Private parking company Vehicle Control Services has launched 13 test cases in Dundee sheriff court. In each of hte 13 cases, Vehicle Control Services are claiming that the motorist failed to pay parking charge notices in Scotland car parks managed by VCS. Neil Hallyburton who says he was issued with a total of more than 30 parking fines is being pursued by VCS for a total of £1,500.
The court decide it was “inappropriate” to hear arguments in all the cases and set down Mr Robb’s as a “lead” case. The test is considered to be representative of the 13 cases was held in June 2015. The case involved Mark Robb who had refused to pay a total of £700 in parking fines he had received between December 2013 and May 2014. Dundee Sheriff Alastair Brown dismissed the case and awarded Mr Robb expenses, saying VCS’s agent had provided “no evidence” that Mr Robb had been the driver of the vehicle at the relevant times. Sherriff brown, in awarding costs to Mr Robb said Vehcicle Control Services had handled the case “incompetently”.
There are other motorists being pursued, including Neil Hallyburton, who been ticket more 30 time over the last 2 years. Mr Hallyburton was issued with the private parking tickets as a result of parking without a permit on Brown Street. He ignored demands for payment and is now being pursued for over £1,500
Another motorist is Morgan Atkinson, received more than a dozen parking charge notis while parked in a bay outside her ex-boyfriend’s flat in Trades Lane.
Until these cases were brought by Vehicle Control Services, no parking companies had brought claims in a Scotland court because the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 does not apply in Scotland. This means that in Scotland, parking companies will have difficulty proving who the driver was. Whereas in Scotland and Wales, the POFA 2012 Act allows the companies to, under certain conditions, make the keeper liable for a parking ticket.
Vehicle Control Services is owned by Excel Parking Services.
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