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Please help - Vehicle Control Services, Advice needed
Tom Cahill
post Mon, 9 Apr 2018 - 17:19
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Hello all

Please can anyone what to do in this situation and hear me out.

My girlfriend and I currently live together in a flat with secure resident parking looked after by VCS. Lived here for over a year and they sent out new permit disc for 2018 mid December time. I put it in the glove box for safe keeping and forgot to swap it over - obviously an oversight on my part and on 23rd February this year I find a PCN on windscreen for not displaying valid permit. A letter was also sent to girlfriend's home address in Blackpool (as this registered address of vehicle). I decided to appeal and my GF's sister sends me the reference number and I appeal.

They reduce the fine from £100 to £20 which I paid on time.

Then this week GF receives another letter saying the fine hasn't been paid. I rang them up confused and it seems that fine that I appealed and paid was actually for a PCN given on 20th of February (of which we were unaware as the windscreen notice must have been removed by someone else).

As soon as we saw the windscreen notice on 23rd February we immediately put the correct permit on display.

In summary, they gave one PCN on 20th Feb of which we were unaware then gave another one on the 23rd February. Letter from PCN20th arrives in post a week later and reference used to appeal as we assumed it was for PCN23rd of which we were aware. They are asking me for a separate £100 now meaning I will have to pay £120 in total for making one mistake and parking outside my own flat in a very under-subscribed car park. One letter was received notifying us of PCN20 on the 1st March but no other letter arrived making us aware of PCN23rd - basically we should have had 2 separate PCN letters within the same week - we only received one.

Any help would be welcome!
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post Mon, 9 Apr 2018 - 17:19
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Tom Cahill
post Mon, 28 May 2018 - 18:32
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Bump
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ostell
post Mon, 28 May 2018 - 21:36
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Just wait and see what they do next.
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Tom Cahill
post Sun, 3 Jun 2018 - 18:52
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Is it not likely that they will just proceed with the robo-claim though?

Has anyone heard of VCS just backing off any time recently?
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ostell
post Sun, 3 Jun 2018 - 21:54
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They've offered a reduced fee, this would suggest they know they may lose. Se what they do next.
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Tom Cahill
post Sat, 30 Jun 2018 - 12:41
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Ok update. I didn't pay the very kind reduced rate of £20 by the 8th of June so now I have received NOTICE OF INTENDED COURT PROCEEDINGS from VCS themselves.

The letter states that if I don't pay the £100 by the 9th July then they 'may commence legal proceedings' and have cited the ParkingEye Ltd vs Beavis (2015) case to me.

Where should I o from here guys? Please help.
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ostell
post Sat, 30 Jun 2018 - 13:08
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The important word is "May commence". The beavis case is irrelevant here as you have the right to park and beavis was a car park where people were offered 2 hours free parking.

I think sit tight at the moment and wait for the formal "letter before claim". The fact that they have offered reduced rates would indicate that they know they really have not got a case.

This post has been edited by ostell: Sat, 30 Jun 2018 - 13:09
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Eljayjay
post Sat, 30 Jun 2018 - 18:58
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Read post #13 in e-amaha's thread.

You could send a similar letter to the parking company and wait to see what happens.

As you have paid once, the parking company may see you as a soft touch.

Some parking companies indulge on ghost ticketing - produce a ticket, photograph it on the vehicle, then remove the ticket themselves.

This post has been edited by Eljayjay: Sat, 30 Jun 2018 - 23:27
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Tom Cahill
post Tue, 24 Jul 2018 - 22:30
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UPDATE

I have recently received the debt collection company letter demanding £160.

Fed up of it now and thinking of doing a without prejudice offer. What do you all think? Are they likely to proceed with court action with this?
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ostell
post Tue, 24 Jul 2018 - 22:39
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Could just be that VCS know they are not getting anywhere so have passed it off to debt collectors. Just ignore debt collectors, they have no powers except to wirite letter with lots of red text.
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Eljayjay
post Tue, 24 Jul 2018 - 22:45
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Debt collection companies are an irrelevance at this stage because there is no debt, merely a disputed invoice which they call a parking charge notice. So, you can ignore them.

Do not, however, ignore a letter of claim or letter before action - they are the same thing - or a formal claim.

Did you send the letter which I suggested in my post at 19:58 on 30 June?

To the best of my knowledge, so far, not a single parking company has been ready, willing or able to conjure up a proper reply to it.

This post has been edited by Eljayjay: Tue, 24 Jul 2018 - 22:46
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nosferatu1001
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 07:43
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Fed up with debt collectors?
Theyre pointless. They can do NOTHING bar sending letters
Just ignore them. Utterly.
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Tom Cahill
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 08:29
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QUOTE (Eljayjay @ Tue, 24 Jul 2018 - 23:45) *
Debt collection companies are an irrelevance at this stage because there is no debt, merely a disputed invoice which they call a parking charge notice. So, you can ignore them.

Do not, however, ignore a letter of claim or letter before action - they are the same thing - or a formal claim.

Did you send the letter which I suggested in my post at 19:58 on 30 June?

To the best of my knowledge, so far, not a single parking company has been ready, willing or able to conjure up a proper reply to it.


No I didn't. Would you suggest I sent that? Is that letter designed to put them off massively? I.e. looking at convention, has sending such a letter put an end to the claim for people who have sent it? I am a bit confused as to what the letter is asking of the PPC...

QUOTE (nosferatu1001 @ Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 08:43) *
Fed up with debt collectors?
Theyre pointless. They can do NOTHING bar sending letters
Just ignore them. Utterly.


No fed up of the whole issue rather.
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nosferatu1001
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 08:37
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But its just an invoice
Ignore debt collectors
ITs nothing worth getting worried about.

The letter IS designed to show that depspite you appearing to be a soft touch,a s you paid once, you are not. It may have no effect other than to show you have engaged with them and been reasonable, which your research on here would tell you can pay dividends IF they are foolish enough to try court.
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Tom Cahill
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 08:47
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QUOTE (nosferatu1001 @ Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 09:37) *
But its just an invoice
Ignore debt collectors
ITs nothing worth getting worried about.

The letter IS designed to show that depspite you appearing to be a soft touch,a s you paid once, you are not. It may have no effect other than to show you have engaged with them and been reasonable, which your research on here would tell you can pay dividends IF they are foolish enough to try court.


Thanks for your reply.

Is it likely that they receive the letter and then think 'this one isn't worth pursuing' then?
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Eljayjay
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 09:04
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Yes, I agree with nosferatu1001 on this.

If you had sent it earlier to the parking company, it may have had some effect, but once they are on a role, parking companies often do not read the letters which they receive. Instead, they simply follow a process and try to wear their victims down.

It is up to you whether you send the letter to the parking company now. Frankly, however, I think you might ignore everything you receive unless and until you receive a letter of claim/letter before claim - they are the same thing - or a formal claim.

If you do receive a letter of claim/letter before claim, you will then have an opportunity to request documents and information from the parking company. So, a similar letter at that time will be required then. All it really says is "if you think that your parking charge is valid, then convince me by providing the documents and information required by me".

In the meantime, take two actions: keep everything neatly filed in a safe place; and try to get your head around the contents of the letter.
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Redivi
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 09:50
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I agree with Nosferatu and Eljayjay that ignoring for now is best

VCS would probably reply that the account has been passed to the debt collector and that's who you must contact

The debt collector will at best ignore any correspondence
At worst, it will return the account as not collectable, making a Letter Before Claim more likely

As long as the account is "parked" with the debt collector, you're safe from legal action
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Tom Cahill
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 10:03
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QUOTE (Redivi @ Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 10:50) *
I agree with Nosferatu and Eljayjay that ignoring for now is best

VCS would probably reply that the account has been passed to the debt collector and that's who you must contact

The debt collector will at best ignore any correspondence
At worst, it will return the account as not collectable, making a Letter Before Claim more likely

As long as the account is "parked" with the debt collector, you're safe from legal action


By extension then, are you also suggesting it's pointless sending a without prejudice offer to VCS? Would they just say it's out of our hands now?
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Redivi
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 10:35
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What are you planning to offer ?

Why do you want to offer them anything ?
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Tom Cahill
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 11:03
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QUOTE (Redivi @ Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 11:35) *
What are you planning to offer ?

Why do you want to offer them anything ?


£20 which is what they most kindly reduced it to on appeal.

Because I don't like coming back to my flat everyday wondering if I'll have a letter before court action etc and if they do proceed, which seems likely looking at convention, then I will lose time and probably some expenses trying to fight it. So I'm just thinking about whether life is too short...
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ostell
post Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 11:13
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I can quite understand that feeling! You must mark your offer as "Without Prejudice" and say that the offer cannot be construed as an admission of any liability, rather this is an offer to limit potential costs on both side.

This post has been edited by ostell: Wed, 25 Jul 2018 - 11:13
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