Scotland Advice needed please

BigPhillip

thank you for your help

DoaM

Who do G&N say you should pay? That's usually the biggest clue as to whether this is still a debt collector letter.

The advice for Scotland is unchanged ... don't pay; don't admit to being the driver; don't abuse private parking. (Search for Carly Mackie ... she abused private parking, got into communication with the PPC and "fessed up" to being the driver, got taken to court and lost the case with ~£24k in costs).

BigPhillip

the letter includes how the payment should be made directly to G&N even though euro parks is their client

waamo

Continually abusing a parking space runs the serious risk of it being taken to court. Even in Scotland.

There have been a small number of cases up north that have been lost by the motorist. They have all been cases of serial misuse.

DoaM

BigPhillip wrote: »

the letter includes how the payment should be made directly to G&N even though euro parks is their client

In that case it is (almost certainly) a debt collector letter and can be ignored as before. But wait for others to confirm (I can't access imgur links here at work).

Umkomaas

https://imgur.com/a/hArqooJ

OMG - £3,080 charge. :eek:

What has the driver been doing to rack up that amount?

28 tickets?

This is much closer to a Sheriff court case than we've seen for an awfully long time. I'd be readying myself to deal with a court claim.

But I don't think you're at this stage yet as G&N are working as a debt collector, so nothing you are required to formally do with them.

But you need to be on top of any letter dropping through your letterbox over the next 5 years.

BigPhillip

the private car park is situated in the city centre, therefore out of convenience many people use the car park to avoid street parking and public transport when going to work
Assumption was nothing can be done about it as it was private land.

waamo

BigPhillip wrote: »

the private car park is situated in the city centre, therefore out of convenience many people use the car park to avoid street parking and public transport when going to work
Assumption was nothing can be done about it as it was private land.

I hate to say but this is the type of case they may well have a go on. As I said earlier cases have been lost in Scotland. It's rare but so many tickets starts making life easier for them.

Umkomaas

Assumption was nothing can be done about it as it was private land.

Obviously, absolutely no consideration for the landowner. Why do you think they contracted a PPC?

If the driver's property was adjacent to a railway station, would they object (or not) to a couple of random cars parking there every day for their daily commute?

Coupon-mad

That was silly, selfish parking and it's people like that who cause PPCs to exist.

Have you read the Carly Mackie case? You should - it was in Scotland for £24000 ish.

I would send a SAR to ECP for everything they hold on you...that'll keep them busy! And it will be VITAL that you see their hand before they sue.

Maybe you will see that some of the evidence photos for some of the PCNs is lacking, etc., or that they have failed to produce 28 PCNs in the SAR reply.

Send G&N a response that tells them you are getting a SAR from their client first, as you need to understand the alleged 28 PCNs in terms of dates and documents and photographic evidence, and to establish whether the driver is evidenced and whether it was the same driver, or if their client lack such evidence.

Tell G&N (not over the phone of course, all in writing with copies kept, or by email with copies kept) that you need them and their client to restrict data processing while the SAR is undertaken and then for a further 30 days to allow you to seek debt advice (not that this reply admits to any 'debt' given parking charges are no such thing and each and every PCN may well not have been the same driver anyway).

I hope for your sake the person getting the letters isn't the driver, as that will make this easier to defend, otherwise the case looks difficult but it's certainly worth doing the above, which might weed out several PCNs as unrecoverable for starters, due to missing evidence and documents.

So flush out what they have/have not got by way of data.

SARs are explained with a link to a template, in the NEWBIES thread 2nd post.

The PAP for debt claims doesn't apply in Scotland so there is no pre-action protocol AFAIK. Hence why you need to use the DPA and GDPR to get the data by SAR, which does apply.

Coupon-mad

Just to add, for the love of God, all the driver had to do was cover their numberplate to avoid this!

Just saying...

Without encouraging selfish parking at all (because I do not!) more people should cover their number plates when using Supermarket car parks. There is no requirement to show them your VRN data on your car as you drive in and out (remove the obstruction once on street out of sight of the ANPR cameras, and make sure it's something safe, not dangling near wheels).

I honestly believe the above is what we might have to tell people to do, as the norm, as part of the future fight to kill PPCs off as an industry.

They can hardly sue for 'failure to display your numberplate'.