PPC Letter Chains & Court Papers (discussion & comments)

trisontana

Page One

Page Two

The usual rubbish. Nobody in a civil has to give the name of the driver, and it shows what lies PPCs and debt collectors will tell to try and get people to pay up.

Oopsadaisy

Wow, love the way they are using MSE Martin's own article to try tio get people to pay up.

Reminds me of scammers back in the 1980's who had 'As seen on the BBC' in their adverts for their dodgy business; they were factually correct... the BBC had indeed covered them .....they had exposed them as scammers!!!

UKCitizen_2

The letters I received:
(1) UKPC 'Charge Certificate' 'Charge': £80 If paid with 14 days: £40
Photo / date / time / etc.

15 days later...
(2) UKPC 'Final Reminder' 'Increased amount': £80
Attempt to intimidate via Blue Badge info / intent to litigate / etc.

18 days later...
(3) Debt Recovery Plus 'Outstanding amount': £137.50
'referred case to client' (= given up, back to them?)

35 days later...
(4) Debt Recovery Plus 'Outstanding amount': £137.50
plus, 'if reaches County Court and Judgement obtained' etc.
(which would require them to actually start proceedings - huh!)
'Solicitors fees' £50
'Court fee' £30
'Solicitors cost' £25
'TOTAL' £242.50
(interesting / amusing hypothetical bill :-) )

31 days later...
(5) Parking Collection Services Ltd
'purchased debt / prepared to accept discounted figure' £89.99


And then the letters just dried up, round about a year ago. :-(

I was disappointed because,
(1) I'd have *loved* to meet these cowboys in court (I had a trick up my sleeve) but I was pretty certain from web research that the chances of them taking anything through proper legal channels (and having to cough up for solicitors themselves, not to mention the potential bad publicity, investigations, etc.) were close to zero.
(2) The last letter started a downward trend in 'charges' and if it continued long enough they might have decided they owed me. :-) At which point, if they made it worth my while, I might actually have responded to their communication. :-)


My interpretation (personal opinion):
- utter cowboy outfits (UKPC and anyone else who write letters for them)
- seem to make money by intimidation
- the last thing to do is to reply to anything that is not an official court letter - it would flag you as a responder, hence potentially worth harassing further

Other experiences / responses with UKPC:
(1)
- Received a letter, apparently from Tesco, several years ago. I had 'stayed too long' in their car park.
Turned out after much persistence on my part that it was actually from UKPC under contract to Tesco. (The person on the 'phone really didn't want to admit that they weren't actually part of Tesco until I started insisting on manager / head office contact information).
- My response: official complaint to Tesco (... just who is doing whom a favour when I stay in your shop for a long while?!?). Tesco person said that the company were always issuing letters to Tesco's *own* employees(!) for staying in the car park for too long! I never had the promised follow-up from Tesco head office. Mentioned it again a few months later - another promise, again no follow-up.
- The result, as far as Tesco is concerned: I used to be a very regular customer - several visits every week - now I *never* shop at Tesco unless I absolutely have to. If they can't vet the companies they employ to threaten their customers (UKPC, apparently, splits profits with such companies) then they sure haven't made a friend of *this* customer. I reckon loss of my business alone has cost Tesco quite a few thousands of pounds since the original letter, not to mention sharing the experience with interested friends.

(2) UKPC employed by a private residents association issued 'fine' (huh!) for parking 'outside' area designated for use by other organisation on same site (Landmark Arts center, Teddington). Not so. Took photograph to prove it. Followed up via Arts centre. They contacted residents association who arranged for UKPC to cancel the 'fine'. Apparently a regular occurrence.

(3) Third story, from local post office, about counter person's friend who did give in to the letters and pay a lot of money because they became worried. This sort of intimidation as a way to make a living is appalling.


Advice (my own opinion):
- *never* waste your time responding to this company
- if they want to waste their money / time writing letters, that's fine by me


And the trick up my sleeve that I would have ***loved*** them to have given me a chance to reveal in court?

The photograph of the car, 'illegally' parked in a private car park (Barbican Leisure Park, Plymouth). (Another organisation that ought to vet its suppliers better!)

Why? Well, the first thing that caught my attention on the original letter was that I hadn't been to Plymouth for many years, The second thing was that the car in the photograph was one that I used to own but had sold eight months before the picture was taken.
If I'd ever had a chance for a few minutes of fame in court I might even have framed the DVLA transfer of ownership document to produce with a flourish :-)
It seems that, the business model of these intimidators doesn't even stretch to paying for up-to-date-records.

Why do organisations with a decent reputation actually employ these cowboys without performing due diligence on their track records?

Why does the *DVLA* make it so easy for these cowboys to operate by selling UK citizens' personal information? Someone in government should sort this out. It's what they're elected and paid to do - look after citizens, not profit from them!

UKCitizen_2

Sorry - posted to wrong place. Have moved to separate thread (thread 163).

UKCitizen_2

UKCitizen wrote: »

Sorry - posted to wrong place. Have moved to separate thread (thread 163).

Sorry - couldn't move - when tried to create new post in new thread the system said I had created similar post (the above) a few minutes before - so leaving here for benefit of other readers / search engines / etc.

P.S. I have read that Sainsbury has also employed UKPC at some sites. If this is true, I hope that they will lose customers abused by UKPC just as Tesco has lost me and, I hope, a couple of others I've told of my experiences.

back4the1stime

Hi guys 1st post here.

Been reading up on the threads before I asked any questions.

Here's the skinny;
The missus was visiting a friend in May and when she came back to her car there was a fine attached to it from a PPC saying that
she had parked without displaying a permit.

I told her to fight it sending a letter explaining and a copy of said permit that was overlooked in her car at the time.

She did this and heard nothing back till a letter arrived a couple weeks ago from Debt Recovery Plus Ltds stating that they are
now acting on behalf of their client NATIONAL CLAMS aka NATION W@nks to recover the monies.
Then about a week later they send the "Notice of intended litigation" letter.
I have advised her to ignore this as per the postings from this and similar forums/threads.

I will upload the letters they sent her.

Also, judging by the date of the contravention, is it possible to get a fine IN THE FUTURE?? You'll see what I mean when I upload
the pics.

Futhermore, this may also be trivial but I have also noticed that in post #1, in Sofa-spud's 3rd letter it is signed by a "Claire
Robinson" but her signature does not match the one from my letters. And on his 4th letter it is signed by a "Louise Barker" but
her signature doesnt match the one in mine???


http:// i35.tinypic.com/302mefs.jpg (remove the space after the //)
http:// i33.tinypic.com/ehkod2.jpg (remove the space after the //)

Coupon-mad

Good to see some letters from National Clamps (I thought they only clamped, not ticketed!).

Same letter, different staff member as others have received in the past from other PPCs (maybe a made up name anyway). Debt Recovery Plus are as toothless as ever.

Here are the full links to your letters, do post any more you get but still ignore. Did you get any letters from National Clamps apart from the fake ticket?:

http://i35.tinypic.com/302mefs.jpg

http://i33.tinypic.com/ehkod2.jpg

Nice that they have a crystal ball and can see into the future, as you say!

LM16

Two more letters from Graham White & Excel.

Note that Excel gives info on Pay & Display parking when this was in fact a FREE car park and letter to them asked only for proof of driver!!!

i34.tinypic.com/2n67xja.jpg

i34.tinypic.com/xehjt2.jpg

Coupon-mad

Many thanks! Here are the full links to the Excel and GW letters, for adding to the first post:

http://i34.tinypic.com/2n67xja.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/xehjt2.jpg

I just looked at all the letters under the Excel title in the first post - don't you just love their colourful 'Notice to Owner' (passing itself off as a Council NtO)!

valentine14

I too have received the same letters from National Clamps and Debt Recovery Plus, the latter also showing the alleged contravention date in the future. I am ignoring them. I have googled their addresses and they appear to be private residences. The Debt Recovery Plus being a lady accountant with several companies registered to that address.