Letter from debt recovery plus

chapchip

Hi

Just received a letter from DRP, claiming that their client had written to me previously without reply, although I have no such letters from them.

A PCN was issued at 7pm on a Sunday when the car was stopped for no more than three mins outside a relatives house to collect a child. PCN was handed over as their agent didn t even get chance to place on windscreen as driver came back out!!!

I have responded to explain i have not received their clients letter and to dispute by way of the template letter below.

The letter threatens court action if no payment(£160) made by 22/01. Any further advice welcomed.

Thank you

Dear Sirs

Re: PCN No. ....................

I challenge this 'PCN' as keeper of the car, on these main grounds:

a). The sum does not represent a genuine pre-estimate of loss, nor is it a core price term. It is a disguised penalty and not commercially justified.
b). As keeper I believe that the signs were not seen, the wording is ambiguous and the predominant purpose of your business model is intended to be a deterrent.
c). There is no evidence that you have any proprietary interest in the land.
d). Your 'Notice' fails to comply with the POFA 2012 and breaches various consumer contract/unfair terms Regulations.
e). There was no consideration nor acceptance flowing from both parties and any contract with myself, or the driver, is denied.

Your clients should be thoroughly ashamed of the shoddy way you treat consumers visiting their premises. The landowner will be made fully aware of this matter and your response, which I will forward to their CEO when I complain in writing and via social media, as appropriate. Parking firms like yours fail to demonstrate even a basic understanding of customer service. The reputation of your business model appears to be more akin to a protection racket than 'parking management'. Your ATA may offer sound-bites about driving up standards or fight for motorists' rights but in reality they are not a regulator; they merely exist to represent the interests of paying members, in order to gain access to DVLA data. The public have no faith in the private parking industry and, as far as I have seen, your firm has not shown itself to be any different than the ex-clampers with whom you share a membership.

The purpose of this communication is:

1. Formal challenge
There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. As such, you must either rely on the POFA 2012 or cancel the charge. I suggest you uphold this challenge now or alternatively, send a rejection letter - subject to accepting my claim for costs as clearly stated below, since you have no case.

2. ''Drop hands'' offer
The extravagant 'parking charge' is baseless but I realise that you may have incurred nominal postage costs. Equally, I have incurred costs to date, for researching the law and responding to your junk mail dressed up to impersonate a parking ticket. It is clear that my costs and yours, at this point, do not exceed £15. Therefore, this is a formal “drop hands” offer. I remind you of the duty to mitigate any loss, so withdraw the spurious charge within 35 days without further expense and I will not pursue you for my costs. If you persist then I will charge in full for my time at £18 per hour plus my out-of-pocket expenses and damages for harassment.

3. Notice of cancellation of contract
I hereby give notice of withdrawal from this alleged 'contract' which was never properly offered by you and certainly was not expressly agreed. This 'contract' is hereby cancelled and any obligations now end. If you offer - and if I decide to use - IAS or POPLA, then the contract ends immediately on the date of their decision (whatever the outcome) so my notice of cancellation still applies. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation & Additional Payments) Regulations apply now to every consumer contract, save for a few exemptions, which parking contracts are not. It is the will of Parliament following the EU Consumer Rights Directive, that express consent is obtained for consumer contracts now - not implied consent - and that information is provided in a durable medium in advance.

You have failed to meet these requirements. The foisting of unexpected contracts like this on consumers, by stealth, is a thing of the past.

By replying to the challenge you are acknowledging receipt and acceptance of points 2 and 3 above. If you decide to persist with this unwarranted threat, I will be put to unnecessary expense and hours of time in appealing or defending this matter. As such, you will be liable for my costs and a pre-estimate of my loss - and in contrast with yours, mine is genuine - is that this sum will be likely to exceed £100.

I have kept proof of submission of this challenge. I look forward to your considered reply within 35 days.

Yours faithfully,

bod1467

I take it you haven't read the NEWBIES thread properly then.

IGNORE any debt collector correspondence. Nothing more needs to be said.

chapchip

cheers Bod.

I did, but must admit was finding it difficult to follow and answer the phone at work etc etc. So fired off the letter anyway

I ve fired off the letter anyway, but from what you are saying it sounds like it nothing much more will follow ?

Thanks for taking the time to reply

Appreciated

Redx

DRP will keep chasing this (for up to 6 years) , its the PPC the template letter should have been sent off to

DRP can be ignored, and there is a whole section on ignoring debt collectors in that newbies sticky thread , to save on having threads like this posted

chapchip

Cheers Redx...... Should I send that off to to DRP too ??

Or just leave it now ??

Thanks

Redx

look up the word IGNORE please

Coupon-mad

chapchip wrote: »

Cheers Redx...... Should I send that off to to DRP too ??

Or just leave it now ??

Thanks

Leave it - and read post #4 of the NEWBIES thread. You appear to have only read post #1 of the sticky thread and grabbed the appeal which won't do any harm but won't get you a POPLA code we suspect. Post #4 of the NEWBIES thread tells you about this boring letter chain. Please promise NOT to post about every silly letter that arrives, in a panic...please just Google a phrase from a letter if you are bothered to read about it, but no updates about the letters. We have seen enough threads like this to last a lifetime.

So - more importantly than DRP/Zenith tedium - WHO IS THE PPC?

chapchip

Thanks Coupon

PCC was Parking Control Management UK Ltd.

Regards

chapchip

Coupon -

is it worth sending a copy of that first letter to PCM too ?

Thanks for your help

Regards