Ignored letters from Vehicle Control Services, Newlyn threat with court

kiko87

Hi all,

I am a newbie and though I read the sticky post, I'm not sure about what to do.

We have been sent 2 letters from Vehicle Control Services Ltd about a parking charge notice (near Doncaster Airport - stopped for less than a minute at a bus stop when the road was completely empty).

We got the first letter around July or August 2013 (it asked for 40 GBP), looked up advice online and ignored it, then another one within a couple of months (asking for 60 GBP) and also ignored it. (In fact, binned both of them.)

Then in January this year we received a letter from debt collectors, Newlyn, saying that they want 166 GBP. I replied to them, saying that I have not received any correspondence from VCS and I had no intention of paying a made up charge. I also told them that
1. VCS would have to issue me with a Letter Before Claim,
2. it would be courteous to first inform me of their matter before sending debt collectors onto me,
3. failure or refusal to comply with Practice Direction would result in a complaint being made to court and
4. as the charge is disputed, they are to cease all further contact with me, otherwise I'll make a complaint to Credit Services Association.

I also intended to write it as a registered vehicle keeper but forgot; the letter does not state whether I was driving the vehicle or not.

We have now received another letter from Newlyn, saying "do not ignore this letter - court action pending" and that:

"You are formally advised that unless the payment [of 166.00 GBP] is received within 14 days, proceedings will be initiated in the County Court where a Judgement may be obtained. The County Court Judgement may then be enforced by a court appointed bailiff which will incur substantial costs. It is therefore in your interest to pay immediately."

I feel that they are taking the mickey but I'm not sure how to respond and to whom.

What's your advice?

Redx

newlyn are only debt collectors and cannot take you to court

if VCS wish to issue an LBC or court papers then that is the time to defend it, these cheeky **** are asking you for a similar amount to what you might lose if it went to court, whereas if VCS are daft enough to go to court I cannot see them winning

my opinion is "put up or shut up" as far as VCS is concerned (either issue court papers etc, or dont, but stop hiding behind debt collectors)

I would rather have my day in court (if it got that far)

I am obliged to see that you read the NEWBIES sticky thread, as it has advice in there about this , so if you were going to write a letter, make it a letter to VCS and demand a popla code (they may not do so but ask anyway)

kiko87

Redx, thank you very much for your reply. FYI, I sent a snotty letter to VCS as described in the section of sticky post on requesting a POPLA number and am now waiting for their reply.

If I have any news, I shall post on here.

Once again thanks for your reassurance. :T

Redx

well done, the point here being if they tried an LBC then you can show you tried to steer it towards popla as an ADR , same thing if it ever went in front of a judge too , showing you were willing to resolve it by using popla

kiko87

Thanks, Redx.

Now we got a letter from Newlyn saying that they'll start court proceedings if we don't pay within 7 days. Given that they can't take us to court, unlike VCS (and only following the right procedures), I am ignoring this letter. We have informed them that the case is being disputed once and I think that's enough for now.

No news from VCS.

Anything else cropping up, I'll post again.

The_Deep

VCS is owned by Mr Simon Renshawe Smith, a man not known for academic eminence, read this

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/an-open-letter-to-simon-renshaw-smith.html

spacey2012

Only the stupid PPC's on self destruct mode do court.
Those with a few more brains, know what percentage they get paid with the right threats and leave it at that.
The Stupid ones Like Parking Eye, like you to type the name in google and it fetch up a long list of spankings in court with explanations of how senior district judges of many years standing have thrown them out.

kiko87

Ha ha, The Deep, this made my day! What a tough measure, though, 5 quid and 40 shillings... though back in the days of shillings etc. that was a considerable amount.

spacey2012, your words calm me even further. I feel that I've done my bit, Newlyn can go please themselves and if VCS want to make a move, then I'm ready for it. Bring it on!

kiko87

OK, we have now received a reply from VCS:

"Dear XXXXX,

[notice serial no, vehicle reg mark, date & time of issue]

Further to your correspondence received on the [day in] March 2014, in connection to the above Parking Charge Notice (PCN).

The details of this account have been forwarded to our Debt Recovery Company; Newlyns Debt Recovery due to the non receipt of payment within 28 days of the Notice To Keeper being issued.

All enquiries and payments must be made directly to Newlyns.

We will not acknowledge or respond to any further correspondence.

Yours sincerely

Choy Yee Chu
For and on behalf of the Senior Manager
Central Payments Office"


So, the situation is: Newlyn are threatening us with court, we notified them that the PCN is being disputed and ignored further threats with court, and now this.

Since they say they are not interested in our correspondence and we told the debt collectors we aren't interested in their correspondence, it's all a bit of a joke, is it not?

Any practical advice always welcome.

kiko87

I haven't posted an update on here simply because I forgot. We never heard from VCS or Newlyn again and they clearly gave up on our case. SORTED!

ManxRed

Thanks for coming back and confirming. A lot of these threads remain hanging but it's good to see confirmation that that was the end of it.