QDR Solicitors non-payment of fuel advice required

daeargwr

Hi.

The registered keeper of our car has just received a letter from QDR solicitors about non payment for fuel.  It's a petrol filling station we routinely use so entirely possible one of the people with access to the car has made a mistake here and driven away without paying or had problems with payment which wasn't picked up at the time.

I've spoken to the store and they no longer have CCTV as more than 28 days ago and are unable to receive any payment instore and say I have to deal with the 3rd party (QDR).

I'm happy to settle up on the assumption it was us but begrudge the £18 payment processing fee QDR levy.Is there a way of offering payment without this payment processing fee?  Is a payment processing fee allowed?

Is there anything else I should be doing before payment?

Thanks

Car_54

You accept that you (or someone known to you) has made off without paying. That will have put the filling station to some expense,  and they will also have to pay the solicitors.

To be frank, £15 +VAT seems a bit of a bargain

jimjames

Have you checked your bank account for that date to see if payment was made?

TooManyPoints

Liability for the payment rests with the person who drove off. It is a criminal matter and it cannot be transferred to the Registered Keeper (RK). It's no different to someone stealing from a shop and driving off in a car, then the shop (or their agents) holding the RK of that car liable for payment. That wouldn't fly and nor will this.

Any "recovery action" these sharks say they will take would rest on a contractual obligation to pay, the terms of which may or may not have been displayed in the filling station. Since you were not there you would not know whether such a contract exists and what its terms are, so you cannot be party to it.

If the matter went to the County Court the claimant would have to prove that either you were there at the time and/or the driver was acting on your instructions to make off without payment. They may struggle to do that.

The remedy for the filling station is either to establish the identity of the driver (with which they may have some difficulty) or to report the matter to the police. Depends how much bother you want to go to but personally I would tell Messrs. QDR solicitors to go forth and multiply 

If you do genuinely want to make payment (I think I might in your circumstances) let the filling station know in writing. Make sure you inform them that that your offer is made on the basis of goodwill and that you do not accept liability for the payment. Keep a copy of your letter and If they continue to decline, simply leave it at that. 

sheramber

Do you not have an information of who used the car on that day?

Have you asked those who have access to the car if they filled it up with fuel on that day? 

You seem to be quite happy to pay for somebody else’s mistake.

TooManyPoints

I think the more important issue is that of shyster solicitors giving people the impression they are liable to settle debts incurred by others, and trying to screw a fee out of them for doing so.

Arunmor

So how many people drive this car?

daeargwr

To answer the questions I've had. 4 of us in the family drive the car. No payments on bank statements on the date in question.

Looking at when it was filled prior and after it's almost certainly a mistake whoever was driving has made on this occasion so I'm happy to settle the amount of fuel owed rather than ignore.

Given the petrol station won't let me settle up directly with them seems I have no other option than paying QDR and their fees.  One to chalk off to experience!

Thanks for the advice.

TooManyPoints

Given the petrol station won't let me settle up directly with them seems I have no other option than paying QDR and their fees. 

You have.

You are not liable for this payment as the liability rests with the person who drove off and it cannot be transferred to you. Any "recovery action" taken in the civil court against you would fail. QDR know this all too well .

You are dealing with solicitors who are two steps away from he filling station. BOSS makes its living from securing payments for filling stations who have suffered drive offs. QDR are their regular solicitors and they do nothing other than chasing debts. You have no liability to the filling station and certainly none to them.

QDR's letters are designed to be deliberately misleading without stepping over the the line to malpractice. All they say is that they "require you to make full payment of the debt". They don't say on what basis they have come to that decision (and nor they might, as there is no legitimate basis for their demand).

There are some situations involving driving matters where liability can be transferred from the driver to the Registered Keeper (known as "keeper liability"). .Payment of parking penalties is the most common. Recovery of those penalties can, in certain circumstances provided certain conditions are complied with, be sought from the RK.  This is specifically provided for in the "Protection of Freedoms Act".

But this same provision does not apply to driving off without making payment.

QDR obviously know this. If they were able to take advantage of that provision they would quote it in their letter. Instead they rely on lack of knowledge to make their demands.

As I said earlier, I would simply offer payment to the filling station as a gesture of goodwill. I would not entertain making payment to an organisation which makes demands which have no legal basis. I imagine they will send you further threatening letters if you fail to engage with them but since there is nothing more they can do, they will eventually tire of doing so.

Ectophile

I've spoken to the store and they no longer have CCTV as more than 28 days ago and are unable to receive any payment instore and say I have to deal with the 3rd party (QDR).

If the petrol station have distroyed all the evidence of who allegedly stole their fuel, how are they planning on bringing a prosecution?

MattMattMattUK

Ectophile said:

I've spoken to the store and they no longer have CCTV as more than 28 days ago and are unable to receive any payment instore and say I have to deal with the 3rd party (QDR).

If the petrol station have distroyed all the evidence of who allegedly stole their fuel, how are they planning on bringing a prosecution?

I suspect that the individual store no longer has access, not that the relevant footage no longer exists.