Debt Recovery Plus to fleet manager, but no previous correspondence

DonningVonKruger

Hi,

I have been asked to help my fleet manager at work as they know I have successfully appealed PCN via forum help in the past. We have received a Debt Recovery Plus nonsense letter today saying we have ignored previous correspondence and can settle a PCN for £170 today. The letter is addressed to the business, not an individual, as it is a shared company vehicle. The alleged violation (not parking wholly in a space) was on the 7th of June. We have not had any previous correspondence and the driver (not me!) has confirmed there was no ticket on the vehicle. As this is a business address, all post is opened daily so we can categorically state we have not had any previous letters or NTKs. What is the best approach here? Should we contact them and ask for evidence of previous letters or give it a good dose of ignoring?

Le_Kirk

Debt Recovery Plus nonsense 

Nuff said!  Does the DRP letter indicate on whose behalf they are working?  If so a SAR to the PPC might get what you want.

DonningVonKruger

Many thanks for the response. The DRP letter has CP Plus Ltd as the creditor. So would you recommend a SAR? Should we say we havent received previous correspondence to date or would the SAR also provide evidence of a NTK being sent?

Le_Kirk

Send the SAR to the data protection officer using the following e-mail address: -

CP Plus and Highview are now Group Nexus
dpo@groupnexus.co.uk

One problem is that a SAR is designed to collect data about an individual and I have noticed that DRP sent the letter to the company rather than an individual.  You could try asking for any data (which should include the original PCN) relating to the vehicle with VRM XXXXXX. 

DonningVonKruger

Thank you. I know the advice is to ignore any requests from DRP on this forum, but was unsure if this was different due to not receiving and previous correspondence. Would it be better to ignore rather than send the SAR?

Le_Kirk

In light of my comment above yours, you might have to ignore as you have received no PCN - i.e. do not poke a hornet's nest!  They could be fishing for the driver's name!

Fruitcake

If someone requests a SAR, they should either not use their real name, or just use their job title. 
Fleet Manager
*Name of Company*
otherwise the PPC might latch on to that name and make the "reasonable" assumption that they were the driver.

The PPC might also say that an SAR only applies to a person, not a business, and refuse to play ball.
Remind them that,

The Explanatory Notes to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 explain in paragraph 35 that:

A “person” is not just a natural person but can also include companies, charities and arms of government (and the reference to a “person” can also include more than one person). So where these types of body are acting for purposes relating to their trade, business, craft or profession, they are caught by the definition of trader.

DonningVonKruger

Thanks @Fruitcake - do you ignore a good does of ignoring is the best option at this stage?

Fruitcake

Debt collectors are powerless and can safely be ignored anywhere in the UK

I don't think ignoring this and waiting for the PPC to make there next move will do any harm.
I don't think an SAR would do any harm, as long as it was anonymised as I mentioned above. Alternatively, the Fleet Manager (without giving their name) could simply tell the PPC in writing that they never received a NTK, so please send a copy.
The company could actually appeal the charge using the template in blue text, stating that the DRP letter was the first they heard about it, so are treating it as the NTK.

Coupon-mad

I'd do the SAR because CP Plus sue and it's better to know what happened to these letters. The company needs to see the letters that went before and who they went to, because it wasn't them.

What address is on the vehicle logbook? Do they lease the vehicle, and if so, then it begs the question: if the company was named by the owners as the 'keeper' why wasn't a Notice to Hirer sent out giving the company a chance to appeal?

Defendable of course because CP Plus don't use the POFA in ANPR cases and so the Fleet firm can't be held liable.

DonningVonKruger

Hi. I have asked the fleet manager to confirm, but my understanding is that the vehicle is owned by the company so the company name should be on the log book. I will suggest they do the SAR. Thanks as ever.