Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hilarious. Easy one to defeat... as long as the unknown drivers identity is not revealed. There is no legal obligation on the known keeper (the recipient of the Notice to Keeper (NtK)) to reveal the identity of the unknown driver and no inference or assumptions can be made.

The NtK is not compliant with all the requirements of PoFA which means that if the unknown driver is not identified, they cannot transfer liability for the charge from the unknown driver to the known keeper.

Use the following as your appeal. No need to embellish or remove anything from it:

I am the keeper of the vehicle and I dispute your 'parking charge'. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner.

As your Notice to Keeper (NtK) does not fully comply with ALL the requirements of PoFA 2012, you are unable to hold the keeper of the vehicle liable for the charge. Partial or even substantial compliance is not sufficient. There will be no admission as to who was driving and no inference or assumptions can be drawn. UPE has relied on contract law allegations of breach against the driver only.

The registered keeper cannot be presumed or inferred to have been the driver, nor pursued under some twisted interpretation of the law of agency. Your NtK can only hold the driver liable. UPE have no hope at IAS, so you are urged to save us both a complete waste of time and cancel the PCN.

If it were me appealing, I would add the following:

If you are unsure about the legal aspects of my appeal, I suggest you pass it to your legal advisers and mention that I refer them to the response given in Arkell v Pressdram (1971).

The Park Dubbo alias Universal Parking Enforcement Ltd has rejected my appeal.

I have copied the letter below. I overwrite the sensitive part with X.
Any advice?

"Dear XX XXXX XXXXXX,
Re: Parking Charge Notice Number xxxxxxxxxxx (Vehicle XXXXXXX)
Site: Preservation House, Airport Way, LU29LF
Issue Date: XX/06/2024
Contravention: Parked on or within a no parking area
Further to your letter of appeal received on XX/12/2024 regarding the above parking charge.
We note your comments, however, when this Parking Charge Notice (PCN) was issued this vehicle was in contravention of the
agreed terms and conditions for all users of this site.
Your appeal has been reviewed and the Patrol Officers photographs and bodycam footage have all been taken into account
(where necessary).
On XX/06/2024 the vehicle was witnessed parked at Preservation House, Airport Way, LU29LF. This is private land and is subject
to a parking management scheme which has been put in place by the operator at the landowner’s request. Signs are installed in
clear and prominent positions around the land.
I have read and considered all the points in your appeal and below are my findings and decision following the evidence provided.
The vehicle was parked on the land which is private land where parking is not allowed at any time. Signs are located around the
area, and it is the responsibility of the driver, to survey the area ensuring they are not parked on private property and in
contravention of any parking terms and conditions. There are also 2 large billboard signs on either side of the entrance stating “no
parking 24 hour access required” as well as smaller signs covering the whole area stating “Private Land, no parking allowed at any
time.”
This area is not permitted for drop-offs, pick-ups, loading/unloading and is also not a temporary stopping/parking area. The area is
also marked with both double yellow and red lines indicating a no stopping and no parking zones. This includes drivers that are
blue badge holders.
The parking charge was issued as the vehicle was captured parked on private land and in breach of the parking terms and
conditions. The photographic images are evidence of the vehicle being parked on the land which is sufficient to validate this
parking charge.
While I sympathise and appreciate this may not be the outcome you were expecting, you have now reached the end of the internal
appeal process.
It is the responsibility of the driver and not a third party to seek, read, and comply with the terms and conditions of parking that are
in place. By parking on the property in breach of these terms and conditions, you agree that the charge detailed on the signs will
be paid.
We are therefore unable to cancel the PCN as it was issued correctly and you are required to make a payment of £100.00 if paid
by XX/04/2025 after which date your case may attract additional charges and be passed to a Debt Recovery Company to start
debt recovery proceedings, such cases may be subject to any other additional costs incurred in obtaining settlement, so in order
to avoid debt recovery proceedings and incurring additional costs please pay by the due date.
Payments can be made online by Debit or Credit Card at www.parkdubbo.com via 'View Your PCN' then 'Make a Payment' or by
bank transfer by using your PCN number as the Reference to Bank Name: Metro Bank, Account Name: Universal Parking
Enforcement Ltd, Sord Code:23-05-80, Account Number: 44992515, by post with cheque or postal order made payable to

Universal Parking Enforcement Ltd, 960 Capability Green, Luton, England, LU13PE. If you are experiencing difficulty making
payment please email mail@universalparking.co.uk with your details and a member of the team will respond to you.
You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure. If you still feel there is a legal or technical reason that we have
not dealt with, and not a mitigating circumstance, there is an Independent Appeals Service (IAS) to which you are entitled to appeal
but please be aware that if your independent appeal is unsuccessful the reduced rate of £60 will no longer be applicable to you and
you will be required to pay the full £100 within 14 days of the IAS decision to avoid further costs being added. The IAS will not
consider any appeals if the payment is made. In order to appeal, you will need your PCN number, your vehicle registration and the
date the charge was originally issued. Appeals must be submitted to the IAS within 21 days of the date of this letter. The IAS
provides an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme for disputes of this type. As you have complied with our internal appeals
procedure you may use, and we will engage with, the IAS Standard Appeals Service providing you lodge an appeal within 21 days
of this rejection letter. Please visit the Independent Appeals Service (theias.org) for full details.
Yours sincerely,
Appeals Team"

Not to worry. They can never enforce the charge against the Keeper and they have no idea who the driver is.

Did you add this bit to the appeal as I suggested:

If you are unsure about the legal aspects of my appeal, I suggest you pass it to your legal advisers and mention that I refer them to the response given in Arkell v Pressdram (1971).

If not, I suggest you send them a response to their appeal rejection with the above quote.

Personally, I would not bother with an IAS appeal. They are useless and a waste of time. When you receive any debt recovery letters, you can safely ignore them. The debt collectors are powerless to actually do anything except to try and scare the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree into paying out of ignorance and fear. Never, ever communicate with a powerless debt collector.

They may eventually send you a Letter of Claim (LoC) but that is just more of the scare tactics. Show us if you ever receive an LoC. Should they actually issue an N1SDT Claim Form, then that will need responding to but there is no way that thei will ever reach a hearing and the most likely outcome, if they are stupid enough to try and push it that far (unlikely), is that they would discontinue or the claim would be struck out.

There simply is no way they can hold the Keeper liable and the Keeper is under no legal obligation to identify the driver. There is no win for them.

Little WIN TODAY!!!
I tried to appeal the PCN on the IAS website, but the website did not recognise the PCN and/or my number plate, so I contacted Universal Parking about this issue. One week later, they answered, and another week later, the issue was fixed, and then the IAS recognized the PCN and number plate.
Then I used the "IAS appeal template" which is above, and 10 days later, I got the email that:

"Dear XXXXX,
Thank you for your appeal. Due to further information, Universal Parking Enforcement has confirmed they will no longer be pursuing the matter, and the parking charge has been cancelled."

So it was a success.

My question is now: Is it not possible to report this group (Park Dubbo, Universal Parking, and TNC collections) to the Police for scamming people, deceitful blackmailing, or committing a criminal act as a group?

They obviously don't follow the rules as they should. I'm guessing if they're pursuing money from people, they have to pass the PCN details to the IAS, which is probably not happening, I think, but they're still sending emails and letters with harsh notes to people.
By the way, I mentioned the TNC collections because while I was doing email conversations with Universal Parking, once a TNC executive answered my email. So they are one scamming group.

Anyway, thanks to all for your help.
Have a nice day.

You do have grounds to report Universal to the DVLA based on the misuse of DVLA keeper data, which is a serious matter.

Grounds for complaint are:


Therefore, the operator appears to have accessed and used DVLA data under false pretences, i.e., on the basis that they had a lawful reason to pursue the Keeper when they did not. Here’s how to make a DVLA complaint:


The DVLA is required to record, investigate and respond to every complaint about a private parking company. If everyone who encounters a breach took the time to submit a complaint, we might finally see the DVLA take meaningful action—whether that means curtailing or removing KADOE access altogether.

For the text part of the complaint the webform could use the following:

I am submitting a formal complaint against Universal Parking Enforcement Ltd, an IPC AOS member with DVLA KADOE access, for breaching the Private Parking Single Code of Practice (PPSCoP) after obtaining my personal data.

While the Operator may have had reasonable cause at the time of their KADOE request, their subsequent misuse of my data—through conduct that contravenes the PPSCoP—renders that use unlawful. The PPSCoP forms an integral part of the DVLA’s governance framework for data access by private parking firms. Continued access is conditional on compliance.

The DVLA, as data controller, is obliged under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 to investigate and take enforcement action when data is misused following release. This complaint is not about whether the data was obtained lawfully at the outset, but whether its subsequent use breached the terms under which it was provided.

I have prepared a supporting statement setting out the nature of the breach and the Operator’s actions, and I request a full investigation into this matter. I have attached the supporting document.

Please acknowledge receipt and confirm the reference number for this complaint.

Then you could upload the following as a PDF file for the formal complaint itself:

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Complaint to DVLA – Breach of KADOE Contract and PPSCoP

Operator name: Universal Parking Enforcement Ltd
Date of PCN issue: 27 November 2024
Vehicle registration: [INSERT VRM]

I am submitting this complaint to report a misuse of my personal data by [INSERT PPC NAME], who obtained my keeper details from the DVLA under the KADOE (Keeper At Date Of Event) contract.

Although the parking company may have had reasonable cause to request my data initially, the way they have used that data afterwards amounts to unlawful processing. This is because they have acted in breach of the BPA/IPC Private Parking Single Code of Practice (PPSCoP), which is a mandatory requirement for access to DVLA keeper data. The PPSCoP forms part of the framework that regulates how parking companies must behave once they have received keeper data from the DVLA.

The KADOE contract makes clear that keeper data may only be used to pursue an unpaid parking charge in line with the Code of Practice. If a parking company fails to comply with the PPSCoP after receiving DVLA data, their use of that data becomes unlawful, as they are no longer using it for a permitted purpose.

InIn this case, Universal Parking Enforcement Ltd has breached the PPSCoP in the following way:

– They issued a Notice to Keeper dated 27 November 2024 for an alleged contravention on 27 June 2024, i.e. over five months after the event.
– Despite this delay, the NtK purports to hold the registered keeper liable, using language that closely mirrors the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA).
– The NtK fails to clarify that PoFA does not apply, and instead implies that the Keeper will be held liable if driver details are not supplied.
– The operator subsequently pursued the registered keeper as liable under PoFA until the IAS appeal highlighted the lack of compliance, at which point they withdrew their case entirely.

These are not minor or technical breaches. They show a clear disregard for the standards required under the current single Code. As a result, the operator is no longer entitled to use the keeper data they obtained from the DVLA, because the purpose for which it was provided (a fair and lawful pursuit of a charge under the Code) no longer applies.

The DVLA remains the Data Controller for the data it releases under KADOE, and is therefore responsible for ensuring that personal data is not misused by third parties. This includes taking action against AOS operators who breach the conditions under which the data was provided. I am therefore asking the DVLA to investigate this breach and to take appropriate action under the terms of the KADOE contract.

This may include:

• Confirming that a breach has occurred
• Taking enforcement action against the operator
•Suspending or terminating their KADOE access if warranted

I have attached relevant supporting material with this statement. Please confirm receipt and provide a reference for this complaint. I am also happy to provide further information if required.

Name: [INSERT YOUR NAME]
Date: [INSERT DATE]