Notice of intended court action from debt recovery plus

Hugy80

In August I parked in Asda and spent a considerable amount of money ( unfortunately not got receipt.) I received a parking fine as I failed to purchase a ticket.
I then lost the parking fine but as I didn't know who had issued it I rang the council who informed me there was not a charge with them. I was unaware of these private parking companies so thought nothing of it.
The next thing I receive is a letter from debt recovery plus telling me i owe £100 I have since received another 2 letters from them the last one. They have offered to reduce the fine to £80 if I pay in the next 14 days.
So my questions are do I have a leg to stand on bearing in mind I never actually bought a ticket in the first place.
Is it worth me offering to pay the original £25 parking charge.
I have searched the forum but cannot find anything similar to my query. So I would appreciate any help.
Many thanks.

bod1467

DRP cannot initiate court action, so any such correspondence from them (or Zenith - same people, different headed paper) is toilet paper.

Who do they say is their client? Smart Parking?

Complain to ASDA to get this killed off?

Stroma

They have never issued a court claim ever, they are just full bluster and that stuff that comes out the wrong end of a bull. I guess this is Smart Parking? Guess what they have never tried court either, they are just pathetic scammers.

Here is the proof of the above, here is a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Justice
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/small_claims_from_bpa_aos_member_2

Coupon-mad

Hugy80 wrote: »

In August I parked in Asda and spent a considerable amount of money ( unfortunately not got receipt.) I received a parking fine as I failed to purchase a ticket.
I then lost the parking fine but as I didn't know who had issued it I rang the council who informed me there was not a charge with them. I was unaware of these private parking companies so thought nothing of it.
The next thing I receive is a letter from debt recovery plus telling me i owe £100 I have since received another 2 letters from them the last one. They have offered to reduce the fine to £80 if I pay in the next 14 days.
So my questions are do I have a leg to stand on bearing in mind I never actually bought a ticket in the first place.
Is it worth me offering to pay the original £25 parking charge.
I have searched the forum but cannot find anything similar to my query. So I would appreciate any help.
Many thanks.

Welcome to MSE!

You searched the forum for the keyword 'Asda'? Or 'Smart?' Or 'Recovery'? No? Try that then!

A few months back, we got soooo busy with new threads, all the same, that to ensure no-one missed out on advice I spent hours writing a sticky (info) thread for the top of the forum, giving it capital letters saying:

NEWBIES!! PRIVATE PARKING TICKET? EVEN AN OLD ONE? ***READ THIS FIRST*** Thankyou!

and making sure it covers in simple terms what all the acronyms mean, how to appeal with a DOZEN linked examples...how to win at POPLA stage...what to do if you miss the appeal deadline & get to debt collector letters stage...linked copies of Debt Recovery Plus and Zenith letters...and yet every day, newbies don't read it.

But please don't disappear, we do want you to get this cancelled so please post any questions...AFTER reading the stickies (info threads 'stuck' on the board at the top). I also wrote and keep up to date, another sticky thread called 'Successful complaints about PPCs'. I think you'll find a dozen linked examples of complaints to Asda about Smart recently to get this rubbish cancelled.

And if you search for the keyword 'Recovery' you will be here till next Christmas 2014 reading the endless threads every day about Debt Recovery Plus. Nothing found like your case, LOL!?! You'll discover we get these same Asda/Smart/DRP posts every day of every week of every month.

Complain!