CST letters' forum group thread

beamerguy

NaRider said:

beamerguy said:

Yeti10 said:

Okay, thanks again. If i do get a reply from CST i'll post an update if it seems like it might be useful to others. Really quite shocking that they get away with this, i hate to think of the hysteria they are likely causing people who may not have the capacity to do a bit of research on it. 

You are right but on this forum we have CST under control. We have seen a mass send out of letters but so far there is NOT a mass of court claims. Don't expect an answer, the purpose of the letter is to let them know that you are not a mug. Doubtful CST will behave like Lemmings

This is exactly the same point I'm up to after following your advice, including asking for their authority for charges etc. I have recieved my SAR info, just waiting on CST's response. I will post any return correspondence I get.

We have yet to see a reply from CST.
The letter before claim requests a reply within 30 days.  This is all part of PAP, Pre Action Protocol 
You have replied with your questions. If they don't reply, you have complied and it can be assumed that they have no authority. If they did, they would prove it.

If they took this to court, you will be asking the court to strike out the claim as being unreliable
The general thought about these letters is they are using PAP to scare people into paying 
As a 30 day letter before claim is a last ditch attempt before court they can hardly go backwards with bog standard debt letters.  This means they either go to court and suffer the wrath of a judge, or they do nothing

We all wait and watch

NaRider

Yeti10 said:

Did you send your correspondence via email?

Yes. I had to use info@creditstyle.co.uk. CST don't appear to have any contact details

Yeti10

Same, the fact they don't even have direct contact info speaks volumes.

D_P_Dance

I found this 

compliance@creditstyle.co.uk

Yeti10

I've sent it to info@creditstyle.co.uk the same as NaRider. Should we send duplicates to the email address you have found?

D_P_Dance

I think so, belt and braces.

Yeti10

Done, thanks very much. 

secret_ID

I had an LBC from CST Law last month relating to an Initial Parking PCN from a year ago. I have SAR'd Initial and sent the following to CST. They no longer include the contact@cstlaw.co.uk email on their letters (as per the images on p1 of this thread) but I used that one and the info@creditstyle.co.uk just in case.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm writing in response to your Letter before claim dated XXth October 2020 sent to:

XX

in relation to PCN number XXX

- I am seeking debt advice but I deny any debt and the case must be put 'on hold' for not less than 30 days under the PAP for debt claims 2017.
- I have sent your Initial Parking a SAR

Furthermore, I will be complaining to the SRA and FCA as you are purporting to be sending a letter before claim, acting on behalf of an entity that I have no contract with. I require a copy of any contract you think I have with Debt Recovery Plus

You have claimed an unlawful additional £15 for ‘time and resource facilitating the recovery of the charge’,  included within your total charge amount. 

If as you say this is included, then it also leaves an unlawful charge of £70 added to the parking charge. You have stated that the £15 is for recovery so please explain your legal authority to increase the parking charge by £70

Please take note that your claim goes against the ruling of the Supreme court, POFA2012 and the double recovery rules of the County Court.  Therefore this can only be deemed as Abuse of Process and as such your claim is unreliable and if you proceed further, I will ask the court to strike out your clam as Abuse of Process
I will show your Letter before Claim in court together with this letter.  

You are of course at liberty to respond to me giving your legal authority to add such amounts.

My costs schedule will be presented to the court

Yours faithfully
Is there anything else required at this stage?

beamerguy

Nice letter, you have summed up CST.

Odd you know, they so far have not responded .... wonder why. ??

Nothing more to do, just wait and keep your letter to show a judge if it goes that far .... doubt it, CST have created some serious problems for themselves

ExasperatedParker

Hi all, just another exasperated driver who is being pestered by these unscrupulous parking companies for payment here.
Not that I wish to hijack the thread, but I believe this is the thread all CST cases are now being dealt with so I though I would post here. I received a PCN from Smart Parking relating to an alleged parking offence committed in August 2019 by my vehicle. The correspondence was being sent firstly by Smart, then Zenith, then Smart Recovery Plus Limited to my old address (due to not having updated my V5C during the time of the alleged offence) , and was ignored (with no POPLA appeal submitted, due to ignorance at the time) until I received an LBC last month from CST Law. This mentioned the usual 'we are instructed by DRP as the agent of Smart Parking...' etc and included trumped up fees for debt collecting. The driver has not been confirmed, and no admission of guilt has been made.

This first LBC didn't have any resources attached to complete (even though the letter stated to complete and return the enclosed forms) and the 30 day period for response elapsed. However, I received a second LBC with included resources for completion on the 13th October, with another 30 day response time (correspondence is still being sent to my old address, even though I've subsequently updated my V5C and licence details). I have until Friday to respond to this LBC, so I believe I am now at the stage where I need to make a SAR request to Smart and submit my dispute letter to CST? I wrote these using guidance from the Newbie sticky and from this thread, and have attached these for reference. I would appreciate if somebody in the know could advise as to whether they are suitable for sending to the relevant parties?

For some context, the car park is located in a very small town and serves small indoor market. I have tried to search for the details of the owner to no avail. It should be noted that an FOI request determined that no planning permission was sought for the car park signs (and to my knowledge still does not exist). Finally, would it be worth getting in touch with my Local MP regarding this? His office is located immediately opposite the car park, I just didn't see realistically how this would help my immediate situation. Also, for peace of mind, does anybody realistically know the likelihood of this ending up in court? At this stage I would be happy to just go ahead and pay the initial fee of £60, without the additional bailiff fees added on top, however I'm guessing this is no longer an option.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to provide, it is greatly appreciated!