First letter out of the blue demanding £120

ima_2

I have received a letter today from a private parking company who say on 3rd dec 2007 my car was parked illegally and was issued with a civil penalty charge notice of £40. There was no ticket put on the windscreen and nothing was ever received in the post, i have a parking pass to attend the university (it was their car park) i do not therefore need to buy a parking ticket, the university can confirm i am in ownership of this pass and have used it for a period of 2 years. The letter received today was the first correspondence i have received from this company.There was never an opportunity to make any payment whatsoever even if the pass had been blown on the floor when i shut the door? (i'm summising) Even if their over zealous warden were to have not looked for my pass (are they actually trained to look for these passes?) what happened to the alledged ticket? and further why wasn't a second notice (reminder) sent out. Strange that the very first letter sent 14.11.08 has clearly arrived very safely at my clearly visible address. They are trying to bully me into now paying £120 and threaten me that in 14 days they will issue a county court summons and that i will be liable to pay any courts costs, administration and any outstanding interest. I have written a stern letter back and already put it in the post recorded. Does anyone know of an organisation/body you can complain to when a company carry out their works in an unethical manner, i believe these private companies are completely unregulated and therefore can do whatever they like. I am insisting on them sending me evidence. The company are called Maxim securities.

Doozergirl

If it's a private firm then it's unenforceable. They can't take you court - if they did, they'd get laughed out.

What you should have done is totally ignored it. If they get a response from you, they will chase you a bit more but really, you just need to ignore them.

If you want to complain to someone then it's probably Trading Standards as the proper appeals service doesn't apply in your case, because the penalty applied wasn't legal.

Don't write back again, they will send further letters, just bin them. If you ever get a court summons (which you won't) then post up on www.pepipoo.com and you will have people to support you all the way through. There are proper experts on the subject on that website - really know what they are talking about!

Conor_3

Doozergirl wrote: »

If it's a private firm then it's unenforceable.

It's not that simple. It is a university car park and the ticket was issued by the company the university employed.

It is quite common for universities to refuse to issue certificates if there are unpaid charges and that includes parking ones. They may also stop a student from progressing to the following year.

sarahg1969

You can complain to Trading Standards, but would be wasting your time (because they seem to have bigger fish to fry).

You can complain to the DVLA, who sold your details, but would be wasting your time (because they just want the money).

You could complain to the university, and explain to them that the company may be breaching the new consumer regulations, by misrepresenting the alleged debt, and that it doesn't look too good for the uni, who seem to be supporting them in their possible deceitful behaviour.

I would be interested to see on what grounds a uni would refuse to progress a student who has failed to pay an invoice based on deception. Especially if the OP has actually paid for a pass and is entitled to park in the car park.

OP, can we see the invoice?

teabelly

Ask for photographic proof that the permit wasn't visible on your car. To enforce a parking fine the ticket has to be worded very precisely so anything wrong with the ticket will stop it being enforceable. Hopefully they will have made a mistake and it will render all previous tickets they have issued null and void and you can kick up a storm

Conor_3

sarahg1969 wrote: »

I would be interested to see on what grounds a uni would refuse to progress a student who has failed to pay an invoice based on deception. Especially if the OP has actually paid for a pass and is entitled to park in the car park.

OP, can we see the invoice?

Google reveals several universities that count it as misconduct which can result in temporary or permanent exclusion or a fine and not paying fines putting you in the position of "Not of good financial standing" with the university which then results in the suspension of the course for the student or withholding of certificates.