F1rst Parking/Debt Collectors Ltd/National Debt Collections Ltd PCN from hospital

nbrlw7x

Hi all. I know there are hundreds of threads on this issue but most appear to be from 2017 and before so I am hoping for some up to date advice.

There have been 5 or 6 Parking Charge Notices issued by F1rst Parking for parking "without a valid pay&display ticket" at Nottingham City Hospital from Mid 2018-early 2019 (I am a nurse). Understandably, at around £10 per day it is not always possible to purchase pay & display tickets on a low salary, and the wait for parking permits is several years long.

The correct protocol appears to have been followed by F1rst Parking - notice on windowscreen and notice to keepers, which were all ignored. Some of these were sent to the wrong address but I have now managed to obtain them.

I then began receiving letters from Debt Collectors Ltd headed "Notice of Debt Recovery" demanding £160 per PCN. These too were ignored on the grounds that all of the advice states to ignore Debt Collectors letters and also, a £30 charge going up to £160 for parking at work is obscene. Some of these letters also went to the wrong address (how do they manage it?!"

Following on from ignoring these, I began receiving letters from National Debt Collections Ltd headed "Demand for payment of unpaid parking charge, current balance: £120.00". Upon continuing to ignore these, I have now received a different type of letter x3 regarding 3 separate PCNs stating "Notice of Intended Legal Action" and stating that the letter fulfills "a statutory obligation to send notice of intended litigation on behalf of First Parking LLP".

Is this a genuine LBC? It's making me jittery because in January I found a CCJ on my credit file from a parking charge obtained via ANPR when I was a student nurse that I knew nothing about due to letters being sent to the wrong address - I had a parking permit to park at the university between 17.00-08.00 and made use of this for a night shift at the hospital, and was 12 minutes late back to my car due to a ward emergency. This has since been set aside due to a Consent Order agreed with Gladstones Solicitors and the University of Leeds as I did not receive any notification of the PCN or CCJ, but still cost me £400 and a lot of my mental wellbeing to do so. It's just instilled into me how life changing these god awful PPCs can be if they mean business.

I have tried discussing this with the head of Parking, but was unable to get a reply from her, and the Chief Executive of Nottingham University Hospitals and received NO support, only a snotty letter stating that if I did not pay the parking charges I would be subject to disciplinary action (needless to say I have since left the Trust and do NOT recommend working there!!)
I did try to appeal one of the PCNs using a template from MSE and it was rejected (as expected), so I stopped bothering and missed the POPLA window.

I am just concerned that National Debt Collections and F1rst Parking mean business with their Notice of Intended Legal Action and would really appreciate some advice.

TIA.

Le_Kirk

A proper LBC will give you 30 days to respond and will contain (or point to) financial papers (which you do not fill in) and will give full POC and all the evidence they intend to rely on in small claims court. Suggest you read the NEWBIE section post # 2 for small claims court and procedures and post # 4 for ignoring debt collectors.

Coupon-mad

I know there are hundreds of threads on this issue but most appear to be from 2017

Eh? we have and reply on up to 80-100 new posts most days in 2019!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

I have now received a different type of letter x3 regarding 3 separate PCNs stating "Notice of Intended Legal Action" and stating that the letter fulfills "a statutory obligation to send notice of intended litigation on behalf of First Parking LLP".

Is this a genuine LBC?

If it is from National Debt Collections, and does not include the PAP reply forms and give you 30 days, then no. Debt collectors can't start court claims.

Here is a post about a real one, it seems:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5997902/f1rst-parking-county-court-legal-action-letter-of-claim

That is not a one off thread. There are loads of F1rst threads if you look on page one most days!

Read the NEWBIES thread post #2 about LBC stage, if & when you get one.

nbrlw7x

I must have been looking in the wrong place 🙈 thanks so much for your reply, really appreciate it.

Coupon-mad

No worries, come back & reply here on this thread if you get a real LBC, and in the meantime bookmark some current LBC threads to learn from what happens and how to defend a case if a claim is issued (no biggie, no risk, no huge costs, and 99% win rate with our help).

beamerguy

I have tried discussing this with the head of Parking, but was unable to get a reply from her, and the Chief Executive of Nottingham University Hospitals and received NO support, only a snotty letter stating that if I did not pay the parking charges I would be subject to disciplinary action (needless to say I have since left the Trust and do NOT recommend working there!!)

Fancy saying that ???? Nurses are the pride and joy of the health service and here we have a numskull threatening you with disciplinary action because you were attacked by a scammer.
Such an ignoranus

I am just concerned that National Debt Collections and F1rst Parking mean business with their Notice of Intended Legal Action and would really appreciate some advice.

All debt collectors in the parking scam are simply animals and totally powerless .... forget the stupid threats, they are part of the scam. All designed to scare you and now you are on this forum, you will get all the help and if you receive a real LBC giving you 30 days to respond, let us know