DRP Parking Fine

josh2k6

Hello, I got a parking fine from DRP this weekend and I've been reading through the form and you seem like a helpful bunch so thought you might be able to help out.

So the fine is for when I was in Leicester on 4th October, a place that I am not from so didn't even realise I did anything wrong. I moved house at a similar time to when I got this fine so the letter I got this weekend is the first I'm hearing about it as things must have been sent to my old address before I got the chance to change my license. As it has been 2 months now I thought it would be best to ask peoples opinion instead of trawling through threads.

I'm about to email the company that own the car park but it was St Georges Retail Park, Leicester. Any help you could give me on the matter would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Ryan_Bryan

Hi Josh. Firstly something to remember.

IT IS NOT A FINE.

Good. Now on to your situation. I'm assuming DRP is Debt Recovery Plus and not some new PPC we don't know. So what you have is a letter from a crappy debt collector. This you should ignore. They have the all the power of a gnat. What has happened is that you've missed a notice to keeper from the parking company. I'm guessing you never received a windscreen ticket so it's probably an ANPR camera that has picked you up leaving the car park. What company do DRP say you owe the money too? (Which you don't)
Have a read of Coupon Mad's excellent Newbies thread. It may seem complicated but it's as well to be informed as best you can.

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

josh2k6

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Yes Debt Recovery Plus is the debt collector, and no there was nothing on my windscreen. The creditor is Euro Car Parks LTD.

Yes I've read through it and it's very helpful, however I was wondering if the fact I missed the first few letters mattered?

Also what should I say / not say in my email to the car park owner?

Thanks.

josh2k6

Just found the example but does it matter that I don't have an NTK?

Ryan_Bryan

You're fortunate that ECP are a pathetic bunch. They don't do court after one failed attempt. For what it's worth I would now ignore anything further from them or DRP but do make sure you keep up with any correspondence sent to your old address. If you are at all worried you can write to ECP as the registered keeper demanding a POPLA code but, as I say, ECP are a pretty safe bet to ignore.
I do owe one debt of gratitude to ECP. A scamvoice from them started my interest in the whole PPC scam. BTW Euro. You still have 17 months left to sue me if you fancy it.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

josh2k6

Thanks very much mate. I'll ignore them from now on and I'll pop on when I hear back.

Much appreciated.

Guys_Dad

The danger that Ryan alluded top is if the PPC ever decided to do court, they might send the papers to the old address and, if you don't get them, they could win and you get a ccj by xdefault.

I would inform the PPC of your current address and, belt and braces, DRP as well.

Normally, you ignore debt collectors, but on balance I would do as I suggest, getting and retaining copies of letter and free mailing certificate.

josh2k6

Thanks for the advice. DRP have my new address, not sure how they would of found it? Surely a debt collector shouldn't have access to any of my personal information from the DVLA or wherever they found it. A bit strange.

But anyway thanks for that, I'll wait until I hear back and if the 'fine' isn't dropped I'll tell them my new address. Should I request all previous correspondence to be sent again to this address?

Coupon-mad

No need. The charge won't be dropped so stop responding to DRP or Zenith, just ignore them if they are writing to your new address. The NEWBIES thread tells you about his well known letter chain and to ignore the debt collectors (or write only once to tell them to go swivel...).

josh2k6

I know there's bits in the Newbies thread that will probably answer this question but it's a bit wordy.

I sent the email to the Euro Car Parks but I haven't heard anything back from them, is this normal? And do I now need to forget about it until I get another letter or do I appeal now?

pogofish

Stop wasting your time worrying about this. If they reply it will almost always be to deny you and all yor emailing them in thefirst place means is they will assume you take them seriously and will maybe prolong the attempts to scare payment from you.