Parking ticket - not mine

Channel Hopper

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Wife has received a PCN demanding £80 for parking on the other side of the country from a month ago. The letter suggests the parking company has found our detail from the DVLA but has not provided detail (photos, length of stay etc) just the registration number an time/location of the vehicle .

It is going to be impossible for her/us to prove she was anywhere since the car has been parked up at the alleged time and both of us normally walk places from home.

In order to put this to rest without things escalating I'm going to have to retrace steps and look through works paperwork, phone call slips and other stuff to see if I can identify where one, or both of us were, but from the letter there are only two options, confirm she was not driving at the time (which she couldn't have been), or pay the amount. Both are financial outlays.

In the meantime I expect the discounted period will have lapsed as it falls in a few days.

I really want to be able to invoice this 'company' for my/our time and the inconvenience., since in the letter they don't want representations, or proof of ownership since they have already got this from their own search, just the payment by return. How feasible is getting money out of these leeches ?
 

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Have a look on the moneysupermarket.com forums. The info there was very interesting when I got an incorrect pcn from our local Tesco.

ISTR some important advice is dont admit who was driving or they can go after the driver. Just discuss "the registered owner of the vehicle"
 

Analoguesat

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Things in England are different to up here (private parking notification of charges are effectively invalid in Scotland) but in England you mustnt ignore them - a recent court case confirmed their valididty in England..
 

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Have a look on the moneysupermarket.com forums. The info there was very interesting when I got an incorrect pcn from our local Tesco.

ISTR some important advice is dont admit who was driving or they can go after the driver. Just discuss "the registered owner of the vehicle"

The registered owner is of course my wife and the letter confirms they have checked with DVLA in order to send the penalty threat.

There is no description of the vehicle other than the registration number, but since they already have the vehicle profile they would also know the make, model and colour, to match whatever their traffic warden camera shows, otherwise we would not have the correspondence.

Regardless, this is all going to take valuable time and materials so has anyone been successful in getting money out of them ?
 

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When you say the car was parked up I assume that it wasn't on the other side of the country. Before doing any work on trying to place yourselves reply to them that they have made a mistake and it cannot be your car. Ask them for copies of their proof. It'll cost you a little in time and money I'm afraid.

If they fail to come up with the proof, or come up with proof that it ISN'T your wife's car, then perhaps you could ask them for something to make up for your time.
 

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Wife has received a PCN demanding £80 for parking on the other side of the country from a month ago. The letter suggests the parking company has found our detail from the DVLA but has not provided detail (photos, length of stay etc) just the registration number an time/location of the vehicle .
I am of the belief that they have to provide photographic evidence these days, there is no evidence otherwise and it smells of a scam. Going on the website and trying to pay will show whether they have any evidence or not. Bear in mind that challenging and losing could affect your future credit score
 
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rolfw

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Just write back explaining to them that the vehicle has not been anywhere near the location they claim and request their photographic evidence. The reg has probably been cloned by someone.

Sorry, exactly as Paul suggested.:)
 
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Channel Hopper

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Just write back explaining to them that the vehicle has not been anywhere near the location they claim and request their photographic evidence. The reg has probably been cloned by someone.

Sorry, exactly as Paul suggested.:)

As mentioned their process does not ask for an explanation, nor defence from our side.

I have already been to their website as well (just in case - like some council operated money making schemes - they had a section of images relating to the car) and nothing.

If they already have received notification from the DVLA to get our address (and specifically my wife's detail on ownership) I assume they will also have the pertinent vehicle characteristics from the registration, ie make/model/colour. If one or more of these does not match what she drives then I believe I/we are due recompense for even bothering to respond in the first instance.
 

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So the payment section has no box to tick or fill in to say you deny the offence? This sounds like one of the parking companies that I thought had been drive/legislated out of business.

Do you have a link for their site in general so we can take a peek?
 

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I've just spent a merry half-hour looking at what an Internet Search using the phrase "Parking Collection Services Scam" throws up. I strongly suggest you do the same - It will amply reward the time spent.

The consistent thread of advice is Ignore and Do Not Under Any Circumstances Pay Anything.

They will not, nay dare not, ever go to Court.

Do not write to them, do not phone them, do not engage with them in any way at all. Not now, not ever.
 

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Out of the reams of topics and advice, this particular response seems to sum up best:

You have not been given a parking ticket or a fine:
From a legal prospective what you have been given is an "invitation to pay a private invoice".
You are legally within your rights to reject the invitation and keep your money:
What will happen is they will buy your private data from DVLA and send a series of menacing letters threatening to take you to court and then more letters from fake debt collectors and fake solicitors again all threatening to take you to court.
They will not take you to court as legally they have no power to fine you or charge you a penalty.
In short it is a scam of impersonation of officialdom and empty threats.
HOW TO DEAL:
IGNORE everything, ignore all letters, ignore all fake solicitors letters and ignore all fake debt collectors.
They will get fed up and move on to another victim.
IGNORE Means exactly that IGNORE, you do not appeal, there is no appeal it is part of the scam, you do not bite back, do not write or do anything to correspond and they will go away, if they call your telephone, do not confirm any information place the handset down and leave it of the hook for ten minutes .
BE WARNED evidence on these and other forums clearly describes how people who do pay these hoping they go away receive further demands for more money, often several hundreds of pounds.



Just to add, these parking scams rely on giving you something to pull at, they know some people just can not resist trying to be proved right and if you step back calm down you will see that what you are actually standing in is a very cleverly thought out trap designed to get you to take the obvious bait on the floor, they have had thousands of attempts and perfecting the trap and perfecting the bait, so you think you have spotted a flaw, a loop hole, when in fact what you have seen is what they have left out for you to see and by the time you realise you have been hooked you are well in to a dialogue with them.
Knowing that they have a live fish on the hook is 99% of the scam, but if you ignore them they dont know who you are from adam yes they have the keepers details but the driver is responsible and you do not have to correspond and give them any information, for all they know fred blogs details supplied by DVLA could be the local crown court Judge, senior police officer or local bone crunching no neck thug waiting to dish out some instant justice.
 

Channel Hopper

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Understood, and the site's privacy rules are curiously missing from the link (though you have to acknowledge that you have read, and understood them in any communication process you initiate with them).

What annoys me is they are clearly trying it on, and I will pander just as far as proving one way or another that it would have been impossibe for the vehicle to be where they describe.

And I'd still want to send them a bill for my trouble, via the small claims court if needed, which is what this is all about.
 

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Sorry, CH, intrigued and enraged by this scam, I've added somewhat more to my Post #11 which has crossed with your latest.

Bottom line is don't engage with them at all ..... That's exactly what they want you to do.

That probably precludes taking action against them yourself, sadly. But read some of the Search Results and decide.
 

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I would just send them a one liner.....F**K off!
 

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if they are scammers, why not report to police?
 

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What they're doing is probably against civil law but not criminal law. Then the Police wouldn't be interested.
 

Channel Hopper

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Unless the car plates have been cloned of course, though I doubt this.

Nevertheless they have already been notified, both local and the service where the alleged parking violation occurred. More time and effort on my part.

It all adds up.
 
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