A very specific situation - EURO CAR PARKS - DEBT RECOVERY PLUS

privateparkingchanges

I've used this forum actively to get myself out of private parking charges. My friend has come to me with a situation - but has told me so late I'm not even sure now. It's bad. I'm not a newbie.

Here's his story:

"I Parked my car in a euro car parks car park, bought a ticket and typed my number plate in wrong without realising because I was in a rush. I put the beginning half of car 1 plate and then the last tree letters of car 2 plate. Went into town, did what I needed to and came back on time with half hour left on my ticket. I still have the ticket. 

During June I got a letter saying I owed £60 for a parking charge and it would be £100 if not payed in 14 days. That’s when I noticed I’d put the number plate in wrong. It said about appealing it on their website, so I did and sent a pic of my parking ticket with it explaining that I’d mixed my 2 number plates. Didn’t hear anything back so thought it was all sorted. 

Then mid September got a  final notification letter saying I owed the £100 that I failed to pay within the time. I appealed again on their website online, again sending a pic of my ticket. 

After the second appeal I was then sent an email saying that they had sent me an appeal response on **/07/23 (they didn’t) saying that an admin fee of £20 was due with 14 days and that as I had not payed within the time that I was to pay £100 promptly or they would add a further charge of £70!! 

** of October I’ve received a letter from debt recovery plus saying I now need to pay £170 

£170 for accidentally putting 3 letters of my number plate wrong. I  would have payed the £20 for the admin and processing fees had I actually received a letter or email about it!"

----

At no point during his appeal was this person offered a POPLA code. Their terms and conditions say this situation costs £20. I believe the 28 days has past. He's probably going to court. 

3 options on the last letter:

1. Pay

2. Payment Plan

3. Do nothing - in this case DEBT RECOERY PLUS will 

  x Inform legal team

  x Share contact evidence

  x Advise legal action starts


Please be gentle - people make mistakes.

Can anyone help please? 

Thanks in advance for any solid advice here now.

Grizebeck

Nothing stupid
But this not a specific situation of any different to the million others
Just read Newbies
Job done
Thank you.

fisherjim

In the meantime while you let the newbies thread sink in, treat Debt Recovery Pus (a thick yellowish or greenish opaque liquid produced in infected tissue) with the contempt they deserve and ignore their silly lies and threats.

patient_dream

fisherjim said:

In the meantime while you let the newbies thread sink in, treat Debt Recovery Pus (a thick yellowish or greenish opaque liquid produced in infected tissue) with the contempt they deserve and ignore their silly lies and threats.

Not forgetting, if you touch a DRP letter, wash your hands and flush it down the loo, back to the sewer whence it came

privateparkingchanges

Right ok. Thanks for the responses. Just had a good read of Newbies thread.

The only reason say unique is we're past POPLA appeal here now? Or is that not true

porridgestation

Debt Recovery Plus are street beggars. Their letters hold the same legal weight as your local takeaway posting you a leaflet asking for £160.00 to change the vegetable oil in their fryers.

They use the word 'Debt' in their company name as they can't legally call the begging money a debt, so it's used to scare people. They are meaningless and their letters are better served as toilet paper.

If you get a DRP letter (debt recovery process) without a POPLA code in your appeal rejection letter, this is a breach of the BPA 23.12 and 23.12a. This would mean a complaint to the BPA after a quick complaint to Euro Car Parks to initiate a breach complaint (as BPA only investigates escalated complaints where the PPC ignores the complaint of breach).

A breach usually results in a cancellation of the parking charge. I had UKPC reluctantly cancel one for a family member after the breach was found in the same situation as yours.



Source:
https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/AOS_Code_of_Practice_January_2020_v8(2).pdf
Page:
16/50

patient_dream

porridgestation said:

Debt Recovery Plus are street beggars. 

Street beggars ........ address .... 

8-14 The Broadway
Haywards Heath
West Sussex RH16 3AH

THE HOME OF THE BPA

privateparkingchanges

Brilliant - toilet paper and beggar's

So following the newbie thread this should be taken to POPLA but considering the timeline that's now out of the window.

What are we suggesting here... Does action need to be taken or tell them to do one?  

porridgestation

privateparkingchanges said:

Brilliant - toilet paper and beggar's

So following the newbie thread this should be taken to POPLA but considering the timeline that's now out of the window.

What are we suggesting here... Does action need to be taken or tell them to do one?  

Did your friend get a rejection of appeal from the PPC with a POPLA code at any point before Debt Recovery Plus sent them some toilet artwork? At any point is really important as the PPC can't avoid POPLA with a £20 administration bribe then go straight to Debt Recovery Plus.

This is very important as if the PPC did not, they are in breach of their own code and your friend can smash it out of the park with a breach complaint.

If they did and your friend didn't use it, then onwards we go... the parking charge relies on the following BPA Code of Conduct, which it can't be reasonably justified as the PPC is deliberately bending the code to avoid cancelling it: 

Major Keying Errors
Examples of a major keying error could include:
• Motorist entered their spouse’s car registration
• Motorist entered something completely unrelated to their registration
• Motorist made multiple keying errors (beyond one character being entered incorrectly)
• Motorist has only entered a small part of their VRM, for example the first three digits

In these instances we would expect that such errors are dealt with appropriately at the first appeal stage, especially if it can be proven that the motorist has paid for the parking event or that the motorist attempted to enter their VRM or were a legitimate user of the car park (e.g. a hospital patient or a patron of a restaurant). It is appreciated that in issuing a PCN in these instances, the operator will have incurred charges including but not limited to the DVLA fee and other processing costs therefore we believe that it is reasonable to seek to recover some of these costs by making a modest charge to the motorist of no more than £20 for a 14-day period from when the keying error was identified before reverting to the charge amount at the point of appeal.

It's pretty clear the PPC should be cancelling the parking charge but is refusing to (obviously) as they want to dip their hand in your friends pocket for £20.00 (the maximum the code allows) or even try it on later in court.

Fruitcake

Plan A is always a complaint from the registered keeper to the landowner and the keeper's MP. It is never too late to do this.

Other than that, your friend should go into ignore mode unless and until they get a Letter of/before Claim, or a court claim.

privateparkingchanges

Thank you all so much for you help so far

My friend chased his appeal for the second time regarding paying the £20 fine mid October. Euro Car Parks responded with an email with an attached letter and we've found that a POPLA code was offered at the end of July. It wasn't used for an appeal as the letter was never delivered. The attached letter and code was not provided within time despite an appeal being in progress. 

Too late to use the POPLA code now? Would the advice now be to just let them try and take my friend to court..