VCS issued PCN despite me having a parking permit - next steps?

farmerfurby

Hi all, first time posting here so apologies if any mistakes. I had a look in the pinned NEWBIES thread but still unsure about what to do in my situation as the contravention took place at home.

My husband and I rent from a private housing association which has private parking. Households had to apply for a permit, which we have, and it is visibly displayed in our vehicle. This is a recent housing development (we were in the first batch of residents to move in almost 2 years ago now) and there has always been an issue with parking, in that there simply is not enough bays for the amount of permitted vehicles. This means that if you come home and find all the bays filled, you either a) have to park streets away from the development or b) park around the perimeter of the grassy rectangle in the middle of the car park. The car park is a large rectangle with bays around 3 and a half sides, with this smaller grassy rectangle in the middle. If cars are parked around this grassy area, the road around the car park is still wide enough for cars to get through, so parking here isn’t obstructing anything or anyone. 


Today I’ve received a parking charge notice from VCS, contravention date 09/03 at 07:13 in the morning. A bit of relevant backstory, my husband has diagnosed IBS. The morning of the contravention, he had left the house as usual, got to the end of the road before the dreaded “you need to go to the toilet NOW!” feeling hit, and subsequently about turned and parked the car as quickly as possible so he could run back in to use the loo. In his haste, he parked outwith a bay, on the perimeter of the grassy area, as time was of the essence and it was much quicker than manoeuvring into the bay. He also admittedly just wasn’t thinking about anything other than getting back into our flat and parked the car as quickly as he could.

Lo and behold, the VCS parking officer came along and now we have this parking charge and honestly this entire thing seems disgustingly unfair. We HAVE a permit. We weren’t parked in a bay, yes - but there was a) a genuine medical emergency and b) it isn’t our fault the developer didn’t include enough parking spaces, as a ton of other residents have been caught out despite them too having valid permits.

Husband wants to appeal but frankly I’m worried that I will get taken to court as I’m the registered keeper and it is our fault for not being parked in a bay. Likewise I have read about how predatory this company is and the thought of having to pay £60 when I live here and have a permit boils my blood. Any help would be greatly appreciated and apologies for the length of this post.

fisherjim

I suffered from a similar condition for decades that description is spot on!

Have you read the newbies thread on here yet it's all outlined there.

Exactly what date was the NTK generated they only have 14 days in which to send it to hold the keeper liable so don't tell them who the driver is.

farmerfurby

fisherjim said:

I suffered from a similar condition for decades that description is spot on!

Have you read the newbies thread on here yet it's all outlined there.

Exactly what date was the NTK generated they only have 14 days in which to send it to hold the keeper liable so don't tell them who the driver is.

I did have a read at that thread but I’m not sure if the location being my residence muddies the water so to speak. If this happened at a supermarket I would honestly just ignore the letters.

On the letter it says contravention date: 09/03/2025 and issue date (posted): 19/03/2025. I’ve spotted the parking attendant stick wee letters under people’s windscreen wipers before when he’s caught them out, but we never got one, just this letter today that was addressed to me.

I’m also in Scotland, if that helps as I know things are done differently across the UK!

fisherjim

Brilliant, if you are in Scotland, as long as they don't know who the driver is they are stuffed, ignore them.

Coupon-mad

farmerfurby said:

On the letter it says contravention date: 09/03/2025 and issue date (posted): 19/03/2025. I’ve spotted the parking attendant stick wee letters under people’s windscreen wipers before when he’s caught them out, but we never got one, just this letter today that was addressed to me.

I’m also in Scotland, if that helps as I know things are done differently across the UK!

Oh - SCOTLAND - yes that's different.

You can ignore this completely, but DON'T risk lots of PCNs because VCS may be tempted to use the Simple Procedure if you get lots of charges. One is OK to ignore but not lots.