Abused Patron Parking, help!

pfenig

Sorry in advance for the length. Won't mention any names or places, Person A is an older relative.

Person A (driving) and myself parked up in a retail parking (the retail parking was nearly empty) with the intention of going into one of the superstores (namely Halfords), please note I regularly frequent Halfords and this retail park. I forgot my wallet and Person A was having trouble with his cards meaning he had to go to the bank to remove money so I could go into Halfords and buy what I wanted.

Having parked the Bank is about a 10 minute walk from Halfords and it is very difficult to park any closer to the centre, so we decided to walk it and walk back, completely unawares of the fraud that was about to occur to us.

Due to the queue in the Bank it took us maybe 30 minutes (still quicker than going back home) there and back to get the cash out and return. On our return we witnessed a little man in a fluorescent jacket hanging about our car, we made eye contact and he then tried to ignore us and then literally jogged away in an unknown direction after slapping a yellow sticker to our car before we could get close enough.

It read "Abused Patron Parking"

I took the ticket to Halfords and angrily spoke to someone at the desk, unfortunately I did not take their name or buy anything as I was so angry and bewildered.

Before we received anything from anyone some month or so later we received a letter from a Debt Recovery company requesting funds saying it is a BPA parking and then another one a week later with "NOTICE OF INTENDED LITIGATION" if not paid in 7 days etc. this the most recently dated but not delivered letter.

Only today some 1 week later did we receive a letter from the Parking Collection Services backdated to July saying Parking Charge Notice issued, Contravention: Abused Patron Parking etc. will go to debt collectors if not paid.

Please note: Person A has a very nice car (not mentioning any names but in league with Porsche) and must have stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the few other cars parked in the retail park, that did not receive any attention but were still there when we left.

We feel conned, we do not accept the charge and I really never want to go back to Halfrauds again after this experience.

Reason I am writing: Person A is worried that this process or the Debt Recovery agency may affect his ratings in a negative way, despite the fact he has no mortgage or debt.

Person A does not have time to deal with the matter which I'm dealing with, I have not made any contact yet, but I have a feeling they have CCTV in one form or another. Any help/pointers would be appreciated.

trisontana

Stop worrying. Debt collectors cannot affect a credit rating over an alleged parking ticket. It would have to go to court, the case lost and then refusing to pay whatever the judge orders for that to happen. This is so unlikely that it's not worth worrying about.

Debt collectors are just private citizens with no more power then you or me to demand money off people.

pfenig

Thanks for the very fast reply. Will try and find that thread.

The client is: Central Ticketing
One letter from the Parking Collection Services, and one letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd.

halibut2209

Show him the watchdog clip at the top of the forum where a solicitor shows what you should do with your letter

Coupon-mad

pfenig wrote: »

Thanks for the very fast reply. Will try and find that thread.

The client is: Central Ticketing
One letter from the Parking Collection Services, and one letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd.

Debt collector letters and 'let's pretend we are solicitors, that'll scare them' letter-headings are part of the scam. Halfords are at fault but then so are every supermarket, B&Q, McDonalds, Airports and all the other duped big businessess who have been 'sold' the idea that a private parking company (PPC to us) will solve their parking problems!

By all means complain in writing to Halfords about allowing a practice akin to a protection racket to take place. Do not mention getting money from the Bank though, you are not 'appealing' (there is no appeal) nor trying to excuse your own behaviour; if you COMPLAIN about the PPC then show Halfords a photocopy of the threats you are getting and tell them they have lost the custom of you and your family, as a direct result of this scam. Tell them their Managers should have checked out Central Ticketing, the shocking debt collector threats that these charlatan companies all use to scare people and the well-known pointlessness of PPC fake parking tickets with a quick Google search before allowing them to be let loose on their customers and staff! Show them the Watchdog link if you complain by email, as well as scanned-in copies of the debt collector threats. The more complaints about these scammers the better.

Read the sticky threads (permanent info threads at the top of the current thread list on this parking sub-forum). And then read any other thread on the first page that takes your fancy, except threads about REAL parking tickets from Councils:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...play.php?f=163

You will soon be confident that you must just ignore the bogus PCN as it's a scam, it's NOT a fine. Definitely watch the Watchdog link (on 'Welcome, please read before posting') and check out the preview pics of the 'scary debt collector letter-chain' that you can look forward to filing in your drawer marked 'ignore, scam'.

On our top thread the pics show the mail scam is usually carried out by Roxburghe for Central Ticketing - but if you look at other PPC names you will see 'your' debt collector PCS is there named and shamed as well. And we think the main guy who runs PCS (Jason Brierley) may be one and the same as this Jason Brierley - find his name as one of the defendants, it's the right age and the right home town for it to be the PCS man:

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/8164963.Polegate_man_denies___20m_VAT_fraud/

I promise you that when you show your relative this thread and the Watchdog clip (a must-see, as others have said already!) and then the preview thread with 'your' letter-chain in pics, they will also understand that this is a scam. It cannot affect your credit rating nor his, only defaults on credit agreements/proper debts can do that (or if a company goes to Court and wins and you don't pay, then you can get a CCJ). But that will NOT happen here as Central Ticketing have never tried Court - because this isn't a valid debt. They rely instead on threats and the British public being uninformed that private companies cannot fine people.

ALWAYS simply ignore any private parking ticket. Only ever take seriously a ticket from the Police, TFL or a Council.

HTH

funkycoldribena

pfenig wrote: »

Sorry in advance for the length. Won't mention any names or places, Person A is an older relative.

Person A (driving) and myself parked up in a retail parking (the retail parking was nearly empty) with the intention of going into one of the superstores (namely Halfords), please note I regularly frequent Halfords and this retail park. I forgot my wallet and Person A was having trouble with his cards meaning he had to go to the bank to remove money so I could go into Halfords and buy what I wanted.

Having parked the Bank is about a 10 minute walk from Halfords and it is very difficult to park any closer to the centre, so we decided to walk it and walk back, completely unawares of the fraud that was about to occur to us.

Due to the queue in the Bank it took us maybe 30 minutes (still quicker than going back home) there and back to get the cash out and return. On our return we witnessed a little man in a fluorescent jacket hanging about our car, we made eye contact and he then tried to ignore us and then literally jogged away in an unknown direction after slapping a yellow sticker to our car before we could get close enough.

It read "Abused Patron Parking"

I took the ticket to Halfords and angrily spoke to someone at the desk, unfortunately I did not take their name or buy anything as I was so angry and bewildered.

Before we received anything from anyone some month or so later we received a letter from a Debt Recovery company requesting funds saying it is a BPA parking and then another one a week later with "NOTICE OF INTENDED LITIGATION" if not paid in 7 days etc. this the most recently dated but not delivered letter.

Only today some 1 week later did we receive a letter from the Parking Collection Services backdated to July saying Parking Charge Notice issued, Contravention: Abused Patron Parking etc. will go to debt collectors if not paid.

Please note: Person A has a very nice car (not mentioning any names but in league with Porsche) and must have stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the few other cars parked in the retail park, that did not receive any attention but were still there when we left.

We feel conned, we do not accept the charge and I really never want to go back to Halfrauds again after this experience.

Reason I am writing: Person A is worried that this process or the Debt Recovery agency may affect his ratings in a negative way, despite the fact he has no mortgage or debt.

Person A does not have time to deal with the matter which I'm dealing with, I have not made any contact yet, but I have a feeling they have CCTV in one form or another. Any help/pointers would be appreciated.

Let me re-write your post for you-

Mate got a Private parking ticket-should he ignore it?

Answer-yes.

pfenig

Sorry for the lack of a reply have been busy lately.

I wanted to thank everyone for their help. The letters have appeared to have stopped. I did not reply to any of them.

peter_the_piper

Nice of him to advise there is parking for "Abused Patrons" though how they would recognise one I'm not sure.

Kite2010

Complain to the management of the shops of getting harassed by an agent acting on their behalf and that from now on you will be shopping at *name local rival* or on the internet, and telling your friends, family & work colleagues to do the same.

It's a retail park which wants to die, so let it die.

vax2002

You have not been given a parking ticket or a fine:
From a legal prospective what you have been given is an "invitation to pay a private invoice".
You are legally within your rights to reject the invitation and keep your money:
What will happen is they will buy your private data from DVLA and send a series of menacing letters threatening to take you to court and then more letters from fake debt collectors and fake solicitors again all threatening to take you to court.
They will not take you to court as legally they have no power to fine you or charge you a penalty.
In short it is a scam of impersonation and threats.
HOW TO DEAL:
IGNORE everything, ignore all letters, ignore all fake solicitors letters and ignore all fake debt collectors.
They will get fed up and move on to another victim.
IGNORE Means exactly that IGNORE, you do not appeal, there is no appeal it is part of the scam, you do not bite back, do not write or do anything to correspond and they will go away, if they call your telephone, do not confirm any information place the handset down and leave it of the hook for ten minutes .
BE WARNED evidence on these and other forums clearly describes how people who do pay these hoping they go away receive further demands for more money, often several hundreds of pounds.

AlexisV

Ask yourself under what contractual arrangement could you possibly owe anyone any money for 'abuse'.

What is the contractual offer? That anyone is entitled to commit abusive parking in exchange for a sum of money?

Your ticket is a proper nonsense, even in he world of the private parking con.