Debt Recovery Plus for unpaid parking charge - no previous notification or ticket

samu_saving

Apologies in advance, I did read the newbies but can't find advice on how to deal with this case. My wife recevied over the weekend a letter from Debt Recovery Plus to decide how to pay an unpaid parking charge from 04/12/2020. We have not received any ticket (thought this was a free car park in an retail park) and no other notification prior to this letter. Letter provides 3 options, 1. Pay in Full, 2. Payment Plan, 3. Do nothing (where they will get in touch with their legal team and start legal action and costs will go up for us) and the fine in £170. I don't see any option to appeal this or whether this is possible. I believe this is a private car park as part of a retail park but there's no info about the owner etc. Having googled this now, this is LION retail park in Woking. This was such a long time ago I can't remember the specifics of me being there (it would have been me, not my wife, but most likely for the ASDA) Thanks in Advance

D_P_Dance

I did read the newbiase.es but can't find advice on how to deal with this case
Then it is likely that you missed it as it is extremely common, read it again.
They have added unlawful amouts, read this and complain to your MP.

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.

Fruitcake

It is not a fine.
The fourth post of the NEWBIES tells you why it is safe to ignore powerless debt collectors.
What is the name of the PPC please?
What happened when The Keeper complained to the landowner or store manager and/or the CEO?
If The Keeper can't remember what happened, then they should send an SAR to the scammers as per the advice in the NEWBIES. They will need to include proof of ID such as a copy of the V5C or copies of two redacted utility bills or bank/card statements.
Never send photo' ID

The driver or possible driver should sit on their hands in the corner, keep their mouth shut.
Nobody should be saying who was, or might, or would have been driving.

blackdog2220

samu_saving said:

Apologies in advance, I did read the newbies but can't find advice on how to deal with this case. My wife recevied over the weekend a letter from Debt Recovery Plus to decide how to pay an unpaid parking charge from 04/12/2020. We have not received any ticket (thought this was a free car park in an retail park) and no other notification prior to this letter. Letter provides 3 options, 1. Pay in Full, 2. Payment Plan, 3. Do nothing (where they will get in touch with their legal team and start legal action and costs will go up for us) and the fine in £170. I don't see any option to appeal this or whether this is possible. I believe this is a private car park as part of a retail park but there's no info about the owner etc. Having googled this now, this is LION retail park in Woking. This was such a long time ago I can't remember the specifics of me being there (it would have been me, not my wife, but most likely for the ASDA) Thanks in Advance

OP , you are obviously new to the private parking situation , you do not know what the max charge is on a private parking ticket , or the meaning of words like unlawfull amout claimed or indeed Excell v wilkinson has no relivence to you , it may do at a later point , but thats not helping you now .

I note you say you are not sure which car park , and at present are just guessing , likewize you have not named the parking co , this info could comee in handy at later point 

as above (the sensible answer) do a subject access request to the PARKING COMPANY , not the debt collecting company  the name of the parking co will be shown on the debt collectors letter 
the reply to the SAR (that you made to rhe data protection officer at the parking co) will include photos , and copies of all letters sent to you 

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everybody has a bulb moment ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, larf 

samu_saving

I'm trying to find the PPC. They don't make this information easy to find. I read the 4th post about ignoring the debt collectors, but this looked like in reference to where an appeal or at least some response has been made to the PPC. As this is the first communication I've received, I haven't complained to the landowner. It's Lion reatil park in Woking, I beleive it's Parking Eye. So, as per the advice i shall 1. ignore Debt Recover Plus 2. send a SAR to Parking Eye 3. Find the landowner details and write to them complaining 4. Re-read the NEWBIES post re: Excel v Wilkinson

blackdog2220

the chances are if this is parking eye they do NOT use likes of company that wrote to you , keep looking , and failing that (if you are sure of location) ring  Lion reatil park and ask them who handles there car park 

nosferatu1001

Plan A, surely?

samu_saving

Thanks @blackdog2220 - I've discovered that it's CP Plus Ltd. Looking through the forum, I can see that there's a standard template response for CP Plus. I'll write out the letter and send it off through the post. Although I haven't received any notice from any directly before now, I believe this letter covers the SAR and makes it makes no difference whether of not the "debt collectors" have been involved. My concern about "ignoring" Debt Recovery Plus was that all the cases I could see where were the recipient had already responded. If I didn't take some action then I would expect that it would go to court, and I've prefer to deal with this before that stage. In addition, I note the advice about not providing details of who was driving especially as this is written to my wife as the registered owner, but it was most likely me driving (during Covid I've been the one doing the shopping) - this information should not be shared. Thanks for everyone's advice thus far - I appreciate it especially as a noob.

Coupon-mad

. I'll write out the letter and send it off through the post. 

Why?  No-one posts appeals, and if you are DRP stage you are too late to appeal - and that's not what PLAN A is, either, in the NEWBIES thread.

blackdog2220

samu_saving said:

Thanks @blackdog2220 - I've discovered that it's CP Plus Ltd. Looking through the forum, I can see that there's a standard template response for CP Plus. I'll write out the letter and send it off through the post. Although I haven't received any notice from any directly before now, I believe this letter covers the SAR and makes it makes no difference whether of not the "debt collectors" have been involved. My concern about "ignoring" Debt Recovery Plus was that all the cases I could see where were the recipient had already responded. If I didn't take some action then I would expect that it would go to court, and I've prefer to deal with this before that stage. In addition, I note the advice about not providing details of who was driving especially as this is written to my wife as the registered owner, but it was most likely me driving (during Covid I've been the one doing the shopping) - this information should not be shared. Thanks for everyone's advice thus far - I appreciate it especially as a noob.

and when you get the reply back from your SAR sent to the data protection officer of CP plus , which now hides behind the name of groupnexus <spit> you will clearly see all correspondance sent to you

very likely they did not send letters , just passed the info on to debt collectors , you should also do a sar to the DVLA to see WHO and when your data was asked for , this would seem to be a ANPR type ticket , and they should have contacterd the DVLA  AND had a letter thru your door by day 14 failure to comply removes rhere POFa 2012 passage , and makes it much harder for them , in any letter or email , always refer to yourself as KEEPER , not (as you have posted above) probably me driving 

nexus are known for sloppyness and gread , and i would not put it past them to simply farm out the dvla reply and the collection , 

samu_saving

Thanks @Coupon-mad . 

With inexperience these things are made out to look quite scary. Additionally, this is sent to my wife, and not me so I want to ensure that it's done properly. I have seen plan A, and I've am sending a letter of complaint to the management of the car park, which has been a pain to find!

It's frustrating because DRP have been involved - but I haven't had the opportunity to appeal, so this looks like an escalation. It's also been 4 months since the date of notice. Also, when I looked at Plan A, these looked like cases where the a parking change had been received and a complaint raised before escalation to a recovery agent.

Anyway, I will complain now to the carpark management company and see what they have to say. So, they can still cancel it, even if it's gone to DRP?