UKPC parking invoice - tesco Faraday retail park,Coatbank Street, Coatbridge. ML5 3SQ scotland

[SURFBOY]

"Originally the store had exit barriers on the car park with Tesco staff manning the booths and you needed a store receipt to exit for free. Since they did away with them the problems have escalated."

 

I wonder why they did away with the exit barriers? That seems like a much fairer system to me !

[Al27]

Don't get the impression I'm defending the store's parking policies, but honestly, what would you do if you were Tesco, or any other store for that matter?

 

What they used to do - have a barrier!

 

I'm not sure what kind of problems you're talking about. Casting my mind back, I've been to the following supermarkets this past year and everything runs like clockwork:

 

Sainsbury's Salford

Morrisons Eccles

Asda Hulme

Asda Trafford Park

Sainsburys Preston

Sainsburys Clitheroe

Tesco Clitheroe

 

The only private parking firms are at Sainsburys in Regent Road (max 3 hours stay - not a problem for anyone) and Morrisons in Eccles. The latter only has a Euro Car Parks man at Christmas and everybody just parks in it to nip into Eccles. Plenty of room for everyone, and nobody abuses the disabled bays. Drop off zones tend to be used by taxis and people using the cash machines.

[crem]

I'm with Buzby on the mayhem theory. There are two large Tesco Extra stores near me, one in Port Glasgow (stand alone, nothing else nearby) and one in Greenock.

 

The Port Glasgow suffers from the "I don't give a sh*t" brigade who block the store entrance, abandon cars in the "loading only" bays, taxis and others park in the disabled spaces and half the car park remains empty. When it rains, which is very frequently in these parts, its even worse.

 

I wonder if this problem is really just a Scottish drivers thing then.

[rickyd]

Perhaps it is....

[JuryMan77]

I think, on the whole , there never were huge supermarket parking problems before the private parking companies took over, then i think the problems were CREATED to give these companies a steady income.

lol. Created how? Are you suggesting the PPC employees drove their own cars, and abused the parking bays, parked in disabled bays, or across two bays etc?

 

The problems will always be there, in every store, in every car park, in some scale or another. Just yesterday I was a large shared carpark in Hatfield (shared by Habitat, Comet and few other large stores) and there was a Porsche parked across two bays - quite intentionally - presumably because he didn't want his doors dinged, and he couldn't be bothered to walk from further away (personally I don't park close to the store but prefer a 30 second extra walk to save my car doors... unless its tipping it down of course).

 

Who can police that EXCEPT a PPC? Was it actually affecting anyone else? Probably not at the time and day I visited, but did he do that every time? You can probably bet on it.

 

Again, not defending the PPC's at all - I'm happy to bait them and their invoices, but there does need to be some kind of "rules" to allow equal, fair parking for all. If it isn't self policing (IE, it's wrong for me to park in the "double" bay next to the Porsche and "accidently" slam open my door into his as punishment) then some external company needs to do it (the policing, not the door slamming )

 

Just dear lord, not the incompetent fools at Euro Car Parks... Please.

[crem]

Again, not defending the PPC's at all - I'm happy to bait them and their invoices, but there does need to be some kind of "rules" to allow equal, fair parking for all.

 

 

As with most things in life, there does not need to be strict rules and (more importantly) punishments levied for trivial "offences". Yes, car parking "rules" are there to help everyone and, in the main, most of us find it reasonable to follow them. Provided 95% of us do this (which I am sure we do) then having a few people not playing by the rules causes very little problem for the rest of us.

 

The only time I have trouble parking at our local shopping centre (or any other car park for that matter) is when the problem is caused by volume of traffic like at Christmas, and I have never felt the need to gripe about a car been over 2 bays when I have another 75 free bays to pick from!

[SURFBOY]

Or how, for example , is someone obtaining a ticket for a 1and a half hour free parking and displaying that ticket upside down , causing anyone any harm? Or someone spending 10 mins longer in the store because they decided to have a bite to eat in the store cafe before doing their shopping?

I suspect these are examples of "parking problems " created to provide parking company with an income!

Edited November 18, 2009 by SURFBOY
-

[the_freedom_trail]

Most Tesco's I know of are in the middle of nowhere. I can't possibly understand why people would wish to park their if they weren't using the store. Come to think of it, I can't imagine why anyone would want to go to a supermarket other than to shop, it's hardly a day out is it?

 

TFT

[Al27]

If people don't get tickets, the PPC's make no money. So they hardly want to 'solve parking problems'.

[the_freedom_trail]

Of course, but I seldom see a Tesco that has a full car park even at peak times. In any case, if it is the case that supermarket car parks are getting to busy I would venture that it is the fault of the supermarket for making the car park too small to cope with the volume of customers rather than because of people abusing the facilities. The only purpose PPC's serve is to catch genuine customers out for very minor errors and I cannot accept that a company as large and savvy as Tesco doesn't see this.

 

What is even more amusing is that recently a car was abandoned at my local ASDA but the people that "manage" the site Town and City are powerless which means that ASDA themselves have to do the leg work to get rid of the vehicle in the one case that their land is being genuinely abused. This means that they now have to go to court and foot the bill. PPC's are purely scaming customers, damaging the reputation of their clients and creaming off the top and landowners/tenants seem to dim to realise this.

 

TFT

[rickyd]

If people don't get tickets, the PPC's make no money. So they hardly want to 'solve parking problems'.

 

The PPCs might not, but I'm at a loss to understand why any retail giant would want to alienate their shoppers deliberately.

 

I can easily see how they felt the need to control the use of their own car parking facilities, which they built and pay rates for, to provide spaces for their shoppers.

 

Out of town parking in retail parks for example shouldn't really be an issue, but an in town car park is another matter.

 

But I totally agree that self funding PPCs are not the way to go as they have a vested interest in issuing tickets wherever they can.

[cross mum]

Hi Can anyone help please.

 

I received a UKPC parking ticket and after sending the first 2 letters to UKPC as advised and receiving at least 3 letters fom debt collectors I have gone into "ignore everything" mode. The Debt collection agency are now telephoning my home. How do they get my number? Any advice on what to do now?

[buzby]

Continue to ignore.

 

On the new pursuit tactic by telephoning you - why not try it yourself? Type your name and address into a search engine, and also 192.com. Did your number show?

 

As to how to dissuade them from calling back, just say you're only the RK and have no idea who the driver was. As you can't be bothered trying to find out, and you have no responsibility to do so - kindly stop calling.

[rickyd]

I agree with buzby - tell them to stop calling you, then ignore them.

 

If they call back, hang up. They'll get bored eventually and stop once they realise they're getting nowhere.

[cross mum]

Many thanks

 

It was a bit worrying at this point.

[lamma]

just say "Hang on please" mute the phone and go watch telly.

[letshelp]

A loud whistle can be very effective;)

regards

[fredjeff]

Hi all, I'm new here.

 

Received a lovely letter this morning off UKPC

 

I part exchanged my car on the 13th of this month & sent off the details to the DVLA.

 

On the 18th the new owner decided to park illegally so I have got the letter asking for payment.

 

Now obviously the DVLA haven't updated the records yet so they think I'm still the registered keeper.

 

Any advice as to what to do next? I didn't park the car there so I shouldn't have to pay it.

[Al27]

You wouldn't have to pay it anyway - it's an unenforceable invoice from a powerless private company.

 

Ignore them. Even if you tell them the old keeper's details, they'll probably just keep harassing you anyway. They're crooks remember.

 

P.S. Nobody has parked 'illegally'.

[buzby]

Worth pointing out that the new owner/keeper hadn't parked 'illegally' - just that UKPC didn't like where he placed his vehicle.

 

Shame you're going to get a few letters, but as A127 nites, ignore it, it won't make any difference to you (or them), they just want money. The RKs address is used simply to send their begging letters, no more no less. They'll not spend another £2 to get the latest details for your VRM, so sit tight, and be thankful you came here for advice first..

[fredjeff]

You wouldn't have to pay it anyway - it's an unenforceable invoice from a powerless private company.

 

Ignore them. Even if you tell them the old keeper's details, they'll probably just keep harassing you anyway. They're crooks remember.

 

P.S. Nobody has parked 'illegally'.

 

Many thanks for the swift response

 

Where you said 'old keeper's details', you meant 'new keeper's details' I assume?

 

So I can keep ignoring these letters & they'll go away eventually? Knowing my luck they'll keep pursuing with it & send baliff's & whatnot to my door.

 

Really don't want that hassle, but I refuse to pay a fine that the new keeper is liable for. Mind you if I've understood your post correctly nobody is liable for it as it's not an offence?

 

Would they pester me more even if I told them the vehicle was sold?

[fredjeff]

Worth pointing out that the new owner/keeper hadn't parked 'illegally' - just that UKPC didn't like where he placed his vehicle.

 

Shame you're going to get a few letters, but as A127 nites, ignore it, it won't make any difference to you (or them), they just want money. The RKs address is used simply to send their begging letters, no more no less. They'll not spend another £2 to get the latest details for your VRM, so sit tight, and be thankful you came here for advice first..

 

Again thanks for the speedy response.

 

So I can just keep ignoring their letters & not a thing will happen you reckon?

 

My wife is gonna go mad at this, she is not the kind that takes these things lightly, she likes to pile in & give it to these companies big time.

 

If I tell her to ignore it, she'll think something bad is going to happen & get in touch with the company & give them some serious verbals

[buzby]

Afraid you miss the point - a bailiff is an officer of the court. They cabbot come to you unless you have lost an action and refuse to pay, and you're certainly nowhere near that.

 

Also the new keepers is not 'liable' either. If you told them the vehicle was sold, they'd STILL poursue you as they do not care, think of them as a dog with a bone, nothing - except payment - will stiop their pursuit. It is, at the end of the day, a beggling letter [problem] and you'll just have to sit it out!

 

NOTHING 'bad' will happen - of all these private tickets issued in the UK, you can count the number of successful court actions on the fingers of one hand. Sadly, people were brought up to respect authority, but it is firms like this who play on it and take folk for mugs. Don;t be a victim, either with your old car OR your new one - there is no obligation to pay, ever. Only council issued tickets are a different ballgame!

[panicos]

Many thanks for the swift response

 

Hi fredjeff

 

I have heard many things about these UKPC ****, and persnoally suffered with them. But I would first try and get the correct date if sale from Swansea if you sent all your detials correct to them then you dont have to worry.

I also understnad when people say unenforceable invoice from a powerless private company. But there is a chance they may send Balifs down, I know its not the best news but I have to be straight as I went through hell with them.

 

Regards Panicos

[crem]

Many thanks for the swift response

 

Hi fredjeff

 

I have heard many things about these UKPC ****, and persnoally suffered with them. But I would first try and get the correct date if sale from Swansea if you sent all your detials correct to them then you dont have to worry.

Why waste your time. You will receive the DVLAs confimation letter soon showing the date of transfer.

 

I also understnad when people say unenforceable invoice from a powerless private company. But there is a chance they may send Balifs down,

 

Really? How? Bailiffs work for the court and are only appointed after the PPC takes you to court (0.001% chance) WINS! (0.00001% chance) AND you refuse to pay in 28 days (NIL CHANCE)

I know its not the best news but I have to be straight as I went through hell with them.

 

Regards Panicos

 

Many people on CAG have ignored them with no difficulty and they go away. Why did you have to go through hell with them?

 

Fredjeff has a cast iron defence if they ever tried court, especially when he turns up with his DVLA confirmation letter to show the judge.