parking fine, threatened court action

joshjohn715

this parking fine has now gone throug 3 stages could anyone advise me please, i have taken advise from here before.

many thanks in advance

Dave



June.
my wife at the weekend recieved a parking ticket from a company called Carpark Management uk LTD (CPM). The carpark in question is not in use as the building (formally a bowling alley) has shut down. the parking ticket recieved claims that it has been issued for not displaying a valid CPM Permit. there are signs up within the car park but as it is derelict and the owner of the shop we were visiting informed us that it was ok to park on there because of this reason we did so.
now do i appeal to this fine?
await some correspondence from this company?
or just completely ignore?

some one please advise.

thanks in advance






dave.


September
now then after taking advice from this forum back in june i have now recieved (at the begining of sept) a letter from a debt collection agency claiming that i have to pay the amount plus a late payment cost within 7 days of a court summons would be issued.

again should i pay or await the summons and go to court.
i have had no previous corrispondance from the company who issued the ticket in the first place and then 3 months later i get a letter from debt collection.

someone please advise.

thanks you.

October
again after taking advise from this site i recieved a further letter today which states the following:

You were written to by CAR PARK MANAGEMENT UK and their agent Roxburghe requesting the settlement of a Parking Contravention Charge Notice. Due to the absence of payment, or a valid appeal, our client has instructed us to proceed to legal action to recover the amount due.
Therefore, it is a legal requirement to send a notice of INTENDED LITIGATION before legal procedings are issued in the county court. This letter fulfils this requirement.
Take Note ; the costs of issuing a claim is as follows:
Amount due £135
Claim Issue Fee £30
Solicitors costs for issuing claim £50
Judgement costs £25
Warrant issue fee £35
Solicitors costs for issuing warrant £2.25
Total additional costs £142.25

Any judgement registered againts you could seriously affect your chances of obtaining credit in the future, as this infomation can be made available to any interested parties via the register of judgements, ordrs and fines, and reamins there for 6 years.
in the event of a judgement order not being adhered to, we may instruct bailiffs to attend at yor address who are authorised to sieze good for sale at public auction in the amount claimedplus all statutory interest.
please contact us with your proposals for settlement within 7 day to avoid the possibility of this action.

your sincerely.

michael sobell
solicitor.



my wife is now panicing with this letter thinking that she has to go to court at some point.

any advice would be appriciated.

do i just pay this company or contact the solicitor?

thanks.

peter_the_piper

Its generally accepted that its safe to ignore. In the very unlikely event of getting court papers, they are often false and their voracity can be checked by phoning the court and they are normally false.
(Just why the courts don't sue them for this out and out lie is beyond me.)
Come back later if it ever gets this far. I would not expect to hear from you, if you get my drift.

Coblcris

Take Note ; the costs of issuing a claim is as follows:
Amount due £135
Claim Issue Fee £30
Solicitors costs for issuing claim £50
Judgement costs £25
Warrant issue fee £35
Solicitors costs for issuing warrant £2.25
Total additional costs £142.25

I would take serious issue with the above contents. They are not the costs of issuing a claim. If I received such a letter I would inform The Solicitor's Regulation Authority forthwith.

movingforward2010

i used to have letters like this all the time when i had credit card debt, they never took me to court - ever and that was a proper debt not some made up rip off car park invoice

Coupon-mad

joshjohn715 wrote: »

my wife is now panicing with this letter thinking that she has to go to court at some point.

any advice would be appriciated.

do i just pay this company or contact the solicitor?

thanks.

Neither. Please continue to ignore the whole lot of their prettiest letter-headings and most ridiculous scam attempts to get you to pay.

Although I agree with Coblcris in that the amounts stated are scandalous lies and the 'Solicitor' should be reported (to the Law Society - or is there another regulatory authority?).

Please tell your wife there is nothing to panic about, it is not a fine and will NOT go to Court. There are lots and lots of threads on here and on www.pepipoo.com about this scam, show her the threads. Here's a similar one:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=25605411#post25605411

and if you click on 'parking fines, tickets & parking' under the orange 'Banking & Saving' button at the top of your page right now, you will have the whole list of current threads on parking issues. Browse through them and show your wife what is being said. About 75% will be similar experiences with PPCs, all posters being told to sit tight and ignore, and NO-ONE being actually taken to Court.

Quite simply all the letters amount to a mail scam. You can see why most people just pay though, can't you, if they didn't know any better (but you do)?