Euro Car Parks Fine Ticket

mrgolferman

Last Month i was issued a car parking fine by Euro Car Parks and looked for advice on here and other places, where people were saying just to ignore it. Now they have sent me out a warning letter saying that if I don't pay the full fine within 28 days they will send a debt collector to my house. I was wondering if anyone else had received this letter as well recently and what they have done. As i heard that the law about they way they work might have changed, also I am from Scotland so would that make a difference? Any help would be very much appreciated, thank you.

Ebe_Scrooge

If you're in Scotland then yes, ignore it. You'll get a succession of letters threatening legal action, court orders, baliffs, and one from Graham White solicitors demanding the sacrifice of your first-born son. When shredded, these letter make excellent hamster bedding. Oh, and they can't send a debt-collector to your house, not without a court order, which ain't gonna happen.

In England, it's different - the "ignore" advice no longer stands, and you need to go down the POPLA route, as described in the stickies on this board.

mrgolferman

How many letters are they likely to send? and how won't they get the court letter? It's just the car is under my wife's name and she is getting really worried about it and thinks that I should just pay it.

Iceweasel

The law has not changed in Scotland, but even if this parking 'incident' happened in England or Wales, you still ignore it, if you and/or the car are resident in Scotland.

They will try to scare you more with reference to court judgements and bad credit ratings. They may as well threaten Robocop or Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator.

Do not contact them at all - or the letters will continue for a few months longer - even up to a year as by contacting them you show them you are unsure of the law in Scotland.

Keep the letters to make a pretty collage with.

Edit: the law in Scotland says that they can only pursue the driver - and as the registered keeper is under no obligation to answer their stupid letters and tell them who the driver was - they are snookered and MUST eventually give up.

But if your wife phones or writes and tells them who the driver was, then ........

If you just ignore them you will get perhaps 5 letters at roughly monthly intervals - each one threatening something worse.

Ebe_Scrooge

From memory you're likely to get about 4 letters I think - that's what happened to me. Please, please, please, just ignore them. Honestly. They sound very official and scary, and as I say you'll get one from a "solicitor", usually Graham White. Though I can't really believe he's a properly qualified person.

Anyhow, ignore. If they really wanted to send the baliffs in, they'd have to go to court - which won't happen. But if they did, they'd have to prove that the £184 or whatever made-up figure it is, is a genuine estimate of their loss. Which it isn't. So they'd never win. Which they know. Which is why they won't even bother going to court.

The only way they make money is by people being scared of their official-sounding threats, and paying up. They really are like the school bully - stand up to them, and they'll give up and find someone else to pick on.

But as IceWeasel says, DO NOT contact them in any way. They'll just think they've got a bite and carry on trolling.

mrgolferman

my wife has just fantastically told me that she contacted them saying that my work gets to park in it for longer but that's not my work cos mine is just round the corner so we don't have that right. I was only over my time by 15 minutes as i just had to pop into work for a couple of hours. Now that she has told me this what should my plan of action be now?

ukmike

Now that she has told me this what should my plan of action be now?

Divorce?? :-)

Iceweasel

Ahem.

Very unfortunate.

Thanks to your wife's innocent but naive contact they probably know your name and that you were driving and responsible for parking the car.

You now need to continue ignoring all letters from them - but as I said they may well be more aggressive in their pursuit of the 'offender' as they smell the chance of conning you out of your hard earned cash, due to your wife's showing ignorance of the law.

Ignore everything but court papers - there is an infinitesimal small chance that they will actually try that. It would be wrong of me to say it was impossible for them to try.

However in that case you will beat them by having a defence that highlights the fact that the money they are claiming is not a true estimate of the loss - if it was a free car-park the loss to the owner of the car-park was nothing. Your wife's info about being allowed extra time is a non-starter and means nothing.

Euro Car Parks are highly unlikely to be the owner and therefore their loss is also nothing.

But all that is way in the future and only if they grow a set and try it on by actually applying to a court which IIUC they have never done in the past.

They have certainly threatened to do that plenty times in the past - that is the way they operate to scare people.

Ebe_Scrooge

As IceWeasel says, be prepared for a more lengthy series of letters, but ignore anything except genuine court papers. The upside is that this gives you or your friends plenty more free hamster bedding material.

IF - and it's a big, and highly unlikely "if" - but IF it did somehow go to court, then 2 things to ponder to hopefully alleviate your worries. Firstly, the maximum you could be ordered to pay would be any genuine loss. What's that ? If it's a pound an hour to park, and you overstayed by 20 minutes, then you'd have to stump up a quid.

But - and here's the best bit - it's down to them to prove who was driving ( assuming your wife didn't actually tell them ). All you say is "Sorry guv, that was months ago, could have been either one of us, I really can't remember". Unless they can produce CCTV evidence, then they can't even begin proceedings.

So it really is most unlikely to go to court, if it did then you're unlikely to have to pay anything, and in the event that they CAN prove who was driving then you'll be stung for a quid or 2.

prowla

mrgolferman wrote: »

Last Month i was issued a car parking fine by Euro Car Parks and looked for advice on here and other places, where people were saying just to ignore it. Now they have sent me out a warning letter saying that if I don't pay the full fine within 28 days they will send a debt collector to my house. I was wondering if anyone else had received this letter as well recently and what they have done. As i heard that the law about they way they work might have changed, also I am from Scotland so would that make a difference? Any help would be very much appreciated, thank you.

Just so you know, it is not a fine, and they will never say that it is a fine.

The government, the council, and the courts can issue fines, and private car parking companies are none of them.

4consumerrights

You have posted in the wrong sub-forum but never mind.

As stated there is no keeper liability in Scotland under POFA 2012 and the relevant land for the parking event is England or Wales.

Your wife was naive in contacting ECP - hope she didn't say who was driving.

As also stated it is not a FINE as per above poster. This is a speculative invoice for payment under civil contract law. Debt collectors have no legal powers nor will they come knocking on your door - you will not however hear from " "Graham White" . Only the creditor and landowner will be able to instigate legal proceedings, or a solicitor acting on their behalf As ECP are merely agents they have suffered no loss.

In England/Wales the statute of limitations for pursuing debts of this nature is 6 years - not sure if different in Scotland.

So yes continue to ignore all letters - but do keep them. Should you receive a solicitor's letter or a LBA from either ECP or the landowner - then this needs to be responded to.