G24 3 parking fine letters/Now 3 Trace

KMurrell

Hi, back on 30 Nov I received 3 G24 letters for evening parking for my sons car in a store car park, the 3 fines related to a date in Sept, Oct and Nov. I rang G24 and appealed all 3 sending photos of sign stating maximum stay 3 hours (he was well under this) and photo of the gate whic is never closed when store was shut. My agreement apart from the misleading sign was why take 2 and a half months to send a fine (Sept one) and then send all 3 out together. I never heard anything to my appeal until I got 3 Trace Debt letters now each asking for £150. I called G24 who confirmed they received my appeal on 12th December but couldn't open the photos they say the emailed me to advise this , I never received this!! Can you help please with what to do next, I'm too late to appeal via the other companies. Don't want my son to have a bad credit rating but don't believe this is fair. 

D_P_Dance

They ate not fines.  Please read the newbies where it explains how to fight this scam, and complain to your MP.

KMurrell

I've read it but nothing about G24 or Trace Debt and its now 5 months since original fine letters but I did appeal to them. I will email my MP. Still can't help but worry!! 

Umkomaas

KMurrell said:

Hi, back on 30 Nov I received 3 G24 letters for evening parking for my sons car in a store car park, the 3 fines related to a date in Sept, Oct and Nov. I rang G24 and appealed all 3 sending photos of sign stating maximum stay 3 hours (he was well under this) and photo of the gate whic is never closed when store was shut. My agreement apart from the misleading sign was why take 2 and a half months to send a fine (Sept one) and then send all 3 out together. I never heard anything to my appeal until I got 3 Trace Debt letters now each asking for £150. I called G24 who confirmed they received my appeal on 12th December but couldn't open the photos they say the emailed me to advise this , I never received this!! Can you help please with what to do next, I'm too late to appeal via the other companies. Don't want my son to have a bad credit rating but don't believe this is fair. 

Whose name is on the parking charge notices?  If it's yours, you don't need to worry about your son. If it's his name, he must deal with this, you can do the work, but everything in his name. 

Neither of you can get a 'bad credit rating' as it would first have to go to court, you would have to lose, then you refuse to pay the costs awarded against you by the Judge, within the allotted timescale. Everything on that front is under your control.  This is a long way from court (G24 have hardly ever issued court proceedings) and even if they did issue today, you'd be looking at autumn/winter before any hearing. 

You won't find specific reference to PPCs or debt collectors in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, it is generic, but it can be applied to almost any private parking or debt collecting scenario. You are at debt collector stage and it's the 4th post of the sticky that applies to you. Please read that, but don't go searching for similar cases, or debt collector references by name. 

If you move home/address at any time in the 6 years following the dates of the parking events you must inform G24 to avoid them issuing to a former address and you then missing the court papers, thereby failing to respond - now that can lead to a 'bad credit rating'. 

fisherjim

For goodness sake stop phoning these scammers, and as TD says they are not "fines".

Such a pity you didn't come here before blabbing and shooting your sons foot off with that appeal naming the driver this could have been nipped in the bud.

You are where you are now in the long haul read the newbies thread G24 are muppets, and like most PPC's tell lies, the bit about barriers being open is irrelevant, of course they "couldn't open the attachments" they may prove you case.

Is there a clause stating no parking when store is closed or between certain times?

You now need all the evidence you can collect.

Ignore Trace they can't do diddly squat only waste paper on pointess threats, don't ignore real court papers though.

You son needs to own this now, he can't get a bad credit rating unless taken to court, looses and then refuses to pay up, and with help from here can win against this sorry bunch of scammers.

You don't need specifics about G24 or Trace they are just another PPC and another debt crawler, the action you take is generic.

Coupon-mad

KMurrell said:

I've read it but nothing about G24 or Trace Debt 

Why would there be?  Why would I talk about individual companies?  Please stop looking for that in the generic ADVICE ABOUT ALL CASES thread.

It says in the very first Q&A not to look for specific stuff about a particular circumstance/company:

FAQS FIRST. NO THREAD IS NEEDED IF YOUR QUESTIONS ARE:
Q - ''I have read the NEWBIES thread but cannot find anything specific to my case...my case is different''.
A - NO IT ISN'T. YOU DO NOT NEED SPECIFICS. FORGET THE DETAIL, MOST CASES ARE ALL THE SAME.

And above that, in the NEWBIES THREAD:

DO NOT USE YOUR REAL NAME AS YOUR USERNAME IF YOU POST A THREAD:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5532696you already blabbed about who parked the car in your appeals?  Oh dear.  Stop compounding that by phoning the eejits, my goodness you need to calm down and read the NEWBIES thread properly, then you may want to read G24 and Trace threads but honestly who cares? 

Fake 'debt recovery' letters are a nothing stage - you are not meant to take them seriously.  And if you already blew it by saying who was driving then stop ringing them and making yourself look like a hooked fish (they will think that, not me, I hasten to add).

KMurrell

They already knew who was driving as the letters were addressed to my son the driver and car owner as they had this info from his car reg. 

KeithP

KMurrell said:

They already knew who was driving as the letters were addressed to my son the driver and car owner as they had this info from his car reg. 

At the time they wrote to your son, they only knew the name of the Registered Keeper - having obtained that information from the DVLA.

At that time they had absolutely no idea who was driving, nor did they know who owned the vehicle.

KMurrell

This is the displayed sign. Very confusing as does say applies 24 hours a day but max 3 hours stay. My son parked for 15 mins on one letter! 

KMurrell

The registered keeper is always also the owner surely and only the insured could be driving. So anyway maybe I shouldn't have appealed to them but thought that was the advice given on here. Any suggestions from now on would be appreciated please. 

Coupon-mad

Ignore it at this stage, as the NEWBIES THREAD tells you.

You may want to search the local authority planning portal to see if it is true that this retail car park is allowed to be for customers only while using the shops.  Often, planning consents for 3 hours are set by Councils in order to encourage the public to also use the high street shops in the locality, if any.  I'd check the portal and see if this site is subject to planning consent that allows people to use the car park anyway.