Letters from Trace following Gatwick/NCP PCN

CFKemp

Car1980 said:

NCP make very very few court claims. They're one of the least litigious.

When they do occasionally take a punt they use BW Legal.

No point paying now because only the debt collection letter has arrived. Quite often they then give up and go away.

Come back if you get a letter from an actual solicitor. The £170 doesn't increase so no risk in waiting.

Thanks for this, that's encouraging. I'd seen stuff about fees being added which you have to appeal separately as part of the next stage. I'm more than happy to literally do nothing but that's what worried me.

CFKemp

New letter received - this one says that they've recommended to their client that legal proceedings are started. They're giving me one final chance to cough up.

I can predict what the advice will be, but after I ignore this, what happens?

LDast

You ignore everything unless you receive an actual Letter of Claim (LoC) or an N1SDT Claim Form from the CNBC.

Coupon-mad

What happens is already fully explained in the second post of the NEWBIES thread.

Johnersh

I just asked them:

* Whether full t&c's could be viewed on the perimeter before accessing the charge zone
* Whether it was possible to leave the ANPR charge zone if you did not agree to the terms
* Whether it was possible to read the t&c's at all until after the event if visiting for the first time and/or without a PC.
* Why they did not permit payment on site
* Why they did not permit payment more than 24hrs later, in the event of a motorist forgetting to pay (itself likely where there was no mechanism to pay on site)

Essentially the point is that the system is designed to entrap and to optimise PCN issuance, rather than to process a charge for traffic flow etc.

That was sufficient for them to fold.... But that was at PCN stage.

CFKemp

Coupon-mad said:

What happens is already fully explained in the second post of the NEWBIES thread.

Thanks, but as previously mentioned, the Newbies thread is so full of information, tips and jargon that it's pretty daunting. The people replying to my posts are clearly very knowledgeable, but they're also short on patience and often quite patronising. Although I can partly see why, it doesn't really further your aims of stopping this scam. I'm going to pay the fine later this week and while I'm grateful for the help I have received thus far, I wanted to make that point in case it helps you sympathise with future posters.

Nellymoser

I hear what your saying in your thread but.......

it doesn't really further your aims of stopping this scam.

Surely it should be the aim of everyone who is aware of the scam or experienced it to help get it stopped. No?

Do please try to overcome your embarrassment of writing to your MP like other posters have.

Yes there are loads of Hansard references to it being a scam but our MPs need reminding and new MPs made aware.

As poster Fruitcake said "It is absolutely essential that motorists complain to their MPs, otherwise nothing is going to change."

Maybe we should afford a little sympathy for the regulars who not only give their free time responding to posts but create learning threads, share news, encourage more participation from motorists and respond to Ministerial depts and Committees consultations/calls for evidence for the benefit of ALL motorists. 

Just a few examples:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6471857/please-reply-to-question-4-of-the-governments-call-for-evidence-re-the-level-of-parking-charges

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6538052/reviving-the-private-parking-bill

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6593026/letter-to-your-mp

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6481628/justice-committee-inquiry-into-the-county-court

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81338558/#Comment_81338558

CFKemp

My point was exactly that - you've all spent a lot of time collating all of this information and to a man you all seem so fed up of people asking you about it that the responses to any questions come across as patronising, bored or even angry. Reading through other threads, my experience doesn't seem unusual. I've sympathised with the fact that you're being asked similar questions, but there doesn't seem to be any sympathy coming back the other way for people who aren't anywhere near as versed in all things LoC, CNBC and N1SDT.

It may seem silly to worry about CCJs and solicitor letters if you've seen it all before, but to ordinary Joes like me, these threatening letters are much more intimidating. Like I said, I only said something in the hope that the next person to ask a question on this topic (especially where they're clear that they've tried to work things out themselves) gets a fair hearing. 

Coupon-mad

Fair enough.

Honestly, it is draining and with the best will in the world, we just can't repeat what's already covered.

The NEWBIES thread is there to stop us all drowning. I started that thread over a decade ago and around 2018 (when DCB Legal arrived and started their conveyor belt of bunging out a hundred thousand generic (exact same) court claims per year from a standing start) we would have self combusted by now, if we had to keep going over old ground a hundred times every day (which we already kind of do but - thank goodness - at least we can signpost to the NEWBIES thread and Template Defence thread, to save time and our sanity).

We're here in our own time because we care, and it's why I've been on the Government Parking Code Steering Group since 2020. Unpaid. To try to change the law for motorists rather than just fight fires here.

We are doing our very best to drive change and help individuals too.

CFKemp

Hopefully all that hard work pays off before too long.