Help please i'm scared!

Kite2010

It can be argued that the services has lost whatever the displayed tariff for above 2 hours is (normally something like £7 payable via mobile to a 0870 number which takes 2 hours to actually pay), but that would be the landowner having to sue you for the damages, not some 3rd party chancers pretending to "manage" the car-park.

Ignore Parking Pie.

prettyscaredlol

So i've been keeping up to date with this forum regarding Parking Eye, and some threads are saying they're having phone calls from them now?

Like i said, really didn't wanna tell my parents as i knew they'd go mental and say i'm not mature enough to drive if i can't handle simple parking stuff, i'm gonna be dead if they phone and simply say DEBT COLLECTORS or something.

So basically, to avoid the phonecalls i've gotta pay?

And now since i've ignored it before i saw anything about phonecalls, i've gotta pay the extra charge on top of that too? Wonderful, gonna cost me more money i don't have

Trebor16

No, you don't have to pay just because some chancer phones up and makes demands. Tell your parents what has happened and explain to them that you have not been fined, just been given an unenforceable invoice. Show them the watchdog video, direct them to here and Pepipoo. But whatever you do, don't pay the scammers.

ManxRed

No private individual or company can fine anyone. That is the legal domain of Courts, Police (in certain circumstances) and Councils (again in certain circumstances). No one else has the authority to issue fines to anyone.

This is an invoice inviting you to pay for breaching a contract. Under contract law, the redress for breach is actual losses suffered, which in this case is zero.

Legally, you owe them nothing.

As Stephen says, try and get your parents to watch the Watchdog video. This is even assuming you get any phone calls, its only a proportion of people who get them. Is your parents' phone listed in your name?

Oopsadaisy

Either follow the advice on here...or pay up. Either way sorts out the problem.

There's nothing special in your case ...[hasn't been anything unique/different in any cases on here for several years].

give_them_FA

If anyone phones (not very likely) just treat it like any other stalking call and tell them to eff off and then hang up. They will tire of that before you do.

Coupon-mad

prettyscaredlol wrote: »

So i've been keeping up to date with this forum regarding Parking Eye, and some threads are saying they're having phone calls from them now?

Like i said, really didn't wanna tell my parents as i knew they'd go mental and say i'm not mature enough to drive if i can't handle simple parking stuff, i'm gonna be dead if they phone and simply say DEBT COLLECTORS or something.

So basically, to avoid the phonecalls i've gotta pay?

And now since i've ignored it before i saw anything about phonecalls, i've gotta pay the extra charge on top of that too? Wonderful, gonna cost me more money i don't have

Are you a PPC 'plant' as your post makes no sense? It's almost like you are trying to be pointlessly alarmist!

Of course you don't have to pay and if your parents needed educating about phishing emails you'd warn them sharpish wouldn't you? You wouldn't panic and think, 'oh I must send this £100 to Nigeria by Western Union otherwise my parents might get some more dodgy emails...'

SAME SCAM. Why be scared of a scam? Be aware of it and surely it's your duty to tell your parents about this before they fall for it at the first hint of a 'debt collector letter'. And most of these fake PCNs never have any phone calls - mine never did, it was just rubbish letters and easily ignored.

So for gawd's sake show them the Watchdog video and the letter-chain pics in the top thread and tell them this is all a well-known scam. I do hope you haven't ONLY been following this little old thread when there are hundreds, nay thousands on this forum about this scam? Why not look at a few other people's threads by clicking just once (see my signature). You can read any thread about a PPC and you will see that EVERYONE ignores these pieces of trash. And read the top thread 'PPC letters & threats' for that Watchdog link I mentioned and the letter-chain preview in pictures.

Watchdog are even talking about it again tonight, regarding the scandal of the DVLA selling registered keepers' details to these scammers!

ashleypride

Butterfliesarepretty wrote: »

Like I said its worth trying as they have a section for private parking tickets as well. Wont harm to ask as someone on there may have received a ticket from Parking Eye too.
http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

Of course it won't harm, but there is little point spending any more energy on the piece of bog roll that came through her door. The advice given here is absolutely correct, and exactly the same advice Pepipoo will give.

Nozone

Hello prettyscaredlol,

Just a few things I picked out;

give them FA - you can trust what this user says, I've certainly benefitted from their advice (and other users). You can pretty much take it as given that anyone with around 1000+ thanks (seen on the left under their name) is at least genuine. For obvious reasons most people won't say 'This definately works', generally people will tell you 'This is what I would do' and it seems that 99% of the time, the advice regarding Private Parking Companies works every time! Trolls (on this forum they will overwhelmingly be PPC employees - you can usually tell they type like a 3 year old and claim a Judge has just forced them to pay up for 107 unpaid tickets dating back to 1931) will usually have very few posts, and !!!!!! off once someone exposes them.

Telling your parents - Again I'm not saying what you should do, but having been in similar situations even up to fairly recently (I'm 25) sometimes you have to bite the bullet and tell them (even though you KNOW you're going to get a bollocking or whatever). You could always deny all knowledge to them but it just means you have to keep lying to cover your lies and you'll end up in a stressy mess. Just explain to them what a bunch of idiots the PPC's are - they are bullies, scammers, liars, and YOU are the victim, not them. You've done nothing wrong. If you can convince them to look on here or even post to ask their own questions that would be good! Getting a private parking ticket has no bearing on your driving ability, or any other ability for that matter. It's equivalent to a Tesco employee running up to you and demanding you pay for the can of beans you just picked up and looked at, because you left fingerprints on it.

Watchdog Videos - As others have said, go on youtube and search for 'Watchdog PPC'. This is a must. I guarantee it will make you smile! There was also some more good stuff last night on Watchdog (might be on youtube, is certainly on BBC iPlayer), it's the first 10 minutes or so of the show.

Phonecalls - They may or may not call, as stated just treat it as a harrassing call. Claim they have the wrong number, tell them you'll get the person they are after and just leave the phone off the hook, sing down the line to them, or perhaps the sensible option is to just tell them the debt is denied and hang up. The general consensus on here is that this is the best option, but as I've said before, these companies are a joke - why not join in the fun

Court - Depending on your age (and thus whether you're able to actually form a contract - not sure about this though) and the fact you are on a low income and in School, I seriously doubt there would be anyone in the country (aside from PPC's) moronic enough to take this whole thing seriously. That's just my opinion so it's up to others to comment and say I'm way off the mark.

Just don't engage them in any contact - in my case the Registered Keeper of the vehicle (I was the driver) sent them a couple of letters without me knowing and it would seem they think they have hooked a fish, although to be honest I think they are on the ropes.

MOST OF ALL DON'T GET STRESSED/WORRIED.
This is very easy to say - however I, as most of the others on here will know that it is stressful and frightening to receive this crap, just let it go over your head. This might help;

A big reason why PPC's are so desperate to claw back unpaid parking 'charges' is because they pay out thousands of pounds to the DLA to obtain drivers information (so they can send their crappily proofread letters). If NOBODY paid the original 'charges' and NOBODY paid up at any point in the letter chain then the PPC's would operate at an enormous loss. As it stands, people often pay up immediately, or at some point during the letter chain when they see the additional 'charges' being piled on, and bogus threats of court action. Thus the PPC's, I assume, still make a profit.

Hope that's a bit of reassurance for you!

27col

OP, to coin a phrase, "Which part of ignore them, didn't you understand".
There is an enormous amount of good information and advice to be found on this forum. Your situation is no different to the hundreds of others who have posted for advice. There is absolutely no reason to get stressed about the communications that you will receive, especially as you have been told exactly what to expect.
Nozone has summarised the situation in a very comprehensive manner. You would do well to take notice of the advice given. Otherwise, what was the point of coming to this forum.
If you propose to go through life, paying out money to prevent yourself from being "stressed" by scam mail. Then you are going to be very hard up, very soon. Please take the good advice given.