Letter from debt recovery plus ltd but no ticket

Openerofjars

Hello,

My other half has received a letter demanding £110 from debt recovery plus ltd to avoid court action. The letter claims that his case has been forwarded to debt recovery plus ltd as he has not responded to previous letters from the parking company.

However, this is the first he has heard of it: he has not had a parking ticket or any previous letters and the parking infringement is supposed to have happened in June. The letter was also sent to our old address - we moved house over a year ago.

The letter from debt recovery plus says they will take it to court if he doesn't pay within 14 days.

Can anyone advise us how to proceed from here?

Thanks!

Redx

I am no expert on this, but I assume that the PPC may have sent the letters to the RK, so as you moved house all that time ago, the question going begging is (did you register the vehicle at your new address after moving house ?) - the reason I ask is that you indicated correspondence is going to the old address which it will if you did not update the RK details with DVLC , which is how we presume the PPC and DRC think you are still at that old address

so I believe its important to know this as you may have additional problems if you did not update that RK "log book" to the new address where you are now

if you did update the RK address when you moved, then it begs the question as to why all these letters are going to your old address , which may be the case if the PPC are not registered with the BPA etc and so may not be able to get the RK details from the dvlc and have used "other means" to try to track you down

hope this makes sense as I feel its important as a starting point

I also think you need to mention who the actual PPC is and where the alleged "offence" took place

Umkomaas

I don't think their letter says they will take it to court. There's a 'may' in there somewhere, and in any case a Debt Recovery agent can't take you to court, so forget that for the time being.

You haven't said who the parking company is, that may have an influence on what we advise. So let us know that. Also do you live in England or Wales and did the parking event take place there?

Have you notified the DVLA of your change of address, seeing as you have had no correspondence from the parking company? If not, do it urgently as you can be fined for not doing so.

Now you need to read up on what you will have to do from here on. Spend some time by looking through the link I'm going to give you. This is the latest and most comprehensive information available - it is top notch stuff prepared for newbies. It explains how to deal with Debt Recovery agents.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

Openerofjars

Thanks for your replies!

I don't know about whether DH updated the DVLA but I have asked him to check. We live in England and the car park company was G24, which is one of the approved car parking companies on the BPA's list.

I don't think there have been any previous letters, as we have had our mail redirected from our old house: we would have had any previous correspondence so I'm not convinced that G24 has tried to contact DH before this.

Does that help?

Redx

it helps but everything points at your OH not updating the dvlc and would explain why the letters to RK are going to the old address

your OH is possibly liable for a fine by the dvlc if this is the case and may weaken your appeals etc - I hope not but all the advice tends to be on the assumptions that the DVLC have the correct info held on their database - which in your case seems incorrect

also, you still have not mentioned where the parking issue took place either

Umkomaas

Thanks for update on who the PPC is.

Now here's the chance of you being taken to court by this outfit. Here is a list of the PPCs in England and Wales who've taken motorists to court in the last year.

Whilst it's not a guarantee of future action, it can be taken as an indicator.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/168158/response/413887/attach/3/AFINAL%20REPLY%20TO%20LEWIS%2084035.doc

But you must get on with reading the other thread I gave you too.

Openerofjars

Thank you for the thread and the other info, Umkomaas. I've read them but I'm just getting more and more confused.

DH remembers using that car park but he doesn't have any receipts to prove he was shopping there (it's a retail park).

Can he appeal at this stage to POPLA on the grounds of unreasonable parking charges? Or is it going to go to court now that it is in the hands of a debt recovery company?

Sorry if these are stupid questions: I haven't researched this before and it's been a long week.

Umkomaas

It's too late for POPLA, if the parking event was in June.

To reiterate, the debt recovery agent CANNOT take you to court. G24 haven't done court in the past 12 months (and I'm not sure whether they ever have) - they're not noted for being litigious.

You're well down the 'ignore' route so the best position for you to adopt is just that and ride out whatever comes through the post (it may take a few months for it all to peter out).

But be aware that if you get a letter from G24 or solicitors on their behalf headed 'Letter Before County Court Claim' or 'Letter Before Action' or similar you MUST NOT ignore. Come back here and we'll help and guide you through this.

But experience suggests that whilst you won't have heard the end of this, nothing is likely to happen vis a vis court.

If you need further reassurance down the line, do get back to us. For the moment just wait to see what their next move might be - probably nothing serious.

Now go and get a glass of wine - the weekend is just starting.

Hope this helps.

Openerofjars

Thank you so much - I can't have wine but I might push the boat right out and have a much needed cuppa!

I'll be back if DH gets any more letters, but in the meantime I'm going to file the dodgy looking letter and forget about it for now.

I'm very grateful for everyone's input tonight.

Umkomaas

Openerofjars wrote: »

Thank you so much - I can't have wine but I might push the boat right out and have a much needed cuppa!

I'll be back if DH gets any more letters, but in the meantime I'm going to file the dodgy looking letter and forget about it for now.

I'm very grateful for everyone's input tonight.

Yep, definitely keep the letters - always keep any correspondence demanding your money.

I can't have tea, so I'm definitely pushing out the (usual) boat and having (another) glass of much addicted hooch :rotfl:.

Sleep easy!

Coupon-mad

Openerofjars wrote: »

Thank you for the thread and the other info, Umkomaas. I've read them but I'm just getting more and more confused.

Please read the bit about debt collectors and your options, because there are clear links to your options here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

Do tell me if I need to make any of that part in the acronyms, about ''DC - debt collectors'' clearer.