Shopping centre private car-park sent threatening letter invoicing for £3000

Calvinm

So my girlfriend works in a restaurant in a major shopping centre full-time. There is a designated car park for staff that is further away than the rest of the spaces and isn’t big enough to house all of the staff that work in the whole of the shopping centre which means a lot of them have to park on side roads around it, often getting complaints from residents.

This has meant that all of my girlfriend’s co-workers park in spaces that they technically shouldn’t (as these are reserved for customers) and they recommended her to do the same. This is also because the walk to the staff car park is also mostly in the dark and has been known to be the area for drug deals which raises a lot of personal safety concerns. All of these staff members (including my girlfriend) have received numerous tickets that are obviously intentionally designed to look like official council fines; she was told to ignore them because it’s just a way for the private car company to scare people into paying fines that they don’t have to.

She has just received a threatening letter billing her for total of £3000 as a culmination of all of her already extortionate tickets.

What is the best thing to do here? It says that she must respond within 28 days or they could take it to a small claims court. On what grounds can we reject or appeal the cost? (e.g. personal safety, some of the tickets were given when she wasn’t working and was a customer, there isn’t enough space for all of the staff) or just ignore it completely? Do we respond asking them to leave us alone? Would we win in a small claims court?

I know basically nothing about this so any and all advice would be greatly appreciated because this is a sort of a lot of stress. I have read the NEWBIE thread about this but feel a bit confused and overwhelmed because this is multiple tickets and feels much harder to contest. We haven't got a POPLA number either.

Edit: There are two letters that got sent two days apart. The first one, from CP Plus (the private car park company), charging £120 for a ticket as a notice to keeper, and then the second letter from a debt collector trying to get £3000 for multiple tickets by CP Plus. Who do we respond to? The debt collector letter says that if we don't respond to them within 30 days they'll take it to court.

Quentin

You are too late for POPLA for the debt collector's tickets, though the latest one (the NTK just received) should be dealt with in line with the appeals advice in the Newbies FAQ


As far as the debt collector letter goes then they can safely be ignored (assuming it is just a threatogram and not a LBCCA)


Who told her to ignore them? That was poor advice - if it was her employer get them to deal with this!

Calvinm

Quentin wrote: »

You are too late for POPLA for the debt collector's tickets, though the latest one (the NTK just received) should be dealt with in line with the appeals advice in the Newbies FAQ


As far as the debt collector letter goes then they can safely be ignored (assuming it is just a threatogram and not a LBCCA)


Who told her to ignore them? That was poor advice - if it was her employer get them to deal with this!

Why are we too late to appeal through POPLA?

The NTK directly from CP Plus with one ticket fine was received first, and then the debt collector's letter with several tickets was received two days later.

I think the debt collector's letter IS a LBC as it reads at the end, "Please note that this letter is to be considered a letter before claim for the purpose of the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims".

I'm just completely lost as to what to do. Is the idea that I should reply to both letters trying to appeal? I don't even know on what grounds. The signage is pretty poor but that seems redundant if she's already received multiple tickets about this.

All her staff members have a collective idea that they can just ignore them (and pretty much all of them who drive have received the same tickets, just not a letter from a debt collector/law firm). If it does turn out that her employer told her to do this, what could be done about that?

Edit: I have read the templates Loadsofchildren123 has written in response to LBCs. The letter I have does outline dates of the tickets issued and the license plate but it doesn't provide photographic evidence, nor evidence that the driver was a staff member and not a customer on those particular dates (as mentioned, the issue is that the parking was just reserved for customers and not on-duty staff members). Is that enough grounds to respond to them?

waamo

When did you get the NTK's.? I suspect it was some time ago if you are getting debt collectors letter. In saying that CP Plus use a debt collector to deal with their NTK's

If it was a while ago you are too late for POPLA. You have 28 days to put an appeal in to the parking company. After that it starts getting messy.

Calvinm

waamo wrote: »

When did you get the NTK's.? I suspect it was some time ago if you are getting debt collectors letter. In saying that CP Plus use a debt collector to deal with their NTK's

If it was a while ago you are too late for POPLA. You have 28 days to put an appeal in to the parking company. After that it starts getting messy.

The NTK was dated 15/11/17 which is for one single £120 parking fine and the LBC from a debt collector was dated 17/11/17 which has a longer list of multiple tickets. These were sent a home address that she no longer lives and and we only just received them personally a couple of days ago.

waamo

The NTK can (and should) be appealed. The LBC is too late for POPLA and needs responding too.

Calvinm

waamo wrote: »

The NTK can (and should) be appealed. The LBC is too late for POPLA and needs responding too.

On what grounds can the NTK be appealed for that one ticket? Is the lack of evidence she was on-duty staff that day enough? And I thought you said it was within 28 days for POPLA? The TNK and LBC are both dated within the past week, I'm confused.

Johno100

Calvinm wrote: »

The NTK was dated 15/11/17 which is for one single £120 parking fine.

That should be appealed using the template in the sticky thread.

...and the LBC from a debt collector was dated 17/11/17 which has a longer list of multiple tickets. These were sent a home address that she no longer lives and and we only just received them personally a couple of days ago.

The long list of multiple tickets, what period do those tickets relate to? There is assumption so far in this thread that as they are from a Debt Collectors they must be at the very least several weeks old, is that correct?

Calvinm

Ah, apologies. The only letters that have been received by post are dated 15/11 and 17/11, however yes, the parking tickets themselves (left on the car) date back to 06/08/16. I thought the appeal date was set in relation to the physical letters. I'm still confused as to how I should respond back to the LBC. Should I ask for more evidence or say that I've appealed to the other party?

waamo

Read ALL of this thread

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

Post 2 deals with pre court and court itself.

pappa_golf

Calvinm wrote: »

The NTK was dated 15/11/17 which is for one single £120 parking fine and the LBC from a debt collector was dated 17/11/17 which has a longer list of multiple tickets. These were sent a home address that she no longer lives and and we only just received them personally a couple of days ago.

and the choir all shouted "OH no its not!"


NO parking co can issue a NTK for £120

the dreggs of the earth , companies doing the back office AKA debt collectors often add £20 on

WHO sent the NTK ??