Debt letter re: Smart Parking

DwayneDibbley

I've read through the newbies page but confused as it appears to suggest an ambiguous option on appealing via a debt letter, namely do appeal or don't if you've missed the appeal deadline. 

Friend of mine has just received a debt letter for an unpaid parking charge issued by Smart P demanding £170.

They rang the debt company and denied having received the initial PCN letter and said that Smart P are well known for errors therefore she disputed the charge. They offered a reduction to £144. This was declined. They also said that Smart P would have proof of franking the original charge notice and they would be recommending their client (Smart P.) take it to court. 

Several days later another letter from the debt company saying thanks for contacting them and that as it's reached the debt recovery stage they are unable to consider an appeal. They went back to asking for £170.

My question is, can it still be appealed even if the original PCN was received but missed although she says she didn't receive it. There were other pcn's from Smart at the time which she did pay so possible. 

She told me she has not said who was driving. 

MothballsWallet

I always advise people to read through the NEWBIES thread slowly with the help of several cups of tea or coffee: there's a lot of information there which comes into play at different points in the process, so you can take a little time going throught it.

But, your friend would be best to look at this info as well since they're in the sights of Smart Parking and their little lapdog DRA.

Who are the debt company? Are the letters coming from Smart Parking (a PPC, not a DRA), and the DRA are toothless, only Smart Parking can take anyone to court since a debt will only exist if it got that far and a judge found against your friemd: we win 99% of court cases here.

Where was the car park? Has your friend tried a landowner complaint (Plan A)? The landowner can kill this stone dead, even if Smart decided to act stupid and go to court. Your friend can also let the landowner know (politely) that the PPC is their agent, and they are liable for their agent's actions, so your friend could summon the landowner if it goes to court - that might focus the landowner's mind if they're being unhelpful.

KeithP

The fourth post on the NEWBIES thread offers good guidance on how to deal with debt collectors letters.

patient_dream

DwayneDibbley said:

Several days later another letter from the debt company saying thanks for contacting them and that as it's reached the debt recovery stage they are unable to consider an appeal. They went back to asking for £170.

My question is, can it still be appealed even if the original PCN was received but missed although she says she didn't receive it. There were other pcn's from Smart at the time which she did pay so possible. 

She told me she has not said who was driving. 

Too late for an appeal.

Assume the debt collector is DRP ?
THEY LIVE IN CLOUD CUCKOO LAND and you don't owe £170

DRP are simply money scammers. Take no notice and never phone them. Just ignore these circus clowns as there is nothing they can do.
THEY DO NOT HAVE POWER OR AUTHORITY

If you hear from "not so smart .. SMART" come back here

Coupon-mad

No idea why the victim rang a pointless DRA to discuss it.  She needs to stop taking the DRA seriously and read the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread.

The issue with the address needs rectifying though. Seems likely that the PCN went to her old address due to not updating the car's logbook.  This means Smart probably hold two addresses.  The SAR will flush that info out (as will the victim getting her V5C out and checking the address on it.  Needs to be current and updating a driving licence doesn't change the car's DVLA address that parking firms can access.

DwayneDibbley

KeithP said:

The fourth post on the NEWBIES thread offers good guidance on how to deal with debt collectors letters.

I read that but was confused by the advice to appeal the DRA letter as the NTK unless you've missed the appeal deadline. 

Although my friend says she didn't get a letter from SP there is an outside chance she did as she received several at the same time with the correct address which she paid, I know, I only came to it after the fact so couldn't offer her the appeal template which I've previously used successfully. 

DwayneDibbley

Coupon-mad said:

No idea why the victim rang a pointless DRA to discuss it.  She needs to stop taking the DRA seriously and read the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread.

The issue with the address needs rectifying though. Seems likely that the PCN went to her old address due to not updating the car's logbook.  This means Smart probably hold two addresses.  The SAR will flush that info out (as will the victim getting her V5C out and checking the address on it.  Needs to be current and updating a driving licence doesn't change the car's DVLA address that parking firms can access.

She rang before I found out and able to ask on this forum. She panicked. 

I only found out after we were chatting and I told her I'd beaten a PCN from SP through this forum using the template. 

I read the fourth post on that thread but was confused by the advice to appeal the DRA letter as the NTK unless you've missed the appeal deadline. 

She had a couple of other pcn's from SP at the same time so they do have the correct keeper's address. 

DwayneDibbley

patient_dream said:

DwayneDibbley said:

Several days later another letter from the debt company saying thanks for contacting them and that as it's reached the debt recovery stage they are unable to consider an appeal. They went back to asking for £170.

My question is, can it still be appealed even if the original PCN was received but missed although she says she didn't receive it. There were other pcn's from Smart at the time which she did pay so possible. 

She told me she has not said who was driving. 

Too late for an appeal.

Assume the debt collector is DRP ?
THEY LIVE IN CLOUD CUCKOO LAND and you don't owe £170

DRP are simply money scammers. Take no notice and never phone them. Just ignore these circus clowns as there is nothing they can do.
THEY DO NOT HAVE POWER OR AUTHORITY

If you hear from "not so smart .. SMART" come back here

It is DRP. 

When it goes back to SP (which they said they'd do and advise court) what are they likely to do? 

I get the money scamming stuff and how they operate but she got a bit twitchy about it. 

DwayneDibbley

MothballsWallet said:

I always advise people to read through the NEWBIES thread slowly with the help of several cups of tea or coffee: there's a lot of information there which comes into play at different points in the process, so you can take a little time going throught it.

But, your friend would be best to look at this info as well since they're in the sights of Smart Parking and their little lapdog DRA.

Who are the debt company? Are the letters coming from Smart Parking (a PPC, not a DRA), and the DRA are toothless, only Smart Parking can take anyone to court since a debt will only exist if it got that far and a judge found against your friemd: we win 99% of court cases here.

Where was the car park? Has your friend tried a landowner complaint (Plan A)? The landowner can kill this stone dead, even if Smart decided to act stupid and go to court. Your friend can also let the landowner know (politely) that the PPC is their agent, and they are liable for their agent's actions, so your friend could summon the landowner if it goes to court - that might focus the landowner's mind if they're being unhelpful.

It was Debt Recovery Plus. 

I've read that thread so many times, lol, but will do so again. 

Landowner is Savills, it's a shopping centre car park. They've had a lot of bad social media press over SP and care sensitive to it. They have a named contact who is on the local FB group and answers questions and asks people to contact her so this could be productive. 

Thanks. 

Coupon-mad

Savills are very good and cancelling rogue PCNs so push that option.

Your friend IS too late to appeal. Therefore there is no appeal open to her, and this needs urgently checking:

The issue with the address needs rectifying though. Seems likely that the PCN went to her old address due to not updating the car's logbook.  This means Smart probably hold two addresses.  The SAR will flush that info out (as will the victim getting her V5C out and checking the address on it.  Needs to be current and updating a driving licence doesn't change the car's DVLA address that parking firms can access.

patient_dream

DwayneDibbley said:

patient_dream said:

DwayneDibbley said:

Several days later another letter from the debt company saying thanks for contacting them and that as it's reached the debt recovery stage they are unable to consider an appeal. They went back to asking for £170.

My question is, can it still be appealed even if the original PCN was received but missed although she says she didn't receive it. There were other pcn's from Smart at the time which she did pay so possible. 

She told me she has not said who was driving. 

Too late for an appeal.

Assume the debt collector is DRP ?
THEY LIVE IN CLOUD CUCKOO LAND and you don't owe £170

DRP are simply money scammers. Take no notice and never phone them. Just ignore these circus clowns as there is nothing they can do.
THEY DO NOT HAVE POWER OR AUTHORITY

If you hear from "not so smart .. SMART" come back here

It is DRP. 

When it goes back to SP (which they said they'd do and advise court) what are they likely to do? 

I get the money scamming stuff and how they operate but she got a bit twitchy about it. 

Because DRP have failed, all they can do is send it back to Smart telling them they are a failure.
As powerless debt collectors it is not in their remit to advise court, sadly they think they are high flyers but in the end they are just circus clowns trying to scam