Membury services, welcome break ..parking eye (again!!)

solbarca

Thank you for this forum and all the threads ....

I have received a parking charge notice from Parking Eye. On receipt, and before reading these forums, I immediately wrote them an e-mail explaining that this was my car, my daughter was driving it and the reason she was in their car park for three hours was due to the heavy snows on 5th February 12. She did not want to be on the motorway in a tiny car. It took her 2 hours to do what is normally an hour plus journey just to get to the services at Membury. Due to fatigue and the fear of the driving conditions she fell asleep. I cited Act of God etc. I have even spoken with Welcome Break who have written an e-mail to Parking Eye to ask them to withdraw. They do not appear to have listened to anything I have done, nor have they done anything to be pro-active with me. Just bullish behaviour.

Today I received my first letter from them.

Just a few questions!!

How sure are you that all these letters will follow and then they will back off?

How sure are any of you that they have not taken anyone to Court?

Let me re-phrase that .... how would you know if they HAD taken anyone to court and the result?

Does anyone know for sure that they, or their collection agency, have not taken anyone to Court ......

Is there anything I can do to STOP this now ..... any organization etc that I can write/ speak to who could help?

Thank you all so much.

taffy056

I have explained in another thread to you about this.

But let me tell you that I can guarantee you won't get a ccj , they would need to take you to court, win the case, and you refuse to pay the judgement within 28 days. Now the number of times parking eye have gone to court ever can be counted on one hand. The number of times they have won are non existent . There are thousands of posts on here, there are the sticky threads explaining it all for you. And the BBC Watchdog has done 3 pieces on this, all confirming the same thing.

solbarca

Thank you.

Coupon-mad

I will also try to answer your questions, as I didn't see another thread. Answers in blue:

How sure are you that all these letters will follow and then they will back off? 100% sure, it happens to everyone...thousands and thousands of posters here - except 'Smithy' (read his thread but don't be put off as it was a one-off and Parking Eye spent a lot of money on nothing!).

How sure are any of you that they have not taken anyone to Court?
Let me re-phrase that .... how would you know if they HAD taken anyone to court and the result?
They took Smithy to Court but that was a one-off for Parking Eye, it's not how they operate. They JUST do letters. They follow this forum and used to complain when we used the word 'scam' but the forum team decided it was OK! Parking Eye would crow about any win, here and on their website; they would want us to know.


Does anyone know for sure that they, or their collection agency, have not taken anyone to Court ......
A collection agency is just a call centre with template letters. They ask people to pay debts and non-debts. This is a non-debt. And you were not even driving so there is NO CASE against you even if they were to try. Collection agencies/debt collectors do not take people to Court, they write letters and occasionally phone up. They are annoying and as you've told them you were not driving you could threaten to sue, or actually sue, the PPC and car park owner/occupier/retailer for harassment in fact, and get compensation - like 'Give them FA' did!

If I get a CCJ against me it will damage my career and I will not be able to carry on working in the area I do. I am really concerned.

You will not get a CCJ. This only happens if you get taken to Court (won't happen, please believe us) and actually lose (nope...you have an absolute defence, you weren't driving and have told them that) and then you refuse to pay or delay paying, if you lose (errrr...nope!).

I also have a job with an enhanced CRB check and used to work in finance as well - but my fake PCN 4 years ago made me laugh and I never for a minute feared a CCJ or Court. It was just about ignoring some threatograms, it was easy! Junk mail, that's all, and our top thread has pics of those letters so you can just play PPC snap with them.

Is there anything I can do to STOP this now ..... any organization etc that I can write/ speak to who could help?

No, not an organisation that will actually help. The umbrella body for these scammers is the BPA but as someone else said, it would be like reporting a member of the Mob to the Godfather if you tried that!

But yes, you could possibly stop it by collecting the first few threatograms and taking copies of them, and then sending a 'Letter before Action' to Welcome Break and Parking Eye (both) telling them that this is harassment, it's illegal, you were not driving and so as the registered keeper you are not responsible for this fake 'PCN' which was spuriously issued anyway and is not supported by Welcome Break, so why is it even being pursued?

If the threatening letters do not stop now then you will sue both parties for compensation. Point out that Welcome Break is liable for the unlawful actions of its agent. And any further contact from PE or their debt collectors/agents will be charged at a further £25 per letter on top of the Court fee, damages and interest.

That 'should' stop this as Welcome Break won't like this exposure at all - but I think you need some of the threatograms to arrive first so you have something to show the CEO of Welcome Break. Do not appeal, do not talk about 'Acts of God', and do not mention who was actually driving again. It's none of their business if they can't be bothered to aim their rubbish letters at the right person; you do not have to give them information they should have established on the day.

And BTW your daughter isn't going to get a CCJ either...

HTH

give_them_FA

Hi Solbarca,

I can't add much to Coupon-Mad's excellent reply, other than to confirm that it is all correct, and to re-inforce the point that (unlike a Council ticket) ONLY the driver could ever be considered liable- and that isn't you. So there is NO WAY that you could ever be taken to Court, and, since you are under no obligation whatever to say who WAS driving, really Parking Eye are up the creek on this.

You have already discovered what a total sham their so called appeal system is so don't waste any further time on that. They have even ridden rough shod over the wishes of the landowner whose agent they purport to be- they are disreputable money-grubbers pure and simple.

You have two options. First you can simply ignore any further correspondence which they send you, no matter who it's from or what empty threats it makes. After sending a predetermined series of template letters, they will conclude they are wasting their time and give up. THAT NEVER FAILS.

Or, you can, if you feel bold, go advanced and take the initiative. You can, upon receipt of their first demand, write back and tell them that you were not the driver and therefore owe them nothing; and so if they persist in making unwarranted threats, you will consider it to be unlawful harassment and will start an action against them in your local County Court claiming damages under Section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Copy this to Welcome Break as you can include them as responsible for the actions of their agent.

Unlike theirs, this is no empty threat. As Coupon Mad has mentioned, I did exactly that against a different Parking Company and their debt collection company, and received substantial damages.

I would expect them to desist after such a letter; since my case I think they run a mile when they see the words Harassment Act. But in the event they are stupid enough to keep writing, come back on and I will help you. Unlike them, I LOVE the County Court!

robredz

Ignore the PPC, collect their toilet paper and do as give them FA suggests once you have a
collection of threatOgrams imho

give_them_FA

give_them_FA wrote: »

You can, upon receipt of their first demand, write back and tell them that you were not the driver and therefore owe them nothing; and so if they persist in making unwarranted threats, you will consider it to be unlawful harassment and will start an action against them in your local County Court claiming damages under Section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

Amend, if they are already aware that you were not the driver (and your "appeal" has put them on notice of that) then any demands they make to you will be unlawful and I don't think you need to warn them again. Just let them have some rope, then act.

bondy_lad

do not let this worry you,no crime committed and you have first class advice from this forum, relax,feet up, chill,glass of wine,,and dont forget when you recieve further toilet paper, do with it what you usually do,,then flush.

give_them_FA

No, no, bondy, she has to keep this toilet paper, it will form the basis of her harassment claim!:rotfl:

solbarca

... LETTERS 2 AND 3 NOW WITH ME ..... WILL GIVE THEM TILL THE DEBT COLLECTING ONE TO SORT THEIR LIVES OUT ...
:rotfl::T

Coupon-mad

solbarca wrote: »

... LETTERS 2 AND 3 NOW WITH ME ..... WILL GIVE THEM TILL THE DEBT COLLECTING ONE TO SORT THEIR LIVES OUT ...
:rotfl::T

Good - at this early stage it may be worth a 2nd class stamp just to write and say you consider the letters to be harassment and remind them politely that you have already told them you weren't driving and as the registered keeper you are not liable. Keep a copy of your letters.

Then if you are up for suing for compensation further along the line you can show you tried to tell them more than once to stop (as in the Ferguson -v- British Gas case). In that case I think the judge was impressed with Mrs Ferguson's attempts to stop the harassment & point out she owed no debt; she came across as a reasonable person who had done her best to tell them to stop.