Harassment from solicitor for private PCN that I never even received!

Jonny981

Hi Everyone,

Advice needed for an uncommon situation with a parking ticket and there don't seem to be any existing posts that cater to this specific situation. A parking ticket was received for a private car park in Northern Ireland while driving an insurance company courtesy car (provided through Enterprise).

The first correspondence received was from a company called ZZPS asking for £200. No letter was received from enterprise (although after contacting them they maintain they sent a letter and have since sent me a copy). There was also no official letter or any form of communication from a parking company, and no opportunity to appeal, or pay the normal reduced rate within 14 days.

Even if the letter Enterprise apparently sent was received, it states - "We are obligated as the owners of the hired vehicle to forward your details onto the relevant council/police force/parking agency who will in turn reissue the penalty charge directly to you. At that stage you are given the opportunity to pay the fine/fixed fee to them or appeal against the ticket. Please note that in the case of penalties the council will have a new set of dates enabling you to pay at the reduced rate stage if applicable. i.e the the fine you receive directly from the council will have a new set of dates enabling you to pay at the reduced rate. You are advised to wait for the new notice to be sent to you before you make payment/appeal the fine." This did not happen.

Timeline of events is as follows:

• First correspondence received is a letter from ZZPS asking for £200 for a parking offence which was from 6 months ago! They state their client as Civil Enforcement LTD.
• Letter received from QDR Solicitors asking for £236 with the threat of county court judgement.
• Now receiving daily calls and text messages from QDR Solicitors.

It's extremely worrying that QDR are harassing me daily, any advice online says to ignore all contact but not sure if this applies to my situation.

So in summary... Being chased up for a private PCN issued in Northern Ireland, for a rental car, where there was no correspondence received containing a PCN or any evidence of "illegal" parking.

Hopefully somebody can find the time to help with some basic advice, or advise if calls from QDR Solicitors should be answered or ignored. Any advice at all would be much appreciated!

PS. tried to appeal through privateparkingappeals.co.uk a few days ago and havent had any contact, also emailed parkingcowboys.co.uk for advice but no response as yet.

Thanks!

Herzlos

They are calling you because they can't do anything else. Don't bother responding to them; either don't answer them or just hang up / put them on hold.

You should have a word with your local police office about the harassment though.

Umkomaas

Just block the QDR calls on your phone.

As keeper/hirer of the car you have no liability in NI. Do not reveal to anyone who the driver was. You need to urgently amend your first post.

The biggest danger is getting an 'administration charge' levied by Enterprise, but reading between the lines, this doesn't seem to be likely.

PS. I have tried to appeal through privateparkingappeals.co.uk a few days ago and havent had any contact, also emailed parkingcowboys.co.uk for advice but no response as yet.

In NI there is no worthwhile appeals process that either above could help you with.

Quentin

Jonny981 wrote: »

PS. I have tried to appeal through privateparkingappeals.co.uk a few days ago and havent had any contact, .... .

If you have paid for their help then get a refund now! (They cannot do anything by way of appealing for you!)

Fruitcake

As a precaution, write to Enterprise thanking them for forwarding this private parking charge notice to you which you will now deal with.
Inform them that since they have now discharged their legal obligation they do not need to take any further action. This is also in accordance with their trade association requirements, the BVRLA.
Keep proof that you have sent it.

As for the rest, you can ignore anything and everything you get.

Umkomaas

QDR are part and parcel of Wright Hassall who have buried their snout deep into the private parking trough.

Unfortunately (for them - heart bleeds) that trough is empty in NI provided no driver is identified.

We have never seen a NI case proceed beyond the debt collection hassle stage.

Jonny981

Umkomaas wrote: »

As keeper/hirer of the car you have no liability in NI. Do not reveal to anyone who the driver was. You need to urgently amend your first post.

The biggest danger is getting an 'administration charge' levied by Enterprise, but reading between the lines, this doesn't seem to be likely.

Enterprise did actually try to charge me an administration charge of £25 but they never followed up on this, and even when I phoned them asking why they didn't contact me there was not mention of it.

What do you mean by amending my first post? Like remove my name, dates etc?

Thanks for your help!

Jonny981

Umkomaas wrote: »

Unfortunately (for them - heart bleeds) that trough is empty in NI provided no driver is identified.
.

This is probably a silly question, but if enterprise have passed on my details and they know my address, name, phone number etc. doesn't that mean they have already identified me as the driver?

Umkomaas

Jonny981 wrote: »

This is probably a silly question, but if enterprise have passed on my details and they know my address, name, phone number etc. doesn't that mean they have already identified me as the driver?

And you are identified there as the vehicle's keeper/hirer at the time of the parking event. Quite different to being identified as the driver, because how would they (Enterprise) know?

Read carefully your first post and any sentence with an 'I' in it needs to be reviewed.