£40 to £100 in one letter??

pogofish

Legion do run a few car parks that are leased from councils but IIRC do not run them as legal council operations - these are also dwindling since the Royal British Legion sold their parking operations to a private company a couple of years back and the leases with the new private Legion Group are not being renewed.

So despite the allusions of the name, this is just another PPC and should be ignored completely. I've put more info on the changover on another thread here a while back.

juliemv1959

so sorry if I'm messing up these replies. About five people kindly responded and I don't know how to keep track of who I'm answering! Yes, appeals and money to go to Legion (originally) and Deb Recovery(secondly). Knowsley were not mentioned again. Could Legion be renting the land from Knowsley or something? I have looked on KBC website and it says pay-for parking is now in Knowsley but nowhere does it mention Legion Group e.g 'operated for us by Legion Group' I'm going round in circles trying to get to the bottom of them. I'm up for a fight but if it's all legit and ends up at £200 I'll be devastated!!

taffy056

This is not a council ticket - 100% ! It's a private parking ticket that has no merit like a council one. Stop being confused about this it won't go beyond threats from debt collectors . Nobody will turn up at your door, it won't effect your credit rating and it will not go to court. So heed the ignore advice from now on.

Stephen_Leak

Firstly, our condolences on your loss.

OK, so it's from a private ticketing company.

Only councils, the police, some train operators and Transport for London can issue legally enforceable fines or penalties. A private ticketing company can't. What they issue are “speculative invoices”.

Any warning signs are usually so badly positioned and worded, that they won’t have created a fair and legally binding deemed contract with a driver entering the car park in the first place. See The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997 and Excel Parking Services vs. Cutts, Stockport, 2011.

If we assume that there is a contract, all the car park owner can claim from a driver in damages for an alleged breach of a contract is what they’ve lost as a result. If it’s in a free car park or the driver paid, this is £0.00. Demanding more has been judged to be unreasonable and, therefore, an unfair contract penalty under the terms of The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997. See Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914 and countless cases since.

There are also now landmark court cases, VCS Parking Control vs. Ronald Ibbotson, S!!!!horpe, 2012, HM Revenue & Customs vs. VCS Parking Control, Lower Tax Tribunal, 2012 and VCS Parking Control vs. HM Revenue & Customs (Appeal), Upper Tax Tribunal, 2012. In these cases, the judges ruled that only the car park owner can charge for parking and take alleged offenders to court. The Upper Tax Tribunal is equivalent to the High Court and, therefore, its judgements set legal precedents. No private ticketing company or car park owner has taken any alleged offender to court since.

Don’t appeal to the private ticketing company. They always reject them. What’s in it for them to let anyone off?

The private ticketing company, then a debt collector and then a solicitor will send you a series of letters. The debt collector and solicitor are usually the same people, but using different headed paper. These letters will threaten you with every kind of financial and legal unpleasantness imaginable to try and intimidate you into paying.

Continue to ignore everything you get from them. Eventually, they’ll run out of empty threats and stop throwing good money after bad.

juliemv1959

Thanks Taffy (and everyone) Yes, am beginning to see it is a PCN, non enforceable. However, I've just gone onto debtrecoveryplus website and they sound like a horrible lot- and that's their own ad! They say they consistently apply for PCN CCJ's, and are a no win no fee company so it's not costing Legion anything to use them. That'll be why Debt Recovery are trying to get £100 out of me because it says they take their fees on top of the PCN's so the original ticket issuers don't lose any money! They say they have dedicated staff who have heard it all before in their 'appeals' department - yes, the word 'appeals' was in inverted commas. I think it's sickening.

Coupon-mad

juliemv1959 wrote: »

so sorry if I'm messing up these replies. About five people kindly responded and I don't know how to keep track of who I'm answering! Yes, appeals and money to go to Legion (originally) and Deb Recovery(secondly). Knowsley were not mentioned again. Could Legion be renting the land from Knowsley or something? I have looked on KBC website and it says pay-for parking is now in Knowsley but nowhere does it mention Legion Group e.g 'operated for us by Legion Group' I'm going round in circles trying to get to the bottom of them. I'm up for a fight but if it's all legit and ends up at £200 I'll be devastated!!

Stop worrying and ignore it. Honestly, this is NOT a Council ticket.

Just play snap with the 'Debt Recovery Plus' followed by 'Zenith' and maybe 'PCS' letter-chain shown under several private parking companies listed on this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2214803

Although Legion letters are not shown (only 'cos no-one has yet scanned them in) you will lots and lots of PPCs use Debt Recovery Plus, I can see lots of examples of their letters. Have a look and find your latest letter, it will be there listed under one of the PPCs I am sure. Then you can get a preview of what comes next. IGNORE IT.

Coupon-mad

juliemv1959 wrote: »

Thanks Taffy (and everyone) Yes, am beginning to see it is a PCN, non enforceable. However, I've just gone onto debtrecoveryplus website and they sound like a horrible lot- and that's their own ad! They say they consistently apply for PCN CCJ's, and are a no win no fee company so it's not costing Legion anything to use them. That'll be why Debt Recovery are trying to get £100 out of me because it says they take their fees on top of the PCN's so the original ticket issuers don't lose any money! They say they have dedicated staff who have heard it all before in their 'appeals' department - yes, the word 'appeals' was in inverted commas. I think it's sickening.

Stoppppppittttt!! Please calm down!

The CCJs mentioned on their website are NOT for parking tickets. They are for real debts such as utility bills, because they are a debt collector after all and they do chase some real debts. But only by letter, using the names Zenith and PCS as well. Not by coming round or anything.

But fake PCNs are not real debts; they get NO CCJS in cases like yours. All you have to do is ignore some junk mail.

juliemv1959

I shall brace myself then for the barrage of post! Will let you and everyone know how I get on if I can figure out how to find you all again!

juliemv1959

Lol! Thankyou. I'm really not worried about someone calling round, or even a CCJ cos at 53 years old I've no intention of ever applying for credit/loans/mortgages etc! I'm an old fashioned if you can't pay cash you can't afford it type of person. My main worry was that it would escalate up to £200 and I would still have to pay it in the end (even to a court.) I will take yours and everyones advice and stick it out.

esmerobbo

juliemv1959 wrote: »

Lol! Thankyou. I'm really not worried about someone calling round, or even a CCJ cos at 53 years old I've no intention of ever applying for credit/loans/mortgages etc! I'm an old fashioned if you can't pay cash you can't afford it type of person. My main worry was that it would escalate up to £200 and I would still have to pay it in the end (even to a court.) I will take yours and everyones advice and stick it out.

It is a private company Knowsley in their wisdom gave control of some of its P&D car parks to these muppets.

Seeing you paid the £25 anyway they have no cause for action!

DRP or any other debt collector cannot take you too court for an unpaid parking charge, only the owner of the alleged debt or a solicitor acting for the owner can! All you will receive is a few letters from them to ignore!