Quelle surprise, standard operating procedure in the rotten parking industry.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/gallagher-retail-car-park-firm-ukpc-sends-threatening-demand-letters-to-pensioner-who-doesn-t-drive-1.778533Gallagher Retail car park firm UKPC sends threatening demand letters to pensioner — who doesn’t driveBy ALAN WILSON, 10 January 2015 9.01am. Updated: 9.02am.
A Fife woman has been left distressed after being threatened with court action by a parking company — despite not being a driver and not having been in the Dundee car park when the ticket was issued.
Bungling parking company UKPC threatened to send in sheriff’s officers to demand money from the pensioner, who is in her eighties, after sending their letters to the wrong address.
Despite the woman’s family contacting UKPC, they continued to send letters demanding payment of £100 for flouting parking regulations and this week a final demand arrived through her letterbox.
The woman’s son decided to take matters into his own hands and traced the car owner, who lives nearby.
Now the 68-year-old St Andrews woman has contacted the firm to try to clear up their error.
Margaret Watson said she was shopping at the Gallagher Retail Park in Dundee in November and did not realise her car did not have a ticket on it.
She said: “I knew nothing about it until the woman’s son called to say his mother was really upset as she had been getting letters demanding payment of a parking fine she knew she wasn’t responsible for.
“The woman’s family had written to UKPC saying she wasn’t responsible but they kept sending the letters. They even went to the police to ask for their help in tracing the car owner but they couldn’t help.
“Eventually the woman’s son got photos from UKPC of the car and he found us and that’s when we realised what had been happening.
“We had only been in the car park for 40 minutes and must have forgotten to put a ticket on. I called UKPC yesterday and told them it was my car and they agreed to take the elderly woman’s details off their computer, which is good.
“But the woman on the phone said they would now be sending me the demands.
“They’re demanding £100 plus another £60 if the sheriff’s officers have to come out, but I pointed out that their letter says I have 35 days to appeal the ticket.
“I said I hadn’t had the chance to appeal but the woman said they had sent out letters informing me of the appeal process — I said ‘Yes, but to the wrong person.’ “But they don’t care, they’ve been badgering her even though her family pointed out their mistake.
“I spoke to her on the telephone and she was very agitated and upset, she’s in her eighties and you can understand why she would be upset about getting these final demands and threats about court action, especially when she couldn’t do anything about it.
“The thought of sheriff officers coming to her door was very distressing for her.”
The Courier asked UKPC: “Are you or have you already taken steps to remove the elderly lady’s details from your system so she doesn’t receive any more final demands for payment of a charge she didn’t incur?
“Are you or will you officially apologise to the elderly lady?
“Will you now be dropping the case altogether or do you intend to pursue the action against Mrs Watson?”
A spokesman for UKPC requested further information in order to fully investigate the matter.
---------------------------------------On a technical note, UKPC Ltd have satisfied the BPA Ltd's rigorous compliance criteria (paid their membership fees) and have set themselves apart as operators at the level of BPA Ltd best practice. The BPA Ltd admits that better regulation is needed for the industry, as do we all.
