Parking fine (debt collector)

spam4083

My husband has recieved a debt collection of 470.00 for an alleged offence that happened in July last year.We have never recieved any notification from the car park people themselves.Just this horrible letter from Newlyn.I rang up immediately and spoke to them,saying I dont remember parking in the particular car park,and that i wanted proof.They said i had to send a cheque for 10.00.
Is this legal to send this notice without any previous communication?
I've read lots of posts that advise doing nothing,but if i did park there and stayed longer that was permitted i would have paid the fine.There were no parking meters and i can't remember seeing any signs about the parking.It is an out of town retail park.

Can anyone help us with what our legal rights are

Coupon-mad

Who does it say the client is?

If it's not a Council ticket then IGNORE IT COMPLETELY. SCAM!

But a big sum of £470 sounds like it was possibly a Council...is there a Council reference on the letter? If so do not ignore it, post again.

pogofish

spam4083 wrote: »

My husband has recieved a debt collection of 470.00 for an alleged offence that happened in July last year.We have never recieved any notification from the car park people themselves.Just this horrible letter from Newlyn.I rang up immediately and spoke to them,saying I dont remember parking in the particular car park,and that i wanted proof.They said i had to send a cheque for 10.00.
Is this legal to send this notice without any previous communication?
I've read lots of posts that advise doing nothing,but if i did park there and stayed longer that was permitted i would have paid the fine.There were no parking meters and i can't remember seeing any signs about the parking.It is an out of town retail park.

Can anyone help us with what our legal rights are

Yes - it really helps if you tell us who actually issued the ticket and if they were acting for a council or private customer - different advice applies for both.

esmerobbo

If its a private ticket then simply ignore it! Is the company they are acting for Civil Enforcement Ltd?

Newlyn often make a mistake of putting a council reference number on their demands. It is of course a simple mistake but they do seem to make the same mistake very often!

taffy056

I would think this is a private parking invoice, the £10 charge for the proof doesn't sound lke council for me. Not sure they are allowed to make trumped up charges like that on penalty charge notices. Anyway OP we need to make 100% sure on this, please tell us exactly who they are acting for in this case.

peter_the_piper

"It is an out of town retail park.""
Can't see this being a council one. Until the OP comes back we can't help.

spam4083

Sorry I left out the name of the parking company,It was Civil Enforcement ltd.The retail park is about a mile from the city centre of Newcastle.I had used the car park before,but i only go there about three or four times a year and was sure there was no
parking restriction previous to the fine.

spam4083

ManxRed

In that case your legal position is that the driver (and you don't have to state on here who that was) owes Civil Enforcement Ltd the cost of the overstay only.

So if it was £1 an hour and you overstayed by 30 mins, you owe them 50p. If it was a free car park and you overstayed by 30 mins you owe them nothing at all.

Any demands for anything other than the above constitute a contractual penalty charge, which is completely unenforceable under civil law, and they know it. They are hoping you don't though.

Ignore it, and do not correspond with them again.

Although Newlyn's are a bailiff company, they cannot act as bailiffs without a court warrant, which they cannot obtain without taking you to court and winning, which won't happen, because, as I've stated above, you do not legally owe them the sum they are demanding.

In this capacity, for Civil Enforcement Ltd, they are simply acting as Debt Collectors, so have no powers other than to politely ask for the money and then go away.

Trebor16

spam4083 wrote: »

Sorry I left out the name of the parking company,It was Civil Enforcement ltd.The retail park is about a mile from the city centre of Newcastle.I had used the car park before,but i only go there about three or four times a year and was sure there was no
parking restriction previous to the fine.

spam4083

They cannot as a private company issue a fine to you. Their debt collectors have as much power to collect a debt from you as I do, which means they have no powers at all. In the remote event they knock on your door they have no power of entry or any other powers to collect the debt.

Don't engage with them any further and ignore them from now on.

Coupon-mad

spam4083 wrote: »

Sorry I left out the name of the parking company,It was Civil Enforcement ltd.The retail park is about a mile from the city centre of Newcastle.I had used the car park before,but i only go there about three or four times a year and was sure there was no
parking restriction previous to the fine.

spam4083

Ignore them then, as per the earlier replies!

The amount of £470 seems odd though as it doesn't match the usual CE letter chain template amount (see the second-to-top thread for letter preview pics). Maybe more than one fake ticket but who cares, ignore them!

jen_br

Naw we are up to almost 800 with civil enforcement lol