Smart Parking / Debt Recovery Plus | £170 fine with no notice?

Anonymous_MSE7

Hello,

Sorry about openining a new post, but I just want to be sure I'm not risking my credit score / ability to purchase a home in the near future! 

I received my first letter from DRP in early June demanding £170. I did not receive any prior letters about the PCN so I did not have the opportunity to pay the fine at £60 (early) or £100 as detailed at the parking lot. The PCN is for parking in an unauthorised spot. I would not have minded paying £60 but I was definitely not going to pay £170! 

That's when I looked online, found this forum and took the advice to just ignore them. 

I have since receive two more letters from them, the latest suggesting legal action is imminent. I have attached the latest letter. They're suggesting they've ticked all the boxes to progress this to court? 

I have tried complaining to the landowners but Ihaven't been ablke to track down the right people / contacts. 

Do you have any advice on how I should proceed ? Should I just continue ingoring them? 

Can I get in touch with them and try to settle for the original £60? 

What happens if this proceeds to court? It is very likely that they have some sort of evidence that the car was parked in an unauthorized spot. Do I have a defense in the fact that I didn't receive any letters informing me of the PCN and I didn't have the opportunity to pay at the lower £60 rate? 

I'd really appreciate any tips or advice on how to proceed. If there's any risk to my cedit score I think I'd rather just pay up, but then their predatory money racket will have succeeded !

Thanks in advance, 

Anon

Coupon-mad

If there's any risk to my credit score I think I'd rather just pay up,

You won't pay a penny.

I assume you are in England or Wales?

There's no risk to your credit rating (not even by defending a court claim) as long as you tell them both to ERASE THE OLD ADDRESS (which I think is why you got no PCN...).

What address shows on your car logbook?  Old address? That's where the PCN went, in most cases like yours. People forget to update the address on their V5C when moving house. 

If I'm wrong about that, then this is an example of the game Smart Parking & DR Plus play, this is sadly very common not to receive a PCN, and you should complain about it to Smart, if you are sure your V5C is up to date.

We don't need or want to see pics of debt demands.  Spare us!  In the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread I beg new posters not to post about DR Plus letters (please). Nor the next ones.  

Read the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread.

Anonymous_MSE7

Hi Coupon-mad,

Thanks for the reassurance! It's a bit of a stressful situation to be in. 

Yes I'm based in England. 

My V5C is up to date so I'm surprised they sent the PCN to the old address. 

I'll email them to delete any old addresses. 

Thanks for helping me and everyone else on here! 

LDast

Was your V5C up to date at the time of the alleged parking event? If it was, then they didn't send the PCN to your old address. They just didn't send it as part of their scam.

fisherjim

We have seen that pathetic letter dozens of times, it looks like an intern did it as a project, it's a childish insult to your intelligence and not worth the paper it's printed on!

twopenny

Hmmm a quick search shows Debt Recovery Plus has a history of this

People not receiving any prior notice before this is set in play. There's tons of examples on the t'internet including companies that specialise in dealing with them.

Coupon-mad

Anonymous_MSE7 said:

Hi Coupon-mad,

Thanks for the reassurance! It's a bit of a stressful situation to be in. 

Yes I'm based in England. 

My V5C is up to date so I'm surprised they sent the PCN to the old address. 

I'll email them to delete any old addresses. 

Thanks for helping me and everyone else on here! 

Have you made a complaint to Smart Parking that the first letter was a DRPlus demand?

Use their Complaints policy and threaten an escalated complaint to the BPA.

Anonymous_MSE7

Hi Everyone, 

A small update: 

Debt Recovery Plus seem to have given up in September. I think this must have been after I contacted their DPO and asked them to delete any previous addresses ?

I thought I was in the clear but I just got some letters from CST Law, acting on behalf of DRP, on behalf of Smart Parking.  They have advised I keep my address updated with DRP so that any court documents are correctly directed to me. I assume I can continue to ignore this? 

I have also just complained to Smart Parking for good measure. 

Coupon-mad

Ignore CST unless they try a court claim but Smart Parking are not litigious at all, at the time of writing this.

The complaint was what you always need to press ahead with.

Anonymous_MSE7

Hi Everyone, 

I have another small update. I didn't have a letter there for a few months, but just got one from Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd (dcbl). My understanding from the forum is that I should just continue ignoring them? 

I also just wanted to ask what the end game for this looks like. Will they eventually give up? Are they likely to go to court at some point? 

Thanks

Ralph-y

It will eventually be passed to DCB Legal who will threaten court  .... then issue court procedures .... make you do some work to defend and than they will discontinue days before the court date .... there is a big thread with a list of such  .... have a look