Received a letter of claim, but not aware of the PCN from 2017!

Ch3rrie

Hi everyone,

I've looked at the newbie thread, but I am not confident in my understanding still.
I got home today to a letter of claim from NPS for a car park in Long Eaton (if rge location matters).
The letter says they sent me a PCN July 2017!
I've never received anything about this.

Says I have to pay £160 by 22nd November.
I won't be doing that!

Can I request all the information they have on the charge and then dispute it? Or is this too late? If I reply, will I then be seen as acknowledging it and be in a worse situation?

From my understanding, I was thinking I am able to request an SAR, and then POPLA?
Or ignore it until I get more demands? They say they'll send it to court next.

I am also a student and the only extra money I receive universal credit for having children which is deducted due to an overpayment.
If it gets to the point where the court make me pay, will they take this into account? And more importantly, will it be bad on my credit?

I have really tried to get these answers on the forum, but can't find what I am looking for. Please direct me if I've missed it.

Thank you.

Explorer98

This is interesting - because today both my daughter and my partner have today each received a Letter of Claim from NPS. Both refer to 'incidents' in 2017 - my daughter's in March and my partner's in April. I remember these only vaguely but can't remember what (if any) action we took.

I remember my partner's more clearly because in their PCN where they claimed she'd overstayed (Cross Street, Long Eaton) there was something drastically wrong with their 'evidence'. I can't remember exactly but either their stated times contradicted or - and this is more likely from conversation today - they only provided one photo which was of her car leaving but nothing showing her entering the car park.

I'm also particularly interested to read elsewhere that another case from said car park was rejected by POPLA in May 2017 due to insufficient signage and lack of planning permission for the relevant equipment.

This being the case, the same would have to apply to both my ladies' cases since this rejected case occurred just weeks after both of ours.

I'm waiting to find out more!

Le_Kirk

The are posts on the forum which seem to indicate that certain PPC's/solicitors are attempting to put historic cases through the small claims court.

If you submit a SAR, it will make no difference to whether you win/lose or have the case discontinued or cancelled.

Bad credit only happens if you go to court, lose and fail to pay in time.

Make sure the PPC has an up-to-date address for you and that your DVLA records (for driving licence AND log-book V5C) are also correct.

Coupon-mad

Same as all the exact same threads posted this week...we assume all of you newbies with tedious (exactly the same) NPS letters have all been reading the forum and have been in touch with each other:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6069249/northern-parking-services-letter-of-claim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6069378/lbc-for-2016-pcn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6069383/parking-charge-from-3-years-ago

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6069962/letter-of-claim-from-northern-parking-services

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6069244/parking-charge-notice-2-year-chase-up

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6069984/being-threatened-with-court

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6069442/paid-a-parking-charge-now-how-a-letter-from-a-separate-company

...we can't do this umpteen dozen times in duplicate so please get together to prevent us having to answer the same thing throughout when your claims arrive.

The_Deep

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP after the election, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, 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.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

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