Debt Recovery Plus

emmafleur

I wonder if anyone can help us. My son had a parking fine sent to him by Euro Car Parks Ltd in September 2013. The photo of his car was very sketchy with no times or dates printed on the photographs. My son just ignored all the letters and eventually they stopped coming. A few weeks ago he received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd claiming that he still hadn't paid the fine and that a new landmark court ruling (Beavis V Parking Eye Ltd) meant he was even more liable for this fine. He has never had any contact with either company and is now not sure what he should do. Should he pay up to leave him alone or just ignore the letters again? He no longer lives at the address where the letters are being sent and was in the car park that day but does not think he went over the free time limit. I'm not sure what to advise him to do.

Fruitcake

It is not a fine, and no your son should not pay the charge.


Please read the Sticky thread for NEWBIES, especially post 4 that tells you why it is safe to ignore debt collectors.
It has not however been a good idea to ignore private parking tickets since 2012 when the law changed.

Guys_Dad

emmafleur wrote: »

I wonder if anyone can help us. My son had a parking fine sent to him by Euro Car Parks Ltd in September 2013. The photo of his car was very sketchy with no times or dates printed on the photographs. My son just ignored all the letters and eventually they stopped coming. A few weeks ago he received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd claiming that he still hadn't paid the fine and that a new landmark court ruling (Beavis V Parking Eye Ltd) meant he was even more liable for this fine. He has never had any contact with either company and is now not sure what he should do. Should he pay up to leave him alone or just ignore the letters again? He no longer lives at the address where the letters are being sent and was in the car park that day but does not think he went over the free time limit. I'm not sure what to advise him to do.

That's the bit to worry about. If court papers are sent to that old address, are you 100% sure that they will be sent on to the current address? If not, then a judgement in default could arise.

best get a fool proof way of ensuring he gets all of the mail and in good time.

emmafleur

It's ok because they come to my house so I'll always be able to get them to him. So, shall I tell him to ignore the fine? He hasn't heard anything from the original company who sent out the fine since early 2014. This new company doesn't say why they are involved now.

emmafleur

Thank you for your quick reply. Shall I tell him to ignore it then? I've read the newbie thread and it says to but I'm just a little concerned since you say that he shouldn't have ignored the original fine. He hasn't heard from the original parking company for 18 months.

Guys_Dad

emmafleur wrote: »

Thank you for your quick reply. Shall I tell him to ignore it then? I've read the newbie thread and it says to but I'm just a little concerned since you say that he shouldn't have ignored the original fine. He hasn't heard from the original parking company for 18 months.

No way to go other than to pay or await any court papers. I would do the latter now.

Coupon-mad

Seeing as Euro Car Parks never sue anyone you'd be pretty daft to consider paying! What was wrong with this thread as your answer:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5035663

Or post #4 of the NEWBIES sticky thread near the top, where DRPlus letters are discussed and everyone, but everyone, ignores them. This is NOT about to go to court. You would realise that when you search the forum for 'Debt Recovery Plus landmark'.

Redx

emmafleur wrote: »

Thank you for your quick reply. Shall I tell him to ignore it then? I've read the newbie thread and it says to but I'm just a little concerned since you say that he shouldn't have ignored the original fine. He hasn't heard from the original parking company for 18 months.

they have 6 years to bring a court claim, after that its as dead as a dodo

Coupon-mad

Redx wrote: »

they have 6 years to bring a court claim, after that its as dead as a dodo

But don't worry, emmafleur, because ECP have no clue. If this was a Supermarket or retail park, contact the CEO or Head Office of the retailer to complain about this ongoing harassment and ask them to step in and cancel it for a genuine customer who did not overstay to the best of their knowledge but is being bombarded by debt collector threatograms.

If it's a multi store retail park, Google the name of the place to find out who runs /owns it and email a complaint to them.

emmafleur

Thank you everyone. I did Google and DRL have got a pretty slick website so I wasn't sure if they were genuine. I did read the newbie thread so thank you so much for writing it. I just wanted to double check with someone 'live' so to speak because there has been an 18 months gap between the original charge and this new lot of letters. What a pain these companies are! Thank you again 😊

Redx

emmafleur wrote: »

Thank you everyone. I did Google and DRL have got a pretty slick website so I wasn't sure if they were genuine. I did read the newbie thread so thank you so much for writing it. I just wanted to double check with someone 'live' so to speak because there has been an 18 months gap between the original charge and this new lot of letters. What a pain these companies are! Thank you again 😊

yes, they are, so please sign this petition to try to get them regulated

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/111925