Debt recovery passed fine to Gladstone’s

Moneysaver92

Hi all,

I received a parking fine in summer 2018 and foolish misplaced the letter. In early January I received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd. I was pretty annoyed about this and sent them an email on the 13th Jan I will attach said email below. After this email I heard nothing until today when they called stating it has been passed onto a Gladstone’s and I could pay £160 today to prevent this. In the end I got frustrated and after speaking to my uncles friend who is a road traffic solicitor told them I would not be paying and I would see them in court. Am I correct in thinking that now I just have to wait until the solicitors get in contact with me before I can do anything?

The original PCN was from smart parking however I do not have the number as like I previously mentioned I misplaced the letter. Please advise if there is anything I can do before Gladstone’s get in touch.

I have read the post titled court claims procedure (updated October 2016) I just want to know if there is anything I can do beforehand as I do not have a PCN to contact smart parking with.

I have just checked my emails and can not find the email I sent as I filled it in on their online form. But it pretty much said I didn’t feel I should pay the £160 due to various reasons such as not seeing a sign to say a parking fee was due, I was only in the pub car park for less than 30 mins as my pregnant cousin used the toilet and actually purchased a drink from the pub.

Please help!!!

Redx

I suspect this latest letter came from DRPL and has a ref starting with a 3 and not a 1 , and tells you to pay DRPL

in other words, I do not believe that GLADRAGS sent it at all, its you that has not read it correctly, plus any "call" was from DRPL, not Gladrags, you have been duped, so if it was a phone call, IGNORE them

ie:- IGNORE it if its DRPL

and send the DPO at not so SMART a SAR by email and get all their data held on you, including copies of the docs etc


lastly , read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread, especially post #4

Umkomaas

I just want to know if there is anything I can do beforehand as I do not have a PCN to contact smart parking with.

Landowner cancellation? You won't be contacting Smart Parking at all now, it's been handed to DRP.

they called stating it has been passed onto a Gladstone’s and I could pay £160 today to prevent this.

DRP will say anything to extract payment from you. The next thing you'll get is a letter from Gladstones, but this is the other part of the DRP scam, in that they use G's letterhead to frighten motorists into paying. Always check that letter (or any follow ups), if it says 'pay DRP', it's from DRP. If it says anything else, come back on this thread.

Smart hardly ever take anyone to court, and on the very odd occasion they've tried, once they've seen a forum-assisted defence, they've discontinued. You're a long way off any legal proceedings.

Moneysaver92

Okay thank you. Would a landowner cancellation be if I get in touch with the actual pub it happened at? I assumed it would be to late now? Thank you for the quick reply.

Redx

yes, thats probably the best bet

and block DRPL from calling you again

and if you get a letter, check who it is from, as its probably DRPL, even if it says GLADRAGS at the top

Moneysaver92

It was definitely from DRPL and when I told them that I would be defending myself in court as my uncle who is a solicitor told me to they were not as friendly and tried to pressure me into paying. I will contact the pub in question by email if I can find one and then await to see if DRPL or the real Gladstone’s actually contact me.

Coupon-mad

It's never too late to complain about a PPC to get a fake PCN cancelled, except after court action commences. Smart don't do court action! Laughable firm.

They cannot hold a registered keeper liable, as Smart do not use the POFA 2012. Did the solicitor tell you that?! Bet he didn't spot it.

You would have won first appeal, had you come here when you had the PCN. Was this in England & Wales?

Moneysaver92

He didn’t tell me that it was just my uncles friend and I spoke to him for about 4 minutes. He said not to pay DRPL. It is in England and I lost the PCN and then forgot about it until this month (silly I know)