OPC - 2 years on

StellaMarie

Ok, so I'm new to this whole forum thing, but after hours of trawling the internet I can't find the answer I'm looking for. So the story begins 2 and a half years ago when we overstayed a 2 hour private car park (by 5 minutes), nothing on the car then the letter comes through the next week "blah blah blah you owe us £100". I write back saying this is merely an invoice heres a cheque for £5 the equivalent of parking in town for 3 hours - they either didn't reply or declined my offer (at 2 and a half years ago I can't remember). Back to present day, I got a letter from them yesterday still chasing up this same incident. My main question is can they still Chase it up after this long, and can they hold my details for this long?

I was only the owner of the vehicle as didn't pass my test until 2016 so unsure whether to respond again with some of the stuff I've picked up from various sites or continue ignoring?

TIA for any help

Quentin

Read up on the game you are caught up in (newbies faq thread you say you already read!) - Please use edit and delete your post in the newbies faq thread


You are in the debt collectors stage - ignore everything except a lbcca or court correspondence


They have 6 years to start legal action against you

StellaMarie

Thank you Quentin. So I assume this another bid to scare me into paying their extortionate "fine"?

beamerguy

StellaMarie wrote: »

I write back saying this is merely an invoice heres a cheque for £5 the equivalent of parking in town for 3 hours - they either didn't reply or declined my offer (at 2 and a half years ago I can't remember).

Did they cash your cheque ????

Who is the PPC ???

StellaMarie

No, Beamerguy, they didn't cash my cheque. And, PPC?

Umkomaas

The reality is that when your parking infringement occurred, Observices Parking Consultancy were not a member of an Accredited Trade Association, and as such had no access to the DVLA database, and could not have found out who you were or where you lived.

Your mistake was writing to them offering £5!

https://bmpa.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203754271-Observices-Parking-Consultancy-Ltd

If OPC are writing to you direct, not even having put this out to debt collectors, I’d file the letter, but don’t respond to it. Should debt collectors start writing - same action, file, do not respond. Only take note of a Letter Before Action from OPC or their Solicitors or real court papers, come back if you get either.

I don’t think OPC are in any rush to visit a courtroom again.

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/03/31/26000-fine-for-parking-firm/

StellaMarie

Umkomaas- thanks for your reply. I had googled and saw that they are under BPA, but hadn't realised they weren't when my vehicle was originally targeted so this is of real help. As for my original reply 2.5 years ago I thought better to try than to ignore but knew there was no way I was paying £100!

As for the express and star article- that had cropped up on many web searches - isn't karma a wonderful thing!