UK CPM, now Gladstones Solicitors

basmatikid

Hello,

Would really appreciate some help for my boyfriend.

He received a parking charge from UK CPM in March 2019 for "No Tax".
The vehicle was parked in the car park where he lives, on Housing Association land.
The vehicle was SORN'd for a couple of weeks whilst he was selling it.
The vehicle was bought by someone around a week later but he no longer has the documents to prove this.

All other residents also received parking charges for having no permits.

They all called the Housing Association to complain as they'd never had anyone in all the years come and patrol the car park or been told that parking permits were required by the Housing Association.

Apparently, the Housing Association then instructed UK CPM to cancel all the parking charges.

Then out of the blue, in August 2021, a company called Debt Recovery Plus wrote to my boyfriend stating he owes £160, pay now, or they'll start legal recovery actions.

We did a SAR as the address on UK CPM’s letter was missing his flat number and building name and I got worried that maybe we wouldn’t receive court papers if they were sent.

 

UK CPM sent:

-          5 images the operative took of the vehicle, including one with the parking charge on the windscreen

-          1 unclear image of the sign in the car park

-          copy of the original parking charge

-          copy of a formal demand dated April 2019 which my boyfriend did not receive

-          copy of the “Overview of the Operating System which contains all info on the parking charge

 

We left the matter at that, but now Gladstones Solicitors have written saying that my boyfriend has not responded to their Letter of Claim sent in May 2022

and that the PAP period has expired so UK CPM won’t enter into further correspondence without good reason owing to lack of engagement thus far.

They say to make payment of £170 in 14 days otherwise UK CPM reserve all its rights including commencing court proceedings.

 

But we did not receive this Letter of Claim.

Gladstones have also left out the flat number and building address on their letter.

I have sent them a quick email stating that no Letter of Claim has been received and the address is wrong.

 

I don’t know how to proceed if they send court papers as my boyfriend has no evidence of the car being SORN’d to prove it was not untaxed.

The tenancy agreement says untaxed vehicles cannot be kept on the land, so this is not good for us.

 

Also, I’m looking at UK CPM’s SAR again.

It says that UK CPM sent the case to Debt Recovery Plus in May 2019.

Then nothing else until after Debt Recovery Plus sent their random letter in August 2021, UK CPM have put “Transfer of Liability details added” and “Comments changed”.

 

Any advice on this would be most appreciated.

 Many thanks

Le_Kirk

What is the address on the V5C?  Don't guess, go and have a look.  This is the address where PPCs should contact the registered keeper - your boyfriend.  If it is incorrect, make it correct on-line.  What does your lease say about parking, is there a requirement to display a permit?  Is there a requirement for the vehicle to be taxed/insured or SORN?  Debt recovery companies cannot start legal proceedings.  Have you or your boyfriend read the NEWBIE sticky to bring yourselves up to scratch with the situation?  The DVLA should hold records of when the vehicle was last taxed and when it was SORNed.

Trainerman

Are you sure that the PCN was for "not taxed" ?  Now that tax discs are not displayed, I cannot see how a scam company would know or bother. Yes, you can find out from the Gov website, but would they bother checking vehicles like that?

Not_A_Hope

As vehicles no longer display a tax disc how on earth did UK CPM know that the car was untaxed and legally SORN'd.

Do any of the signs on the car park mention a PCN for untaxed vehicles? 

I would be asking the Housing Association for a copy of their agreement with UK CPM that shows they included £100 PCN for untaxed vehicles whether SORN'd or not.

You need to write to the PPC and their solicitors to provide your correct address details for service and insist previous addresses are erased. Otherwise they may sneak in a County Court Claim to an old non-existent address. When your boyfriend doesn't respond they can win in court by default and you may know nothing about it until you find a CCJ on your credit file.