Five years on - and I get an invoice relating to a driving 'issue' in Portugal.

tenchy

I'm not sure if this is the right forum (perhaps Overseas holidays & travel planning would be more appropriate), but here goes:

Today, out of the blue, I received an invoice from scammers relating to the use of a hire car in Portugal in July 2018. Visitors to The Algarve will know that the major road in the area is a toll road. To pay the toll you must visit a post office. In 2018, and maybe even now, there was/is no online payment facility. All well and good; we used to go to the PO and pay what was owed. However, on returning hire cars to Faro Airport there is no facility to pay the toll, and in any case payment can't be made for two days after using the road. Tens of thousands of tourists don't pay for the return journey, simply because it's not possible to do so.

The scammers, who go by the name of EPC plc, and amazingly (though perhaps not!) are used extensively by UK local authorities for so-called 'pan-European' debt collection. They've sent me an invoice for £19, apparently on behalf of the Portuguese 'authorities'. Of course I'm not going to pay, but I'm wondering about writing a letter telling them why I'm not paying and withdrawing the implied right of consent from my property for them or their agents. I'm a bit reluctant to fork out for a second class stamp. Maybe I should just return any further letters to them, unopened. 

We've visited Portugal most years since 2018, so I'm thinking that more letters relating to other unpaid road toll fees will follow in due course.

Anyone got thoughts on this one?
Thanks.

HanB85

Hi - I also recieved the same letter today also 2018 and from this company EPC plc.

I'm sure the hire companies at the time said they would use the card on file to pay the fines that would come through.

No idea what to do with it, my fine is £36 with most of it being administrative fees to this company.

Following for any advise on this as it doesn't feel right and no idea what to do.

Glad you put this comment up as have not a clue where to start with it.
Thanks

Coupon-mad

You can ignore these.  Search the forum for:

EPC debt abroad

or

EPC parking holiday

...which will probably find previous threads. We've had a few over the years. Nothing happens.

tenchy

Apologies for resurrecting this old thread, but here's an update. I got my second letter today from the scummers and the invoiced amount has gone up from £19 to £21, with threat of debt collectors if I continue to ignore. These people are not only thieves, but incompetent ones at that. The original invoice had a due date of 21 November, but they've already reissued the invoice. The letter is now headed Charge Certificate as opposed to Penalty Charge Notice.

I mention this again because a relative of mine has also received one of these letters, and I believe the scam is quite widespread.

If anyone reading this has had one of these letters from EPC plc, please ignore it!

Grumpy_Old_Duffer

Apparently, as advised by my Portuguese Car Hire company, "The statute of limitations for these offenses is five years."

I've just had these letters from EPC (on my second now) and doing as advised here.... Nothing.

You can also do as I did and check if there's any outstanding tolls due on the Pagamento de Portagens website.
Also, did you see The One Show on 10-01-24. Simon Calder was giving advice about EPC. 

Half_way

Debt collectors have no powers unless you have been taken to court and lost .

 You could get in touch with EPC and tell them that you will not be paying, any debt is denied and that they must either:

 issue court proceedings to recover this alleged debt, or state that this matter is now closed and no further action will be taken and that you will be charging EPC a £19 ( or whatever) processing handling and admin fee for dealing with any further demands, including any other communication from them at £19/hour or part thereof

Etccarmageddon

Yes this the one featured on the one show/watchdog this week and they are stressing a lot of people out who think they have power.  Sadly some people paid them.

Umkomaas

Etccarmageddon said:

Yes this the one featured on the one show/watchdog this week and they are stressing a lot of people out who think they have power.  Sadly some people paid them.

From around 12.15 minutes in. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001v6lr

Billystones

Hi HanB85 & Tenchy I have started to get letters also starting in November from these guys. What I found strange is it’s from a UK company but if undelivered return to Malmo Sweden and if you’re paying it’s into a German bank account . This alone raises a red flag for me . It’s all from 2018.

come_on_glos

We’ve also received two letters. The first one mid December, second one early Jan. They are claiming £85.64 in admin charges + £24.06 for Portuguese Admin fees. This is for £20.36 worth of unpaid tolls. Totally unjustified. I’ve done the search on pagamentodeportagens website. The search came up with nothing owing. These people are just leaches. Still, it does worry me because I can’t remember what I paid because these are nearly 5 years old.

Umkomaas

come_on_glos said:

We’ve also received two letters. The first one mid December, second one early Jan. They are claiming £85.64 in admin charges + £24.06 for Portuguese Admin fees. This is for £20.36 worth of unpaid tolls. Totally unjustified. I’ve done the search on pagamentodeportagens website. The search came up with nothing owing. These people are just leaches. Still, it does worry me because I can’t remember what I paid because these are nearly 5 years old.

Same advice as always on EPC - ignore. Nothing to see here.