My story

EMILE5385

Hi folks,

Long time reader... first time poster!

Very similar to some I've read before but this is my story...

I received a letter dated 06/04/2017 from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd denoting that I am to pay parking charge of £155.00. What the hell?!? I have no idea what I am supposed to have done. It's noted on the letter that I was located in MATALAN Romford and reason for issue is OVERSTAYED PAID TIME! Now being a law abiding citizen and I don't mind admitting, been in trouble with parking authorities in the past, I probably would have held my hands up and paid the original fine. However, this is the clincher... I have NEVER received a letter from the original creditor (apparently SMART PARKING Ltd) to say I made a contravention by parking in the car park and not obtaining a ticket and been caught on the CCTV.

So I got in contact with DRP and explained my situation to them stating that if I had received the original letter from SMART PARKING that I would have paid the fine. I was informed by there incredibly rude Yorkshire based operative that paying the original fine (which I am now being told £50) is not an option! Interesting! I went on to tell the DRP representative how can I be held responsible for this? I also said that I will get in contact with SMART PARKING to take it up with them directly, thinking that they would be helpful and more than happy to get payment... Wrong again.
(rudely, again, I was wished success by my friend from Leeds)

I spoke to SMART PARKING rep telling them the situation and I am willing to pay the original fine, which I thought they would be delighted to receive, again after deliberation with her 'manager' (as you can sense I am starting to get sceptical with these morons) she said she was told they are willing to accept £85 for contravention as a good will gesture from the company due to me not informing them sooner.. What was I meant to inform them of?!? (By the way, I was informed, £85 is the sum that was owed to them if I had not paid them within the 14 day period. I told SMART PARKING that I was willing to pay £50 or, as I was told by DRP, 'let it run its course' which I assume to be court action! They were not willing to receive £50 so I told them to have a pleasant day!

The reason for the post is to ask where I now stand?!? I am willing to pay (£50) but with how I have been treated, they will not get a penny out of me!

safarmuk

You stand in exactly the same position as many others, you will get lots of letters from Debt Recovery Companies, Debt Recovery Companies masquerading as Solicitors and then finally (maybe) from the PPC's Solicitors themselves.

The letter you are looking out for is the Letter Before Claim or Action (LBC / LBA). This means it is going to court and you will need to defend the claim in the Small Claims Court if you do not wish to pay. When this happens come back here and start constructing your defence.

In the meantime any information you can find out or gather would be helpful in case this happens and / or start reading up on defences currently being constructed for those who already have LBC's to get up to speed in advance.

The PPC has up to 6 years to make their claim against you I believe.

safarmuk

I think you have also duplicated your thread?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5632913

You can ask the admins (Crabman, Soolin etc.) to merge them.

beamerguy

I do not understand that you read this forum which clearly says

>>> DO NOT CONTACT DRP ... IGNORE THEM.
You would be better off talking to a monkey in a zoo ?

All you can do now is sit back and wait if Smart decide to take you to court

You have also read that Smart are easy to beat and as court action is not really Smart's thing, just wait to see if they are stupid enough to try and return here if you get a LBA from Smart.

FORGET DRP but be warned that if DRP have your phone number, they will harass you so the first sign of this, block them as scammers

EMILE5385

Firstly, thanks for getting back to me and yes I did write another post with the exact same content not knowing if it had gone through!

Thanks for your comments... I thought trying to get in contact with either Smart Parking or DRP would be the right thing to do, but in the back of my mind I'm also thinking 'do not enter into conversation with these clowns'. Unfortunately, it got the better of me.

I can't see what the problem is trying to be civil and paying there sum of £50 to get this hassle away from me and my family! But they are not having any of it. How can I be penalised for something I haven't received?

yotmon

EMILE5385 wrote: »

I received a letter dated 06/04/2017 from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd denoting that I am to pay parking charge of £155.00. What the hell?!? I have no idea what I am supposed to have done.

Yet you have made several attempts to pay out money. Why ? If I sent u a letter saying that you owed me money - would you send it to me ?

Unfortunately you have probably admitted to them who the driver was on the day - they usually record telephone calls which is one reason for not calling them. Nobody has issued you with a fine, just an invoice for what they see as an unpaid debt.

Instead of running around attempting to give your money away, you would be far better off sitting down and having a good read of the newbies thread. Once digested it should at the very least give you some answers to your questions.

EMILE5385

Hi there,

I have received multiple letters from DRP. Firstly, on 19/04/2017 to state I have until 03/05/2017 to pay the outstanding £155.00 (which I will not be paying and thought I would continue to receive these letters). Now 6 days later (25/04) I have now received a 'LETTER BEFORE REFERRAL FOR LEGAL ACTION'. Due to recent replies, is this the letter I should be worried about/looking for to construct a defence??

Thanks

The_Deep

No, it is yet more bovine excretia from a debt collector. What you need to treat more seriously is a letter before action from a solicitor, a proper solicitor, nor a DCA using a solicitor's letterhead.

fisherjim

EMILE5385 wrote: »

Hi there,

I have received multiple letters from DRP. Firstly, on 19/04/2017 to state I have until 03/05/2017 to pay the outstanding £155.00 (which I will not be paying and thought I would continue to receive these letters). Now 6 days later (25/04) I have now received a 'LETTER BEFORE REFERRAL FOR LEGAL ACTION'. Due to recent replies, is this the letter I should be worried about/looking for to construct a defence??

Thanks

No this means please send us some money or we'll have to waste some more paper and send you two more letters pretending to be another company called Zenith, before reducing our silly demands, and givjng you yet another last chance before giving up and getting zilch!

SmellyMog

As regards combatting their claim ...

Is there a date of alleged 'parking event' on any letters? If so, does it correspond to a date when you/the driver would have been/may well have been at Matalan?

Have you changed your address in the past year or two and failed to get your V5C updated?

Coupon-mad

What happened when you complained to Matalan (preferably publicly on Facebook/Twitter)?