NCP - 15 minute 19 second = £280 fine.

ogtennant

Hi There,

Just a sanity check... I'll try not to make this long but I just want to say the whole story. I've fought off a parking fine it got all the way to submitting a defence and then nothing was action-ed after that!

ANYWAY 28th December with a newborn child I popped to Argos to collect a travel cot. I parked in an NCP automated car park for which I have the app set up for automatic payments. I was in the car park all of 15 minutes and 19 seconds. As I got back in the car I thought i'll just check the app in case it didn't work. SURPRISE they've removed the function for the app because it broke. So i go to the ticket machine its not working about 10 people stood around it trying to get it to work notorious for this car park i don't think it works even to this day. 

Fast forward to now i ignored the letters from NCP i should have appealed there and then i know. the debt has been instructed to "TRACE" and now onto "moorside legal" who are stating all the standard stuff £170 fine plus interest court fees etc = £280.

I've still not acknowledged the debt to them I did try emailing NCP to no reply. I just want to know if I should acknowledge and apeal or let it slide and see what happens.

The angle I emailed NCP was that i was in the carpark for 15 minutes and 19 seconds, 19 seconds over the legal grace period for car parks. not only that the reason I was in there for 5 more minutes was A) the automatic app was not working & the machine was not working (I have proof from the google reviews of this car park at the time). And basically just say how ludacris it is to be expected to pay £170 for 15 minutes when really it was the companies incompetence that had me in the car park for so long. i probably would have only been 7 minutes!! 

Basically i want to know is it worth acknowledging the debt in an email to moorside legal is there a good chance of getting the charge dropped saying i'm prepared to go to court if that is what is needed. Or shall I keep letting the letters come until a court one comes? 

Coupon-mad

Ooh some new kids in the block! Who are Moorside Legal I wonder?

Let's see a photo of that letter please.  Not the Trace letters, we are sick of them!

Nothing will cost you a fee, not even defending a court claim if one happens.  No worries with ignoring £170 threatograms but let's take a look at the Moorside Legal letter. Cover your data.

Zbubuman

Coupon-mad said:

Ooh some new kids in the block! Who are Moorside Legal I wonder?

Let's see a photo of that letter please.  Not the Trace letters, we are sick of them!

Nothing will cost you a fee, not even defending a court claim if one happens.  No worries with ignoring £170 threatograms but let's take a look at the Moorside Legal letter. Cover your data.

Just looked them up. Incorporated August last year, so they have been trading for less than 1 year, and want to jump on the gravy train. 

Couple of the officers are also officers on APN group Ltd (debt collectors), so my deduction is that this is a recent created legal entity to act as a sister company for APN group and create more debt for them to chase. 

LDast

ogtennant said:

Fast forward to now i ignored the letters from NCP i should have appealed there and then i know. the debt has been instructed to "TRACE" and now onto "moorside legal" who are stating all the standard stuff £170 fine plus interest court fees etc = £280.

Unless you've received an actual N1SDT claim form, how can they be adding "court fees"? Show us the letter please.

ogtennant

Hi All,

Please see image below! They aren't adding court fees just 'Estimating' them! 

Also Coupon-mad! Hello you were instrumental in helping me create a court defence back in march 2020! I wrote a defence and it's still sat in MCOL now they havn't done anything since!

So the thing i'm struggling with is as these are threats i normally leave them and they disappear after a while i've only had one take it as far as court as mentioned above. I think i have fairly good ground that they might drop it after a few well written emails just through the sheer atrocity of paying that much for 15 minutes. But then if I email i have then acknowledged them so are they more likely to continue sending letters? Bit like a fish on a hook scenario?

On the other hand as you peeps mentioned above if they are fairly new they might be looking to make examples?



Many Thanks again for helping me!!

LDast

It's just a debt collection letter. Maybe a re-read of the Newbies/FAQ thread to remind yourself about the action to take with regards to useless debt collection letters.

If, as you say you have already received a claim for this PCN and you submitted a defence, they cannot issue another claim. If they do, you can clobber them for abuse of process and other things.

Coupon-mad

No, the 'stayed' court case is CEL.  Different company/PCN.

This letter is interesting because it's a new parking roboclaim solicitor never seen before.

About time they were reported to HMRC!  

Even though this isn't a LBC, I say respond to the letter by email* and ask the questions about the added £70 and VAT that you see in the recommended LBC reply in the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread. Let's see how they explain the added £70.

*Or using the contact form on their extremely basic website here:
https://customer.moorsidelegal.co.uk/Contact

Doesn't read like a solicitor's website!  No sign of a solicitor being involved.  Are firms allowed to hold themselves out as providing 'Legal Services' @Johnersh? 

Castle

ogtennant said:

Hi All,

Please see image below! They aren't adding court fees just 'Estimating' them! 

Could you please post the back of the letter as well.

(Moorside Legal Services Ltd have only been licensed, (by the SRA), since 12th April of this year).

KeithP

Click on 'Privacy Policy' at the foot of any of Moorside's webpages for an amazing revelation.  

To save you the trouble, here is their Privacy Policy in it's entirety...

       

For a legal firm, that is simply mind-boggling.

Coupon-mad

Wow.  I think the DLUHC will be interested.

KeithP

Coupon-mad said:

Wow.  I think the DLUHC will be interested.

...and the SRA too, I imagine.