Gladstone Solicitors.

dbkid

Hello to all the possible readers of this post.

as the owner of the vehical I have been issued with a parking fine from smart parking ltd on January the 7th in West Brom.

I went on holiday to the USA for 2 weeks leaving on the 12th of January which after having a bad break to my leg resulted in me staying there for a total of 6 weeks.

with everything that had been going on when I got home and finally opened the letters i had a quick read online and the majority of posts said to ignore (which as the owner i have)

I received a phone call in March little did I know was a debt recovery company called DRP who told me I have to pay after asking them on this phone call to send me the evidence that it was my vehical that had been issued it they sent me a picture of a number plate in darkness which only showed a vrm. as I was in mid Wales where I live I told them that this vehical was not mine as the vehical could not be in 2 places at once.

as the owner i have now received a letter from Gladstone solicitors that if I do not pay the £160 fine i could face civil court actions. where they refure a supreme court case of Beavis vs parking eye 2015 which recently confirmed the lawfullness of charges.

Any help would be very much appreciated and where I should go from here.

thank you. dbkid

fisherjim

The only threads on here that tell you to "ignore" are concerning Scotland and NI the specific advice for England and Wales in NOT to ignore!


ANPR is notoriously inaccurate, and the head of the BPA has stated this on the BBC!


Firstly stop talking to DRP on the phone, and block their number, if they call again tell them to FO ,they are liars scammers and useless bullies!


If the Gladstones letter is telling you to pay DRP it's just them using Gladstones letter heading to frighten you!


Now read the "newbies" thread on here to see what this scam is all about and get clued up, then come back for more help!

beamerguy

dbkid wrote: »

Hello to all the possible readers of this post.

as the owner of the vehical I have been issued with a parking fine from smart parking ltd on January the 7th in West Brom.

I went on holiday to the USA for 2 weeks leaving on the 12th of January which after having a bad break to my leg resulted in me staying there for a total of 6 weeks.

with everything that had been going on when I got home and finally opened the letters i had a quick read online and the majority of posts said to ignore (which as the owner i have)

I received a phone call in March little did I know was a debt recovery company called DRP who told me I have to pay after asking them on this phone call to send me the evidence that it was my vehical that had been issued it they sent me a picture of a number plate in darkness which only showed a vrm. as I was in mid Wales where I live I told them that this vehical was not mine as the vehical could not be in 2 places at once.

as the owner i have now received a letter from Gladstone solicitors that if I do not pay the £160 fine i could face civil court actions. where they refure a supreme court case of Beavis vs parking eye 2015 which recently confirmed the lawfullness of charges.

Any help would be very much appreciated and where I should go from here.

thank you. dbkid

As said 1000's of times on here, DRP are simply a
money monkey junkie to be ignored

Debt Collectors (DRP & ZZPS) What they don't want you to know
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74439905#Comment_74439905

Loadsofchildren123

I am a lone voice in recommending that you do engage (but not on the phone), simply with the same letter every time. My reasoning is that this sets you up for claiming costs later because you can show you told them from the start they have no claim. It also sets you up for a counterclaim for harassment and DPA breach.


So I'd write a simple letter. Something like this:


Dear Sirs,


[reference of parking charge]


Your client persist in contacting me about the above matter, via various entities such as your company.


I have already informed you by telephone that on the date in question my car was parked x miles away in x [say where - eg outside my home, or wherever it was parked]. I was at the time abroad and immobilised for a substantial period because of a broken limb.


My car was therefore never in your client's car park in [place] on [date].


I can only assume that your client's ANPR system has malfunctioned. Please check your footage because the car you claim was parked in [car park] cannot have been mine. It is well known that ANPR is notoriously unreliable for misreading VRNs.


[look closely at he photo they've sent you, is there anything you can point to that demonstrates it clearly isn't your number plate, eg the name of the garage (even if you can't make it out, look at how long it looks, can you plainly see it's not your number plate?), or do you have a logo on your number plate (eg the EU badge/GB/Cymru or whatever), or can you see if there are any smudges where say a 3 has been interpreted as a B or an 8) - if there is anything in particular you can say identifies that this numberplate is absolutely not the same as the one on your car, include a sentence explaining this.]


As my car was not parked where you say it was, your client has no right to chase me for payment of this alleged debt. No debt is due at all. Please therefore cease retaining and processing my data and stop harassing me.


If you continue to do so, I put you on warning that I reserve all my rights in respect of my rights under the Data Protection Act and under the Protection from Harassment Act.


In short, delete me from your system and stop writing to me.




Then I'd send this again, every time you get a new letter, with a covering letter saying
"I attach a copy of my letter of x date to you/x [if different debt collector/entity].


I have now sent this letter x times, on the following dates [and set them out].


I repeat, you must cease harassing me with these constant threatening letters and cease processing my data. The letters are clearly designed to harass me into making a payment which is not due, and as such your conduct is on all fours with that defined by Sections 1 and 2 of the Protection form Harassment Act "

Loadsofchildren123

sorry, just read your OP and see that you went on holiday and were immobilised AFTER the charge.


So leave that bit out. But the rest is still good. You just need to tell them where you car was and why you say it wasn't in West Brom. Eg I live in x, which is x miles from West Brom where the car park is. I work Monday to Friday in x, and drive daily to and from my work place. x, the day you claim the vehicle was parked in the car park, was a weekday therefore I cannot possibly have been in West Brom as I was at work, with my car, and can easily produce evidence to confirm this. [if it was a weekend, slightly more tricky, but if you know where you were, just say where you were, the car was in your possession, and you can prove it].


You get the gist, I'm sure.

fisherjim

Can't hurt to try the above, though I doubt they will listen debt collectors have no interest in appeals, and will just persist in my view, until they have had enough of wasting their postage and time.

Loadsofchildren123

It absolutely won't make a difference, in that they aren't going to withdraw, but I think it might help on unreasonable behaviour costs if you've rattled out your defence countless times and they've just ignored you.