NTK for a parking charge dated 25/04/2014

Parking-Prankster

Its worse than just being way out of time. It actually says keeper liability applies. This should be reported to the BPA and DVLA.


[EMAIL="aos@britishparking.co.uk"]aos@britishparking.co.uk[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="ccrt@dvla.gsi.gov.uk"]ccrt@dvla.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL]


Dear BPA/DVLA,
I wish to raise an official complaint about CUP. They have send a notice to keeper stating that keeper liability applies. However, this is far outside the timeframes. I understand stating keeper liability applies when it clearly does not is a sanctionable offence and that they can be banned from access to the DVLA database. I enclose a copy of the NTK. Please keep me informed of progress.

FunkyParka

An update and some more questions.

After the original NTK (dated 2014-08-07 for an alleged offense on
2014-04-25) and advice here, I prepared a letter for my wife to send
to Close Unit Protection (CUP). The primary objection was that their
NTK was sent outside the required timeframe. Unfortunately we then
went away on holiday and forgot to post the letter :-(

On return we had another letter from Parking Collection Services (PCS)
dated mid-August in a similar vein to the original, except titled
"Notice to Owner". The wording of the letter is generally similar to
the original (see back in the thread for a pointer), though it is a
little shorter. Copy available on request.

In early September my wife received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus
Ltd. (DRP) which was a demand for payment, referencing CUP. The letter
includes language such as:

"If you are liable for this charge and do not pay the full amount by
25/09/2014 ..., we will recommend to the creditor's solicitor that
court action should be taken to recover what you owe."

In mid-September I posted our complaint letter to CUP and received a
certificate of posting.

A further letter from DRP arrived a week ago, titled "Notice of
intended court action". The letter says:

"To prevent this case being passed to the creditor's solicitor to
commence court proceedings, you must pay the full amount... If you are
liable for this charge and do not pay the full amount by..."

My wife is concerned that she will simply receive notification that
she has been taken to court and found guilty without any opportunity
to defend her position. Given that we have never seen the original
parking charge notice, it seems possible that CUP and/or PCS and/or
DRP will not properly inform us of any action that they take moving
forward.

Suggesting that she ignore the letters from DRP is great, but she is
concerned about getting a court judgment against her (and consequent
fine) and the effect this might have on her credit rating, for
example. Mostly she wants this to stop - the threatening letters from
DRP are upsetting her greatly.

So far we have had no response from CUP to our complaint letter.

So my questions:

1) Is it likely that CUP or PCS will take her to court? Their original
NTK was clearly not compliant (out of time) and they have not
identified the driver.

2) If they should decide to take her to court, who is responsible for
notifying us of that fact and any relevant details (where and when,
essentially)?

3) Has anyone else been through court proceedings in a similar
situation? What was the result and your experience?

4) Given that we have heard nothing back from CUP after the complaint,
what is the correct next course of action with them? I imagine a
complaint to the trade association?

5) Is it worth talking to DRP (the debt recovery people) about it at
all? Are they likely to pay any attention to information that the
original charge should be dismissed?

One suggestion was to get a solicitor to write to one or more of CUP,
PCS and DRP. This will obviously require finding a suitable solicitor,
deciding what they should say and paying him/her. If anyone has good
experience with a solicitor in the Watford, Hertfordshire area, I'd
welcome recommendations.

Thanks again for any help.

Coupon-mad

So my questions:

1) Is it likely that CUP or PCS will take her to court? Their original
NTK was clearly not compliant (out of time) and they have not
identified the driver.

Not likely at all that CUP will try court - and PCS/DRP (same firm!) cannot.

2) If they should decide to take her to court, who is responsible for
notifying us of that fact and any relevant details (where and when,
essentially)?

The Court would send you a letter with the claim form and you would have ample time to respond (and you would win with our help, we do this a lot where a PPC is litigious - unlike CUP, who are not).

3) Has anyone else been through court proceedings in a similar
situation? What was the result and your experience?

Loads of outcomes in the Newbies thread post #5 'successful court claims won by defendants' but honestly you don't even need to go there, you are ONLY getting the usual letter chain of drivel from PCS/DRP/Zenith (all names used by the same firm).

4) Given that we have heard nothing back from CUP after the complaint, what is the correct next course of action with them? I imagine a complaint to the trade association?

Yes as already advised by the Parking Prankster above, who gave you the email addresses ages ago!

5) Is it worth talking to DRP (the debt recovery people) about it at
all? Are they likely to pay any attention to information that the
original charge should be dismissed?

No and No. Forget them.

One suggestion was to get a solicitor to write to one or more of CUP, PCS and DRP. This will obviously require finding a suitable solicitor,
deciding what they should say and paying him/her. If anyone has good
experience with a solicitor in the Watford, Hertfordshire area, I'd
welcome recommendations.

Don't waste your money! Seriously you do not need a Solicitor and the experts here are just that (experts in this field, helping you for free).

I suggest you get complaining as the Prankster told you to (be careful NOT to imply who parked the car/was driving!) and read the newbies thread a bit closer. You are merely in ignore mode like we all used to do with these letters before POPLA existed as an option just 2 years ago. I have ignored 4 fake PCNs and others have ignored DOZENS and the sky does not fall in, nor will you be taken to court without knowing! Debt collectors cannot litigate. This letter chain has been ignored by posters here for nearly a decade!

FunkyParka

Thanks for your comments Coupon-mad.

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Not likely at all that CUP will try court - and PCS/DRP (same firm!) cannot.

Is there a basis for asserting that it's not likely at all? CUP seemed to be unknown here when I posted my original question.

Yes as already advised by the Parking Prankster above, who gave you the email addresses ages ago!

I missed that :-( Email sent to the BPA/DVLA this morning, expanding on the suggested text.

Whilst looking for a solicitor to see what it would cost, I spoke with someone from Irwin Mitchell Ltd. (via Age UK). The chap there said that parking was not really their area (no money in it!), but that his understanding was that from the start of 2012 the keeper had a legal obligation to divulge the name of the driver! This seems to be in direct contradiction to the advice here, so I wanted to check that such an obligation does not exist.

Coupon-mad

And that's why you don't need a solicitor as he is totally wrong!

And yes there is a basis for my reply 'not likely AT ALL' to go to court! Not only do one or two of us regulars see the UK small claims court listings re parking cases every day (and CUP do not feature) but also Stroma does a FOI request to the courts annually. It shows which firms litigate and has been posted here for the last 2 years, can be searched for or Googled.

Umkomaas

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/179544/response/444525/attach/3/A%20FINAL%20REPLY%20TO%20LEWIS%2085865.doc

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/205660/response/510306/attach/3/AA%20REPLY%20TO%20Craig%20Lewis%2090006%203.doc