To pay or not to Pay......

DouglasJ

Having ignored the demands to pay G24 et al the £100.00 (£160...£128...£79.99...) for an overstay of 24 minutes in a HomeBase car park I have now received a demand from Gladstones to pay the full amount within 14days.
What should I do??
Following is a resume of the saga so far..
05/01/2015
24 min over-parked in HomeBase carpark on allowable period of 120 mins
Contractual Parking Charge Notice of £100.00 issued by G24 13/01/2016

20/5/2015
1st Letter from DRP Demanding payment of £160.00
Payment to be made by 3/6/2015

4/6/2015
2nd Letter from DRP referring to their letter of the 15/5/2015(??)
Demanding full payment of £160 and pointing that if court action taken then future difficulty in obtaining credit and that court fees of £25 +solicitors fees of £50 would be incurred

26/6/2015
3rd letter from DRP referring again to letter of the 15/5/2016(??)
Demand for reduced payment of £128 - -Final Offer—by 10/7/15 if not payed then £160+ would be demanded

20/7/2016
1st Letter from ZENITH Collections “Notice of Debt Recovery”
Demand now for £79.99 to be paid within 14 days
3/8/2015
2nd Letter from ZENITH
“Notice of intention to commence legal proceedings”
Demand now for £79.99 to be paid within 14 days and if not actioned commencement of legal action to recover £160.00 + costs and again pointing that if court action taken then future difficulty in obtaining credit for mortgages Credit cards bank loans etc and that amount outstanding would increase

And now 12 months later and 20months after occurrence of heinous transgression

1/9/2016
Letter from Gladstones posted 2nd Class and received 12/9/2016
Demand for £160.00 “within 14 days of the date of this letter”
Now, appart from and including the dire warnings on credit etcit is noted that such a judgement would be recorded and be registered for 6years

What is the concensus/....... and :eek:HELP!!!
DouggieJ

Half_way

Dont panic, and above all don't even think of paying , havent goit enough time to do this justice for now, however take a look at the sticky thread.
Al,so was this just a Homebase car park, or is it a shared retail park?

The_Deep

As this is a contractual charge, have they accounted for v.a.t.

If not, ask them for a vat invoice. If they ignore your request, (which they probably will), it is a useful stick with which to beat them if it ever gets to court.

More reading here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5033796=

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5195437

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5087925=

If you suspect tax evasion report it to the fraud hot line here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5087925&highlight

DouglasJ

Thanks guys for your replies.
Having read the article in the links I now believe that the case might be predjudiced as I did not pay BUT I did ignore the PCN.
If I am to proceed, then which organisation do I request the VAT invoice from? Would this be G24,Gladstones,Zenith or DRP?
I can quite understand how these people succeed as I am now really worried and feel it might be best to just pay up and get the whole thing settled without further uncertainty and worry.

Ralph-y

the links Deep linked to are important .... but IMHO will not win this case (they may cause the PPC trouble)

you need to read through this newbie thread

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


pleas as requested tell us if this was a retail park or a home base one ?

you should all so understand that G24 are one of the ' easy to beat' PPC's


good luck

Ralph:cool:

foreign corespondent

DouglasJ

Hi Ralph
I'm sorry that I didn't mention that the carpark was in front of the local HomeBase store and there are no other premises utilising it. It is not a retail park just there "For the use of Homebase Customers".
I have now read the Newbie thread several times and branched off in the many directions that the various links lead.
Am I correct in thinking the course of action open to me is to write to Homebase requesting that, as a customer of theirs, I do not think it at all appropriate that after having shopped at their store, to be then harrassed by their agents for £100.00 said to be owing for a 24minute overstay in their carpark?
Do I still write to D24 to request a VAT invoice for this "Contract"?
Douggie

Umkomaas

You definitely need to be pressing on Homebase, but initially I'd be going along to the store, armed with receipts/bank or CC statements to prove patronage, and speak to the store manager, don't be fobbed off by Customer Services. Resort to writing to HO if the local approach doesn't work.

You should point out to the manager that this might end up in court and if so you will be calling him/her as a witness. Asking them to provide you with dates over the next six months when they personally won't be available so you can ask the court to avoid those, usually helps concentrate their minds!

As intimated by Ralph-y, the VAT issue is a second order action, it is more of an irritant to the PPC, has never yet, AFAIAA, in its own right, caused an appeal to be won/case to be dropped. It may be a helpful bit of evidence if this ever got to court, where an argument would need to be made about the technical differences between a service charge for using the car park, which might attract VAT, and a contractual charge for breach or a penalty, which wouldn't.

Concentrate your efforts on Homebase right now! Also keep alert to a Gladstone letter headed 'Letter Before Claim' (or similar) or real court papers. Come back for advice if either received.

Coupon-mad

DouglasJ wrote: »

Hi Ralph
I'm sorry that I didn't mention that the carpark was in front of the local HomeBase store and there are no other premises utilising it. It is not a retail park just there "For the use of Homebase Customers".
I have now read the Newbie thread several times and branched off in the many directions that the various links lead.

Am I correct in thinking the course of action open to me is to write to Homebase requesting that, as a customer of theirs, I do not think it at all appropriate that after having shopped at their store, to be then harassed by their agents for £100.00 said to be owing for a 24minute overstay in their carpark?

Yes - quicker to email or phone Head Office to complain quicker, or as Umkomaas says, to go in, brandishing the offending batch of threats!

But do not imply who was driving, just say 'we' or refer to the 'driver' in the third person even in a complaint.

Did the driver or a passenger have any long-term medical condition which would have slowed them down that day? Even if just: the aches & pains or frailties of being older or was it a time when recovering from surgery, or suffering from arthritis or anything (I am not asking if the person had a Blue Badge but I am trying to find out if there is an Equality Act argument here).

Or were they delayed at the till or waiting for a large item to come out from the storage room, or were they talking about a major purchase like a kitchen, large furniture or other house improvement, that would have taken extra time to think about & discuss with the salesperson that day?

Do I still write to G24 to request a VAT invoice for this "Contract"?
Douggie

I wouldn't bother but if you have evidence as per the above (either immobility or illness of the occupants of the car, or a very large purchase order or a delay at the tills) you could send them and Gladstones a similar complaint...again being careful not to imply who parked!

The_Deep

Do I still write to G24 to request a VAT invoice for this "Contract"?

Douggie I wouldn't bother

I would, tax evasion is a criminal offence.