TPS parking - at Debt Recovery Plus stage and looking for next steps

thatcambridgebird

Hi all,

Firstly, thanks for this sub forum and apologies for yet another new thread. I have searched and saw that the advice was not to hijack other threads, so I'm sorry if this is repetitive for some.

So, I parked in Cambridge Retail Park on 26 Jan this year. I didn't overstay my welcome. In fact, I got a ticket for a 6 minute park!! Anyone from the area will know it's a very busy park, especially at weekends, and so it's common practice for people to park along the sides of the carparks when the main spaces are full. This is what I did, so I was in an unmarked area but still on Retail Park land, while I ran into Homebase to change something. a couple of other cars parked behind me, but when I got back to the car lo and behold, I'd got the ticket.

Anyway, I googled when I got home, and read what I believe must be older advice, from before legislation changed back in October. So rather than appealing, I did nothing. I ignored the fine, the two follow up letters, and yesterday recieved a letter from Debt Recovery Plus.

I'm sure it says nothing you aren't familiar with, but I must admit, despite earlier bravado, to being a little freaked out. Apparently I must now pay £149.00 to them no later than 13 September. It doesn't say they'll send the boys round, but does say they'll 'recommend to the creditors solicitor that court action should be taken' if I don't pay. It also references Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act which allows them to recover unpaid parking charges 'if certain conditions are met'. It says these have been met but doesn't say what they are.

So (with apologies again as I know some of you do repeat a lot of advice) my questions are these:

A) should I continue to ignore them?
Can/will they send baliffs, and if so, do they have the right to come into my property?
C) should I in the meantime complain to the retail park agents? A number of people park in the unmarked areas because it's a large open space, not blocking anyone else, so it's treated as an unofficial overflow. I saw a few people have done so in previous threads, with mixed results. I think the retail park agents in this case are Savills.
D) what, if anything, should I do/say in response to Debt Recovery Plus? Should I ask them to outline these 'conditions' they believe to have been met for example? I know I'm probably being a moron, but I can't help but be a little freaked out. I was quite happily ignoring them but now i'm wondering if I've done the right thing.


Thanks in advance for your input and advice.


Edited to add - Cambridge Retail Park is a free carpark across the entire site, so I'm not sure what losses I have caused the site owners by not parking in their marked bays. I did take photo evidence of the other cars at the time, but stupidly deleted the pics a couple of months ago because I hadn't heard anything for a while and assumed they were dropping it.

The_Slithy_Tove

A) should I continue to ignore them?
YES

Can/will they send baliffs, and if so, do they have the right to come into my property?
No bailiffs will come. Nor will debt collectors (which is probably what you really mean, bailiffs are part of a court process, and we are not there).

C) should I in the meantime complain to the retail park agents? May be worth doing, it might get the ticket cancelled.

D) what, if anything, should I do/say in response to Debt Recovery Plus?
Ignore them. Or if they should phone, tell them that the alleged debt is denied, and that they must not refer it back to their client - and end the conversation right there by putting the phone down.

thatcambridgebird

Thanks

I might give the retail park agents a go but, as advised, ignore everything from the collectors/parking lot. After all, I'm not sure how I cost the retail park £80 of losses for parking for 5 minutes in an unmarked area against a high hedgeline! There were no road markings at all, never mind parking bay markings, so it's not like I even caused some sort of obstruction to other road users. They really do chance their arm at everything don't they?! I assume (though don't know for sure) that their parking ticket lackey was sitting in a car nearby, to have pounced in such a short time.

If so, no wonder no actual marked spaces were free :rotfl:

Coupon-mad

thatcambridgebird wrote: »

Thanks

I might give the retail park agents a go but, as advised, ignore everything from the collectors/parking lot. After all, I'm not sure how I cost the retail park £80 of losses for parking for 5 minutes in an unmarked area against a high hedgeline! There were no road markings at all, never mind parking bay markings, so it's not like I even caused some sort of obstruction to other road users. They really do chance their arm at everything don't they?! I assume (though don't know for sure) that their parking ticket lackey was sitting in a car nearby, to have pounced in such a short time.

If so, no wonder no actual marked spaces were free :rotfl:

Absolutely complain to the Retail Park about this harassment. Just Google the name of the Retail Park to find out who runs it - and be bold and assertive about your complaint, like all these people were who succeeded with a complaint against a PPC:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62837690#Comment_62837690

Bite the bullet and get the complaint in this week and you could have this thing cancelled before the weekend! You were a customer returning an item and keen not to take up a space unnecessarily for a matter of 5 or 6 minutes = perfectly reasonable behaviour and NOT worth all this harassment!

And as for ignoring Debt Recovery Plus letters, and after that, 'Zenith' letters (again it's DRP but using some different letter heading, scary...NOT!):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=78495

I post as SchoolRunMum on pepipoo and just look at all the similar links I was able to give that poster in minutes, as the letters are so common and always ignored.

thatcambridgebird

I didn't update in here for a bit, as I was umming and aaahhing about contacting the agent for the retail park, and complaining to them. I know - I should've done it straight away after CouponMad's reply, but I didn't. What prompted me was YET ANOTHER letter from Debt Recovery Plus threatening the same old blurb.

Anyway, I wrote this to the agents (sorry it's a bit lengthy):

Dear Sirs,

I am contacting you, as agents of the Cambridge Retail Park, regarding the parking arrangements currently in place at said park, and the harrassment I have faced from your parking agent, Total Parking Solutions.

As I am sure you are aware, the Cambridge Retail Park carpark is free for patrons of the various businesses. On 26th January this year, I parked there for a sum total of ten minutes in order to return an item to the large Homebase store onsite.

As I arrived on a Saturday lunchtime, the parking bays were full and a number of other patrons were also attempting to find spaces. Not wishing to take up a space for a quick visit to one shop, I used a large 'overflow' area within the SCS carpark, alongside a hedgeline, and well out of the way of other vehicles. It is common practice to find cars parked alongside these hedge/fence lines. I have in fact attached to this email a google maps screenshot so you can see cars following similar practices in the Homebase carpark when the bays are full (to the right of the cycle stand in the picture), and noticed that your own marketing brochure on the Cambridge Retail Park website shows someone parked in an unmarked area. There are no notices on site to indicate exactly which specific areas are off limits, so it is understandable to regularly find cars parked in 'overflow' areas out of the way of the main bays, as it is an extremely popular park.

I returned to my vehicle to find a Total Parking Solutions member of staff had attached a Parking Charge Notice for £90 to my windscreen. I must admit to being more than a little surprised that your retail park feels a charge (for a free carpark, I would add) of approximately £9 per minute is appropriate to recover for my parking in what is, apparently, an unauthorised area (despite being within the carpark, not on any road markings, and well away from other vehicles and the carriageway).

I was initially understandably worried that I had recieved a legal parking notice from a traffic warden. As you may have seen, many parking companies cleverly design their tickets to look like Fixed Penalty Notices. On further investigation, I established that this was in fact a charge for incorrect parking on private land, essentially in breach of a "contract". Since I did not agree to a contract between either myself, the retail park, or the parking agents, and do not accept that my parking onsite 'forms' a contract I chose not to acknowledge it, and do in fact dispute it.

As reputable business owners and agents of Cambridge's flagship retail park, I am sure you can understand that I am surprised and disappointed that your companies justify the charges above being applied to patrons of the park. I believe that parking charges can only fairly be levied where there is a clear loss to you as Agents of the park, acting on behalf of the landowners. Given that the retail park is free for motorists, and I was in fact going to one of the businesses on site, I would like to know what losses to income you feel my parking may have incurred that meant Total Parking Solutions felt a £90 fine was justified for a 10 minute stay?
I attach to this email some samples of letters I have since recieved from both Total Parking Solutions and their collection agency, Debt Recovery Plus. As you can see, the charges seem to go up and up, and I suspect someone within one of the companies may well just be picking figures from the air to see if I will crack from their threatening scare tactics (including advising me to visit their website to see other 'successful' cases they have taken to court!). Their letters are also factually incorrect (they never wrote to me on 15th May, as per one letter, or if they did they forgot to send it).

I would ask that, considering all of the above, and taking into account the nonsensical nature of the charges, you contact Total Parking Solutions, and advise them to cease harrassing and pestering me with their scare letters, as I shall continue to strongly dispute these ridiculous and extortionate charges. Common sense should dictate to anyone that the charges are grossly out of proportion with the apparent misdemeanor, and hugely unfair and unenforceable.

I would be grateful if you would respond to me within 7 days, confirming the above, and also ask Total Parking Solutions to confirm to me in writing that they will be not be asking me for any money, and ceasing their harrassment.

I know that sounds a bit shirty, but the more I wrote, the crosser I got, so I ended up spouting a bit more venom than I'd meant to.

Anyway, they contacted me earlier to say they're writing to TPS to tell them to cancel the charge, and will contact me again to confirm this has been done! So it was well worth the effort!

I'm glad they saw sense, and the person who wrote back to me was very polite and to the point. Now if only the car parking agents themselves could see sense, all of us could avoid half of this hassle.

So thank you all for your advice :beer:

Coupon-mad

Yay! Well done! Nice and shirty - and it worked!

Your thread joins the Hall of Fame sticky thread at the top of the parking forum for posterity and to help other newbies see that complaining DOES WORK!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4766249

:T

paultlb

Hi Cambridgebird - I'm in the exact same position - could you let me know who you emailed as I'm struggling to get a reply from cbre the agents of the retail park.

Thanks,
Paul

Umkomaas

paultlb wrote: »

Hi Cambridgebird - I'm in the exact same position - could you let me know who you emailed as I'm struggling to get a reply from cbre the agents of the retail park.

Thanks,
Paul

You'd be best dropping her a PM, rather than hoping she might be looking at a thread that has been semi-dormant for about 3 weeks now.

Coupon-mad

paultlb wrote: »

Hi Cambridgebird - I'm in the exact same position - could you let me know who you emailed as I'm struggling to get a reply from cbre the agents of the retail park.

Thanks,
Paul

I would email the CBRE and the Savills Managers, named bottom left here:

http://completelyretail.co.uk/portfolio/CambridgeRetailPark/scheme/Cambridge-Retail-Park-Cambridge/index

Savills are often good at getting these cancelled.