Please help! Advice needed zzps

stupidandpanicked

So I received a parking fee back in September as the keeper of the vehicle. I was told that in Scotland the rules were different and I would not need to pay (I am a non UK/EU Citizen so I am unfamiliar with all these rules and specific companies-i.e. not knowing what is a scam and what isn't). As such I ignored it but then received a letter from ZZPS which looked quite official and with a new much higher amount of 170.00 owed. The "do not ignore this noticed" got to me and I called to see if I could pay the original fee. They said another 2 letters had been sent (I only saw one and it is quite possible that my dog shredded the second-bad habit of his eating my mail). I am embarrassed that I let my anxiety get the better of me and called, because I am now concerned that they can use that recorded call as evidence of guilt and I will be forced to pay the fee. Is there any way out of this or do I need to bite the bullet and pay the fee as a result of my stupidity??

Redx

Ignore Zzps

Come back if you receive a sheriff court letter within 5 years

Do not tell anyone who was driving

Which Parking company issued the original PCN ??

Fruitcake

At the moment the law in Scotland is different to that in England and Wales and a keeper cannot be held liable. Sadly that is likely to change but it cannot be applied retrospectively.

Debt collectors have absolutely no powers and can do absolutely nothing except send out poor quality toilet paper.

In Scotland a keeper should do nothing except complain to the landowner. They should never ever make contact with the PPC at all, ever.

As for debt collectors, never ever, ever contact them irrespective of where you live.

If you revealed the driver's identity to the debt crawlers they could pass it to the PPC who could then send a PCN to the driver and hold the driver liable.

Do you have a permanent non UK address? If you do and the driver gets a PCN (as opposed to the one the keeper already has) then give the overseas address for service.

Note that in law, the keeper and the driver are two different people.

stupidandpanicked

Fruitcake wrote: »

At the moment the law in Scotland is different to that in England and Wales and a keeper cannot be held liable. Sadly that is likely to change but it cannot be applied retrospectively.

Debt collectors have absolutely no powers and can do absolutely nothing except send out poor quality toilet paper.

In Scotland a keeper should do nothing except complain to the landowner. They should never ever make contact with the PPC at all, ever.

As for debt collectors, never ever, ever contact them irrespective of where you live.

If you revealed the driver's identity to the debt crawlers they could pass it to the PPC who could then send a PCN to the driver and hold the driver liable.

Do you have a permanent non UK address? If you do and the driver gets a PCN (as opposed to the one the keeper already has) then give the overseas address for service.

Note that in law, the keeper and the driver are two different people.

I don't have a permanent residence outside the UK anymore (I have lived here for 3 years now) but tend to use my parent's address for reference. I'm not sure if that could work?

Fruitcake

Delete the last line of post 5! Only ever refer to The Driver and The Keeper on here, not "I".

All you can do now is wait and see what they do next. The fact that they have gone to debt collectors is good as they know a keeper can't be held liable in Scotland at the moment.

Since most cars have more than one seat it is quite possible that the keeper was a passenger in the car when they visited the gym. The PPC would need to prove the opposite if they want to pursue this further.

Ignore anything you get from now on except real papers from a Scottish court. Come back to this thread if that happens, but don't forget to complain to the landowner/gym.

Redx

so probably CEL then

just IGNORE unless they issued actual court papers through the sheriff office , do not contact ZZPS at all, nor CEL either , not for now anyway

stupidandpanicked

Redx wrote: »

so probably CEL then

just IGNORE unless they issued actual court papers through the sheriff office , do not contact ZZPS at all, nor CEL either , not for now anyway

Sorry to be thickskulled, so keep ignoring the letters (unless they are actual court papers) even though I had already called ZZPS earlier today? (And I will not be contacting them or CEL again)

Redx

correct , never phone sc@mmers without checking first, phoning never solved anything like this


IGNORE


come back if court papers are received

Fruitcake

In Scotland, ignore anything and everything except court papers from a Scottish court.

Note that this advice will change when Scottish law changes in the near future, but it will not affect any parking event that has already happened.

stupidandpanicked

Right, well I will push the panic away and just ignore then! Thank you both for the advice and hopefully this just goes away with time.

Fruitcake

You need to delete the last sentence of post 5. Only ever refer to The Driver and The Keeper, who are two different people as far as the law is concerned.