Debt Collection Letter out of absolutely nowhere

dkl_uk

Hello members

A bit of an odd one here. I've had (and successfully appealed) PCNs in the past that were quite frivolous, but on this occasion I'm sure there's been a massive breach of process so would like a heads up on how to handle the claim against me.

The PCN is from Smart Parking LTD and relates to their can park at Llanberis, Wales.

March 2020 an attempt was made to park on that car park, however, the machine was broken and wouldn't accept the proper reg. From what I remember, my passenger (who did make a payment) gave me a paper ticket but only a partial/incorrect reg was entered. Despite already paying, I decided to leave the car park. This was about 15-20 minutes later as there was a queue at the machine (no doubt due to the issues everyone was having with making payment). I therefore didn't use the car park and paid elsewhere.

I did receive a letter five years ago regarding this and for the life of me I cannot remember if I appealed or not. I do vividly recall getting a screenshot of the bank statement of the passenger showing money was taken by Smart Parking but that has of course since gone as it was five years ago.

I heard absolutely nothing about this until 19/05/2025 where a letter headed with "ZZPS" tells me they're chasing an unpaid parking charge. I guarantee there was no other communication from Smart Parking. I have unfortunately called "ZZPS" telling them that the machine was broken and thus the car park wasn't even used but they said all they care about is whether a payment is made or not and if not it'll go to their "legal department". 

This isn't my first showdown but it's the first one where, after hearing literally nothing for five years, a DCA has written to me.

What steps should I be taking at this point?

Edit: I'm writing this post because I got a second letter from ZZPS, dated 03/06/2026, on 09/06/2026. 

Brie

sounds like they're trying to make a case of it before the 6 years are up.  As I understand you won't owe anything if you can hold them off until next March.  That means responding to everything by snail mail to help with the delay.

others may have a different opinion.

dkl_uk

Brie said:

sounds like they're trying to make a case of it before the 6 years are up.  As I understand you won't owe anything if you can hold them off until next March.  That means responding to everything by snail mail to help with the delay.

others may have a different opinion.

Yes I thought so too; we're just passing the 5 year mark now and they're desperately trying to get any money they can.

So your opinion at this time then would be to send a letter to their correspondence address in Surrey outlining what I've already written above, or should I take the advice from the plethora of other threads where I just write the basics to say "I was there, but I disagree with everything you've written"?

Brie

Yes  - Leaving out the bits where you imply you know who was driving of course.  

So a general query saying you don't recognise the situation maybe?  Can you please resend any previous correspondence as I don't seem to have anything from you.  etc etc.  If there's any chance they have your phone number and email address insist that those get deleted from their system and they are not to be passed along to anyone else.  

Maybe one query at a time to waste their time and add to the delays?  OK - costs stamps but of course you'll be posting everything second class.

ChirpyChicken

No dont bother with the above.
You wont time it out until March 2026
Stay off the phone . Waste of time
Zzps don't have a legal department 
Come back if you get a court claim 

dkl_uk

ChirpyChicken said:

No dont bother with the above.
You wont time it out until March 2026
Stay off the phone . Waste of time
Zzps don't have a legal department 
Come back if you get a court claim 

So wait for an LBC and then prepare a detailed rebuttal?

Gr1pr

dkl_uk said:

ChirpyChicken said:

No dont bother with the above.
You wont time it out until March 2026
Stay off the phone . Waste of time
Zzps don't have a legal department 
Come back if you get a court claim 

So wait for an LBC and then prepare a detailed rebuttal?

Correct,  LoC,  first, using the LoC template response,  in the newbies sticky thread,  then a possible court claim after that 

No point in corresponding with the debt collectors,  post 4 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

dkl_uk

Gr1pr said:

dkl_uk said:

ChirpyChicken said:

No dont bother with the above.
You wont time it out until March 2026
Stay off the phone . Waste of time
Zzps don't have a legal department 
Come back if you get a court claim 

So wait for an LBC and then prepare a detailed rebuttal?

Correct,  LoC,  first, using the LoC template response,  in the newbies sticky thread,  then a possible court claim after that 

No point in corresponding with the debt collectors,  post 4 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

Yep, read through all of those so I've got a heads up - just wanted to know if there was an even quicker way of jumping to the end by pointing out they've quite literally ignored what I assume is a requirement in regards to communicating with me at each stage.

I suppose being as scummy as we all know they are, they wouldn't care less anyway and will just plod on regardless.

Just for clarity, if they haven't got any money out of me by the "contravention date + 6 years" i.e. March 2026, they have absolutely zero foundation to continue, right?

Coupon-mad

Not if they file a claim in time.

dkl_uk

Brie said:

Yes  - Leaving out the bits where you imply you know who was driving of course.  

So a general query saying you don't recognise the situation maybe?  Can you please resend any previous correspondence as I don't seem to have anything from you.  etc etc.  If there's any chance they have your phone number and email address insist that those get deleted from their system and they are not to be passed along to anyone else.  

Maybe one query at a time to waste their time and add to the delays?  OK - costs stamps but of course you'll be posting everything second class.

ChirpyChicken said:

No dont bother with the above.
You wont time it out until March 2026
Stay off the phone . Waste of time
Zzps don't have a legal department 
Come back if you get a court claim 

Gr1pr said:

dkl_uk said:

ChirpyChicken said:

No dont bother with the above.
You wont time it out until March 2026
Stay off the phone . Waste of time
Zzps don't have a legal department 
Come back if you get a court claim 

So wait for an LBC and then prepare a detailed rebuttal?

Correct,  LoC,  first, using the LoC template response,  in the newbies sticky thread,  then a possible court claim after that 

No point in corresponding with the debt collectors,  post 4 in the newbies sticky thread in announcements 

Coupon-mad said:

Not if they file a claim in time.

As it turns out, the "infraction" was 21/03/2020. The letter sent to ALD was dated 06/04/2020. Therefore outside of the 14 day period and since no ticket was placed on the vehicle windscreen I'm under the impression that that's pretty much the bottom line and it would get laughed out of court purely for that reason alone.

I knew there was a reason I'd completely disregarded it.

Coupon-mad

dkl_uk said:

ChirpyChicken said:

No dont bother with the above.
You wont time it out until March 2026
Stay off the phone . Waste of time
Zzps don't have a legal department 
Come back if you get a court claim 

As it turns out, the "infraction" was 21/03/2020. The letter sent to ALD was dated 06/04/2020. Therefore outside of the 14 day period and since no ticket was placed on the vehicle windscreen I'm under the impression that that's pretty much the bottom line and it would get laughed out of court purely for that reason alone.

I knew there was a reason I'd completely disregarded it.

Eh?

They are allowed to issue a non-POFA NTK. The date is irrelevant if you were driving. Also, Smart Parking never used the POFA so we knew it was non-POFA and we knew there was no keeper liability.

That doesn't make a PCN void.