MacDonalds and MET

cmw133

In May 2011 I received a met parking notice for £50 for my car which my son was driving at the time. He visited McDonalds met friends left and went to get something from a local supermarket and returned to the car park. The parking fine was for the first time entering the car park and the second time leaving. I told the company this and again when they doubled the charge. I havent heard anything until today when I received a letter from debtrecoveryplus chasing £150. Some one please advise next step.:(

trisontana

Just keep ignoring. The "debt collector" letter is just part of the usual letter chain. And it's not a FINE, it's an unenforceable invoice.

taffy056

So they sent you a letter from an invoice from 8 months ago, trust me it won't go anywhere, they will have no chance one for waiting so long and two the whole private parking is one big scam. Please read the sticky threads to educate yourself about this scam.

Coupon-mad

cmw133 wrote: »

In May 2011 I received a met parking notice for £50 for my car which my son was driving at the time. He visited McDonalds met friends left and went to get something from a local supermarket and returned to the car park. The parking fine was for the first time entering the car park and the second time leaving. I told the company this and again when they doubled the charge. I havent heard anything until today when I received a letter from debtrecoveryplus chasing £150. Some one please advise next step.:(

Your next step would be to watch the Watchdog video linked above already, and be certain this is indeed a mail scam that you are in the middle of, nothing to worry about. Ignore them.

The MET and the Debt Recovery Plus letters are all shown in pictures on our top thread by Crabman, 'PPC letters & threats'. Go and have a close look at the letters now so you can see where you are and what to expect next. Then you can just play PPC snap as each matching threatogram arrives, that's all.

Then it will be 'scam over'. There's no effect at all on your credit rating and no-one comes knocking on the door. DRP are just pen-pushers and the letters hot air, just like the whole con.

Fall3nFi5t

I've sent them back an "appeal" to say I wasn't driving, this was denied and they told me I was responsible or to give them the name of the driver. So i told them again I was not driving and sent them a hire car invoice for the time in question again the refuse to accept this and are immediately saying they will issue a county court claim.

27col

That is amazing! A PPC rejecting an appeal. Whatever next!
Anyway, not to worry, they won't be issuing a county court claim. They don't even know who the driver was, so who are they going to sue. It is certainly not up to you to tell them who was driving.

give_them_FA

However what you need to guard against is them taking the easy route and invoicing the hire company. If they do that hire companies may pay and then recover from your card under the T & C that they hold you liable for fines. But this is not a fine so they shouldn't do so. You do need to contact the hire company and tell them that if they receive an invoice they must not pay, need not forward it to you (some charge an admin fee) and if they do pay you won't be re-imbursing them as it is an unenforceable scam ticket.

Do so in writing or confirm a conversation with a letter!

Other than that totally ignore anything the scammers send you. They can not, and will not, do anything, especially if you don't say who was driving.

FatAndy

Fall3nFi5t wrote: »

I've sent them back an "appeal" to say I wasn't driving, this was denied and they told me I was responsible or to give them the name of the driver. So i told them again I was not driving and sent them a hire car invoice for the time in question again the refuse to accept this and are immediately saying they will issue a county court claim.

Did they say will issue a county court claim or may issue a county claim. There's a big difference. Clearly they're getting worried that you've got wise to the scam hence they're getting ever more desperate with the scare tactics.

Fall3nFi5t

The wording they use is

"We intend to issue a County Court Claim shortly"

I have proof and a witness statement to show I was elsewhere driving a different car at the time.

AltheHibby

The witness could be the Queen or the Pope and they still wouldn't care. You are on safe ground following the advice from the guys.

Chill and ignore them (the scammers, not the posters!)