No response from appeal, but now debt collectors.

Mikey815

Hello wonderful people.
The keeper of the vehicle received a parking charge notice from G24, it must have been March, and we found this forum whilst searching on what to do about it. We used the appeals process on their website, based on the template on this forum (they disabled copy and paste to make it difficult, but I typed it letter for letter), and heard nothing more until this morning when we recieved a letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd giving us 10 days to pay a now inflated amount of £160. We had no contact from to tell us our appeal had been rejected or otherwise.

Some specifics -

The original notice told us tha the driver had parked for some 20 mins over the allotted time. They had parked in the Toy R Us car park to go shopping in the store. She didn't notice the signs about a charge, and we have shopped there many times before, she was longer than usual in this instance because they had to feed and change their then 3 month old baby.


I'm looking for advice, I have looked at dozens of other posts on the subject, but as in this case, no notice that the appeal had been rejected. When filling out the appeal I took screenshots, as an I.T person I was aware that when filling out a web form, you have no proof of submission, unlike email. , I'm unsure of who I need to contact or what to next. Do I contact G24 or DRP? We can't contact Toys R Us as they have since gone bust. :mad:

Fruitcake

If you didn't reveal wo was driving in your initial appeal, then edit your post to remove information about who parked. Only ever refer to The Driver and The Keeper, who at two different people.

This is an IPC member, so you are now in ignore mode unless you get real court papers/LBC/MCOL.

Please complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

Quentin

Everyone is politely asked to read up on this in the Newbies FAQ thread near the top of the forum before starting a new thread

Dealing with the debt collectors stage of this is covered in #4 of the FAQ

Go there now to learn about the game you are now caught up in

Mikey815

Hi Quentin, I did mention that I had read the other posts. The difference here is that I have not received a rejection from my appeal, so it's not a typical case. Are G24 not legally required to process my appeal before passing it on to the debt collectors?

KeithP

legally required?

22.6 of the BPS CoP says:

22.6 When you receive a appeal about the issue of a parking charge, you must stop work on processing the charge immediately. You must not increase the charge until you have replied to the appeal.

Mikey815

I tried not to give to much away about indenties or location, but I have edited as per your reccommendation. Thankyou.

Umkomaas

G24 are IPC members, so the link Keith gave you isn't directly relevant, but the IPC will have a similar Code of Practice, so have a look at that.

However, it's all pretty futile trying to beat this as no appeal you could possibly make would see a cancellation of the charge.

The good news is that G24 are not litigious, and, other than PITA debt collector letters, nothing further is likely to come of this.

http://www.parkingappeals.info/companydata/G24.html

However, if you want to know if your personal data is being handled securely and correctly by G24, and you want them to realise that by sending you this charge, they just might have grabbed a tiger by the tail, make yourself as awkward and difficult to handle as possible by dropping a SAR-bomb on them. You have nothing to lose, possibly lots to gain if they decide to drop the charge to get you off their back (rather than the other way around as it is now!).

Here's some advice in how to do so:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5849784/june-2018-start-of-the-new-ppc-and-dvla-fightback-gdpr-related

beamerguy

And debt collectors

This thread is all about the childrens playground

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

The_Deep

As a nursing mother you are entitled to "reasonable adjustments" to cater for your "protected characteristics" under the equality Act 2010. Read this

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/85008/business-quickstart.pdf

Also read what the ATA Code of Practice says about it, and complain to your MP.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

KeithP

Umkomaas wrote: »

G24 are IPC members, so the link Keith gave you isn't directly relevant...

Oops... sorry about that.

I looked them up too... clearly wrongly.

Mikey815

Thanks everyone for your advice. I get the impression that the thing to do is sit on it, the debt collectors letter is a sign that G24 aren't too interested in persuing, and the debt collectors themselves are pretty much powerless. If they did try to take it further, I can bring up the lack of response to the appeal at that stage. My concern is that G24 could deny the appeal happened at all, and it would look like the whole thing was ignored from the beginning.