UKCPS PCN at Costa Manvers

peplowww

Good morning all!

I have read the NEWBIE post and whilst some of it makes sense to me, I’m finding it quite difficult to understand and wrap my head around all the information and I’m finding the prospect of fighting this quite daunting. So please forgive me if my post seems rather obvious to most, I’m not very good with overly technical stuff!

I received a PCN from UKCPS for using a car park for too long (around 20 minutes over the 90 minute limit). The shops and venues there, I have since learned, have some sort of tablet inside where you enter your vehicle details for an extended stay. I have met a friend at one of the venues who has already purchased us some coffees and I have met him upstairs without going to the counter where this device is. I would of course have entered my reg if I had gone to the counter and seen it.
my friend had already entered his reg as he bought our drinks prior to my arrival and didn’t mention it to me, as it never occurred to him to.

Around a week later I received this PCN -

I have since been back to the site to see if there is signage, but the signage isn’t prominent at all and I have genuinely missed this -

based on the above is this worth appealing? I guess usually I’m the sort of person who would just pay up through fear of this going further, but this has left a particularly bad taste in my mouth given I was a legitimate user of the business. I don’t have any receipts as my friend was the one who bought the drinks. So apart from providing a friends registration and/or receipt I have nothing to back myself up with. 

I tried to contact the store and they were less than helpful, insisting that the car park doesn’t belong to them and there is nothing they can do to help

Is anyone able to advise me please?? Thanks so much in advance for anyone’s time and assistance!

Gr1pr

No appeal will work, not to ukcps, not to the IAS either !

Plan A is always the best option in these cases, complain about it to Manvers ASAP ( the stores are merely tenants )

peplowww

thank you for the quick reply. Manvers is just the area name, and no matter who I speak to nobody seems to be able to, or be willing to, tell me who owns the land and who the client would be for me to contact 😩 I’ve tried asking costa and the adjacent businesses, they won’t tell tell me, I’ve tried researching online but I can’t find anything other than people posting about being ticketed at this location.

Do you have any advice for this?

ChirpyChicken

Manvers as in wath

James_Poisson

"I have since learned, have some sort of tablet inside where you enter your vehicle details for an extended stay. I have met a friend at one of the venues who has already purchased us some coffees and I have met him upstairs without going to the counter where this device is. I would of course have entered my reg if I had gone to the counter and seen it".

So in effect they have a hidden term in the contract that wasn't communicated to you either on the car park signage or in a prominent position within the business that you were a customer of.

You therefore have ground to challenge the validity of the implied contract from the scammers.

Is this Onyx Retail Park Manvers way you seem to have over redacted the notice to keeper!

peplowww

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81888177#Comment_81888177

yes Manvers in Wath-upon-dearne

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81888214#Comment_81888214

yes that’s correct, I think it falls under waterfront business park

peplowww

so after much digging, the freeholder of the land is Manvers Lake and Dearne Valley Trust. But in speaking to one of their representatives they have several management companies that lease the land from them. I believe the main lease holder of the land, who rents it out to Costa, is going to be Express Park Rotherham Limited however I am unable to find any contact details anywhere for anyone connected to that business. There is a company address listed, but the address also seems to be used by the same directors under several other company names, all of whom simply acquire land and lease to other companies.

Am I just chasing air here? I feel like I’m going around it circles trying to find whoever UKCPS are contracted to

Coupon-mad

I'd just ignore UKCPS & not bust a gut over it.

Ask your friend to send you a photo of the receipt or bank payment on his statement, now while it is easy to find. Keep that safe plus the images of the non prominent signs.

Also go and get images of these tablets in the retailers (not just the one you used, pop in all the outlets and gather damning evidence) to show (a) how hidden they are, not bound to be seen, and (b) that there was an alternative contract not offered on the UKCPS sign. Therefore the '90 minutes max stay' did not apply to you and the only thing you did wrong was not see a hidden keypad/tablet that the UKCPS sign does not even mention as a 'relevant obligation'.

Therefore no relevant contractual term that applied to users of that coffee shop was breached.

Sit tight. It isn't daunting. Tell them if you move house but ignore the 'Trace Debt' £170 threatograms. Do not show us. Those letters are already in the fourth post of the NEWBIES FAQS thread.

Come back when you get the Moorside letters. Search the forum to see those so you feel relaxed about it all.

peplowww

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81888922#Comment_81888922

Got it,

I’m gathering from my research that there’s absolutely zero point in appealing to UKCPS? So just flat out ignore everything until Moorside get in touch with a LoC/LBC, then head back to this thread to update?

I’ve since found some leaseholder details for who owns the Costa so hopefully they can instruct cancellation or inform me who can

Coupon-mad

Yes, zero point in appealing to UKCPS.

peplowww

PCN cancelled following a complaint to SimTrava who own the franchise and lease the land from the Manvers Lake and Dearne Valley Trust.

The area manager for the Dearne Costa owned by Sim Trava confirmed that QFM have the main interest in the land and contract the parking company, but he has contacted UKCPS following my complaint and the charge has been cancelled. He also assured me that moving forward staff within the store will be instructed to proactively advise people attending the store to input their registration into the long stay device.