unfair PCN?

moneymagnet_2

i need some advice please. I parked in a car park and went to pay for the ticket - i didn't have enough cash and there was no card payment option. I downloaded the app, registered my vehicle and uploaded and verified my card details. This took about 10 mins - i then paid for my parking and went on my way. I came back at the allotted time that was sent to me by text - but received a PCN as I hadn't paid for the 10 mins it took to set up. This seemed unfair as I hadn't realised that you had to pay for this time as well, i have no idea how you do that - as when you pay it gives you a time to leave - the text doesn't say anything about your arrival time. I appealed and it was rejected. The rejection letter was dated 30 /11/22 but i only received it on 22/12/22. It said I could escalate my appeal through Popla. As it was so close to Christmas and actually not realising the letter was dated so far back I waited until 1st January to appeal and it wouldn't accept my details. I was advised to go back to the company and ask for them to supply the correct information. I confess I wasn't thinking straight at the time as my husband died on 14/12/22. They took about 9 days to respond and did not address my request, they just stated the fine still stands, no support was offered or explanation that would have helped me - at this point I still believed if they sent me the correct code I could escalate my appeal with Popla, so once again asked for their help with this. Eventually after about 4 weeks of emailing and asking for support and replies that just said the fine was still open, they told me I was too late. Today, (10/3) I received a letter dated  28th Feb saying they are taking me to court if I don't respond and pay within 7 days.  - well that's hard to do if the letter arrives 10 days after.  I feel I have been treated unfairly - I have the email trail which shows me repeatedly asking for their help, and their responses which do not even acknowledge my problem. Their significant delays in responding and failure to give me the information I need means that I am now outside the window for appeal. I cant afford a solicitor and cant get a Citizen's advice appointment or register for help on their website.

any advice please on how I can avoid court? I really don't want to pay the £170 - it just seems so unfair!

Thanks in advance!

B789

@moneymagnet_2 welcome to the forum. The first thing is my condolences for your loss. Also, do not worry about the threat of court action. You are now in the right place to get this scam defeated.

Whilst you haven't mentioned it in your post, was the parking company UKPC by any chance? If so, I will presume that the legal representatives are DCB Legal. If I'm wrong, please correct me and let us know who the PPC and Legals are.

The stage you are at now is beyond any appeal and the bottom-dwellers you are dealing with care not one iota about mitigating circumstances. You do not owe them £170 or indeed anything. You are the victim of a scam.

Any letters that are not a Letter of Caim or a Letter Before County Court Claim can be safely ignored. Most, if not all will be from debt collectors who have zero powers to do anything about the alleged debt. They are dressed up to look threatening and intimidate victims into paying up.

As I mentioned above, I suspect the letter is either a worthless debt collector's letter or just the PPC or their pet lawyers still chasing their alleged debt. Nothing in this process is criminal. It is a civil process and you will win this by following the advice given here and in the Newbies thread near the top of this forum. 

There are only a few legal firms that set their feet in the dog poo that is the private parking industry scam. The one I suspect in yours is DCB Legal but the other bottom-dwellers are BW Legal, Elms or Gladstones. There may be others but these are the most prolific serial robo-claimers.

You MUST NOT communicate in any way with the debt collectors. They are not a party to this claim and they cannot take you to court. 

For now there is not much you need to do except start reading, re-reading and reading again the Newbies thread. What you are now waiting for is an LoC or an LBCCC. When you get that, come back and tell us. 

moneymagnet_2

Thank you so much for your help - it is the first sympathetic response I have had. The parking company is Smart Parking Ltd and the debt collection agency is Debt recovery plus.The letter i have received today is marked 'Terminal Notice - Pre Legal Action' 

I will go and do the reading as you suggest

Thank you again. I am very grateful

B789

moneymagnet_2 said:

The parking company is Smart Parking Ltd and the debt collection agency is Debt recovery plus.The letter i have received today is marked 'Terminal Notice - Pre Legal Action' 

That is just a debt recovery letter and can be used in an emergency if you run out of toilet paper.

B789

Whilst it may be a bit late for you, as you say, you've had quite a bit of communication with Smart or their rottweiler debt collectors, I suspect you may have given away who was actually driving. Most not-so-Smart PCNs are not POFA compliant and if they don't know the name of the driver they cannot transfer liability to the registered keeper (presumably you).

For now, you can safely ignore any debt collector demands or their toothless threats of court action or a CCJ. You have nothing to do now except wait for an LBCCC or genuine LoC. The letter will usually come from whoever is legally representing not-so-Smart and will tell you that you have 30 days to respond before they begin a claim through the small claims/county court. It is what is officially required as part of the Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) for court cases in England. If a claim is brought, you would then get an N1 claim form from the CBCC with the claimant's particulars of claim (PoC).

All the above is explained in the Newbies thread which will eventually begin to make sense if you persevere with it.

No paying these scammers.

moneymagnet_2

thank you this is so helpful! 

Coupon-mad

Yep, you can ignore Debt Recovery Plus.

Read their Trustpilot page!

moneymagnet_2

So an update! After several email communications and a complaint - they have withdrawn the debt and reopened the window for me to appeal to POPLA. This time i will make sure I am within the time frame. Obviously I want to make sure I do a good job on this so any advice would be much appreciated. I will read the newbie thread, but it is quite lengthy -and a bit confusing so if anyone can point me in the right direction to any pertinant info I would be very grateful.

B789

moneymagnet_2 said:

So an update! After several email communications and a complaint - they have withdrawn the debt and reopened the window for me to appeal to POPLA. This time i will make sure I am within the time frame. Obviously I want to make sure I do a good job on this so any advice would be much appreciated. I will read the newbie thread, but it is quite lengthy -and a bit confusing so if anyone can point me in the right direction to any pertinant info I would be very grateful.

The Newbies thread IS "the right direction". You can also try and use the search function to see other threads about POPLA appeals. In fact there is a sticky thread at the top of the forum solely about POPLA appeals, successful and unsuccessful ones. Just have a lengthy read of those and see which ones won/lost and why.

Just remember, POPLA will not care one iota about mitigating circumstances. No amount of pleading that you have dyslexia or you spent £X at the nearby store or you were stopped to assist an orphan. They are looking solely at whether the PCN was issued correctly according to the terms of the contract.

That's not to say that they often get it wrong because it depends on which assessor you get. It could be someone with legal training or it could be the teaboy teaperson. Either way, if you lose your appeal at POPLA, you don't pay the scammers and can still move on with your life. You will just be at the next stage of this process which is all explained in the Newbies thread.

moneymagnet_2

Thank you - I will get cracking on my reading!

Coupon-mad

Have they given you a fresh POPLA Code?