Trace Debt Recovery - could it go to court?

elliot5200

LDast said:

It's all a bit fluffy and woke to be honest. You should let Travelodge know how angry and upset you are about being invoiced by their agent for £100 when you have been a loyal customer. Remind them that the cost to their business of not only losing you as a long-standing customer, but also all your relatives, friends and acquaintances.

What is with the "many thanks" and seriously hope you do not include the love and kisses at the end? You start the letter formally, so you need to end it formally with "Yours faithfully".

You should be angry with them. Just being "stressed" is an understatement. You should be letting them know that as they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agent, you will hold them liable for any future court action by Ocean Parking as you will have the option for a Part 20 Counter Claim for harassment and breach of your GDPR should it progress that far.

Be angry at the fob-off you had. Ask them who is the monkey and who is the organ grinder in their contractual relationship with Ocean Parking if they are unable to tell their agent to cancel an unfair PCN issued to one of their loyal (until now) customers.

Thank you @LDast - I’ve redrafted the letter as below (bottom of this post) with the bits in bold. Don’t you think the paragraph starting ‘As Travelodge are jointly and severally liable’ is too aggressive though and would be better without?

fisherjim said:

This site has cropped up on here time and time again do a search.

Cordwell are still the owners but they don't get into trivial matters of day to day running they leave that up to managing agents that is who is redacted on he contract, Ocean obviously don't want you contacting them and getting them a bad name!

Just to be totally boring here are the original car park planning details:

https://planning.walsall.gov.uk/swift/MediaTemp/66362-137402.pdf

From GSV the signage is rubbish too

And thank you @fisherjim - I'm just a bit confused who to write to. Definitely Travelodge but would it also be Cordwell then, even though they're not mentioned in the contract, or a different company altogether?

Also, my letter is very Travelodge-centric so would I need a completely different one for Cordwell?

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

I recently received a Parking Charge for parking in your Travelodge car park (Wisemore Central, Walsall) after staying in the hotel (booking reference xx).

On the day, I had tried to pay for parking by ringing the phone number displayed at the Travelodge desk (attached). The sign said: ‘Important notice for all Travelodge Guests regarding the Car Park!’ It gave the phone number to pay for parking as: 02030460010.

When I rang that number, I was then presented with the following recorded message: “Welcome to Ringo. ‘Unfortunately our IDR service is unavailable for this number. Please download our app or visit MyRingo.com”. You can try this for yourself now, and you’ll get the same response.

It was therefore not possible for me to pay by phone and I wasn’t able to download apps on my phone either. There was no one at the desk to help.

I later got a parking fine invoice (PCN ref xxx) for £60 by Ocean Parking, which rose to £100 after which I appealed and lost (their reply, also attached). I also appealed via POPLA and am happy to provide correspondence of this. It turned out the phone number on the Travelodge sign was wrong, as signage around the car park listed the 24 hour support phone number as ‘0330 311 2999’ instead (this is also listed on Ocean Parking’s website: https://www.oceanparking.co.uk/contact/). I’ve also attached an image of the sign in the car park for reference, as well as my parking fine charge and would be happy to supply any additional evidence you need.

This is incredibly I feel this is very unfair as I had tried to pay repeatedly by calling the number signposted in Travelodge but kept getting that same error message about an IDR being unavailable, which I didn’t understand and there was no one at the desk to help. It transpired that Travelodge were displaying an incorrect or outdated number. I’ve now had a letter from Trace Debt Recovery (also attached) demanding £170 and am getting really stressed.

I had been a loyal Travelodge customer, using your hotels for several years across the country and had had a really positive impression of the chain until now. Although it is a chain, it has a distinct family feel to it which I really valued. However this experience has really ruined it for me. I get anxious to check my post every morning just in case there’s another letter from one of your agents chasing money from me. Friends and relatives of mine who have also stayed in your hotels in the past are also very concerned about my experience. For long-standing customers to be slapped with a £100 fine (now, £170 according to Trace debt collectors) on behalf of your agent is really unacceptable.

As Travelodge are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agent, I will hold them liable for any future court action by Ocean Parking, as I will have the option for a Part 20 Counter Claim for harassment and breach of my GDPR should it progress that far.

I look forward to a response from you on this and would hope to receive reimbursement for the above costs and that you can urgently get in touch with Ocean Parking to cancel the PCN (ref xx).

Yours faithfully

[name]

 

roadsweeperdriver

Hi have been messaged n lettered by trace recovery and getting more fed up by the day with them tried to pay traffic flow or what ever they go by cause their set up is like their ticket machines useless  anyhelp will be greatfully recieved  thanks 😊 

fisherjim

roadsweeperdriver said:

Hi have been messaged n lettered by trace recovery and getting more fed up by the day with them tried to pay traffic flow or what ever they go by cause their set up is like their ticket machines useless  anyhelp will be greatfully recieved  thanks 😊 

If your problem is reference a private parking ticket please start your own new post outlining your situation in detail, what you have said so far is of no use what so ever.

Gr1pr

Anchor were trading as Care Parking and are now Ocean Parking, so whether that contract with the managing agent is still valid or not may be a factor, especially if it went to court where you would insist that unredacted proof is required , which should have been brought up at Popla too 

Its a 36 month contract signed in 2019 , so expired 2 years ago unless it was extended or renewed 

It allowed that managing agent to cancel any PCN for free within the first 28 days, and for £15 after 28 days, which it is now, hence why we ALWAYS advocate plan A first when a PCN is received 

That redacted name and address is where your complaint should go , if you could find out those details or unredact that contract with an app or tool etc

If you were lucky Cordwell might give you those details,   or deal with it on your behalf with that managing agent 

So one bespoke complaint to the hotel and separate different bespoke complaints to the managing agent and landowner would be ideal 

The squeaky wheel gets the oil 

Castle

The "Pay & Display" revenues goes to the customer; so, we have a disclosed but as yet unnamed principal.

Coupon-mad

The start of a complaint should inform the recipient that it is a complaint.

The middle should be as concise as you can get it and say why you are angry.

The end tells the person what you want them to do about it and by when.

elliot5200

Thanks again @Gr1pr and @ Coupon-mad - I'll work on improving my letters and tailoring them to each person I write to, and post them here when I'm done. Would you recommend me writing to Walsall Council too?

In the meantime, if anyone can work out who the landowners are from this reducted contract, please do let me know - otherwise will just write to Cordwell Property Services

GrannyKate

I suspect this may be Colliers International (a property management company) as their former address was Colliers International. 12th Floor, 11 Brindley Place, 2 Brunswick Square, Birmingham B1 2LP which would fit into the redacted address.  They state they are acting for the landowners so not likely to be the owner either. 

Gr1pr

A Google search on them shows that the email is. uk.enquiries@colliers.com , and the Birmingham Office Enquiries is

Colliers
103 Colmore Row
Birmingham
B3 3AG

I hope that it's correct and helps you, assuming that they did act or still act on behalf of Cordwells

I am not convinced that a 5 year old contract that ran for 3 years should have been used in the Popla evidence pack, so perhaps it wasn't highlighted or spotted as a weak point in their authority 

LDast

Gr1pr said:

I am not convinced that a 5 year old contract that ran for 3 years should have been used in the Popla evidence pack, so perhaps it wasn't highlighted or spotted as a weak point in their authority 

The contract has an automatic renewal clause subject to the customer giving 1 month notice not to renew.