Letter from debt collectors - but no notification of fine!

xyleth

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on how to approach this - tonight I came home to a letter from Debt Recover Plus limited informing me that their client, CP Plus, had passed them my account for collection for non-payment of a parking ticket. The amount they are claiming is £120.

Looking at the details they have provided I have confirmed that I was most likely parked in the car park in question (it's a railway station car park) on the date they provided and it's possible I was, as they claim, parked in an incorrect space. So I have no issue with paying the original fine.

However:
1) There was no notice of the ticket being issued on my car
2) I never received any notification from CP Plus that a ticket had been issued despite the date of the ticket being over two months ago
3) The letter from the debt collection company says I must pay by 27/02/2014 or be taken to court - despite not arriving until the 27/02/2014!

The company offices are closed now so I can't contact them until the morning. Given the above facts I am of a mind to get quite difficult about payment - I'm willing to pay the original ticket if required but no way am I going to pay any late penalties.

I was wondering if anyone on this forum had any experience with this kind of thing and could give me some pointers?

Thanks very much,
Ben.

Trebor16

You don't have to pay the original ticket. It is not a fine and no private company can fine you so please don't think of it as that.

What you need to find out is when this ticket was issued in the first place. Was a ticket left on your car? Have you received any postal notifications from CP Plus? Have you had previous letters about this but ignored them? Have you moved recently?

You do need to find out about the original issue of the ticket as it will help you in defending this matter and keeping money in your pocket, not the pockets of private parking company.

Redx

do not contact debt recovery plus, they will just insist that you pay it

its not a fine either, its an invoice

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

then think about appealing to CPP and complaining to the BPA

Coupon-mad

The company offices are closed now so I can't contact them until the morning

No you won't, don't RING either DRP nor CP Plus!! Next you will be telling us you've told them who was driving...or paid them!

You have the first letter. You appear to have missed the entire advice in the 'Private parking ticket? NEWBIES please read this first' sticky thread which tells you how to send a challenge (template version) when you get a letter to keeper. This is how CP Plus work, they use DRP to get the data from the DVLA as I think CP Plus don't have electronic access.

Go to the NEWBIES thread and send the template first challenge to DRP and to CP Plus if you simply Google their appeals address.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64274803#Comment_64274803

This is easy and your case is no different to the thousands of others on here (except slightly different if the response tells you it's a 'penalty charge'). CP Plus don't even seem to have a Notice to Keeper letter to follow a windscreen PCN (alleged) and the DRP version of the letter isn't compliant either, which is great for a registered keeper to appeal (don't say who was driving). This was covered the other day in another CP Plus case here
where they admitted to the poster that they don't get DVLA data themselves and use DRP for that side of it. Here you go, this was the similar thread where the OP had already written an appeal:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64806623#Comment_64806623

That is NOT the template appeal for you yet, by the way - you will find the appeal letter in the NEWBIES sticky in the previous link (and which was at the top of the forum all along, calling all newbies to please read it first...). Please use the template I supply in the sticky because with CP Plus in a railway station car park you need to understand the basis of the 'charge' (CP Plus also issue some 'penalty charges' in such car parks - the subject of some scrutiny by this forum and pepipoo already - but even those are not followed up properly). So you need a response which tells you the basis of the charge as well as giving you a POPLA code if it was a private PCN rather than a 'penalty'.

Even if it was a 'penalty charge' the consensus of opinion is such that you should NOT pay it but should complain later on to 'Passenger Focus' about this utter drivel which is normally unsupported by railway bylaws but pretends it is. There's another thread about all this on the forum right now too here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4801497

...and in that case, CP plus are only a few weeks away from being 'timed out' to proceed anyway. They seem happy to rely upon the threat of 'scary' letters, LOL!

- Please tell us what responses you get and you can probably drag this out over the coming months like the other poster if it is a 'penalty charge'.

- Either that or it's a 'parking charge' and you will then be able to appeal and win at POPLA - which really will be as easy as shelling peas.

Coupon-mad

xyleth wrote: »

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on how to approach this - tonight I came home to a letter from Debt Recover Plus limited informing me that their client, CP Plus, had passed them my account for collection for non-payment of a parking ticket. The amount they are claiming is £120.

Looking at the details they have provided I have confirmed that I was most likely parked in the car park in question (it's a railway station car park) on the date they provided and it's possible I was, as they claim, parked in an incorrect space. So I have no issue with paying the original fine.

However:
1) There was no notice of the ticket being issued on my car
2) I never received any notification from CP Plus that a ticket had been issued despite the date of the ticket being over two months ago
3) The letter from the debt collection company says I must pay by 27/02/2014 or be taken to court - despite not arriving until the 27/02/2014!

The company offices are closed now so I can't contact them until the morning. Given the above facts I am of a mind to get quite difficult about payment - I'm willing to pay the original ticket if required but no way am I going to pay any late penalties.

I was wondering if anyone on this forum had any experience with this kind of thing and could give me some pointers?

Thanks very much,
Ben.

Ben - I hope you have been following Puddings' thread (already linked for you ages ago above) and seen that his 6 months are up with no problems and he can now complain to the BPA and DVLA about this misrepresentation and avoidance of POPLA.