Uncertain if letter is a genuine "Letter Before County Court Claim" or not

drbeansy

Hi guys, would appreciate some advice. I have lingered on the forum for a year or so and read alot of the advice. I have been getting threatening letters from ZZPS and other "solicitors" and debt collectors. From reading this forum I have not been concerned. FYI I am a doctor working in hospitals and have always paid my monthly parking fees, however they give tickets for silly reasons even though I paid my fees. Most of these fines are from about 18-12 months ago at two specific hospitals.

I am concerns now though as I have had two letters that claim "Notice of intended court proceedings - multiple unpaid parking charges totalling £280". I have two of these letters. They are from Debt Recovery Plus. I can provide the whole letter if needed.

My question - is this a genuine "Letter Before County Court Claim" or not? I am aware I must act quickly if I do get an LBCCC

Many thanks

waamo

Does it give 30 days to reply and does it contain financial information forms?

If yes to both of these it's an LBC if no then it isn't.

The_Deep

Nine times out of ten these tickets are unenforceable if taken to court so consider complaining to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Redx

Complain to HR at each trust and get them cancelled, otherwise the Parking company (not zzps or drpl) may try court within 6 years

In future do not ignore parking invoices, contest them starting with the trust

drbeansy

Refereence number, date of notice (25.07.19), location etc

Dear XYZ

Notice of intended court proceedings - multiple unpaid parking charges totalling £280

You have no doubt familiar with the recent landmark decision ("The dundee case") between a parking operator and a motorist, wherer the parking operator was awarded £24500 for unpaid parking charges and court costs incurred by a motorist who had challenged that PCNs are not enforceable and are therefore uncollectable. The Sheriff rulsed that the charges are fully enforcable - and must be paid. This is in addition to the 2015 supreme court cases Parking Eye v Beavis where parking charges were fully enforceable.

I appreciate that because you have incurred so many charges you may not be able to afford the overdue charges all at once which is why I am encouraging you to contact me to discuss your proposal for repayment. I can be contacted on 0208 234 6775 or (website)

I will place the above cases on hold until close of business on 29/08/19 and would be grateful if you would attend to settlement as soon as possible for the avoidance of increased charges.

If you do not contact me by then I will assuyme that you are refusing to pay and I will report back to our client that they should take legal action to recover the monies owned.

If you struggle to pay the balance in full, please contact us to discuss ways to settle this balance. We can talk about ways to make it easier and more affordable to pay, such as offering a settlement figure of agreeing a short term payment plan.

KeithP

A letter from Debt Recovery Plus is not a Letter of Claim.

You can safely ignore that letter.

Drbeansy, are you in Scotland?

drbeansy

Thanks for this advice. It does state in the letter ^^ about 30 odd days. But I did not see any financial claim forms or anything.

Not in scotland, tickets got in Manchester area.

KeithP

DRP simply cannot start court proceedings.

All they can do is "...report back to our client that they should take legal action to recover the monies owned".

Please read post #4 of the NEWBIES thread where you will find comprehensive guidance on how to deal with debt collectors - but to summarise that post - ignore them.

drbeansy

Awesome thank you very much.

This letter looked different to the (?)hundreds of other letters I've had and I was not certain if it was an LBCCC. "notice of intended court proceedings" got me a little worried but many thanks!!

beamerguy

Notice of intended court proceedings - multiple unpaid parking charges totalling £280

How much was each ticket ?

You do realise that the above is more verbal rubbish from DRP.
That's their phone number ?

DRP cannot take you to court, they work on instructions to collect by the PPC and they are useless.

For future reference, DRP offer the PPC's a "no win no fee" service so as you are not paying DRP there is no charge to the PPC.
Nevertheless, the PPC whilst in their scam mode will still try to add on fake amounts

READ THIS ABOUT DRP
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5859454debt+collectors+drp

READ THIS ABOUT FAKE ADD-ONS
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081

drbeansy

beamerguy wrote: »

Notice of intended court proceedings - multiple unpaid parking charges totalling £280

How much was each ticket ?

You do realise that the above is more verbal rubbish from DRP.
That's their phone number ?

DRP cannot take you to court, they work on instructions to collect by the PPC and they are useless.

For future reference, DRP offer the PPC's a "no win no fee" service so as you are not paying DRP there is no charge to the PPC.
Nevertheless, the PPC whilst in their scam mode will still try to add on fake amounts

READ THIS ABOUT DRP
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5859454debt+collectors+drp

READ THIS ABOUT FAKE ADD-ONS
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081

Thanks for this! I do now know that its more rubbish - I was just scared of "Notice of intended court proceedings" which I had not had in a letter before.