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So i got a parking ticket dated back 15th December 2016. Received a letter on the 17th January 2017 but i was in the Philippines at the time as my father in law had a stroke. I got back from the Philippines on the 27th January 2017 and saw the letter. My friend who was the homeowner at the address that i got fined at, said that he sent an appeal already. I Phoned up UK CPM on the 30th January 2017 and was told that no appeal had been sent and that £60 had already been paid on the ticket (i did not record the call so have no evidence to back this up). At this point in time in my own mind the case was resolved. But then i started to receive letters from Debt Recovery Plus. After a couple of these i phoned up the payment line for my PCN but it was no longer open. So again in my own mind these may have been mistakenly sent to me and i just continued to ignore. In March i phoned up customer service to see why they are sending me letters and got told that no appeal had been sent and no money had been paid on the ticket (again no evidence of any of this). They asked me to email them with proof of payment from myself. I gave them all the details including the dates i was in the Philippines for. I asked where has my £40 gone too. And all they replied with was this:
"Unfortunately, our Parking Charge Notices are either £60.00 or £100.00 and we never accept £40.00 for the full and final settlement.
We can accept another £20.00 for the matter to be closed."
This is probably where i should have just paid the extra £20 and called it a day. But in the back of my mind i was thinking that they will probably lose this money too and keep chasing me for more. So i replied with basically why haven't you tried addressing any of my concerns but in a more passive aggressive way. And they just replied with another "pay us £20 to leave you alone". So they still have not offered me an appeal. And what really really annoyed me was that they did give me the chance to appeal. But sent the letter to the address where i had received the parking ticket. They have been sending me letters for months to my home address and now they have sent my appeal letter to a different one! This letter was sent on the 7th March 2017 and my phone call and email chain with UK CPM began on the 24th March 2017.
On a side note UK CPM has the BPA logo on their website and when asking for their membership number i was informed that they have not been a member since October 2015.
So after getting the correct body (the IPC) to complain to they replied with:
"The operator has confirmed that no £60 payment was made in relation to this charge, and has suggested that during the phone conversation, potentially either the wrong reference number was supplied, or entered into the system, and that would be why this information was given."
Still no information about my £40. The IPC seem to not care much either..... During my complaints UK CPM took this to court. This is where i should have came before submitting my defense i really. My defence is basically that i did not get the chance to appeal and that the company has been very misleading. I also filed a counterclaim asking for my £40 + Fees back (£65 all together).
They replied asking the counter claim be struck out due to it being without Merit pursuant to 3.4(2)(a) Civil Procedure Rules 1998. And claiming of money already paid onto the ticket. But at far as i was aware, the money had not been paid onto the PCN that belongs to me. Also 12 days after i submitted my counterclaim the IPC replied to my second complaint (because in my opinion they did not deal with the first one) stating:
"I can confirm that the £40 payment has been allocated to your Parking Charge Notice.
After further investigation, the operator has been unable to provide proof of postage for the letter of rejection, following the appeal.
They have therefore added the Parking Charge Notice to The IAS website, allowing you the opportunity to appeal further.
You now have 21 days from today's date to lodge your appeal."
That's great. But i have already filed my defense and counterclaim. Now the story has changed. Again this is 12 days after i filed them. I have opened up a 3rd complaint to the IPC because i this appeal means nothing as court proceedings have begun. This is the rules of the Independent Appeals Service here https://www.theias.org/userguide/article/71 .They have also refused mediation and asked that the matter does not go to a hearing and everything is dealt with on paper.
I don't really know what to do now. Am i allowed to change my defense at all? Due to this new information arising (well new to me). If it only goes as far as paper court then all of the costs will stay the same right? So this is pretty much as bad as its going to get i hope. Final question really is do i have a legal right to an appeal or can companies just do whatever the hell they want?
Thanks
"Unfortunately, our Parking Charge Notices are either £60.00 or £100.00 and we never accept £40.00 for the full and final settlement.
We can accept another £20.00 for the matter to be closed."
This is probably where i should have just paid the extra £20 and called it a day. But in the back of my mind i was thinking that they will probably lose this money too and keep chasing me for more. So i replied with basically why haven't you tried addressing any of my concerns but in a more passive aggressive way. And they just replied with another "pay us £20 to leave you alone". So they still have not offered me an appeal. And what really really annoyed me was that they did give me the chance to appeal. But sent the letter to the address where i had received the parking ticket. They have been sending me letters for months to my home address and now they have sent my appeal letter to a different one! This letter was sent on the 7th March 2017 and my phone call and email chain with UK CPM began on the 24th March 2017.
On a side note UK CPM has the BPA logo on their website and when asking for their membership number i was informed that they have not been a member since October 2015.
So after getting the correct body (the IPC) to complain to they replied with:
"The operator has confirmed that no £60 payment was made in relation to this charge, and has suggested that during the phone conversation, potentially either the wrong reference number was supplied, or entered into the system, and that would be why this information was given."
Still no information about my £40. The IPC seem to not care much either..... During my complaints UK CPM took this to court. This is where i should have came before submitting my defense i really. My defence is basically that i did not get the chance to appeal and that the company has been very misleading. I also filed a counterclaim asking for my £40 + Fees back (£65 all together).
They replied asking the counter claim be struck out due to it being without Merit pursuant to 3.4(2)(a) Civil Procedure Rules 1998. And claiming of money already paid onto the ticket. But at far as i was aware, the money had not been paid onto the PCN that belongs to me. Also 12 days after i submitted my counterclaim the IPC replied to my second complaint (because in my opinion they did not deal with the first one) stating:
"I can confirm that the £40 payment has been allocated to your Parking Charge Notice.
After further investigation, the operator has been unable to provide proof of postage for the letter of rejection, following the appeal.
They have therefore added the Parking Charge Notice to The IAS website, allowing you the opportunity to appeal further.
You now have 21 days from today's date to lodge your appeal."
That's great. But i have already filed my defense and counterclaim. Now the story has changed. Again this is 12 days after i filed them. I have opened up a 3rd complaint to the IPC because i this appeal means nothing as court proceedings have begun. This is the rules of the Independent Appeals Service here https://www.theias.org/userguide/article/71 .They have also refused mediation and asked that the matter does not go to a hearing and everything is dealt with on paper.
I don't really know what to do now. Am i allowed to change my defense at all? Due to this new information arising (well new to me). If it only goes as far as paper court then all of the costs will stay the same right? So this is pretty much as bad as its going to get i hope. Final question really is do i have a legal right to an appeal or can companies just do whatever the hell they want?
Thanks
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