Parking Eye/Debt Recovery Plus - advice needed please

messycupcake1

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice regarding a so called parking fine.


In late December I received a "fine" from Parking Eye for overstaying in a free car park by 2 minutes. The letter claimed to have written to me twice before reminding me to pay the reduced fine in the 2 week window but now I was liable for the full £85. This was the first letter I received and on the advice of friends and colleagues who had the same experience in the same car park, and some online research, I ignored the letter.


Yesterday I received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus - "Notice intended court action - unpaid parking charge £145". This letters refers to a previous one from DRP but this is the first I have received and it claims if I do not pay by 15 Feb they will recommend to their client to take court action against me. It also claims that in their first letter sent to me the referred to a court ruling that a parking charge was lawful and this could be used in the case against me.


I vaguely recall using the car park they refer to, for 10 minutes max around 8pm. I went back to check the signage in car park but it wasn't the clearest. 15 minute free stay and specifies it is for retail customer use. The nearest shops all have To Let signs and have been that way for quite some time so even if there were shops there it was well outwith business hours so there is no argument whatsoever for loss of earning etc.


I have read a lot online about these companies and am really confused now so could do with some advice. Other people I have spoken to have said to ignore but these 2 letters have made me rather worried, especially as they refer to other letters they claim to have sent me. I haven't moved house recently, and I have checked with neighbours in case they receive our mail by mistake.


Any advice would be much appreciated as I am very confused.
Thanks

twhitehousescat

name of supermarket please , and was this in scotland?

messycupcake1

Hi, yes in Scotland. The car is not for one specific store, there are a few local ones but in the immediate vicinity is a home bargains which closes 6pm, and the others are empty with to let signs.

Redx

IGNORE the letters , if they do not know the drivers details they will be all bluster and bluff

do not contact DRP, ignore them anyway (which is the same for all of the UK)

if PE tried a court case, it would be against the driver, but they dont know who that is, so dont tell em (or anyone else)

PE have 5 years to try a court case in Scotland, under a system similar to the small claims court here in england

its very unlikely

if you read the NEWBIES sticky thread it has a section about SCOTLAND in it , where laws are different

so ignore anything from a debt collector

DRP may send you ZENITH or similar letters , ignore them too

so you may have read a lot of stuff "online" , but the question is , WHY HAVE YOU NOT READ THE NEWBIES STICKY THREAD , on here ?

ideally , file all the paperwork for 5 years

messycupcake1

ok thank you. I had read the other thread but was getting confused and quite worried about it as they are threatening letters. It's so also infuriating when their letters refer to previous correspondence about the so called fine that I have never received. will ignore, thank you for your help.

Redx

this is why they do it , to try to bully you and to provoke a response

DRP / ZENITH have NO POWERS WHATSOEVER anywhere in the UK

all they can do is send out intimidating and threatening letters because they cannot do anything else

my advice ?

do not read them, at all

if PE send you something , or you get a letter from the court within 5 years , come back for help

but get on with your life and dont read the DRP letters with their lies, innuendo and half truths. its just words , nothing more

they can do no more, so ignore them like you would ignore a bully

Quentin

Read this thread (designed to reassure anyone getting a letter from DRP - and save them wasting time posting about it) to put your mind at rest!


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

messycupcake1

ok thank you both it reassuring but I am worried about PE though (from the other thread - if your PPC is a litigious one like ParkingEye or Excel, then you should not ignore the PPC). Can PE take me to court??

twhitehousescat

not unless you admit to being the driver on the day , do not talk to them , they dont know then

Coupon-mad

messycupcake1 wrote: »

ok thank you both it reassuring but I am worried about PE though (from the other thread - if your PPC is a litigious one like ParkingEye or Excel, then you should not ignore the PPC). Can PE take me to court??

They won't because you are in Scotland and you are NOT going to tell them who was driving in some naive contact/appeal, are you?! That's the difference, they fact you stay in Scotland.

Search the forum for the single word 'Scotland' and tick 'search this board' and you will find hundreds of people asking the same old same old questions; nothing happens in Scotland.

You can kill this though, by complaining to the retailers, of course, as you would. What happened when you went in and complained to the Store Managers and demanded they cancel this offensive 'PCN' for shopping?

Also, it will NOT have been issued for a two minute overstay. No such thing. Does not happen. People always make this mistake, when in fact it's possibly for not registering your VRN on some hidden keypad, or typing it in wrong. Complain to the retailers about this crap! Nothing to ParkingEye or DRPlus at all.

messycupcake1

I haven't contacted the retailers Home Bargains as the times was out with their opening hours and I doubt they would intervene having read previous posts about others trying the same thing.

It is definitely a free car park but there is no keypad Just the anpr as far as I'm aware. The signs say something along the line of 15 mins free short stay for retail only. And the letter I received had the exact entrance and exit times which was something like 17 or 18 mins in total.
I have no intention of contacting PE or telling who driver was but am really worried what will happen next.