Breakdown at Service Station

AprilUprising

I'm from Scotland and on my way to London I parked at a service station in England for some food. When returning from London my car broke down but I was able to make it back to the same service station (I had my two year old, one year old, and girlfriend with me). I didn't realise (on either visit) that there were parking charges associated with staying over a certain time.

The initial letter was forwarded to me from my old address and by the time I received it and contacted the duty manager of the service station (who advised me to appeal to the parking company using the job sheet as evidence, which took several phone calls to receive from RAC) it was too late and I received a £170 debt recovery letter.

I hadn't seen this forum or the guides at this point and emailed the original parking company (Nexus) and the debt recovery company (DCBL ltd) a copy of the job sheet explaining I had broken down. I received a reply from DCBL ltd stating that because I had time to appeal and hadn't done so within the period given, they were proceeding with recovery.

I've just received the final payment demand of £170 and I'm wondering if the advice is still to ignore or if there are any other actions I should take given the fact I contacted them without realising I shouldn't and if there is any difference about any actions I should or should not take at this stage with me being from Scotland and this taking place in England?

Coupon-mad

Why did you name the driver?  Oh dear.  Never mind.  The good news is they won't litigate in Scotland - no chance.

Just adapt the 'Specsavers' sarcastic reply linked in this reply to someone else in Scotland:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80176790/#Comment_80176790

AprilUprising

Thank you for your reply. It was my own foolish mistake unfortunately as I had not come across this forum and the guides until after I sent this email:

Good afternoon,

I've been trying to appeal a parking charge Nexus sent for parking in Rugby Moto Services on 16/01/2023. I contacted the duty manager at Moto Rugby Services who told me I should be able to have it reversed as I had broken down and had two children under two in the car to look after. Unfortunately, RAC only recently got around to forwarding me a copy of the job sheet but I've received something from DCBL. Please find attached a copy of the job sheet if you could please deal with this and help me get this reversed.

Kind regards.

I then received this reply:

Dear Sir/Madam,
Please note, should the balance remain unpaid, it would be the decision of our Client on how they choose to proceed.

We write further to your recent correspondence.

We are instructed by our Client to recover the outstanding balance in relation to the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued to you.

Please note, the timeframe in which to appeal the PCN expired prior to our instruction. You were given the opportunity to lodge an appeal when the initial Notice was issued to you.

As the person named by our Client, you remain liable for the outstanding balance.

You can pay easily by using Scan to Pay, simply scan the QR code located on our letters with your phone and pay by card. You can also pay by card on the secure payment page on the website 24 hours a day www.dcbltd.com/pay-online/.

Alternatively, use our 24/7 Payment line: 01302 897022— Office number: 0203 434 0432 Office opening hours: Monday—Friday 8am—5pm.

Bank Transfer

Sort Code: 20-24-09

Account Number: 60430781

Please quote your DCBL reference number as the payment reference.

I'm not the only named driver on the car insurance and I was traveling with the other named driver as well. I didn't think I'd indicated definitively who was actually driving at the time but they might assume it was me from the email and the fact the letters are being directed towards me.

Fruitcake

It doesn't matter. It is extremely unlikely that they would issue a claim in Scotland for a single PCN.

Plan A is always a complaint to the landowner and your MSP, but otherwise ignore anything unless you get a claim from a Scottish court using the Simple Procedure/Act of Sederunt.

Note that the law will change soon. You can thank your former Dear Leader for that for introducing an English law across the border that will allow someone who was not in the vehicle at the time to be held liable. So much for claiming she wanted independence, then doing something like that.

Coupon-mad

I will just repeat what I said: 

The good news is they won't litigate in Scotland - no chance.

Just adapt the 'Specsavers' sarcastic reply linked in this reply to someone else in Scotland:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80176790/#Comment_80176790

B789

@AprilUprising, just assist you a little bit because you didn't seem to acknowledge the advice given by @Coupon-mad above... this is what you write to the unregulated private parking companies solicitor, verbatim:

Dear DCB Legal,

We are in Scotland, yet you are threatening the English County Court; should you have gone to Specsavers?  Clear off.

Not only are we out of jurisdiction but in Scotland we don't actually have 'keeper liability' yet, because your industry kicked that can down the road with their pointless Judicial Reviews.

If you continue to pretend you can hold me liable as keeper it looks like you are asking for another report to the SRA.  Bring it on.

Cease and desist.

Yours faithfully,

fisherjim

You must realise you are dealing with scammers the debt collector has not been personally instructed to continue with collection on your case, it's a lie, it has automatically been handed to them to put pressure on you on a no win no fee basis.

But you have no debt, only a spurious invoice from chancers bumped up by their recovery partners in the scam, no one wants to cancel it as they only want money.

Follow the advice given it's the best you will get, the PPC and Debt collectors will twist and turn to try to get anything they can but in Scotland they won't try any further for such a trifling amount even if they could.

AprilUprising

Thank you for the replies, and I apologise for the late response. I have not contacted any of them yet and received another letter, this time from DCBLegal (it's a Solicitors Reminder Letter - Unpaid Parking Charge Notice). I'm still refusing to engage with them but I am tempted to reply with the email that was stated above, just in case they haven't checked the postcode to where they are sending these. I think my overall annoyance is that I would (and have offered to) happily pay the Service Station the cost of any parking but it's now been passed over to this lot.

Is emailing them to let them know I am from, and live in, Scotland still worthwhile or am I better simply refusing toe engage?

B789

Once again... I repeat the advice that you are clearly not following, which begs the question, why are you posting questions for advice and then ignoring that advice?

B789 said:

@AprilUprising, just assist you a little bit because you didn't seem to acknowledge the advice given by @Coupon-mad above... this is what you write to the unregulated private parking companies solicitor, verbatim:

Dear DCB Legal,

We are in Scotland, yet you are threatening the English County Court; should you have gone to Specsavers?  Clear off.

Not only are we out of jurisdiction but in Scotland we don't actually have 'keeper liability' yet, because your industry kicked that can down the road with their pointless Judicial Reviews.

If you continue to pretend you can hold me liable as keeper it looks like you are asking for another report to the SRA.  Bring it on.

Cease and desist.

Yours faithfully,