CST - Letter Before Claim

CMistry

Hi everyone,
my wife visited a pharmacy in last August to get medicine for our disabled son. The pharmacy had a system where you have to ask them to enter your vehicle number plate on a tablet so they know you are a customer and can use the car park. She did this. But as she was busy and as there were many people, the pharmacist forgot. A few days afterwards I as the registered user got a parking ticket from a company called Smart Parking. We went back to the Pharmacy straight away and explained. They acknowledged the situation and said they would contact the parking company and confirm we were customers and ask them to cancel the charge. We also contacted Smart Parking to explain the situation via email.

We then got a reply back from Smart Parking saying they had received the information from the Pharmacy but had decided to proceed with the charge against us. I obviously didn’t pay the fine as we hadn’t broken any law or done anything wrong.

Since then I have subsequently have had letters from a company called Zenith, then Debt Recovery Plus Ltd chasing me for this charge. Which I have ignored.

A few days ago this week I received a letter from CST Law. Which stated it was a LETTER BEFORE CLAIM. 

They said they have been instructed by DRP to commence legal action against me to recover the outstanding amount.

They've added on the £15 for time spent and resource facilitating recovery of debt.

What do I do??

So confused, Not sure what to do 

I can provide more info from this letter if needs and the email I sent to smart parking and their reply.

Any info would be greatly appreciated though.

Thanks in advance 

Redx

Debt collector letter same as the other letters , plenty of people are getting these so read the advice in this thread and the one linked in there

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6167478/cst-law#latest

Complain in writing to the landowner asap and insist on a cancellation , go to the CEO if you have to, this is your best option , regardless , so further complaints should have been done at the time , so get it done

Umkomaas

Did the Pharmacy confirm to you in writing that they had instructed Smart to cancel?  If not, ask them to let you have written confirmation. Tell them that you are now being sued (well, not quite there yet, but keep that to yourself) and you will be issuing a witness summons for the pharmacist to appear in court. Ask that they provide you with a list of dates on which she is not available in the next 6 months so you can ensure the court knows of them for when they fix the hearing date. Stress on them this is now getting extremely serious (well, not really, but don't let them know!). Pile the pressure on the Pharmacy as they are key to getting this stopped in its tracks. 

D_P_Dance

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP., it can cause the scammer extra costs, and in some cases, cancellation. 

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 later this year,

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

BrownTrout

Redx said:

Debt collector letter same as the other letters , plenty of people are getting these so read the advice in this thread and the one linked in there

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6167478/cst-law#latest

Complain in writing to the landowner asap and insist on a cancellation , go to the CEO if you have to, this is your best option , regardless , so further complaints should have been done at the time , so get it done

no they have received a genuine LBC but to be seen if CST go through with issuing claims for single tickets....

Redx

Maybe so but drp cannot instigate any court claim , it would have to be initiated by Smart parking

If it is a formal LBC with 30 days notice and financial forms , the OP should follow the newbies FAQ sticky thread post 2 and do the SAR to Smart to their DPO plus tell CST law to place the matter on hold pending the SAR reply plus they are seeking debt management advice

Plus getting the landowner to cancel , plus what Umkomaas advised as well

So time to act , before any court claim arrives

Coupon-mad

This one will be hilarious in court.  Honestly the industry couldn't get much lower.

I hope the OP gets it and knows not to pay.  Read the NEWBIES thread and get it in writing from the Pharmacy by email that they tried to cancel the PCN and that they forgot to put the numberplate in to exempt it.

Secondly, tell your story to your local MP and remind them of what Pete Wishart MP said in the House of Commons about Smart Parking:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-02-02/debates/CC84AF5E-AC6E-4E14-81B1-066E6A892807/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill
''...operated by the John Wayne of all the cowboys, the appalling and loathed Smart Parking, a company that blights communities''.

CMistry

Dear All thank you for your advice so far, 

I guess what confuses me is the email extract from Smart parking see below. You will the Pharmacist, requested they cancel the charge as we are customers. Note - we did not over say. If they have ignored her request and have carried on, how can I get this stopped? It’s obvious the pharmacist made an error, told them so but they have ignored her. I am pretty sure the pharmacy has now closed, so they are no longer there.
Why have they ignored the request and by going to court, could they really possibly win? On what grounds.

I also don’t understand their comment about British Parking Association code of practice – we did appeal, but they rejected it.

Last point – the letter from CST Law talks about responding to the Letter of Claim using the enclosed response pack. There was no response with their letter. Again strange to write these things and not include them. Any ideas why

Thanks CM 
Email form Smart Parking - Below

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your email. 

We can confirm that we received a request from the site, which was reviewed and the decision made to uphold the Parking Charge Notice.  

Please note, whilst we will take into consideration any request received from the site, it is ultimately at the discretion of Smart Parking as to whether the charge is rescinded.

As per the British Parking Association code of practice (paragraph 22.7), all appeals must be submitted to us within 28 days of the Notice to Keeper being issued.

Due to the length of time your PCN has been open, we have now referred this to a debt recovery (Debt Recovery Plus) who are handling the matter on our behalf.

Please contact them directly if you wish to discuss this further.

Debt Recovery Plus: 0208 234 6775 or 0141 301 2355

Kind regards,

Smart Parking Ltd

Telephone: 08452303081

Email: appeals@smartparking.com

Coupon-mad

That's good, they have admitted they are unsupported by any legitimate interest.  Get your MP involved and if you get a claim, come back.  

beamerguy

Due to the length of time your PCN has been open, we have now referred this to a debt recovery (Debt Recovery Plus) who are handling the matter on our behalf.

We know Smart are one the biggest jokes of the industry and DRP are the biggest joker who you ignore .... powerless sewer life

Castle

Coupon-mad said:

That's good, they have admitted they are unsupported by any legitimate interest.  Get your MP involved and if you get a claim, come back.  

As the pharmacy was acting as an agent of the parking company; I'd suggest that a counterclaim would be in order for negligence for failing to record the driver's details.