Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

[Lt2013]

I recieved a letter at my address in December 2012 of a company called parking eye and a fine of 60 pound says I drove into the car park and my total stay was for 2 hours and 18 minutes and I'm only allowed 2 hours. and it had two pics one off my car driving in and out! No face is clearly visible, after reading many forums I decided to ignore it. In January I recieved another letter saying I now owe 100 pound. I was a bit nervous but decided to ignore it. Any way were now in April and I have now recieved a letter from debt recovery plus limited saying I now owe 150 or i could get bailiffs at my address or court proceeding. Natural I'm nervous about this. Iv gave no response at all to these letters. I'm just lookin for some professional advice or somebody who has gone through it to advise me what to do.
I have heard there taking people to court at the moment if they do will I have to pay court costs?

[labman]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

I've been through it twice, though never with Parking Eye. Every time I've had similar letters and they get more and more frightening and then stop. IF they ever went to court, you would need to defend it and in nearly 100% certainty it would be thrown out - it's impossible to be totally certain.

You will not get bailiffs without them going to court, so don't worry about that. Their sole intent, as I'm sure you realise, is to worry you enough about this invoice (not fine) - or penalty if you prefer, I would advise keeping on ignoring them.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

The way to defend such a case - if they tried to sue - would probably be to subject their claim to strict proof.

Another way to deal with this matter would be to email the CEO of B & Q, Martyn Phillips - Martyn.Phillips@b-and-q.co.uk - and ask him to stop this nonsense as it makes it less likely you would use B & Q again.

[noob1981]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

I am on my first Debt recovery Plus Ltd letter. I did get nervous when it dropped through my door.
The car park in question is new, and next to a main rd with free parking after 6.30, it was busy, all the free spaces near by were taken. All council car parks are free in the evenings where I live, and I stupidly imagined that this new car park was no different. It was only when I received their first letter that I was aware it was a privately run car park. A little more worried now that it has been referred to a debt recovery company though. What should I expect next?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

What should I expect next?

More nasty letters.

To prepare for a defence if they try to sue, you should take photographs of the car park and especially of any signs.

[labman]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

I'm not sure whether or not it has this particular chain of letters, but MSE has the full string of letters used by many PPC's so you can see exactly what to expect next. Maybe worth going over and having a look.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

Another idea might be to defend the claim by suggesting that, as a wager or gambling debt, the matter cannot be enforced.

[Lt2013]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

The latest letter I have recieved says


Notice of intended litigation

We confirm the charge remains. In order to prevent your file being recommended for county court proceedings, payments must be made in full within 14 days


If you do not contact us following receipt of this letter we will have no other alternative than to assume that you are avoiding making a payment. In this situation we will recommend to the landholder that they commence county court proceedings in order to resolve the matter


Please note that if the case reaches court and a county court judgment is obtained, the amount outstanding may increase. Your credit rating may be affected if the judgement remains unpaid.


The parking was issued on private land in accordance with the protection of freedoms act 2012. D r + and our client are members of the British parking association and its approved operators scheme and comply with its strict code of conduct.


Visit http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/g...rking-charges/ for the department for transports guide to section 56 (which gives effect to schedule 4 ) of the protection of freedoms act2012, concerning the recovery of unpaid parking charges on private land in England and Wales


Is this just a standard scare letter?
I'm worried now. Iv read a few new forums where they are saying parking eye are taking people to court

[labman]

Re: Parking fine with parking eye and now debt recovery plus?

The quotation below was taken from the main Parking Website just 5 days ago re Parking Eye:

QUOTE (PE's Nemesis @ Fri, 3 May 2013 - 22:21)

... They need to lose court cases ...

To which the response was:


But they won't. They have no intention of going through with a hearing against a properly defended case. Instead, they will either discontinue the proceedings themselves, or simply omit to pay the hearing fee, so that the claim is struck out by the court.

They are, according to some sources, issuing hundreds of claims every week, and couldn't possibly turn up to contest all those cases. Their whole business model relies on a substantial number of "victims" paying up when they receive the claim documents.


This would reiterate what we say on this site. Appeal, then ignore. IF they issue proceedings, you must defend properly (go to Pepipoo for help) and it is unlikely they will go all the way. As it says - they rely on the summons being enough to scare people into paying.