Parking Eye - notice of intended litigation

Burns1

Two months ago I parked at Sunderland Royal Hospital, I paid for my ticket and simply added a wrong letter when entering my registration. I have retained the ticket as evidence that I did make payment. I did some inital research and was advised to ignore all communications, do not admit to entering into a contract with Parking Eye, and that Parking Eye had a habit of not persuing any further.

Like others Ive had a threat of baliffs and have now returned from holiday to find a Notice of Intended Litigation from 'Debt Recovery Plus Ltd sent to me on behalf of Parking Eye. The letter is threatening County Court Judgement and states my credit history will be affected as a result of litigation. The letter also has a statement: "You can view a selection of CCJs that we have obtained against people who have ignored our correspondance"

This is of real concern - what action should I take here? A number of forums have said to also ignore such letters. Do I contact the Debt Recovery agency? Should I take forward any sort of appeal based on the fact that I still have the orginal parking ticket? Im really unhappy about the threatening nature of the letters and have read forums that suggest that contact with Parking Eye / such debt agencies is the way to go to show that you will not back down and to prevent future correspondance.

Feels like a bit of a mind field and dont want to be dragged through County Court...any help would be much appreciated!! Thx

peter_the_piper

The ccj's they obtained are usually regarding unpaid lecci bills or the like. The number of parking related ones are as many as fish have fingers. I would take a bet that there is a fair sprinkling or "mays" "ifs" and "possiblies" in the letter.

SodG24

You won't be dragged through court - it's just an idle threat to scare you into paying ( it must have partly succeeded given your question ). Look on the stickies thread to see the next letter you will get. You are now near the end so keep going and ignore them.

They couldn't win in court even if they had the guts to try.

The_Slithy_Tove

Continue to ignore. It's just another intimidating letter in the standard chain, which are probably in the stickies in this forum.

The Notices of Intended Litigation are just more bluster. The chances of them actually carrying out their threats are miniscule. Further, litigation itself cannot threaten your credit rating. For that to happen, they would have to go ahead for a start (highly unlikely), for you to then lose in court (even less likely, as they can claim no loss, as you paid what you owed in the first place) and for you to then not pay what the judge decides within 28 days.

You can continue to ignore all their correspondence. Do not appeal. Do not contact them in any way. In the highly unlikely event that you receive real, stamped court papers, then come back here, and folks here will help you prepare a rock steady defence. It's not likely, as PE are probably still liking their wounds from recent court cases which haven't exactly gone their way.

minion101

Burns1, the advice is still to ignore, this is simply the next step in the 'threatogram' trail. The only time you need to do something is if you get genuine court papers, and even then you have a cast iron case against them as you have the ticket you bought.

I think all will agree they are hardly likely to go into court when you have a valid ticket. Even without that it is extremely unlikely they will take you to court, after all this is still a 'speculative invoice' with no legitamacy.

Hang tough and wait them out

Burns1

Thanks folks appreciate the advice!

Its a disgrace that such companies can get away with such scare tactics and harrassing communications!!

I'll definitely check out the letters to see whats coming next!!

HO87

Just remember that their scare tactics are designed to do one thing - separate you from your money.

And as far as Debt Recovery Plus are concerned they are just a debt collector. There is only one thing you need to remember about debt collectors and that is that they don't want people to realise that all they can do is to ask for the money you owe. That's right, all they can do is ask. Of course, they dress up their requests with all manner of threats but - as has already been alluded to - their letters will contain a sprinkling of important little weasel-words like "may", "if" and "could" which boil down to "we're actually pretty powerless".

DR+ are clearly so certain of their own ground as far as chasing unpaid parking charge notices. Recently they paid up £300 to settle an alleged harassment after just one letter requiring them to cease writing letters demanding payment of a debt (in respect of a parking charge notice) that did not exist. Hang on a minute, that sounds pretty similar to your situation?

Stephen_Leak

The more unpleasant threats usually include mentioning that, if the case goes to court, a county court judgement (CCJ) will be issued, that bailiffs will be appointed and that your credit rating will be ruined. For things to actually get to this stage, the car park owner would have to take you to court and win the case. Then, you would have to refuse to pay, to get a CCJ issued after 28 days. Then, you would have to still refuse to pay, to get bailiffs appointed.

But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a blackmailer can't take anyone who didn’t pay them to court.

Continue to ignore. Eventually, they will run out of empty threats and stop throwing good money after bad.

The_Shonko_Kid

Or, if you're so minded, threaten them back - write to them and the hospital pointing out that;

a) you paid (for the parking) and can prove it.
b) if PE don't stop trying to obtain money by menaces you will sue them both for harassment.

I'm betting the threat-o-grams will go away.

sav_cap1

Hi Peter,

can i bother you with a quick question please? i got a parking eye fine in a service station in south mimms after pulling over because i was unwell, i took some pills put my head down and carried on my journey 2.5hrs later. i had no idea it was pay and display after having used this services for 15 years or more, it suddenly became a pay and display after 2 years.

I have admitted being the driver and now after a few months of ignoring etc and telling them to take me to court, they have sent a letter saying it has gone up to £120 and if i dont pay they will send bailiffs and ultimately go to court.

i ma really worried now as i dont have the money and cannot risk getting a CCJ. i admitted being the driver and simply not knowing i had to pay. I was unwell took some pills slept a little as it was 2am then carried on my journey.

Please help

kind regards

Sav_cap1

bazster

Right:

1. It's not a fine, it's just an invoice.

2. They can't send bailiffs. They have to take you to court, then win, then you fail to pay, and then the court sends bailiffs. Not gonna happen.

3. Keep on ignoring. Next they will probably send you a letter offering a discount again if you pay (which just shows how pathetically desperate they are), and as another poster here is fond of saying, if you keep on ignoring them then eventually you'll get a 100% discount!

4. If you want to be squeaky-clean you could send the P&D money for the period of your overstay to the owners of the service station (not the parking company).

5. What parking company is it anyway?

6. Did I mention that it's not a fine?