Parking Fines LTD/ PCN. Help Please

bargepole

sparkey1 wrote: »

You shouldn't ignore letters. What sort of advice is that. .

The same advice that you'll get from all the forums which specialise in this area, including legal ones.

These so-called charges from PPCs have no more validity than letters from Nigerian government officials who want your bank account details so they can deposit millions of dollars.

Writing to these scam artists will only result in them pestering you even more, and if they were daft enough to make a court claim, they'd be laughed out of the courtroom with their unlawful paperwork.

taxiphil

sparkey1 wrote: »

You shouldn't ignore letters. What sort of advice is that. As I said start at the begining. Was it a valid ticket, if not challenge it. Ask for evidence. Were there any signs etc.

Oh and read the post properly and you will see that I was advising that he do something. Now why would I do that? I'll tell you why, because if he just ignores the letters and doesn't challenge the validity, they may well take him to court.

You should ignore letters if they're from scam artists.

All that matters is that the £70/£100 charge is a penalty and is therefore unenforceable in a civil court. End of story.

"Challenge the validity" .... with who? With the scammers themselves? Why? They're not a court or an independent body - they're a few nobodies in an office who send letters out trying to scare people in the hope they'll get money out of them!

If I sent you a letter demanding £70 because you put your foot on my driveway would you write back to me "challenging the validity" of my claim via my own special "appeals process", or would you just laugh very loudly and throw my letter straight in the bin?

sparkey1 wrote: »

Better to do something now to challenge the validity of any ticket, then to find out in six months time that they did take him to court, but he didn't do anything to stop it because he ignored the letters.

We're only advising him to ignore letters off the scammers, not to ignore letters off a court! If letters off a court were ignored that would be an entirely different matter and the OP would be well advised to issue a defence. But that's entirely hypothetical anyway, as the scammers won't sue.

By the way, Moorcroft may describe this as a "fine", but it isn't. Only the state (e.g. the courts, the police or a council) can fine you, not a private company. This is a demand for an imaginary debt that simply doesn't exist because there's never been a county court judgment made in respect of it. It would be worth reporting Moorcroft to the OFT and Trading Standards for unlawful harrassment by describing this as a "fine".

helper84

Parking fines ltd issued the original "fine"

Sparkey 1, firstly i have never admitted to anything, i havent even stated who was commited this so called offence, your advise does seem to somehow resemble all the wording that was put in the original warnings letters i received and also that of Parking fines ltd's website, all made up !!!!!!!! to try and scare the average person in to paying.

i dont think i really need to add much more as all the other advisers on here have well pointed the facts surrounding this "scam" to which i am very grateful

were do you get your information from that states now that this is with moorcroft then my credit is already being affected from because i would love to see it. i doubt somehow you will be able to provide it because it doesnt exsist.

If that magical letter giving me a court date does ever make its way through to myself then at that time only will i stand up and pay attention to it but untill then the letters i receive are no better than toilet paper and only sutable for one purpose....

sparkey1

You told us at serial 9 that Moorcroft were dealing with it.

helper84 wrote: »

Quick update, received my next letter last week from Moorcroft debt recovery ltd in stockport telling me my "fine" is now £140 and if i have not settled the "debt" by a certain date then my case will be put forward for legal proceediings etc etc, what a load of !!!!!!!!

i still plan as before to ignore the letter but any other advice would be apreciated

You told us at serial 9 that Moorcroft were dealing with it. You also admitted that you were wrongly parked in a disabled bay in your original post. Im not trying to scare you into paying. Personally I wouldn't, however I would have written back at the begining telling them that they weren't entitled to a penny and that they could stick their parking ticket where the sun doesn't shine. Ie I would have dealt with it, not ignored it. But then again, I wouldn't have received any correspondence from them, because I wouldn't of selfishly parked in a disabled bay. For the record, they are usually marked, are usually wider, and often sign posted. (Just in case you didn't know and had parked there by accident.)

As for the DCA. Ask them to supply a copy of your parking contract, that allows the parking company to legally impose a fine. Obviously they wont be able to supply it, and they will then stop their letters.

As for the credit record bit. Now we know that you are dealing with cowboys, clearly your credit record is not going to be affected at the moment. However we didn't know that earlier, and I was advising you to do something not just ignore it. This has been vindicated by the fact that you now have a DCA chasing you. These boards are full of people that have ignored letters, only to cause problems later.

bargepole

sparkey1 wrote: »

As for the DCA. Ask them to supply a copy of your parking contract, that allows the parking company to legally impose a fine.

Under exactly what legislation do you imagine a private company can fine anybody? Fines, or penalties, can not be enforced under civil contract law, which is the law applicable to such instances.

And btw, while I agree that drivers should respect spaces intended for the disabled, these have no legal standing at all in private car parks.

sparkey1

Thats the point. There isn't any (that Im aware of) therefore they cant supply the details, therefore they can't enforce the debt. Therefore no payment. Therefore no point in chasing it. Therefore they won't, therefore no more hassle from that area.

helper84

Sparkey1 i dont think you have a clue what your talking about to be honest. You just contradict everything you said in your previous posts.
you achknowledge they are cowboys and have no legal power to do anything at all but also urge me to write letters to them appealing and disputing everything when there is no appeals process whatsoever so why would i do that.

your only comeback is to go on about how you would never park in a disabled bay etc, something that has no really relevance at all. at no point have i even said it was me who was parked there, but because the car is mine then thats all these cowboys are interested in. if this were an official and legal parking ticket then part of the process of retreiving the fine is to actually establish who the driver was, the exact same process as if it were a speeding fine. i admitted my car was parked there but not that it was parked there by myself.

the markings on a disabled bay in private car park have no meaning whatsoever.

what do you realistically think Moorcroft are going to do????

pogofish

sparkey1 wrote: »

I suspect it will now also show on your credit file that Moorcroft are trying to recover a debt from you.

Utter rubbish - Bargepole explained why above.

pogofish

sparkey1 wrote: »

Please whatever you do, do not avoid letters or avoid a settlement. It wont just go away. You will just end up with a bad credit record and will probably still have to pay.

Really - Moorcroft are the t*ats who went after me for an unpaid NTL contract.

One problem - I've never held a contrat with those chancers. In fact, the only contact I've ever had with NTL was a strongly worded letter of complaint when I caught someone on a reserved staff IP trying to hack me.

In dealing with the fall out, my solicitor dismissed Moorcroft as a bunch of utter comedians and I'm still waiting for an apology from NTL. :mad:

helper84

Received my 2nd letter the other day warning me that as i have failed to respond thet will be putting the "debt forward for court litigation or some !!!!!!!! like that.
The letter just stinks of desperation like they are running out things to threaten me with which shows that everyone on here is right about ignoring them.

The letter says my current "debt" is £140 but then gives a list of made up extra costs to try and scare me into paying which would then bring my total debt to £235, absolute !!!!!. they might aswell just add a couple of extra charges in their for the envolope they used and for muppets who work there to lick it shut