NCP Parking - Bailiff Letter

mrchristian2005

Hi to all,

I wonder if anybody could perhaps offer some advice and guidance in relation to a recent letter I have received from a debt recovery company.


This relates to an outstanding parking fine that I received in July 2013.


The circumstances of the fine were when my family and I parked our car in a local station car park which was run by NCP.

The car park was fairly empty and so I chose to park next to a chevroned area in a marked bay so that there was more room for the children to get in/out of the car. I then went and purchased a ticket for the duration of my stay. On returning to the car I found that a ticket had been issued to it. I was suprised to say the least and initially thought it must be a mistake. On reading the ticket I found that I had apparently parked in a 'premium' bay. I checked and there were no markings in the bay in which I had parked to indicate this to be the case. The bay next door did have a sign behind it in the centre and then about twenty feet away or so there was white writing stating 'Premium Bay' along a few other bays. I then checked the ticket machine and there was no mention of further/additional charges for 'Premium' bays, which appear to be for season ticket holders.

As such I read the forums here and then appealed against the ticket on that basis. NCP later rejected the appeal. I later further appealed to the independent parking charges but my appeal was out of time. Some time later I then got a letter threatening court action unless I payed an increased amount. I again read these and other forums which advised that there was no legal basis and to ignore them, which I did.

However I have now received a letter from a debt recovery agency demanding over £100 within two weeks or they will recommend the creditors to take court action, help!!!

I have now read that the laws have changed and they can now enforce this. Can anybody please offer some advise as I absolutely do not agree with this charge and have no intention of paying it but I don not want bailiffs at my door or the worries of court action etc.

Any help/advice greatly received.:)

PS Merry Christmas to all!!!

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Could you post up your appeal rejection pls from popla as it helps others , to show them how not to appeal to popla

trisontana

It's not a "bailiff" letter. It's one from a powerless debt collector.

Redx

as I understand it, you would have to have a CCJ before any bailiff letters can arrive

I think the OP has added 2 + 3 and made 9

as above, its a DR letter

its also worth pointing out that this forum and pepipoo have been advising people in E+W not to ignore letters like these for the last 8 months or more

edit, I remember reading about these premium bays recently on here

think it was this thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4796867

inadequate signage etc would have been one rebuttal, not a gpeol another , the fact you had a ticket and a contract may have been another (not for a premium bay obviously as they are reserved for those who pay for them) , could have been won at popla imho (but not on mitigation)

mrchristian2005

Thanks for your responses so far.

In relation to the appeal. My appeal was to NCP themselves, and this was rejected. When I appealed to POPLA my appeal was rejected as I was apparently out of time for the appeal.

Is it right that the debt collectors have no powers?

Coupon-mad

Do you mean Newlyn debt collectors:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4827814

or Rossendales debt collection:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4846595

...both of whom have a separate Bailiff arm but in the case of a fake PCN they are not acting as bailiffs. This is just another letter in the chain from a debt collector (pen pusher). What you don't do is randomly Google either of those names because you'll end up reading irrelevant bailiff stuff.

Debt collectors have NO POWERS in a case where there's no credit agreement default.

trisontana

That is correct. Debt collectors are just private citizens with the same power as you or I to demand money off people. . They cannot enter your property, they cannot seize goods and they cannot blacken your credit record.

Stroma

Debt collectors have no powers at all, they just harass people by phone and mail, that is all they do. They do not have the powers of bailiffs (so your title is misleading) , the only time a bailiff could turn up is in this scenario

1) you have a county court claim
2) you lose the court claim
3) you don't pay the court claim within 28 days
4) the claimants pay for court appointed bailiffs

Providing all that happens there could be people knocking your door with powers to levy your goods.

This is highly unlikely with ncp as they have issued no claims within the last 12 months, and the last time they went to court they lost and had costs that escalated close to £200k, and I'm not joking.

Redx

mrchristian2005 wrote: »

Thanks for your responses so far.

In relation to the appeal. My appeal was to NCP themselves, and this was rejected. When I appealed to POPLA my appeal was rejected as I was apparently out of time for the appeal.

Is it right that the debt collectors have no powers?

once you received the popla code you had 28 days to get the appeal in, which can be done online

very strange that it was too late and rejected , because most people would ensure they met the deadline

in any case, if it did go to court you may well win - who knows ?

Coupon-mad

NCP don't do court except in the strange case of Mayhook ...where Mayhook won and stonked NCP for huge costs!

Stroma

Coupon-mad wrote: »

NCP don't do court except in the strange case of Mayhook ...where Mayhook won and stonked NCP for huge costs!

Think his costs were over £80k at the end, but ncp must have had costs that exceeded £100k, the barristers had a field day on both sides and walked away happy lol, and thankfully so did Mayhook