UKPCS and Moorside Legal Help Required!

minijcw13

Hi all,

I wondering if I could grab some advice from you good people. Quick summary I was issued with a PCN for parking in a private car park for a air BnB we were staying in in 06/2022, the car park was key accessed and the flat had an allocated parking space, we hadn't realised until the next day that there was a permit on the kitchen table so as soon as I saw this went and put in on display in our car.

A couple of weeks later I received a PCN from UKCPS for the single night the car was parked without the permit visible, the remaining nights of our stay were not included in their fine. I appealed via IAS explaining the above but the appeal was rejected. This is before I had read any of these forums, this is my first PCN so I thought a genuine appeal would be enough to prove we hadnt parked unlawfully and as the car park was key access and we were parked in the car space for the property, the need for displaying an additional permit had not occurred to us until we saw the pass. Neither myself or my wife saw any clear signage stating a permit had to be displayed, (indeed the evidence photos I have now received of this signage isnt particularly clear). The google map image they have sent showing where all supposed signage was positioned is an outdated map; the image shows venues that had been closed years before we parked there, I cant see how using this image as evidence would be seen as suitable.

Since then I have read all of the articles including the newbies sections, saved all templated and followed the advice of this community. I have received multiple debt collection letters from different agents over the course of the last 3 years (debt recovery plus, trace etc) each time inflating the fee. This has caused a level of stress and anxiety into our lives as we were preparing to welcome our first baby so this was an unwelcome distraction. I wrote the DVLA asking about how my data was shared with these parties without my consent and could they remove ask for my data to be removed from any third parties data banks, to which I received a not too helpful reply stating that the DVLA can share personal data with private companies, such as UKCPS, to aid with the issuing of a PCN. 

More recently for the past year I have had letters from Moorside Legal who sent a Letter of claim in April with a reply form giving me 30 days to respond. I used the template helpfully provided in one of these forums and adapted it to respond. I requested for the following information as advised (*any information in bold italic is information they did not send in the response email): 

1. I request a copy of all previous correspondence relating to this alleged debt including the original Notice to Keeper. This need to also include all photographic evidence you intend to rely upon should this matter pursue to court.

 

2. I request evidence as to who is the owner of the subject key controlled private car park in which the allotted parking space for the Air BnB property is located and contact details to verify your claimed authority to act. 

 

3. Full disclosure of any contract showing your client is authorised to operate on this site.  You will be put to strict proof should this reach court. This should be an unredacted contract between your client and the landowner. 

**they have stated in their email response: "it is unclear why you would need to inspect any agreement bewteen our client and the landowner as you are not party to that agreement, not could it aid yout dispute or any potential defence"

 

4. I request photos of all signage on relevant site time and date stamped for the date in question.

 

5. I request all evidence held by you regarding the above mentioned PCN.

 

6. I would like confirmation as to whether you are pursuing me as the Keeper of the vehicle or the Driver. 

 

7. Copies of all data held on me (the registered keeper). This should include but not limited to, electronic records, written records, phone call recordings and any covert notes that your system may permit you to enter. 

***Note they included a link to their Privacy Policy

8. Detailed explanation on how my data has been managed throughout this process including which other companies it has been shared with and written explanation on how they manage that data. This includes management the various debt management companies UKCPS has threatened me with.

 

9. Documentation showing any authority UKCPS have to instruct Moorside Legal to issue a Letter Before Claim. This includes but is not limited to the formal notice of assignment.

I gave them 30 working days to respond with the following caveat: 
Failure to provide such information may result in a complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority about any misconduct.
 
As you will be aware the Pre Action Protocol (for debt) section 5.2 states:
If a debtor requests a document or information, the creditor must
     a) Provide the document or information or
     b) explain why the document is unavailable within 30 days of receipt of the request.

I received no response at all and thought the matter was closed however I received the following email from Moorside...3 months after my request for the above information. The information in italic bold information they have refused to provide. The have said they "will not be addressing any further correspondence related to disputes of the same nature, as we have already provided you with this response" and close the email with request for payment and a threat that failure to respond or payment will face possible court proceedings, with additional costs and fees to be added to balance.

And here we are, I'm not sure what my next step should be, I believe I have three options:

1. Complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority RE Moorside Legals lack of timely communication (over 3 months after the 30 days) and the email is missing 5 out of the 9 pieces requested
2. Email Moorside Legal back and request the missing information to be provided disregarding their statement in the email saying they will not address my original email further
3. Do nothing and wait for what seems to be the inevitable 'letter-before-claim'

Paying this seems so corrupt and wrong and the actions of UKPCS in all of this have caused us anxiety, I can see how many people would just pay whatever charge to not have to go through this what seems like an endless dragged out affair, but as a point of principle I refuse to be bullied and have decided to make a stand, hopefully this has not been foolish of me and would deeply appreciate the help of this community in helping with next steps.

Thank you and sorry for the length

Coupon-mad

Yes - report them.

Please also show us actual valid (data and emails/names redacted) photos or screenshots of their replies, not just copy&paste words here) so I can use them as evidence for the Government. The Public Consultation is open.

I want to prove that these firms are NOT doing the right thing by consumers at pre-action stage and are actively refusing to comply with the PAP. As such, the DRA fee (even if it's supposedly a secondary contract) has no purpose or legitimate interest because people with disputes are being fobbed off.

The killer point is this:

...the DRA makes no money if they do the right thing by consumers, such as considering valid disputes or returning cases to the POC to reissue PCNs.

This is why any DRA fee must be banned outright. Completely banned.

Consumers must not pick up the tab for unwanted third party pre-action involvement: the parking industry must pay for the service.

Better operators would opt not to use third parties and simply do bulk (30 pence!) CRA address traces and issue reminders themselves.

Coupon-mad

As you wasted time on the (clearly non-impartial, by all accounts) IAS which fails consumers and has now thrown your case into the mix for a court claim, please also do your own response to the Government.

If you want to be part of the push to change things in future, it's very important that people like you tell the Government that:

a) you have no faith in POPLA or the IAS and that there must be the SINGLE APPEALS SERVICE that the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 *almost* promised. As long as it is independent and impartial (and only ONE appeals service, not two involved in a race to the bottom) that will give a real option to resolve disputed cases out of court. The IAS failed you. Show the Government the IAS 'decision' in your case and get REALLY ANGRY that an appeals service owned by Will Hurley Ltd is allowed to 'decide' cases for IPC firms (the IPC Trade body being also owned by Will Hurley Ltd). This shouldn't be legal. 

b).  THAT THE ENRICHMENT OF 'DEBT RECOVERY FEES' MUST BE COMPLETELY BANNED. DISPUTED CASES ARE NOT SOLVED BY DEMANDING MORE MONEY, OFFERING A 'PAYMENT PLAN' AND REFUSING TO CONSIDER DISPUTES.

c). Tell them about your experience and the complete and utter waste of court resources caused on a grand scale by these 'debt/ambulance-chasing' solicitors

Responses are invited to the Consultation now:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617396/parking-code-of-practice-consultation-8-weeks-from-11th-july-2025/p1

Do it this month pleeease! We will discuss it on that thread next week if you want ideas.

minijcw13

Thanks for your advice Coupon-mad, I really appreciate it.

So as things stand I have reported Moorside Legal to the SRA with the evidence of my requests and their late email response, don't know if that'll get me anywhere but hopefully it will lead to something where these law firms cant not follow guidelines and operate in this manner going forwards.

Completed the public consultation link on the Government gateway.

Happy to send over redacted emails etc but as a first time poster it is not letting me send these on the forum itself.

I now intend to write to my local MP to let them know about my case and what has been going on emphasizing your three points above.

Do you have any other advice in regards to UKPCS/ Moorside Legal as I feel like I'm just waiting around for a LBC now

Thanks once again for your help 

Coupon-mad

Await the LBC! You could also report that to the SRA if it's the short version that reportedly fails to attach reply forms, gives no 30 day timeline, breaches the PAP and lies about costs:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81578596/#Comment_81578596

minijcw13

Do I bother to reply to the last email to inform moorside legal that I have reported them to the SRA and legal ombudsman or not? 

Thanks