Trace Debt Recovery

Jeden

Hi all.

My wife’s has received a letter at our home address for an alleged parking fine that took place at a hospital while she was in having an appointment. Trace are trying to recover debts on behalf of UK Car Park Management Limited.

The car park at the hospital is a barrier car park and the systems were down so the attendant lifted the barrier for her to leave as the payment machine wasn’t working. How they can justify sending a fine when it is actually impossible to leave the car park without either paying or the help of the attendant I will never know! Anyway, 3 months later we have received this letter. I must add this is the very first letter we have received pertaining to this and as you can imagine we are going to contest it vigorously.

I was hoping somebody could give us first steps to take to fight back against this. I have been helped in the past by a few members of this board and would welcome the help again.

I have attached the letter we have received so you can see where we are starting from.

fisherjim

The cynic in me would say the scammers new about the machine not working and are chancing a punt with this due to their insatiable greed.



The advice is as before in the newbies thread, which includes ignoring debt collectors.


There is no debt unless a judge says there is.


What did PALS say when you complained to them?


What "fine" are you talking about there isn't one?

The_Deep

Have you read this

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

Have they complied?

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP as it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

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][/FONT]

Jeden

We haven’t complained to anybody as we only recovered the letter yesterday and it had no information other than to pay the money they claim is owed.

Should I complain to PALS?

Fruitcake

It is not a fine.

Of course you should complain, either to PALS or the head honcho/CEO of the hospital trust, or all of the above.

Get pics of the site and signage.

Get a written statement from any member of hospital staff/security/admin/management who can state that the parking system was inoperative on the day.

Is the car fitted with a dash-cam that can show the system was inoperative?

Do not reveal the driver's identity. If nothing has been received until now, it is quite possible that the NTK is non PoFA compliant. Have the scammers claimed there was a NTD left on the windscreen?

If it is not PoFA compliant, add a one liner to that effect at the end of the appeal template in blue from post 1 of the NEWBIES, and send it otherwise unaltered from the Keeper. Do not miss the appeal deadline.

Jeden

Hi fruitcake.

We haven’t had any other letters and the fact it has been passed to Trace leads me to believe the appeal process has passed.

My wife works in the NHS so I will get her to write a letter to the hospital trust and PALS.


Should we have any contact with Trace who are trying to recover the money or the parking firm?

Fruitcake

As already advised, ignore debt collectors.

Is the address on the vehicle V5 correct. Don't guess, go and look.

If the charge has not been cancelled by around day 26, then send the appeal template with the one liner (if the NTK is non PoFA compliant) I mentioned.

Send an SAR as per the NEWBIES to flush out any other documents they may allege to have sent.

What precisely does the letter the keeper has received actually say? Is it an NTK or is it a reminder?
If it is the NTK then you need to see if it is PoFA compliant.

Redx

Email a SAR to the parking firm

Ignore Trace

Check your V5C has the correct information on it , correct name and address

Jeden

So it looks like she didn’t change the address on the V5 when we moved house a few months ago. So more than likely any letters have gone to our old address.

Fruitcake

You had better change that now with the DVLA or risk a genuine £1000 fine.

You will need to send the SAR to flush out the alleged original NTK and any other alleged documents. You also need to send a rectification notice to the DPO of the PPC telling them to erase your old incorrect data and give them your new address for service.

Send the appeal template anyway but add a one liner to say the keeper moved after the alleged event and therefore didn't receive the original NTK and therefore was unable to appeal within the scammers timescales. It will probably be rejected but at least you can show a judge later you tried to be reasonable and avoid court if it gets that far.

Jeden

Hi Fruitcake

She will update it this weekend. Are there any templates of the SAR anywhere? And I’m assuming I send the rectification notice once I receive the details from the SAR?

Apologies for all of the questions.