Parking fine from APCOA/ZZPS/WRIGHT HASSALL

Millaz

Hi

Im looking for some advice on behalf of my partner.

In July, we parked in a Travelodge car park in Newcastle. My partner was the driver. We were parked in the car park for appoximately 2 hours and i paid £6 for a ticket. I paid via the ticket machine, which i had to input the car registration number. The ticket was placed in the windscreen of the car and off we went.

In August my partner received a PCN from APCOA for the alleged contravention of Use of Private Car Park without making a valid payment. Unfortunately at the time we had just moved house and the letter got lost in a drawer so it was forgotten about and so she missed the chance to appeal.

In november she received a letter from ZZPS confirming the unpaid PCN had been passed to them and had risen from £60 to £120. I googled ZZPS and almost all information i could find was basically saying to ignore any letters from them which is what we did.

So today she has now received a letter from Wright Hassall advising it has now been passed to them and that failure to pay in 14 days may result in recommending to ZZPS to pass this to their litigation department which could lead to them looking to obtain a CCJ. The charge is now £156.

So any advice on what to do now would be much appreciated. We certainly have no intention of paying this charge. I have checked previous threads looking for a similar situation but i can see none where someone has actually paid to park and still received a PCN. Surely they must have records showing that a ticket was printed with the registration number or CCTV of me purchasing the ticket and placing on the windscreen.

Many thanks
Dean

Quentin

You have left it too late to appeal, and are in the debt collector stage - next is court action.


Read up in the newbies faq thread near the top of the forum about this, and come back should you get court action in future for current advice on constructing a defence.


In the meantime complain to Travelodge with the object of getting them to cancel it

pappa_golf

the chances are that you typed your VRN wrong , or the machine was faulty

now then that letter :that failure to pay in 14 days may result in recommending to ZZPS to pass this to their litigation department "

does it actually say "that failure to pay in 14 days may result in recommending to ZZPS to pass this to APCOA s litigation department "


as ZZPS are debt collectors , not solisitors

PS: the (once)n upstanding company WH have been known to sell letter headed notepaper to ZZPS

there court record http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/APCOA_Parking_UK.html , perhaps the one case in 2016 was a customer taking them to court?

you will get lots more "bog" paper , only worry if you actually get court papers

fisherjim

ZZPS are debt collectors they can't take you to court and you can't get a ccj unless you have been to court lost and then refuse to pay.

If you did get taken to cout by the PPC the most they can try to get out of you is the original charge plus costs not with the added debt collectors rubbish added on!

The_Deep

They would struggle in court, you kept your part of the bargain, you paid, they have lost nothing.

Millaz

Thanks for the reply.

It says 'Failure to make payment in full or contact us to discuss repayment of this debt may result in us recommending to our client that we pass this matter over to our Litigation Department'. Thats word for word.

Its possible i may of punched the number in wrong but im the sort that would double check that. Now you mention it the machine may have been faulty, we werent guests of the hotel merely visiting. If i remember correctly the machine had the option for guests parking or visitors. I selected visitors but it diverted to the guest option and i could only pay for a 24 hour stay.

So you would suggest we ignore this letter?

Thanks
Dean

Quentin

Yes.


see this thread re debt collectors: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5035663


Ignore everything except proper court action or a proper letter before court action when you should come back as in #2

Millaz

Thanks Quentin.

We will take your advice and contact travelodge and continue to ignore until any serious letters turn up.

Quentin

Edit your references to who was driving, The PPCs do monitor this forum and can use info gleaned here against you

The_Deep

This is one of those events where, if it ever got to court, the best defence imo is for the driver to tell the truth.


No doubt some on here would disagree, but I am a great believer in British Justice.

Millaz

Hi

Further to my earlier thread. My partner has now received a formal letter of claim from Wright Hassall. Any advice on the next course of action? Should this letter be ignored or is it time to reapond?

Thanks