Threatening letters/charge notice

LeanneK

Hi all,

I'm new this and really hope someone can help me. Back in March I parked in a car park managed by a parking company with a pay and display meter. I paid £2.50 which allowed me to park there for up to 3 hours. I went into the local pub for a meal and was there for 1 hour and 40 mins. I paid in cash and didn't need to keep the ticket.

A few months later I received a parking charge notice stating that I had not parked in accordance with their terms and conditions and that I had to pay £80 ifne. I ignored it, then receved a final notice saying that I had to pay in 7 days and the fine had gone up to £125.

I went onto this site for some advice, used one of the templates to say that I had paid for 3 hours and only stayed 100 mins and therefore had parked within their T&C's and would not be paying. I sent them a copy of a photo of the meter charges.

I have now received a letter from a debt agency saying I have till 16th Aug to pay and that the fine is now £185. This is starting to stress me a lot, I am a single parent and know that I paid the correct amont but have no proof. I really don't know what to do.......can someone please help me?

beamerguy

LeanneK wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm new this and really hope someone can help me. Back in March I parked in a car park managed by a parking company with a pay and display meter. I paid £2.50 which allowed me to park there for up to 3 hours. I went into the local pub for a meal and was there for 1 hour and 40 mins. I paid in cash and didn't need to keep the ticket.

A few months later I received a parking charge notice stating that I had not parked in accordance with their terms and conditions and that I had to pay £80 ifne. I ignored it, then receved a final notice saying that I had to pay in 7 days and the fine had gone up to £125.

I went onto this site for some advice, used one of the templates to say that I had paid for 3 hours and only stayed 100 mins and therefore had parked within their T&C's and would not be paying. I sent them a copy of a photo of the meter charges.

I have now received a letter from a debt agency saying I have till 16th Aug to pay and that the fine is now £185. This is starting to stress me a lot, I am a single parent and know that I paid the correct amont but have no proof. I really don't know what to do.......can someone please help me?

Who is the parking company ???

You are now receiving stupid debt collector letters
and YOU MUST IGNORE THEM as they are powerless,
and NO you do not owe £185.

It's NOT a fine, it's only an invoice from the PPC.

Hope you kept your receipt

READ THIS ABOUT DEBT COLLECTORS
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74633409#Comment_74633409

Ugly_kid_Joe

I've just received a Debt collection notice from ZZPS. Frightening. I can!!!8217;t afford a CCJ, I rent my home, and will need to rent in the future. Do I call or ignore as seems to be the advice given. They have an old surname of mine and I no longer have the vehicle relating to the original fine.

The_Deep

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 House of Commons recently

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

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

Quentin

@ uffledust
@ Ugly kid
You must start your own thread and not hijack someone else's like this

Copy and paste your post into your own thread and delete it from here

LeanneK

The company is called Parking Awareness Services based in Bristol. I've had notices from other car parks before and ignored them, and they eventually went away. However, this one has been very quick on sending the letter's and sending it to a debt collection company. This is why I'm getting stressed, also I am going away on holiday tomorrow so won't be around for another week.

I didn't keep the original ticket that I paid for as at the time there was no need to.

LeanneK

The debt company is called DebtLogic

Quentin

You can safely ignore everything debt collectors send you

See #4 in the newbies FAQ thread

Also this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5035663/read-this-before-you-start-a-new-thread-about-zzps-or-debt-recovery-plus

If you get a lbcca or Court correspondence then don't ignore that

They have 6 years to start legal action against you

If it comes to this then come back to the FAQ thread for advice on how to defend this

LeanneK

Thanks for the advice guys, and will do as you suggest and ignore it. TBH I'm at a loss as to what I actually did to be in breach of their T&C's as they never explained it in their initial charge notice and I paid for well over the time I stayed.

I was a little taken aback as to how quickly the Parking company sent the fnal notice and then sent it to the debt agency, I think this is what stressed me out and to give me 7 days to pay........what would happen if I was away on holiday and never saw the letter. I cannot afford to have any CCJ's

KeithP

LeanneK wrote: »

I cannot afford to have any CCJ's

And you certainly won't get one in seven days.

LeanneK

Hi all. I took your advice and ignored all the threatening letters from the debt agency. I've had several over the last few weeks. Now I've received one from them saying they're recommending their client send this to the small claims court now. Threatening saying I'll get a ccj on my record and will not be able to get loans etc for 6 years. They're throwing lots of legal jargon in the letter pre action protocols under civil procedure rules, statements of accounts etc.

As a single parent with limited funds and knowing I paid the correct car park charges in the first place, I'm now panicking.

Cheers

Leanne