Do I have to pay this parking charge?

KaratePigeon

hello,
I did do a quick search on the forum but got a bit confused

DP has just recieved a letter through the post from 'CP Plus' with photographic evidence of his car at a service station with times on. he was there for nearly 4 hours (stopped for a little nap which lasted a bit longer than he thought - better than falling asleep on the motorway though). It doesn't say but I guess you are only allowed 2 hours at a service station?

Anyway they want £50 within 14 days or apparently it'll be £80...etc

Do we need to pay it? If we don't then I need to be really, really sure we don't as we are in the process of moving house and can't risk anything coming up on our credit rating at this stage!

Thanks

Valli

No

just IGNORE

don't respond AT ALL

if you're moving you wont get stacks of letters;)

Wig

Who is the registered keeper? Did you see the photos? Is the driver visible in the photos?

You can choose to pay or choose to ignore.

If you choose to ignore, my advise is do not contact the company for any reason they will not listen and it will be more evidence for them who the driver was. If you ignore, you may get taken to court at which point you will have to show why you think the signs are not sufficiently displayed, or why you think the charge is a penalty and not a legitimate tariff for parking there. You may win or you may lose.

You may not get taken to court at all and will be able to rest easy after 6 years, you can tell any debt collection agency letters to refer the matter back to the debtee as you dispute the claim, that should stop the letters but increases your chance of going to court.

At the end of the day it is a gamble and don't let anyone tell you any different.

trisontana

But a gamble that works 99.99% of the time. One parking company (Euro) have openly admitted that they never take anyone to court because they know they would not win.

KaratePigeon

ok, thanks.
DP is the registered keeper, the pictures are fuzzy, can see someone in the car but you wouldn't know if they were male or female.

I don't know what to do now, £50 is so much money and we can't really afford it, but then we definately can't afford to loose the deposit on our house if this suddenly crops up on our credit record after exchange

KaratePigeon

even if he doesn't get taken to court, will it show up on his credit record? that's mostly what we are worried about tbh!

trisontana

KaratePigeon wrote: »

even if he doesn't get taken to court, will it show up on his credit record? that's mostly what we are worried about tbh!

No. For a credit record to be damaged the case would have to go to court (very unlikely), the case is lost (very, very unlikely) then the defendant refuses to pay whatever the judge orders within 28 days.

Wig

I agree, do not be worried about any consequence of credit ratings. Any court case would be at least a year away and more like 2 years or more. Then you would have to not pay the court judgment within 28days in order to get a bad credit rating.

Coupon-mad

KaratePigeon wrote: »

even if he doesn't get taken to court, will it show up on his credit record? that's mostly what we are worried about tbh!

Thirded.

NO. Absolutely no effect on your credit rating - it's like ignoring a phishing email and is no gamble at all since CP Plus never do Court and those odd PPCs that try, lose.

Stop worrying, these fake PCNs are a scam. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to see the Watchdog paper aeroplane excerpt which is linked in a sticky (permanent info) thread near the top of the forum thread list:

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

It's an absolute must-see for people who actually think a Private parking fake ticket is a real one. The Watchdog link (featuring an expert solicitor called Tim Cary) is on the sticky thread near the top of that list called 'WELCOME, please read before posting'!!!!

Then look at the sticky thread called 'PPC letters, what to expect' and make sure that you just, from now on, play a fun game of snap with each matching letter as it arrives. You can easily predict the next one, and the last one - it's quite fun!

You will not go to Court, no-one will come knocking, no bailiff will call.

Nothing about ignoring this con will affect your credit rating, just keep ignoring. Next time just laugh if ever your car collects a piece of unwanted rubbish called a parking charge notice (a real PCN is a penalty charge notice).

HTH

KaratePigeon

ok, thanks everyone, I'm convinced. You've just saved us £50

funkycoldribena

Wig wrote: »

Who is the registered keeper? Did you see the photos? Is the driver visible in the photos?

You can choose to pay or choose to ignore.

If you choose to ignore, my advise is do not contact the company for any reason they will not listen and it will be more evidence for them who the driver was. If you ignore, you may get taken to court at which point you will have to show why you think the signs are not sufficiently displayed, or why you think the charge is a penalty and not a legitimate tariff for parking there. You may win or you may lose.

You may not get taken to court at all and will be able to rest easy after 6 years, you can tell any debt collection agency letters to refer the matter back to the debtee as you dispute the claim, that should stop the letters but increases your chance of going to court.

At the end of the day it is a gamble and don't let anyone tell you any different.

I think you're putting out advice that is likely to confuse,you're adding too many "mays" when it should be "highly unlikelys".