Hi. I am new to the forum and subscribed for two reasons. Firstly to share success story and secondly to garner support for either a class action against UKPC or support in efforts to have their activities regulated. I with a friend am in the process of putting together evidence to approach our respective MP's to put forward motions in parliament.
I am sure many subscribers to the forum share the experience of being fined for parking in a residential parking spot WHILST CLEARLY DISPLAYING A VALID PERMIT. This happened twice within the space of about a week much to my utter amazement - the permit was in exactly the same place. It had been placed on the back ledge as I was parked up against a wall. Again, as with many other subscribers, the photographs were strategically taken and the permit was not visible.
I ignored the fines and started to receive the the perfunctory debt collector's letters, each one demanding an increasing payment. I made the rookie mistake of engaging with them and wrote a two page email in response spelling out why UKPC had no case. I am a solicitor and, frankly, UKPC's evidence was shockingly poor and yet it continued to pursue me. I even threatened to sue UKPC for wasting my time.
Eventually, after receiving another set of debt collector's letters, I wrote a two line email back demanding that UKPC either issue proceedings or withdraw its claims.
The claims were promptly withdrawn and the "fines" retracted.
My suggestion to everyone is if a fine has been improperly issued, don't waste time fighting these clowns. Write back to them immediately requesting them to either issue a claim form or withdraw the fines. You will save yourself a lot of stress.
That all said, there is no social, moral or legal justification for UKPC to bully the public into paying fines which have NO LEGAL BASIS. Contractual penalties are NOT enforceable under English law (the so-called "rule against penalties)! The claimant must show either that the penalty is a reasonable pre-estimate of its losses which I am sure UKPC would struggle to do considering it is paid to monitor parking, or prove actual damages.
A number of postings have cited a recent county court judgment where a UKPC claim was thrown out of court based on the rule against penalties. Some of these postings should be treated with caution, because where it can be shown that you were unlawfully parked, it is still open for UKPC to sue you for its actual damages. This could expose you to some not insignificant legal costs. If you were unlawfully parked, consider paying first and appealing later.
I am bitterly angry about the way I was treated and the sense I get from this forum is that there are many others like me. If you have made it this far and wish to participate in fighting back to prevent this type of thing happening to others, then please reply to this posting or send me a message. I am still strongly considering suing UKPC for compensation for the distress and inconvenience its greed and unscupulous behaviour caused. It put severe strain on a very good friendship and wasted the precious little spare time I have.
As I said at the beginning, the options are to use a class action against UKPC and to petition for regulation of private parking agencies.
Thanks for reading.
