Debt recovery plus - T5 PCN, wrong address

aoleks

hi all,

I have a quick question I need some help with. a timeline of what happened:

October 2021 - moved to new address
November 2021 - updated address on driving licence only, no V5
February 2022 - received PCN for failing to pay T5 parking charge at old address (didn't know you pay online, I assumed no barriers means free)
Today - received final letter from Debt Recovery Plus, date of letter is 12 May, giving me 7 days to pay £150 or they'll take me to court

what happened is that they sent the fine to the address on the V5, which is my old address. obviously I didn't know about this, hence I couldn't respond, I would've paid straight away. the funny bit is that they now found my new address, not sure how (tracing service, they claim). post office redirection was in place for 6 months, I don't know how I never got the original PCN, but that's history.

technically, they're right and I'd be happy to pay £80, the amount of the fine. practically, I'm not keen to given them £150, despite accepting that it is my fault (I honestly believed that changing address on driving licence changes everything and even if it doesn't, it's the address on my licence they get from DVLA, as that represents the driver, not the V5).

what should I do? pay? wait until they take me to court?

thanks all!

Coupon-mad

technically, they're right and I'd be happy to pay £80.

Hmmm..,we wouldn't!

By 'T5' do you mean APCOA at Heathrow terminal 5?   You must completely ignore DRPLUS except to tell them and APCOA to erase the old postal address and note that the new one is correct.

That's all you must do. One email sent to both their Data Protection Officer email addresses found on the company's privacy webpage.

APCOA never sue anyone. So apart from erasing your old address (which is really important) ignore them and DRPLUS. You seem to have missed reading the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread, all about DRPLUS and begging for no new posts about them!

Hilarious letters with fake photos, like in Catfish on TV!  They are appalling but well worth the laugh.

aoleks

hi, thanks for your reply.

yes, it is indeed apcoa at T5 and the pictures they have are indeed of my car.

are you saying that all I have to do is send an email to both companies' (APCOA/DRPLUS) DPO (or privacy people, whatever) asking them to update my correspondence address and forget about it? not to pay?

cool, thanks!

pogofish

Post four of the Newbies Sticky covers DRP in their entirety - Pleas read and follow EXACTLY!

aoleks

so basically ignore, thanks. I already emailed their DPOs asking them to update my address on the system, just in case.

thanks both!

Fruitcake

I hope you instructed both DPOs to erase your old address and update it with your current address for service. 

The word, erase, has a specific meaning which is why C-m told you to use it.

aoleks

I asked them to rectify my information by updating my address. I'll ask them to delete instead.

Fruitcake

No, instruct them to erase!

Coupon-mad

Erase comes from the legislation which is why you need to be clear.