Euro Parking Collection - Demand for a Portugese Toll Road

Freewheelin_Franklin

Hi all,  I received a letter from a company called Euro Parking Collection (EPC) saying I had to pay an unpaid Portugese toll fee of £54.93. This amount is provided on the front of the letter, the summary on the reverse gives a different amount, £62.90. In neither case is a detailed breakdown provided of what constitutes these charges from September 2021.

Included on the letter was a picture of my number plate. 

I was in Portugal at that time, but from memory, all tolls were paid for, I checked on the website of Pagamento De Portagens which said there were no outstanding payments relating to my van. My credit card bill has details of tolls paid, considerably less than EPC are demanding.

My questions:

1. Has anybody ignored similar demands from EPC, in if so what was the outcome?
2. Is this a legally binding demand?

I did initially post this in the Travel forum but was advised to post in this forum.
I have noted other comments relating to EPC in this forum, but wanted to get first hand accounts of similar experiences.

Many thanks

Le_Kirk

This is a parking forum; you might get some help in the main Motoring forum; I have seen similar issues posted there.

Umkomaas

EPC attempt to 'collect' on any opportunity presented from anywhere in Europe. They are just debt collectors with no enforcement powers. They can't pursue you in the UK courts for an alleged debt incurred outside of the UK. Even more confounded I guess by Brexit!

The advice given from this forum to the few who have asked for it about EPC, is to ignore the letter(s) entirely - don't respond and encourage them to follow up.  We don't know if advice was followed, but on the basis that no one has come back with further queries/request for more help, one might assume that the advice worked.

slysime

I have just received the same type of notice from EPCplc. The holiday was in July 2019, and I've received the notice today Dec 2023.

Original tolls amounted to £10.20, which were paid when the transponder downloaded the info to the car hire firm.
However, EPC added Admin fees £23.88, and Admin Cost £66.18. the total became £100.26 !!

I followed the advice of  Freewheelin_Franklyn (above) and checked on the "Pagamento De Portagens" website for any outstanding tolls for the dates quoted by EPC, and there were NO outstanding toll payments.

It's absolutely shocking that a legitimate firm such as EPCplc can send out demands for payment incorrectly, and top up the amount with their "charges". 

Surely, this is illegal, and needs to be stopped. I wonder how many people have paid such demands in error, because they couldn't do the checks needed? It is pure robbery, obtaining money under false pretences.

Thanks to this forum, I won't be paying.

Le_Kirk

Did you report them to anybody when you discovered the above fraudulent activity?  Maybe Police or Action Fraud not that I expect them to take any action.

dogwalker65

I have had several of these penalty notices over the last 6 months  coming in dribs and drabs.  Unfortunately, I have paid most of them, ( about £35 each), The fine was always for the return journey to the airport- you cannot pay this toll before leaving the country.  I haven't heard anything for the last 3 months so assumed it was all clear until this morning when I received another penalty notice for April 2018. Thankfully, after reading this forum,  I won't be paying it. Also, interestingly, when I did a search  on the Pagamentodeportagens site, it stated that there was no outstanding payment due. Wished I had known about this site before and could have checked out my other penalty notices.