Parking fine

[FarmerPug]

I got a parking fine today, parked in a shopping centre car park, and left the car there between 9am to 1pm in belfast, the signs i read quickly mentioned not parking in two bays or disabled bays, i didnt really understand the rest, but there was no mention of pay and display or any boxes to get a pay and display ticket,
Although the ticket said because i left the car there and didnt go to the shopping centre thats why they put the ticket on the car. To quote what it says on the ticket the reason is "Vehicle owner/driver left site"

Its from UKPC, i can pay on the internet its £54 within 14 days or £90 if you leave it. But are they genuine, i can pay online but my dad thinks its a scam, and some other sites on the internet say the same thing.

I was parked here:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=54.608 ... 1&t=h&z=19

So are these genuine?

[Busman]

How would they know you didn't go in the shops? And you didn't buy anything did you?
But you where there for 4 hours. Perhaps that's how they got you?

[FarmerPug]

I went to class, i parked here because it was a big empty car park, some days i go into the shops to get a subway but today i didnt, and when i parked into the carpark at 8:45 there wasnt too may cars already there, probably why mine stood out to the man giving the tickets.
The thing is the issue time on the ticket says 9:06 am

[Busman]

Ah, so he watched you park and go to college?

[FarmerPug]

He must have.

[lozz]

Hi Fp,

Not sure about Eire,
but over here in england, parking fines are not Enforcable unless its Council based /traffic warden or police ossifer,
Not many people no that and just hand over the Monies,

ipark in disabled bays supermarkets etc, when its Quiet and have been aproached by some chap throwing his weight about, Threats to fine etc
ijust laugh at them theres nothing they can do,

[Doggy]

Can't add anything helpful, I'm afraid, but it's nice to hear from you again, Frank - just wish it was in happier circumstances.

[lozz]

Aquick google:

it seems, UkPC have lost alot of contracts,

one of which was Waterside in Derry

Alot of complaints about them,

They dont look like theyve got Enforcement, but theyre using a Tactic of an outside debt collectors,
id go and see someone from the Citizens Advice Bureau, and see how you stand,

theres plenty about these feckers on Google,

(UKPC is a private company, Not Authority, )


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/sho ... ?t=3985571 Check the forum sticky - you will see the entire UKPC/Roxburghe scam letter chain illustrated there. Just count them down to the end of the scam.

[lozz]

Worth a watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAIcdi9niHA

[gumby6371]

I had a similar thing at a retail park near me.
Got a letter saying I'd over-stayed and had to pay, can't remember how much but it was stupid money and would rise if I didn't pay within 14 days.

I googled it and found they could not enforce it unless they could prove you were the driver and the times etc...
In the UK you have 2 choices;
You can dispute it was you driving you are under no legal obligation to say who was driving.
You can ignore them completely

I recieved 3 letters in total, all very threatening and all for more and more money, filed all of them in the recycling box and haven't heard another word about it for the last year.

Most, if not all of this type of thing is done on an if they pay they pay if they don't there will be others, personally I'd bin the letter.

[lozz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZg7SI7x ... ure=fvwrel

[lozz]

I had a similar thing at a retail park near me.
Got a letter saying I'd over-stayed and had to pay, can't remember how much but it was stupid money and would rise if I didn't pay within 14 days.

I googled it and found they could not enforce it unless they could prove you were the driver and the times etc...
In the UK you have 2 choices;
You can dispute it was you driving you are under no legal obligation to say who was driving.
You can ignore them completely

I recieved 3 letters in total, all very threatening and all for more and more money, filed all of them in the recycling box and haven't heard another word about it for the last year.

Most, if not all of this type of thing is done on an if they pay they pay if they don't there will be others, personally I'd bin the letter.

spot on mate

@ frank tell em iwas using your 406 mate, get em to send me the fine
pm me if you need my address

[scotty73]

While down my nans doing some painting yesterday i caught a bit on the news about UkPC they tried to fine someone for parking for 45 minutes but the bloke still had the ticket and he paid for an hour so he disputed it and they took 106 days to reply to his dispute (three times longer than by law)

Not sure how it ended but i heard the dvla had banned them access to their online database for 3 months around the time it happened.

[ally406]

Without having researched this particular parking enforcement agency, it is normally the case that these guys are private contractors and have no legal power at all. What they have sent you is legally an invoice, not a fine (although they dress it up as such). You have no legal obligation to pay. Only a court can decide that there is a debt to be paid. They must prove who the driver was at the time of the incident, and you have no legal obligation to tell them, and this is where the whole thing falls down. They will send you lots of scary sounding letters with lots of red writing. They will threaten you with "debt collectors" who have no legal power to enter your property, or even be on the premises. The general advice is not to enter into any kind of correspondence whatsoever and just ignore them. They are hoping that you will incriminate yourself by saying something stupid ("I was parked there but only for 10 minutes, this is ridiculous!" etc). After a few months they will get fed up.

[StevieboyTD]

UPSETTING INFORMATION AHEAD

All these comments of "tell them to piss off" and "ignore them, it's a scam and they've got no power" are no longer correct.

On 1st October 2012 private clamping was made illegal, yay. But the downside is that private invoice/tickets can now be persued agained the registered keeper if the driver at the time isn't disclosed or doesn't pay.

I'm still waiting for a test case to go to court to see if there is a loophole or other get out (stuff like a bad contract between the landowner and the parking company, that sortof thing) but so far i've not heard of anything hepful.

Sorry folks, the arseholes have the upper hand for now.