Potential court action - DEBT RECOVERY PLUS

Littlestone2

I received a notice to keeper parking charge by Euro Car Parks Ltd advising my contactless ticket didn’t cover the date and time of parking. I paid for an hours parking in the busy city centre of Argos retail car park. The day in question was a Saturday morning in the town centre at peak times & the driver struggled leaving the car park within the time frame paid for.

I appealed the ticket via POPLA whom didn’t uphold appeal advising the grace period was a minimum of 10mins and Euro Car Parks didn’t need to offer any additional time following this 10min grace period. They advised as driver wasn’t recognised it was for me as the keeper to pay.

Euro car parks submitted evidence of a ticket being purchased but that the site camera picked up car number plate entering at 10.34am and existing car park and 11.49am (5mins over grace period) ..

I didn’t realise that ann unsuccessful appeal to POPLA meant I needed to pay immediately to avoid further action (their decision was beginning of Feb 2023 & I assumed Euro Car Parks would recognise I didn’t overstay intentionally).

However, Euro Car Parks have now passed this onto Debt Recovery Plus who pursuing me £170 as the keeper, advising I have missed previous letters which isn’t the case.

As a single parent I can’t not afford to pay such a charge. Ive called Debt Recovery Plus today and they offered me a 11 month plan at £10 per month. 

I advised them I couldnt afford that and felt the charge is unreasonable considering circumstances. 

They advised me to seek legal advice and placed a note on the system that they’ve offered me £10 a month payment plan. 

I was absolutely in bits/crying on the phone in relation to this & now need to know if I need to pay such a charge?

I’m already suffering with stress due to other circumstances & signed off work by GP due to this and now the stress of this is adding to that and intensifying my illness. 

Where can I go with this? Any advice would be much appreciated..

Grizebeck

1. Dont ring DRP ever
2. Read the newbies
3. Calm down and dont worry DRP are harmless

Coupon-mad

Ignoring DRP (and why there's no need for any threads about their laughable letters) is covered in the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread.

Le_Kirk

Where did you read that a loss at POPLA meant you had to pay?  On this forum we always tell posters that POPLA decisions are not binding on the motorist.

Umkomaas

We've not seen ECP go much further than where you are right now. We cannot guarantee anything, and they do have 6 years to issue a court claim, but we can only tell you that they are currently not litigious. So, take it easy, no need for tears or sleepless nights, if the worst happens, the forum will help you through this.

Littlestone2

Le_Kirk said:

Where did you read that a loss at POPLA meant you had to pay?  On this forum we always tell posters that POPLA decisions are not binding on the motorist.

I didn’t read this just assumed I guess considering no correspondence since unsuccessful appeal then a debt recovery letter for almost triple the initial PCN.

Littlestone2

Umkomaas said:

We've not seen ECP go much further than where you are right now. We cannot guarantee anything, and they do have 6 years to issue a court claim, but we can only tell you that they are currently not litigious. So, take it easy, no need for tears or sleepless nights, if the worst happens, the forum will help you through this.

Thank you! It’s such a shame individuals can’t claim the monies paid back from them for additional hours you havnt used when parked at there at other car parks. That’s happened numerous times when attending hospital appointments and the one time my car happens to be five minutes over grace period they send it to the debt collectors!

Coupon-mad

Just ignore the £170 debt demands.  It is that simple.