C.A.R.S debt - help!

stickmitch

so i got a voicemail yesterday from cars debt saying to call them back with a reference number etc

from May this year - i was in mcdonald's with a friend writting an essay - unaware there was a 75 minute parking limit for parking - and i over stayed by about 30 mins

so i got a letter through the post saying i had to pay £70 from parking eye , if i paid within 2 weeks it would stay at £70 or it would go up to £120

i wrote a letter back saying i wasn't going to pay them anything ... for a number a reasons

firstly its a private car park - so theres no actual laws about parking on there, and its contract law, so they can only claim for profits lost (pretty much empty car park, so my presence / over staying did not affect their sales what so ever - so they can't claim £70 / £120 in lost profits)

secondly its just stupid that i was a paying customer in Mcdonald's for the whole 90 mins - they will have it on CCTV that i was in the restuarant the whole time - so why they are trying to charge a paying customer is ridiculous

thirdly, they have a notice in the restuarant saying that if you require extra time speak to the managers and they will make sure you won't get charged... i was unaware there was even a time limit but if i did know i would of asked them... so if they allow paying customers to stay longer anyway why are they still trying to charge me


i got a letter back and they basically said they didn't care for my 'excuses' i had to pay, i ignored this letter, got one a month or two later and i ignored that... because they can't make me pay anything because there is no law regarding private property parking...

now they've got c.a.r.s debt to chase after me

what do i do? i don't want people coming round to my house to try to get stuff of me... i'm not paying a stupid fine for something i didnt even do wrong


help? how do i get c.a.r.s off my back... i want this whole thing to go away and im not gonna get bullied into paying a ridiculous parking fine

stee01

I had a similar problem a couple of years back, when I disputed some charges from lovefilm (who had in turn already sold the debt to c.a.r.s before notifying me). The dispute was settled with lovefilm (they agreed to drop the charges), yet c.a.r.s still sent me texts to my phone asking me to call them, made calls that involved heavy breathing down the phone and hanging up (quite a number of nuisance calls actually). They also sent me letters telling me I owed them £20.something. After doing some research on the company I found them to have quite a poor reputation, employing illegal tactics (from the complaints I read on forums).

People have reported them to trading standards in the past, and police have been involved in harassment cases against them.

In your situation I would send them a letter telling them you deny the debt, and would appreciate it if they no longer contact you. Highlight to them that you will be filing harassment charges against them if they refuse to comply with your wishes.

With private parking, I believe they have no enforceable rights to the fine. Typically they pay a small fee to the DVLA for the registered owners address. They cant provide proof that you parked the car there, it could be your wife, son, daughter etc.

Irregardless, I wouldn't worry too much as I dont think theres anything they can do other than pester you, which if the case is the time for you to notify the police.

I hope this isn't against the rules, but heres some other comments of people who have had problems with them.

http://forums.hexus.net/shopping-retail-therapy/139861-text-messages-debt-collection.html

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?123795-C.A.R.S.-Debt-collection-problem.

There are also some other people who have had run ins with this bunch on the forums.