Letter from CP Plus

Want_to_be_free

Hi there

I took my child to Southampton boat show on 19th September , Sunday.
On the way back to home we stopped one of the services for 10 minutes maximum.
Letter states I was parked on the site for 21 hours and 25 minutes and demands £80 and also says they have photograpic evidence...

This is insane, who would park in a service area forolmost 22 hours? Besides I was at work on Monday and my car was park in the work car park which is miles away in Berks. Reading this site, I am not going to reply to their mail, initially I was thinking of appealing... But I am scared because what if something goes wrong and somehow they demand me to pay even more and send people to my doorstep? I am a working single mum with a very difficult child who has AS and ADHD and I cannot cope with any more stress and feel like I am breaking right in the middle...I guess I need some assurance , is there anybody out there whom dealt with CP Plus they are apperently based Borehamwood. Many thanks before hand.

trisontana

Please don't worry. This company are well known on here and can be ignored. It's no use appealing to them as their "appeals process" is a sham because it's not independent , so they always turn them down.

Nobody can just turn up at your door and demand money. For that to happen it has to go through a complicated legal procedure and most of these companies don't do court as they know they will lose. For reassurance please read all the other threads on here that deal with private parking tickets.

anewman

trisontana wrote: »

Nobody can just turn up at your door and demand money. For that to happen it has to go through a complicated legal procedure and most of these companies don't do court as they know they will lose.

Unfortunately some of the more rogue ones like PCN-UK Vibe Leisure Ltd (do those losers Ashford, Amy and friends still exist?) do try this tactic hoping to scare you into payment with their fist draggers turning up on your doorstep. Very very few do it though and remember there is a distinction between a court ordered bailiff, and a debt collector. A bailiff can remove goods etc under the order of a court (if you lose and do not pay up), and a debt collector (sometimes illegally call themselves bailiffs) you can legally tell to get lost and call the police on them for trespassing and harassment. So the only time you do need to worry if is court is involved.

I think it better to warn of the possibility and the distinctions than to say it won't happen outright and bury people's heads under the sand. If any company does try that approach though I suspect they'd quite quickly lose when this was drawn to the attention of the judge (the chances of both happening are less than winning the national lottery jackpot though so it's a fair bet it won't).

Just editing to add letters from most PPC companies will threaten court, bailiffs, and repossession of goods but never follow up on their threats (so if you see this in letters, do NOT worry). When the one or two rogue PPC's with only a handful of car parks turn up on people's doorsteps to try scare them into payment, they normally do so pretty quickly as for them it's a more effective means of harassment than sending letters. Afterall, it's more personal and worrying to the average person who does not know the distinction between bailiffs and debt collectors, if someone hangs a note in your letterbox on full view to all your neighbours saying they are bailiffs and will come later to remove goods if you do not pay.

Yet again, these PPC's are in the extreme minority. You will generally find info on the company by searching via google for the company name. If it's a well known one there's nothing to worry about.

Want_to_be_free

I received another letter, I am not replying...It will be difficult to find me at home as I work full time, and go to college in the evenning etc... Still I am scared but I refuse to pay an offence that I never committed...

Crabman

Want_to_be_free wrote: »

I received another letter, I am not replying...It will be difficult to find me at home as I work full time, and go to college in the evenning etc... Still I am scared but I refuse to pay an offence that I never committed...

Just so you know, there is no offence here - what they are doing is exactly the same as you charging a door-to-door salesman £80 for overstaying his welcome on your doorstep.

If they want £80, under contract law, they have to provide a schedule of losses/damage adding up to £80.

As there is no way they can do that, they won't be able to go to court.

As they won't be able to go to court, they'll just send you threatening letters one after the other to scare you into paying up because that's the only hope these losers have of getting their hands on any cash.

I suggest you let your local Trading Standards (or Consumer Direct) know if their letters are threatening. They are not allowed to use threats as a means of extorting money.

Keep ignoring them and if you want to take a look at what other PPCs send out to scare people into paying, click here. None of those cases ever made it to court which is strange isn't it?

Feel free to post again if you feel worried by further letters from them, we're happy to help