Smart Parking + Debt Recovery Plus

adslman

Hi all

I have gone through the Newbies thread and tried to gather as much info as I can digest but wanted to run my experience by you before proceeding.

In late November last year my wife parked in a pub car park unware that she had to pay.

6 weeks later we received a letter from Dept Recovery Plus acting on behalf of Smart Parking.

We had not received anything through the post to indicate we had done anything wrong and obviously we had gone well past the appeal stage with Smart Parking and had been placed in the hands of the Debt company who wanted £170 to end the matter.

Looking on the Dept Recovery website it stated no appeal was available because that should have been done with Smart Parking ( This could not be done due to never receiving any pcns) and I have read so many comments saying do not pick up the phone and directly speak to them, so I followed the advice of ignoring them as they do not have the power of a bailiff and in many ways are just bullies.

This morning a second letter has arrived in the post that continues with the tales of doom and attempts to up the pressure to pay.

My wife is not in great health and these letters are really creating a lot of stress that not only effects her but also makes be very annoyed.

What is the best way to proceed here ? Carry on ignoring in the hope they will go away or wait for maybe the inevitable follow up letters that will create even more upset.

The last thing I want to do is pay these people, if Smart Parking had sent the pcn in the first place we would have paid it and put it down to experience.

I have attempted to speak to the pub but they are not being helpful in trying to overturn the ticket.

Any help would really be appreciated.

Cheers

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

The fourth post of the NEWBIES thread explains exactly how to deal with debt collector's letters, but to summarise that post - ignore them.

adslman

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

The fourth post of the NEWBIES thread explains exactly how to deal with debt collector's letters, but to summarise that post - ignore them.

Hi Keith 

I thought that is probably the state play at the moment after reading the Newbie thread. 

So infuriating that they can get away with these tactics that can really have an impact on a person's mental and physical health. 

I guess it's a sit tight and if they follow up with anything else report back here to seek more advice? 

The thing that is really causing worry for my wife is the hints of ccjs etc in the letter but I think I am right in thinking even if it went all the way to court and the claimant was awarded the verdict we would still be able to pay and avoid any ccj?

Thanks 

KeithP

adslman said:
...I think I am right in thinking even if it went all the way to court and the claimant was awarded the verdict we would still be able to pay and avoid any ccj?

That's correct.

Trainerman

adslman said:

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

The fourth post of the NEWBIES thread explains exactly how to deal with debt collector's letters, but to summarise that post - ignore them.

Hi Keith 

I thought that is probably the state play at the moment after reading the Newbie thread. 

So infuriating that they can get away with these tactics that can really have an impact on a person's mental and physical health. 

I guess it's a sit tight and if they follow up with anything else report back here to seek more advice? 

The thing that is really causing worry for my wife is the hints of ccjs etc in the letter but I think I am right in thinking even if it went all the way to court and the claimant was awarded the verdict we would still be able to pay and avoid any ccj?

Thanks 

Bang on right. No CCJ if you pay in time ..... but if you follow the forum advice, you really should not lose.

The debt companies are really powerless. Their only tactic is to try to frighten you. Just ignore them, but do NOT ignore a letter of claim/letter before claim ( and those will give you 30 days to respond, not 7 or 14)

I would be concerned as to why you received no PCN paperwork. Have you recently moved house and forgotten to update your V5 with DVLA?

adslman

Trainerman said:

adslman said:

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

The fourth post of the NEWBIES thread explains exactly how to deal with debt collector's letters, but to summarise that post - ignore them.

Hi Keith 

I thought that is probably the state play at the moment after reading the Newbie thread. 

So infuriating that they can get away with these tactics that can really have an impact on a person's mental and physical health. 

I guess it's a sit tight and if they follow up with anything else report back here to seek more advice? 

The thing that is really causing worry for my wife is the hints of ccjs etc in the letter but I think I am right in thinking even if it went all the way to court and the claimant was awarded the verdict we would still be able to pay and avoid any ccj?

Thanks 

Bang on right. No CCJ if you pay in time ..... but if you follow the forum advice, you really should not lose.

The debt companies are really powerless. Their only tactic is to try to frighten you. Just ignore them, but do NOT ignore a letter of claim/letter before claim ( and those will give you 30 days to respond, not 7 or 14)

I would be concerned as to why you received no PCN paperwork. Have you recently moved house and forgotten to update your V5 with DVLA?

Hi 

My wife has been the registered owner of the car in question for over four years and not moved house either! Very odd that we never received anything from the actual parking company but the debt collectors are all over us like a rash! 

Coupon-mad

adslman said:

My wife has been the registered owner of the car in question for over four years and not moved house either! Very odd that we never received anything from the actual parking company but the debt collectors are all over us like a rash! 

Smart and DR Plus have form for not sending a NTK at all.  There was a spate of this alleged in cases before Xmas.

This is unacceptable and your wife  can complain to the BPA.

To do that, she has to complain to Smart first. So go to their website, find the complaints page and start that ball rolling.  Your wife wants a POPLA code and her complaint is that no NTK was posted.  Between them, Smart and DR Plus missed it out, she says, denying her the fair chance to appeal.

She then waits for their reply.

YOUR WIFE MUST NOT ADMIT TO DRIVING.  She complains saying she is the registered keeper and that DR Plus went straight to a debt demand.  No NTK was received and now this error has come to light, the NTK must be re-issued (if one ever existed) as per the new Feb 2024 BPA CoP

Very simple to resolve this and win.

Debszzzz2

You would be advised to double check that the V5C of the vehicle has the correct address on it. However, it is not beyond reasonable doubt that (not so) Smart Parking never bothered to send out the initial NtK or reminders before passing it on to a useless debt collector to tighten the screws.

Unfortunately, there is no legislation in place that obliges these unregulated private parking companies to obtain any form of "proof of posting" of their speculative invoices which, technically, are legal documents that contain conditions that can impact the amount a consumer may allegedly owe them for a breach of contract.

If these unregulated private companies were obliged to obtain or retain "proof of posting", you can be sure that their income would reduce as more recipients of these "invoices" would knee-jerk into paying the bribe discount price. Sadly, the vast majority of the 35,000+ daily recipients of these PCNs don't even realise that they can easily fight them if they were just that bit wiser to their tactics and civil law.

adslman

I'll get on to this guys. I really cannot thank you enough for commenting on my thread. I have relayed your advice to my wife and I can see she feels reassured that we have help on here. It does seem like you are alone with nowhere to turn when these abrupt and in many ways threatening letters arrive on the doorstep. God knows how much money they make hounding people into paying! 

Coupon-mad

adslman said:

I'll get on to this guys. I really cannot thank you enough for commenting on my thread. I have relayed your advice to my wife and I can see she feels reassured that we have help on here. It does seem like you are alone with nowhere to turn when these abrupt and in many ways threatening letters arrive on the doorstep. God knows how much money they make hounding people into paying! 

That's fine. Start the complaints.

adslman

The car is not with us anymore. It was a fleet car (Not sure if I should name it here but I believe it is the biggest one in the UK). They're hold the log books on the vehicles they have in the fleet. The car left us and went back to the company just over three weeks ago. I am guessing this will not effect the complaint as my wife would have been known as the person leasing the car?