Advice needed following unsuccessful retail complaint

Wilbureeny

Hi all,

I have read the newbie guide, which is incredibly helpful, thank you.
Essentially, I parked in a retail park, used their shops but accidentally stayed over the 2 hour limit by 45mins. I recently moved house and the reminder parking charge notice went to my old address (I forgot to update the V5) and the person in the old property said that was the only letter they recieved. I contacted the parking manager, Eternity Fire and Security 6 times via email and have called upwards of 20 times but they have not answered. The only email response was 'this has now been referred to debt collections, contact them'.
I then recieved a letter from DCB ltd. to say the charge is now £170 and I have 14 days to pay (the letter arrived 7 days late, so now I have 5 days to pay'.

Following advice here, I contacted Aldi, B&M, Pets at Home and other stores on the retail park complaining and asking for help. Aldi responded with
"it is the landlord, of the land the store is sat on, that has instructed the parking management company and as a result we are unable to overturn their decision. As a result , the notice would need to be paid." All 3 companies have said they do not have the landlord (Centurion) contact details and I cannot find these online anywhere.

I believe the letter is POFA complaint so I do not think I stand a chance with POPLA - my question is this, should I keep complaining to the shops and pressure them to provide landlord details or do I wait for this to go to court. I am starting to lose a lot of sleep over this.

Coupon-mad

You can ignore Eternity Fire and Security. I assume this is Parc Tawe? Lots of threads about them and I think reports are that the firm that runs the place doesn't seem to care.

The £170 threatogram letter from DCB Ltd matches the pictures in the third post of the NEWBIES thread. Take a look at the pics.

Nothing to lose sleep over now you are here, supported by us.

Sit tight. Do nothing except the below.

By going confidently into the 'ignore' stance, the only steps to take (because you MUST check every letter) are:

- Tell them if you move house within 6 years.

- Ignore the tedious £170 threatograms shown in pictures in the 4th post of the NEWBIES thread.

- Come back if you get a solicitor's LBC as per the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread.

Nobody pays a penny and no hearing is even needed in most cases. Search the forum and read a few cases as they are easy to beat by waiting for a claim form - it is easier than appealing!

There is no risk AT ALL in defending a court claim. No CCJ. No bailiffs.

Wilbureeny

Thank you, I have informed Eternity of the new address but they did not respond, I also updated my V5 and the letter from DCBL did come to the right address - Do I need to officially inform anyone else?
I did read the newbies thread and felt hopeful but started to lose confidence after the rejection from the retailers. Will update if any other letters come through, Thanks again

Coupon-mad

Send DCB Ltd's DPO an email request to erase the old address and/or confirmation it will NOT be used for court paperwork by DCB Legal.

You need to state that or they have a choice of two addresses if you don't respond.

KeithP

Where exactly did this alleged parking event take place?

Half_way

Never use terms like "I parked" or He, She, Sister, Mother, uncle aunt etc.

If this is a multiple occupant retail park you will need to find the owner of the retail park, where was/is this?

 you can give the location, but do not attempt to guess as to who could have been driving the vehicle on that day , its not a  showstopper if you have identified/or provided the identity of a driver but it can make things easier if you dont shoot yourself in the foot ( you should have another foot with which to kick them with though)

Thorndorise

FYI, Eternity Fire and Security do not have the legally required info on their website, including the registered business address and companies house number...

Not only this, but as BPA AOS members, they must also have a number of elements on their website. This includes a complaint policy (they do have one) albeit not great, they are also supposed (by law) to have a Data Protection Policy - often referred to as a privacy policy or privacy notice - this is legal requirement under GDPR that they think they have  - see the bottom of their privacy policy where it says...

For more information on how we use your information you can contact our data protection officer Beverley Harrison More information about your rights concerning the use of your personal data is available within our privacy policy found on our website eternitysecurity.co.uk.

There is no such document on their website - which means they are using individuals data without either consent or indeed a 'legitimate' legitimate interest. This means, that in theory they cannot pass your personal data (VRM or name - anything identifiable to a person) to a third party such as a debt recovery agent or solicitors.

They will argue that the legitimate interest is their lawful basis for sharing, but they must have the relevant recipients or categories of recipients in their (non-existent) privacy policy to do this.

I would add in that you require 'right of erasure' due to unlawful personal data sharing to the DPO - might work?

Wilbureeny

Wow, you are all amazing! This was indeed at Parc Tawe, 14th of November. I did take the advice in the Newbies section and believe I have so far avoided using all 'I parked' etc language and only admitted to being the keeper of the vehicle. I hope I haven't slipped up anywhere.

I pushed further and was given a route of contact to a landowner - I have contacted them this evening so all fingers crossed. Insanely good spot about the Data Protection Policy - I will absolutely look into this and will contact DCBL DPO about the change of address. Thank you all so much!

Coupon-mad

Never seen Parc Tawe give a flying fig so I'll be surprised if they reply on a positive way. Seem to recall they blame consumers. Let's see.

Wilbureeny

I've had a response from the landowner to say they can't rescind the PCN because it has now gone to DCBL - does anyone know if this is correct? Surely it is still within their control?

Coupon-mad

No they've been spun a lie.