Free Traffic Legal Advice

TLDR at the bottom.

Hi,

I have rented a city centre apartment complex parking space in England since late 2021 which is supposedly patrolled by VCS. I say supposedly because whenever I drive home, on a frequent basis I will find some tosser parked in it, undeterred by the sign directly above it saying private, do not park.

This happens so frequently that I came to a verbal agreement over the phone with the network control manager at VCS last year that I can park in the adjacent bay because no one rents it. When it happens I ring the VCS 'request a patrol officer' line to give the reg of the vehicle in my space and explain the circumstances. If I checked my phone records I've probably had to call them 50 times over the last two years, and that's with not being at home and staying elsewhere for about 6 months due to a bereavement.

I have tried to solve this for months with the unhelpful letting agency that manage the site and, after previously being denied several times for absurd reasons, finally gotten permission to install a parking bollard but entirely at my own significant materials and installation cost. After the events below I've finally snapped and ordered one.

As is constantly the case, when I got home earlier this week I found someone was parked in my bay. Unfortunately the adjacent bay I can go in instead was also occupied by a vehicle without a permit.

As usual, I took photos, and then rang the patrol officer line. The VCS staff member mentioned that he remembered me as I’ve had to speak to him so many times over the last two years, I have also had to speak at length in the past with both the aforementioned network control manager and also the regional manager about my space CONSTANTLY being pinched and then the hassle that then leaves me in when I get home from work in the early hours after a 16 hour day.

I spoke to the guy, on a recorded phone line, at length who eventually listed a number of bays that were not patrolled. He then instructed me, several times, to instead park in a specific bay overnight because I now had their permission and better yet because they don't even actually patrol that one, anyone could park there and not get a ticket even without the prior approval I was given. He remembered me from having to speak to him so many times when I've come home to find my bay pinched, and assured me parking in that bay was fine, he would even ensure on the written log that it was noted my registration should not be ticketed.

He knew my reg from the log and all the recorded past times I've had to call in, I reconfirmed it, he said he’d note it so I wouldn’t get ticketed. I parked in that specific bay, and took photos.

I came down the next day to move my car to its proper space and found I have been wrongly been given a privacy notice insinuating they're going to request the registered keepers details to try and send a £100 PCN.

Problematically, my vehicle is leased, requesting the registered keepers details from the lease company will incur an administrative charge from them. This is an issue because VCS haven't posted a PCN with an online fee portal like I've seen them do to others in the past but have seemingly gone straight to requesting the keepers details, setting in motion of a chain of events where that fee will be charged. I will NOT be paying, I haven't done anything wrong, but looking at the customer reviews of my leasing company, they sometimes automatically pay any charges and then without warning direct debit the customer for the PCN and and the admin charge!?

I emailed VCS with the circumstances expecting it to all get cancelled immediately. I instead got a template response saying they can't do anything and I'd need to go through their appeals process in accordance with the letter I've received. I haven't had a letter. Any correspondence will go through the leasing company that owns my car, incurring, as previously advised, an administrative fee.

I am about to go away for Christmas somewhere else in England and then France in January for 15 days, what if I miss any letters and then the two week 'response' period times out?

I am currently forced off work at the moment having unfortunately suffered a horrendous traumatic bereavement that I am in ongoing medical treatment to begin to cope with, I really don’t need this additional stress now when I am already utterly knackered. I am vulnerable right now and they are making me worse. I feel taken advantage of, deceived, and I am completely tipped over the edge now anger wise that I'm the one being given a PCN when I have to pay to rent a space I regularly can't even park in because it will have been pinched.

I am additionally stressed and caused anxiety by the fact that it's christmas so everyone is now off work while 'respond by' clocks are going to be ticking.

TL;DR

VCS' staff member instructed and enticed me several times on a recorded phone line, and made written notes in an electronic log about it, to park in a specific private parking bay by

1) literally verbally instructing me several times just to park in the bay, and,

2) Explaining at length that they don't control that bay so can't ticket it anyway and,

3) that my reg was noted on the log and to be distributed to the patrol officer as not to be ticketed.

To then leave a privacy notice on my windscreen stating photos have been taken insinuating they're in the process of requesting keepers details to then try and send a £100 PCN after those three enticements, particularly the outrageousness of the second - do I need to start instructing solicitors? Or higher?

Can you show us a copy of this 'Privacy Notice'?

It is a shame that you have nothing in writing from VCS about them allowing the car to be parked in the space in question - do you at least have the name of the VCS staff member who said this? It might be a good idea to send a Subject Access Request to VCS, to get a copy of all the information they hold on you and your vehicle, to see if there is anything in their logs etc.

That your vehicle is leased may prove helpful, insofar as these companies very rarely get the process right for transferring liability to you as the hirer. The issue might be that you have probably told VCS who was driving in your email correspondence with them so far.

Any admin charge levied by the lease company is a dispute between you and your lease company - what exactly does your agreement say about their approach to private parking charges (note, this is not a 'penalty charge')?

Thanks for your post.

PN -






I submitted a subject access request yesterday.


In respect to my legislative right to access with regards to the Data Protection Act 2018, I require you to furnish me with

1) The automatically recorded by VCS 9+ minute long phone conversation I had with the 'request a patrol officer' line on Tuesday 19/12/2023 which was initiated at 23:11 LT from phone number XXX regarding someone being parked in the parking space I rent and that VCS claim but chronically fail to protect. This conversation I have been told by another VCS staff member is archived as an audio file, I require you to furnish me with that file via email.

2) The entries made by the VCS member of staff onto the log during the phone call, and after the call for all entries relevant to the phone call and my vehicle, *REG*. All notes, summaries, any and all variants of data about *REG* and myself recorded by the VCS staff member in the written log.

3) Any hand written notes the member of staff may have made in relation to the phone call and *REG*

I require my data to be sent to me electronically via email, and also require via email a written confirmation of your acknowledgement of this initial SAR, dated 21/12/2023. May I kindly remind you of the set by law time limit in furnishing an SAR request with the requested data, as well as the ICO guidance that data controllers should respond without delay.



I have today spoken to a very helpful lady at the lease company who shares my disgust at VCS trying to ticket a vehicle in a bay their agent told me to park in and repeatedly said they don't even control. She is escalating it with her manager in respect to getting a written confirmation on them not processing it themselves.

Quote from: december2023 on December 22, 2023, 01:54:12 pm

She is escalating it with her manager in respect to getting a written confirmation on them not processing it themselves.

Written confirmation of things is always good - the issue with the content of phone conversations is proving what was discussed.

When they say 'not processing it themselves', what do you mean by this, that they won't simply pay up?

Yes. In fact just as I was about to reply to your post, the leasing company emailed me.

Good afternoon X,

Thank you for your call.

I have spoken to my senior manager, and we have now put notes on your account, so if any colleague goes into the application we use for motoring offence they will see the notes left for them NOT to pay it.


That is a relief and moment of respite after the undue stress VCS have inflicted on me at an already difficult time.

I am irate because I’ve had to deal with the stress of coming home to find someone in my space, undeterred, for the best part of two years, and it taking me a very long time to get permission to install a bollard even at my own cost. To then get a PCN after they repeatedly told me to park in a space they cannot ticket has driven me over the edge.

I have indeed contacted the landowner/manager of the apartment building site and explained the circumstances. I have had extensive written correspondence with him in the past regarding my space and me proposing solutions. I have asked him to cancel the PCN as he has the power to have VCS do and look forward to his response.

You could keep them in the loop by letting them know what you've asked the hire company to do.

They have said they will not reply to any more correspondence by email. I note that is a stance from them I have seen quite often in PCN stories on the various forums and company review sites.

They have said they will not reply to any more correspondence by email.

And therein lies an underlying problem with this thread IMO. You quote verbal responses to verbal comms, but we have no way of knowing what's been said and how this might have been interpreted.

Of course VCS won't deal with you, you've probably been aggressive, blamed them for all sorts of wrongs and tried to appeal a PCN not addressed to you. Their response was predictable.

Try breaking out of this by taking a more conciliatory and tempered approach.

And what about the parking place agreement, is this with your landlord and why haven't you got back to them in writing given that 'I’ve had to deal with the stress of coming home to find someone in my space[which I've been paying £*** for], undeterred, for the best part of two years,'

They have said they will not reply to any more correspondence by email.

And therein lies an underlying problem with this thread IMO. You quote verbal responses to verbal comms, but we have no way of knowing what's been said and how this might have been interpreted.

Of course VCS won't deal with you, you've probably been aggressive, blamed them for all sorts of wrongs and tried to appeal a PCN not addressed to you. Their response was predictable.

Try breaking out of this by taking a more conciliatory and tempered approach.

And what about the parking place agreement, is this with your landlord and why haven't you got back to them in writing given that 'I’ve had to deal with the stress of coming home to find someone in my space[which I've been paying £*** for], undeterred, for the best part of two years,'

“We won’t reply to any further correspondence by email” was sent by email.

blamed them for all sorts of wrongs

With all due respect mate, I wonder why.

I’m afraid that in relation to this part of my OP, my resilience to stress and adversity right now is unfortunately at rock bottom.

I am currently forced off work at the moment having unfortunately suffered a horrendous traumatic bereavement that I am in ongoing medical treatment to begin to cope with, I really don’t need this additional stress now when I am already utterly knackered. I am vulnerable right now and they are making me worse

And what about the parking place agreement, is this with your landlord and why haven't you got back to them in writing given that 'I’ve had to deal with the stress of coming home to find someone in my space[which I've been paying £*** for], undeterred, for the best part of two years,'

It isn’t with the landlord, it’s with a management company who run the freehold and have the contract with VCS.

Please believe me when I say I’ve been trying to have that conversation with them for the past two years and got nowhere.

It’s only when *my* bay was sold on to another business that I got anywhere with permission for a bollard because the guy running the new business sympathised with the absurdity of the situation and pressed the management company into withering and letting me install a specific type of folding bollard at my own expense.

I am just out at the moment but later can enclose screenshots of previous correspondence with that management company where they acknowledge my bay constantly being pinched but fail to engage in reasonable proposals to sort it out. The network control manager at VCS I’ve previously cordially engaged with at length was actually happy for my reg to go on a site whitelist. The management company said no.