PCN I ignored- was it a bad move help?

hatty95

I cant see anywhere about charging a £30 admin fee.. do you think I should write to drive assist asking what they have done i.e paid the £100 fine or sent my details to the debt collectors? I dont want to say something wrong which drops me in it so to speak..

trisontana

It's not a FINE!. Please don't use that word when you write to them.

hatty95

how should i refer to it??

trisontana

A parking charge. or (even better) a parking invoice.

vax2002

I think we need a LIST of rouge car hire companies working hand in hand with these scammers and a list of charges they make.
It may encourage a few companies to start chucking these invoices in the bin to get on top of the fair play list.
Any Admin make a sticky in the parking section so people can post up charges and rip offs from car hire companies, it could save people a lot of money.

Stephen_Leak

hatty95 wrote: »

how should i refer to it??

Only councils, the police, train operators and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. They're called Penalty Charge Notices.

PPCs call their tickets “Parking Charge Notices”, not “Penalty Charge Notices”. Unfortunately, "parking" and "penalty" begin with the same letter.

The legal term for them is “speculative invoices”.

Other names are available.

Coupon-mad

hatty95 wrote: »

how should i refer to it??

I have already shown you in the link to the Sixt car hire thread (pepipoo link) already given. You should have seen by now the issue is that this is not a fine at all. Do not phone the car hire place, instead you should write or email. But don't ask them what they did - tell them what they did was wrong!

Follow the emails that poster used, be angry about their mistake in just handling a scam as if it was a real fine. Also if you can't see you signed anything to allow admin fees then they cannot charge any.

If they do point out the £30 admin fee sentence in the small print, revert back to the main issue that this was never a fine, just a scam and not their liability under any circumstances (the Sixt pepipoo thread explains the situation well).

ManxRed

I would suggest asking them which clause in your agreement states that they may levy a £30 admin fee, if you are fairly confident that this is not referenced anywhere. If it's not in the Ts & Cs then you haven't agreed to it and it's an unauthorised transaction.

Double, nay, triple check this.

hatty95

I have checked the terms and in relation to the admin charge it says this;

The hirer shall be liable as if the owner of the vehicle for:
a) any parking fines or penalities imposed relating to the hire
b) any fine or penalty imposed under a sixed penalty notice relating to the hire (including but not limited to any notice issued pursuant to the smoke free vehilce operators penalty notices) regulations 2007
c) any traffic congestion charges, fine or penalty imposed relating to the hire
d) any claim for damages or other compensation arising out of the use of the vehilce by the hirer or the additional driver. provided that the exercise or waiver of any right of appealor review in respect of any charge, fine or penalty imposed on the lessor, which relates to the use of the cehcile by the hirer, is entierley at the descretion of the lessor and the hirer agrees to be bound accordingly. The lessor may (in order to avoid further penalites or otherwise at the lessors discretion) pay any such fine or penalty and the hirer shall be liable to reimburse the lessor the amount thereof and pay the lessor a non-refundable admin fee of £25.00 in respect of each such matter provided that if such charge, fine or penalty is subsequently revoked or set aside and is repaid to the lessor, the lessor shall reimburse the hirer with the amount that had been charged to him.

I think i am stuffed because they say the word 'charge' and that is what this is a charge..

Not sure what to do, I want to find out what drive assist have done because I dont want to keep paying £30 everytime they receive a letter from the debt colllectors! Dont know wether to pay the whole thing and be done with it!!!!

Stephen_Leak

My reading of this is that "charge" refers back to (c), congestion charge fines or penalties from Transport for London. These are legally enforceable fines or penalties. This is fair enough.

T&C (a) is the bullet in their foot. It refers to fines and penalties from local authorities. Again, these are legally enforceable fines or penalties. Again, this is fair enough.

But what you've received is a "speculative invoice" from a private company. I see no mention of these.