DRP - Concerned about the Quoted Landmark Court Case

happygooner28

Hello all

In need of some urgent assistance here.

Towards the tail end of last year (no actual date on the letter) we received the standard G24 Invoice/Demand/Parking Charge Notice for a 22 minute over stay in a 150 minute car park. At the time my wife responded with the template found here, essentially rejecting their demand and asking for POPLA ref. Although they never provided this they did reject our rejection with their own standard template letter (containing numerous typos and grammatical errors) telling us how much authority they had to impose these charges.

At this point I wasn't sure if we had done more damage by replying to the original letter at all as various sources I read were suggesting the letter was out of date and that by replying at all we had given them a name and shown them we were rattled.

We made an informed decision to ignore.

When a final notice came through in January we again decided to ignore following a good bit of research.

At this point my understanding was that these letters would continue for 6 years and we would just have to live with it.

The latest correspondence is from DRP. On first glance I had intended to pay this the same short shrift as everything else sent so far, especially after reading the many comments on this company. However before filing away I couldn't help but be drawn to the 'landmark court case' part written in bold. Seems that due to a recent court case and subsequent ruling the lie of the land has completely changed here.

Might they actually take us to court and win if we don't pay what started as a £45.00 fine but has now risen to £155.00????

I absolutely do not want to pay them a cent but by the same token I don't want a CCJ against my name. Thinking I may grudgingly have to back down.

PLEASE HELP!!!

The_Slithy_Tove

READ the NEWBIES sticky thread
UNDERSTAND that DRP are as toothless as they ever were, and can't take you to court.
REALISE that the so-called "landmark" case does not apply to every parking event by a long way, and that you're unlikely to end up with a CCJ, especially from G24 who have not ever done court thus far.

fisherjim

Bullying, truth bending, scare tactics from Muppet making firm DR+, their other [STRIKE]masters[/STRIKE] apprentices at makebelieve mysery are Zenith who might put on a show for you later, if the first performance isn't convincing!

Half_way

One peice of information is missing from your post, what happened when you complained to the landowner, and asked/politely demanded that the landowner cancel the charge that their agents are demanding?

Redx

and it wont get to a CCJ, not even if you lost in court, providing you pay the judgment promptly, usually within 28 days

a CCJ only happens if you dont pay after losing in court , but you would pay , wouldnt you ? (perhaps £200 in total)

and its not a fine, never was , never will be, its an invoice, a speculative invoice for perceived rule breaking

DRP cannot take you to court, they can only send you scary looking letters (yeah right)

if anyone is going to issue court proceedings, it would be G24 , sometime in the 6 YEARS following this parking invoice

and as mentioned above, you havent said why you didnt get the landowner to cancel it, this would make more sense than worrying about contracted agents and the "scary" DRP (not)

they are sending thousands of these out, because some people will be intimidated into paying, thats how they get their money

ps:- G24 do not use popla, they use the IAS, so popla was never an option

read post #4 of the NEWBIES sticky thread at the top of this forum

and this too

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

Coupon-mad

Search the forum for 'Debt Recovery Plus landmark' please. Already answered a hundred times.

happygooner28

Thanks for your replies everyone I have spent countless hours reading through the minefield that is these PCN's ever since we got one and paid without questioning last time out.

The charge is from a retail park in Oxford shared by Aldi & Toys r Us. I note that another thread from 2014 had the exact same problem in the exact same car park. My wife initially called Aldi but as I understand they are not the landowners. From reading the other thread I will have to contact Toys r Us and persist when I am fobbed off. Manager, CEO etc.... A time consuming and lengthy process. My only concern is this latest threat says they will refer it back to G24 if unpaid by 18th March. I presume nobody would really be too concerned over any dates given by DRP in this instance?!

Redx

nope, not concerned at all

only G24 can try a court case (unlikely but never say never) and have 6 years to do so, in the small claims court

these "deadlines" are so fluid that you will receive more of them from DRP and then from ZENITH or some other debt collector

its an LBC or MCOL you need to act upon, the rest is smoke and mirrors

you need the Landowner OR the MANAGING AGENT (MA) to cancel the charge at source, as they employed the ex-clampers G24

GEORGIEPORGIE

Happygooner - im fairly new here but always remember one thing.
The firm wants to communicate a sense of urgency.. watch as the letters get more and more urgent and giggle to yourselves.

Ignore the debt letters - responding to them only encourages them. The PPC needs 1) take you to court, 2) WIN, 3) and have you not pay within ~28 days in order to get a CCJ/Decree and take baliff action.

They know this and would rather you just pay up like a guliable fish. The very fact they went down the debt route shows how reluctant they are to go to court with you. Read the Newby stickies and listen to the advice from the regulars.

Half_way

Is this the place http://completelyretail.co.uk/portfolio/BritishLand/scheme/3113/properties.html ?

some of the contacts on the left may be of use:
Sue Adams, British Land
David Comb, Harvey Spack field
Mark Thomson CWM out of town

happygooner28

Yep, that's the one thank you.

I'll get on to this asap.

Cheers