HELP!! Please? Roxburghe Debt Collectors Letter

Princess2012

Hi,
Im wondering if someone could help me please? (I'm new to this and this is my first post)
I received a parking ticket as I was parked outside the bay. I was advised by friends and family to ignore it. I did and now I've received a debt collectors letter for £200 from a company called Roxburghe!!
I rang Roxburghe in a panic and now they have my mobile number and keep calling me! They are saying I have to pay the fine or i'll go to court!
Help? Please!!
Should I just pay the £200 fine to stop them badgering me? or do I continue to ignore them?
Any help would be kindly appreciated

ManxRed

Firstly, don't panic.

Roxburghe's are well known and will not take you to court, in fact they don't have the legal power to do this, it would need to be their client.

They won't though. They haven't got a leg to stand on, and they know it.

This is what you should tell them when they call next:

"The debt is denied. As per the Office of Fair Trading guidelines, you must now refer this matter back to your client. Any further contact from you will be treated as harassment and action may be taken accordingly."

Then end the call.

Don't answer any questions or enter into any conversation with them.

There. That was easier than paying them £200, eh?

If you tell them this and they call again, come back here and we will help you draft a notice before action to the relevant parties in respect of a potential harassment charge against them, and the people who hired them (a supermarket?? a retail store??).

give_them_FA

Roxburghe are a bunch of totally powerless R-soles. Unfortunately, you encouraged them by contacting them, always a bad move, I'm afraid.

Despite their swaggering threats and lying letters, I can tell you that Roxburghe never, ever, take anyone to Court. All they ever do is threaten.

On no account give them so much as a bent foreign coin. Do not be frightened of them. Ignore all of their calls, if you hang up without speaking to them they will get tired of that game. Or repeat the sentence suggested by Manx. However, make a note (date and time) of the calls they do make.

You are not far away from them giving up and leaving you in peace, and the money in your pocket. Just ignore everything you get from now on. The last item on the agenda will be one or two asinine letters from a phoney solicitor called Graham White (actually Roxburghe under another name) after which, nothing.

None of the threats are EVER carried out.

Stephen_Leak

For a start Roxburghe aren't real debt collectors. They're the parking company's "debt collector" alias. They just use different headed paper.

Ringing them, and especially without using 141, was not one of your better decisions. But the damage is done and we'll just have to deal with it.

The next time they ring, tell them to stop or you will sue them for harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Just say this and hang up. Make a note of the date and time.

If they are stupid enough to ring again, tell them that you warned them and that you consider that their call is harassment under the terms of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and hang up. Again, make a note of the date and time.

Some mobile phones can also record calls. Now might be a good time to read the manual.

It is not a fine. All you owe the car park owner is what they lost as a result of your alleged breach of contract. If this was a free car park, this totals £0.00. Even if it was a pay car park, it's a lot less than £200! By demanding any more, which is unreasonable, it's now an unfair contract penalty, a speculative invoice and legally unforceable.

They will continue to threaten you with all sorts of legal and financial unpleasantness. But, they can't take you to court, for the same reason that a blackmailer couldn't take their victim to court for not paying.

Continue to ignore any more letters, and fight off any phone calls.

You should hear from Graham White, their "solicitor" alias, next. That's their last gambit. They're running out of things to threaten you with, and will soon stop throwing good money after bad.

I won't pretend that it's going to be easy, but we will always be here for you.

PS. I must learn to type faster.

pustit

Providing you are not paying for incoming calls, and it is not an inconvenience to yourself, let them keep ringing you and keep them in conversation. You can even keep them hanging on while you go off "to look up some paperwork" or "to find my credit card" . Have some fun with them, and at their expense.
Calls to mobiles is not cheap !

I WILL BE HAPPY TO EDIT THIS IF FORUM REGULARS THINK IT NOT A WISE SUGGESTION

ManxRed

I guess it boils down to how confident the person is at keeping it up without giving away any incriminating information. If you are pretty confident then by all means go for it, but if you are nervous at all then probably best to just get rid of them.

give_them_FA

pustit wrote: »

Providing you are not paying for incoming calls, and it is not an inconvenience to yourself, let them keep ringing you and keep them in conversation. You can even keep them hanging on while you go off "to look up some paperwork" or "to find my credit card" . Have some fun with them, and at their expense.
Calls to mobiles is not cheap !

I WILL BE HAPPY TO EDIT THIS IF FORUM REGULARS THINK IT NOT A WISE SUGGESTION

Sounds OK to me! Anything that takes the p out of Roxburghe or any other self-important debt collector is OK with me! I wouldn't be so polite myself.

Princess2012

Thank you all for some great advice! I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to stuff like this so I think getting rid of this asap is the best option.

I'm going to use the quote from Manx "The debt is denied. As per the Office of Fair Trading guidelines, you must now refer this matter back to your client. Any further contact from you will be treated as harassment and action may be taken accordingly."

I will take note of all phone calls and times etc.

Also, I forgot to mention the parking ticket was actually issued from a company called 'PCN NW LTD' I dont know if any of you have ever heard of them? The car park was also free.

Thanks again! I'll keep you all posted (If and when I manage to work this thing haha!)

give_them_FA

Just another bunch of scammers trying desperately to sound like they're official. PCN Ltd is really pushing the envelope though!

Should make them easier to sue.

bondy_lad

hi princess, i have and many others on here have literally drawer full of loo paper from roxburghe,,just ignore,,next if you read the stickies you will recieve loo paper from graham (i am a phoney slicitor) white,,coincidentally they share the same office, incredible eh,,so its a SCAM,do not worry about this,ok the red ink gets bigger on the threat o grams, but thats the worst of it,,look up PENALY CHARGE NOTICE=legit/must pay,,,what you have is a PARKING CHARGE=scam/con./fiddle/loo paper,, so when you have done what you normally do with it,, simply press, flush,, and there you go,,relax,chill,await your gallant prince,jobs a good un then.

Bullgoat

Just had a call off these monkeys on my mobile, he told me he was dealing with a personal matter on my behalf, i laughed, he then asked for my address details to which i replied sorry mate if you cant tell me what the personal matter is i cant tell you my personal info, his standard scripted reply = Well i will send you a letter then. Needless to say i patiently await the letter which will be going straight in the bin and the mobile number he called from is now barred on my Phone.