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Tuesday 17 November 2015

Phil Hilsden sentenced today

Phil Hilsden was sentenced today in Basingstoke. The Prankster has been aware of the proceedings for some time, but has refrained from blogging until the criminal case was completed. Phil Hilsden uses a number of aliases, including kirbyinfurnesslad, Ricky Gater (although there is a real Ricky Gater), and any number of one-time throwaway accounts.

In court today it emerged that Phil Hilsden is a previous convicted sex offender, has served 8 months in custody, and his previous convictions include sexual offences in youth court, credit card fraud and a more recent sexual offence.

Today was a sentencing hearing, Phil Hilsden having already pleaded guilty to a number of offences including stalking.  The offences stem from a number of parking appeals companies Phil Hilsden has been the controlling mind behind, such as Parking Ticket Appeals Ltd,  Parking Ticket Appeals Service Limited  and Appeal Parking Tickets Ltd, currently hosted at https://www.appealparkingticket.co.uk/

Although the sites did legitimately help a number of motorists, it appeared the long term strategy was to promise to pay the parking fee if the appeals failed, and then never to do this. When the complaints escalated to unacceptable levels the company would phoenix and reemerge. A series of straw men and women were used as directors.

Here is a typical claim on the website:
Our Parking Appeal Service will cost you only £16 and we guarantee you won’t have to pay a penny to the parking company. If you receive a court claim we pay the ticket cost in full.
The appeals company is also believed to run a series of non-genuine service addresses. Although there are legitimate reasons to use a service address to appeal a parking ticket, it must be a real service address; it cannot be a means to evade the charge. A legitimate service address would inform the addressee of received mail and forward it to them. The service addresses Phil Hilsden used were apparently black holes which swallowed the mail.

One of the creditors of Parking Ticket Appeals Ltd started to pursue Phil Hilsden for alleged debts in the region of £35,000. It was at this point that Phil Hilsden started a concerted campaign of stalking and harassment against the creditor. The court were fully satisfied that the object of the campaign was to avoid payment of the monies owed.

In the Victim Impact Statement read out in court it emerged that the campaign had caused the victim extreme mental stress.

The stalking behaviour first came to light on New Years Day 2015 with online posts and within a few days of this, the conduct escalated to blogs. Contact was also made with the victim's employer, colleagues, housing association and the local police. The online attacks and harassment continued to such an extent that the victim was forced to move house, causing them to leave their job, their home and their family and move over 100 miles away. The victim was under extreme stress for an extended period, affecting the relationship with their girlfriend and causing a loss of 3 stone in weight.

The scariest moment was when someone knocked on the door of their old flat, literally days before the victim was due to hand in the keys, and posted details about the flat, the car and many other things online within an hour. At this point the victim feared for their safety, left the flat and did not return to the flat again. The idea that someone has now come looking for the victim caused serious alarm and distress, and he was genuinely in fear that if he remained in the flat even a day longer, he would suffer violence or worse.

Given the details published online it was obvious that there has been a very deep background check done, which was very alarming. Following this move, the harassment continued. Several other individuals were contacted about the victim, including a business associate, and threats were made against them for their association with the victim.

The police investigation took some time, during which Phil Hilsden was arrested and bailed.
Despite bail conditions, the victim continued to receive harassing contact from people involved in this.

Charges were eventually brought against Phil Hilsden to which he pleaded guilty in an earlier hearing.

In today's hearing the judges debated for an extended period before delivering their judgment. The sentence was 4 months in Custody, suspended for 24 months, together with 250 hours unpaid work, 20 days of offending behaviour courses, curfew from 9pm to 6am for two months, and a restraining order that he may not seek to contact the victim directly or indirectly, or publish anything about them by any means whatsoever, save that he may contact them in respect of civil proceedings via the court staff, a solicitor or as is necessary in a court building. He has to pay an £80 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

Following the court case civil claims can now commence against Phil Hilsden, which will possibly include the previous £35,000, but also may include amounts for harassment and distress which The Prankster estimates may add another £50,000.

It was also reported a scuffle broke out after the hearing and Phil Hilsden allegedly assaulted and punched a person serving him with legal papers. This was witnessed by Phil Hilsden's solicitor.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster

15 comments:

  1. KIFL you caused grief in all the way down in Truro, Cornwall when heavies from Armtrac turned up on an anti-PPC campaigners door threatening violence due to your reckless actions.Good riddance.

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  2. Good article well reported. What a parasite, he's got off very light.

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  3. If he had any decency he would wind up the companies in question and pay some compensation to his victim. As it is his victim is now going to have to go through yet another court process to fight for what he is entitled to, though the record of conviction is likely to smooth that path.

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    Replies
    1. I doubt the company has assets which cover the amount sought, thought I may be mistaken.

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  4. THis guy sounds like he spells 'hunt' with a 'c', and 'banker' with a 'w'.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Their website is still active at https://www.appealparkingticket.co.uk/
    Also their facebook page is still trying to get money from people at https://www.facebook.com/appealparkingtickets/?fref=ts

    They should be closed down and reported to companies house and reported to the ICO

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    Replies
    1. Appeal Parking Tickets closed down on 18 December, leaving thousands of customers in the lurch again.

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  7. Shocking and bizarre. I found his advice quite useful on a certain forum but the sentence handed down was clearly well-deserved.

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  8. It's funny how the thread about this on MSE has been pulled...

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    Replies
    1. nothing surprises me about MSE , hidden moderators behind a "do not reply to" email address

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  9. Website entry:

    Team News
    Posted 10 September 2015

    We have got some new exciting news regarding some new staff here at Appeal Parking Tickets Ltd. Our new team bring in some of the widest experience available to ensure we do the best for you.

    Kathy Crabtree

    Kathy is an experienced administrator and is responsible for the day to day logging of appeals and answering initial enquriies. She has been dealing with parking tickets for over five years now and has in depth knowledge of how each parking companies appeals systems work. Queries will be answered by Kathy Monday to Friday 8am to 4.30pm.

    Richard Roberts

    Richard comes from a back ground of dealing with council parking tickets having worked for two council Parking departments with a combined experience of 8 years. He is very well versed in legislation regarding to parking on Public Land. He has many years of dealing with PATAS. Richard will you give you the best chance of winning a council ticket appeal.

    Stephen Harrison

    Stephen is our legal eagle. He has a law degree and is well versed in contract law. He has many years experience of dealing with court claims as a lay rep in the county court and as a McKenzie Friend in the magistrates court. He will do the best defence he can should you receive a court claim from a Parking company. He can also give guidance for magistrates court cases. Over the last 12 months Stephen has appeared in court 36 times and has a very impressive regard!
    #
    Are these people also mse posters?

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  10. I assume from Stephen Harrison's resume that his law degree wasn't a Qualifying Law Degree since he only appears as lay rep or McKenzie friend..

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  11. And strangely, I can't find record of him attending court once, let alone 36 times...

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    Replies
    1. How strange - Appeal Parking Tickets has closed to new business... only a week after Hilsden was convicted for stalking.

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