PCN vinci now solicitors letter from Wright Hassall

Bobo88

Hi,

Brief background, I started working in the heath hospital in the summer of last year. Parked my car one day in a space that I wasn't meant to be in (because they hand too many parking badges out compared to actual spaces available) received a pcn and was willing to pay but was told by my colleagues not to as vinci have no authority. This was in September but I didn't receive a pcn letter from vinci until December.

I continued to take the advice of my colleagues anyway and went through the usual steps of ignoring the letters from zzps too. However I then received a letter from Wright Hassall solicitors which followed the same template that other people on the forum have reported. I read on this forum that you must respond to solicitors letters and so I sent an email to wright hassall explaining that I wasn't accepting responsibility for being the driver and that the fine was not proportionate to the offence of not paying £1.05 for a ticket as I was in a bay not designated for me (Basically the template letter that is on this forum).

A few days later I received a reply stating that the fine is legal and that they expect payment by the 19th March otherwise the case will be escalated to their litigation dept and court papers will follow.

At this stage is my only option to pay or risk going to court? I'm young and getting married in the summer so will be looking to buy a house within the next 6 months and do not want a ccj against my name. Can anybody offer any guidance as to where I should go from here?

Thanks for any advice.

jonesMUFCforever

Check if Wright Hassall (apt name don't you think?) are on the official list of solicitor firms.

stator

The important thing to know is that if it does go to court and the judge orders that you pay it, and you DO pay it, it does NOT show up as a CCJ on your credit file. You only get a CCJ on your credit file if the judge orders you to pay it and you DON'T pay it within a certain number of days.

So the worst that can happen is that it goes to court and you lose, and in exceptional circumstances you could, theoretically be asked to pay costs, but only if you did something quite unreasonable. ps if they do take you to court absolutely make sure you turn up, even if they try and trick you into not turning up.

Redx

use the forum search with those 2 words and read the advice there too

you cannot get a CCJ if you lost in court and paid the judgment promptly , its NON-PAYMENT of a court judgment that can lead to a CCJ

peter_the_piper

That's got to be a made up name surely, just like Argue and Phibbs.

fisherjim

Did their letter really say "the fine is legal"? I doubt it!

hoohoo

Treat their letter as a letter before claim and follow advice on this thread.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4754020

In reality it is likely that the operator/debt collector pays a fee of around £5 to send this letter under the banner of Wright Hassall. They won't actually want Wright Hassall to do any work on the account

bazster

Report the Right Hassle letter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

http://www.sra.org.uk/home/home.page

I've PM'd you a draft complaint.

trisontana

Times must b e hard for this law firm (established in 1846) if they are now grubbing around in the murky world of the private parking "industry".

http://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/about-us/

bazster

Well let's hope that everyone who has been advised to report their disgraceful letter to the SRA does so, and that the SRA makes times even harder for them.

Umkomaas

Maybe alongside reporting the issue to the SRA, make the assumption that the WH letter is an actual LBA and fire off zzzLazyDaisy's template for them to contend with. They won't want to be dealing with answering the details from that.

Playing silly beggars can be a two-way street. And so can right hassle!