly sent to me. I was really surprised that it was not one but two previous letters and I did not receive either of them.

The first gave the opportunity to pay a reduced fee of £60 within 2 weeks. The second said the fee was now £100 as I had not paid. Interestingly they didn’t send a copy of the only letter I did actually receive stating it was now £170.

If they had sent the first letter it would have given me the opportunity to contact them as it does contain details on appealing.

Interestingly if I had parked in the council car park where I normally park the fine would have been £50 reduced to £25 if paid within 2 weeks - a massive difference!

A few days later on 7 March I received 2 letters on the same day from ZZPS the debt collection enforcement agents. One letter dated 12 February and the second dated 28 February.

The first one basically told me to pay the £170 or they would take me to court. The second was a red threatening letter giving me a final chance to pay. The letter said they want to resolve this so believing this to be true I phoned.

Prior to explaining the facts I said I wanted to know why I had received 2 letters from them dated 16 days apart on the same day. Her response was that they had probably been sent out at the same time and that this does sometimes happen!! I think they are in league with the lying car park company and are simply trying to scam people out of more money.

I asked if it was worth me explaining the situation to the female and made it clear I wanted to resolve it but would not pay the amount stated.

She said yes to explaining which I did only to be told that they will not get involved in disputes and will give me a payment plan which I obviously declined.

I told the woman that I would pay the £60 that I had never been given the opportunity to pay but not the rest as none of this was down to any fault on my part.

She said that this was not possible as it was outside the time frame for a reduced amount. I did ask if she had actually listened to what I told her!!
. 

The car park company could have behaved like humans with a heart and simply asked for a photograph showing the expiry date but I know that they don’t have any compassion and if I had received the first letter I would have asked for the evidence and on seeing the photograph I would have paid the reduced amount of £60.

I would never have let it go further as I really cannot afford this amount but in this case I genuinely did not receive anything until 01 February and I really don’t believe they posted out these letters.

It’s possible for the post office to lose one letter but not two and I think it is a scam but the issue is what do I do now?

Today 24 March I received a warning notice from GCTT enforcement agents stating that the balance remains unpaid and that UK Parking control intend to pursue it through the courts.

 This is my word against theirs but given the 2 letters  which they claim they sent I am concerned that a court will not believe me.

 I do believe it is a deliberate scam as I have seen comments on the internet about these private companies claiming to send out letters which they haven’t to extort more money from you. 

UK parking control, on receiving my complaint and the explanation regarding not receiving any previous letters from them could have stopped the process and given me the opportunity to pay the reduced fee.

They did not. 

When they responded to the complaint simply telling me “it was too late” as  they had not heard from me (how could they when I was not given any means of contacting them or appealing, the complaint was my only option to get in touch), they could have taken it back from the debt collection agency and tried to resolve it but they did not. 

I offered to pay the £60 and this would have been what I would have paid had I received the letters. The ZZPS company would not allow this.

Is there anything I can do? It’s an unfair practice. What they have done is unbelievable (2 letters could not have got lost). The amount for a mistake (a minor infringement is ludicrous.

I can’t afford to pay this amount let alone court costs and I’m worried that if a court believes them I will have to pay costs as well.
 

Any advice is greatly appreciated. 

Also, does anyone know if it would be the small claims court that this would go to? It’s a private supermarket car park. If it is small claims and I lost how much extra might I have to pay. 

PLEASE HELP if you can.

This is a lot of money for me and I can’t afford to have to pay more because of such disgusting practices. 

Why did you ring ZZPS? Now they have your number. Never phone them. Don't react.

Just ignore them. Stop offering to pay £60. UKPC clearly knew you/your mum were a Blue Badge holder and are just chancers.

IGNORE.

You realise GCTT are ZZPS? Same company. Clearly you ignore this rubbish and only come back if you get a claim form.

THAT IS ALL.

Did you miss the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread with the pictures of the £170 letters?

But just to check:

Did the first letters have your correct address on, or your old address?

The picture they included was taken from what appeared to be a squatting down position at the front of the vehicle and showed my registration number but did not show the badges.

Scam innit? You can log in to see all the photos on UKPC's website. No paying!

What happened when you complained to the retailer? Obviously you'd do that first.

Le_Kirk

What did Asda say when you complained to the manager and threatened to take all your, your family's and your friend's business elsewhere?

Savetheanimals

I phoned Asda and got some young brainless customer service person that just said we have a company to deal with parking, contact them. I asked to speak to a manager but was told they are not allowed to put you through. The response to my complaint to UK parking control was that they followed correct procedures and stated some legal procedure (can’t remember what it was off hand). They did not address the facts as I had stated them. They just attached the pdf files with the letters. All addresses on these letters were correct. 

I have read the info on this site about appealing unfair tickets and it’s interesting that in the letter two days ago from GCTT it states that they intend to take me to court but they are giving me one final chance to pay. It then states that it is to allow me to avoid costly legal action which can result in a County Court judgement against me and affect my ability to obtain credit in the future. That I know is rubbish, they cannot affect my credit. They do keep giving me another chance to pay before they take it further. It makes me wonder if it is just a tactic but it is just the worry that they will do it. I can’t afford any extra costs but I do think it’s a scam. I don’t think the post office can lose 2 letters in a fortnight. The letter from GCTT has taken 13 days from the date of the letter to reach me and they gave me 14 days to respond. I just worry that a judge would see that there are two letters from UK Parking Control typed to me and will believe that they sent them. It will be my word against theirs. I went into the car park a few days ago and there were two car park wardens or whatever you call them both hanging around the disabled bays. My friend saw the same thing two days earlier. Asda clearly like to target disabled. They should be ashamed. 

Gr1pr

Ignore anything from debt collectors giving less than 30 days

A lawyer like DCB Legal   ( not the powerless debt collectors  DCBL etc  ) may eventually post a letter headed Letter of Claim,  LoC, giving 30 days notice 

The parking company ( UKPC  ?  ) and their lawyers have 6 years to try a court claim,  so if a LoC or a court claim arrive in the post,  reply in your existing forum thread 

You can and should ignore powerless debt collectors,, like DCBL or GCTT ,  never contact them,  not at all

Trainerman

I would also have another go at the retailer. Phoning customer dis-service is not the way to go. Put it in writing (email) and go straight to Head Office, emphasising how you cannot afford to shop there if their parking operator is going to victimise people for such trivial things.

With that level of "car park management" they should expect to lose custom. Really lay it on, they could yet get it cancelled and morally should do so

rachity

Call me cynical, but a possible reason why the first letter went 'missing'?

F.3 Appeals where the charge should be reduced to £20 for a period of
14 days
In considering appeals parking operators must recognise the below case types as
mitigating circumstances warranting a reduction in the amount of the parking charge to
£20 for 14 days, subject to appropriate evidence being provided. This reduction applies
only for the first parking charge issued to the vehicle for the specific contravention, where
payment is made within 14 days and where no independent appeal is lodged.

e) where a Blue Badge has not been displayed but the holder of the Blue Badge supplies a
copy of the Blue Badge they hold, that would have been valid at the time and in the
circumstances identified in the notice i.e. that the holder was in the vehicle whether or not
as the driver; (This does not include where a motorist has not paid the tariff for parking if
required.)

https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/NEW%20Redesigned%20Documents/sectorsingleCodeofPractice.pdf

(The June 2024 one)

Coupon-mad

Get your MP to write to UKPC and Asda and to the site owners (the retail park site, or the property agents).  Get the MP to put pressure on them to cancel this for you.

No paying, no worrying about what a Judge might think.  We know what a Judge would say.  We've done so many cases like this and you displayed your badge, therefore there was no cause of action and this is harassment of a person with protected characteristics.  That's illegal.