Parking notice from civil enforcement ltd?

mrsg26

Hi I hope someone can offer advice. My husband was at a local restaurant a few weeks ago. It was Harry Ramsdens, he parked in their car park and went in and ordered food. He left after 30 mins and that was that, however we received a letter from this civil enforcement ltd to say we had parked our car there and weren't registered to do so and therefore had to pay a £75 fine rising to £150 after 14 days. However Harry Ramsdens customers are supposed to get free use of the the car park for 3 hours. So because he was in fact a Harry Ramsdens customer I went in to the restaurant to see the manager They said the car park was operated by a 3rd party company and they had CCTV. They said my husband should have entered his car registration no when he entered the restaurant and that staff should have informed him..which they did not. However we could prove we were at the restaurant at the time with out receipt so they advised me to send a letter of appeal to say we were contesting the charges because we had been customers. I thought that would be the end of it but today I received a letter back from civil enforcement ltd to say the enforcement notice would not be cancelled because my husband did not register his car for free parking when in the restaurant. I don't know what to do. It's so maddening to think we bought from their restaurant and as customers we should have been entitled to free parking but we are being charged because my husband did not give the registration...for which he wasn't asked. I really don't know what to do, I work in a bank so can't afford to have any adverse credit and they have threatened to take me to court if I don't pay but I don't see why I should have to pay because it was a car park for restaurant customers. Sorry for rambling on I just need some advice if anyone has any. Thanks.

worried_jim

Just put it in the bin and ignore these clowns, it's a scam and nothing will happen. Have no contact with these chancers at all.

Kite2010

Not the best restaurant if they expect for the customers to deal with the scammers themselves, a decent restaurant would sort out the vultures themselves (by ripping up the contract)

I hope that restaurant has lost at least 1 customer.

give_them_FA

You wasted your time appealing. You could have been the personal guest of the Harry Ramsden M.D., had a witness statement from him, and they would still have knocked you back... it would cost them £75 to be honest! and they are not honest...

However, the only "Enforcement" they have is the name of their slimy company. They don't go anywhere near courts, which, considering they wouldn't have a leg to stand on, is just as well for them.

So have no further communication with them.

The ones you need to vent your wrath on are the restaurant. You need to go in and see the manager and ask him what he's going to do about having his customers threatened by a gang of cowboys.

And DO NOT accept an answer along the lines of "you will have to talk to them, it's nothing to do with me".

They EMPLOY these morons so it is EVERYTHING to do with Ramsdens! They need to get them off your backs. If they don't then you will soon be in position to sue both parties for harassment if you get letters making unwarranted demands with menaces.

Not joking. I did it and got a handy sum in damages.

What will NOT happen is any problem with your credit file. They sometimes try to suggest that but as you already know they are not truthful people and have no integrity.

juno

I ignored a "fine" from this company a few years ago and nothing bad happened. Ignore them!

PS I'm fining you for reading this post

Coupon-mad

Calm down and ignore it. This will not effect your credit rating as it's not a real fine - it's just like ignoring any other scam, such as phishing emails.

I used to work in a Bank as well and I have ignored a fake PCN 4 years ago. Nothing happens except the letters as shown in the second to top thread, you need to read the thread called 'PPC letters and threats' (dont worry about the fake Court papers, it's all part of the scam for a few PPCs).

See my signature, one click and you are back at the forum view, click on the forum thread called 'PPC letters & threats'. Watch the Watchdog clip, listen to the solicitor on that excerpt - also Watchdog are covering this sort of scam again next Thursday!

Each time you get a scary debt collector letter, find 'your' letter in the many pics of letter-chains. See what comes next and ignore the threats, just laugh and play snap with each matching template. Do not even think about writing to the PPC again or paying.

This was never a legit parking ticket, not a fine nor a penalty.

I am amazed people think there is any case at all to pay such scammers and why everyone seems to think they can affect credit rating!

IMHO there is no doubt about this, you are entitled to be VERY angry with Harry Ramsdens for exposing you to this harassment - I would write a letter of complaint (not appeal) telling HR they have just lost a customer due to this rip-off. Say that you haven't fallen for it as you have looked up the unenforceability of these fake PCNs online - but it is WRONG in principle for any retailer to treat its paying customers this way because less clued-up people would be intimidated and possibly pay what is simply a scam, exposed lots of times by Watchdog and in the national papers and on websites. Tell them that this protection racket in their car park is tarnishing their name, etc. etc. Send it snail mail to the Head Office UK address (look it up on their website).

And you can rest assured there will be NO Court, NO CCJ, NO bailiff, NO effect on credit rating.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

Coupon-mad wrote: »

IMHO there is no doubt about this, you are entitled to be VERY angry with Harry Ramsdens for exposing you to this harassment - I would write a letter of complaint (not appeal) telling HR they have just lost a customer due to this rip-off.

Agreed. And tell them that in future you will be using an independent local chippy with free parking and decent sized portions.
World famous fish & chips my 4rse.

vax2002

It is fake ticket that is designed to impersonate authority of a real parking ticket.
They could technically sue you for the loss you caused by eating fish and chips which is £0
That is it, not one penny more do you owe them.
You can safely ignore them and get ready for the silly letters to follow.
They will change characters to more fake authority such as pretend debt collectors, solicitors, even expect snow white and the seven dwarfs to get involved.
They can not damage your credit rating as you dont have a credit agreement with them to damage and they wont be able to sue you as you can not sue for nothing, the charge is an illegal penalty, which they are kindly inviting you to pay.
So armed with this sit back, wise up, its all a scam and join our exclusive club of ignoring parking scammers.
I have dozens of these, ignored the lot, never lost a penny !
Some companies even refuse to give me them now dont you !
Which is a shame as i have to buy hamster bedding when I dont get the silly letters to shred.

Also, Harry Ramsdens world famous fish and chips have made it perfectly clear they do not want you to be a customer again by failure to help.
make sure you dont oblige them again if they think scamming customers is a good idea.

Kite2010

And make sure you tell your friends, family & work colleagues not to oblige Harry Ramsdens again with their money.

mrsg26

Thank you to everyone for your kind replies. You don't realise how stressed I've been with all this. I'm trying to finish off my dissertation at uni plus doing 12 hr shifts at the bank and to think I wasted 3 hours of my precious time last week writing letters and posting etc to this scam company...it's going in the bin right now. I left a review of harry ramsdens Glasgow on trip advisor and of the 8 or so reviews that are there they all mostly relate to these rip off charges. I don't know how they can continue to operate when they appear to be alienating their customers! I will be keeping a closer eye on this thread in future I had absolutely no idea these companies were operating in such a way and getting away with it! :mad:

give_them_FA

You must be aware these people are total parasites. They don't care who suffers- whether it be the driver or the business foolish enough to use them- so long as they swindle money out of people. I wish more people would do what really is very easy and sue them for their bully-boy harassment tactics.