Income Support - Direct Earning Attachment

I kind of knew people would start to think it ludicrous that I couldn't remember.
I was moving around a lot at the time due to personal problems which I don't want to go into., ALL my records from that time are gone such as payslips, bank statements etc. I cannot remember my email addresses used or which bank I was even with to begin finding out that information - it's not as simple as just simply thinking about it.

I know where I worked during that time yes, as to my hours I have no clue. The employer was a small independent shoe store that has now gone.

My basic question is, where do I stand in obtaining evidence (meeting transcripts, schedules of payments to myself) from them which they must have given they are demanding return of supposed income support overpayments. If they can provide evidence of the payments and that the meeting with said compliance officer even occurred (it was 8 years ago, are you telling me you'd genuinely remember a short interview so far back?) and what was discussed in said meeting and I could actually review that evidence, then if it turned out I had been overpaid then yes i'd pay back the debt.

I'm not trying to run away from it, it's completely ridiculous how some of you say you'd just accept and pay £3,000 to the DWP with no evidence other than the date of a meeting provided to them? are the above posters saying they'd just accept this? be honest.

All I'm really looking for is next steps as I'm just hitting a brick wall with the DWP - I just want the actual facts as to what the £2,700 is made up of and what occurred in that meeting that triggered the supposed overpayment proceedings. I also fail to understand how it's taken them 8 years to find me when I've been extremely find-able since those years.

Thanks for those offering help without judging.

Thanks for the additional responses.

My next step is to go see CAB when I can to try and at least get somebody to own the issue either there or DWP to try and get me an exact schedule of payments. As I said, if I owe the money fair enough, but to ask for near on £3k with no evidence other than an interview date I'm just not prepared to lay down and accept it - mistakes can and do happen, particularly when DWP/HMRC are involved! I'm just hitting a complete brick wall when I'm trying to get any more additional information.

I'll fill out a subject access request to the DWP so thank you for that tip.