Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

[LLL]

Can anyone help ? I have an employee who has received letter 3 from DRP in respect of a PCN for overstaying in a retail area car park. The employee has recently moved house and is relatively new to the UK ( east european) so was not aware of the need to inform the DVLA of address change. This means that the employee never received the first PCN from DRP as it was delivered to the old address, the former landlord has been unhelpful and they cannot get hold of this letter. We do know that the date of the charge is 29/08/15. The PCN is now £150.00 and I have advised my employee to ignore the letters. They are petrified that may be taken to court and made to pay court charges and have credit ratings affected. I think that if they had received the first letter then they would have probably paid the the PCN but now it is £ 150.00 they do not know what to do and can ill afford the £150.00. I have offered to appeal or contact DRP directly on their behalf but I fear we will get little sympathy from DRP. I'm inclined to tell them to continuing ignoring the letters but with the recent high profile court case, are these companies going to start taking more individuals to court ?Any advice would be appreciated.

[mystery1]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

DRP do not own the "debt" and cannot go to court themselves. They also wouldn't have issued a PCN either.

It might be possible to contact the PPC, if you know who it is, and negotiate, certainly for no more than £100 and perhaps less.

Your instincts i'd say are correct though and i'd ignore (barring court papers or a LBA) at this stage too.

M1

[LLL]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

Thanks M1. I should have stated that the creditor is Euro Car Parks Ltd so it's a question of their stance against us offenders I guess.

[mystery1]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

Pretty weak at the moment but Beavis is a potential game changer and although going to courtt is not cost productive in an individual case i suspect many more cases from all walks of scumbag to materialise.

M1

[LLL]

Debt Recovery Plus - 4th Letter

One of my employees is now in receipt of their 4th letter from DRP , as I explained in a previous posting, they never received the 1st letter due to a change of address. DRP have " advised their client Euro Car Parks Ltd, that court action should now be taken " DRP have also offered a 3 month installment payment plan for the £150.00 they seek. My employee has until 14th Dec to make a payment or the " creditor's solicitor may start court action to recover etc ". My employee is suitable scared of any court action but I'm inclined to advise them not to pay or respond to DRP. Any advice I can give them would be appreciated, ie the chances of a court action which I know is difficult to predict. Thanks

[mystery1]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

If Euro car parks send a letter before action it'll be different but DRP should be ignored IMO. Fear mongering is what they do to get paid.

M1

[LLL]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

Thanks M1, I'll tell them to sit tight and see if Santa delivers a letter from Euro Car Parks.

[JenniferB]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

Hi there,

I was wondering what the outcome of this was? I am in a very similar position and am a bit worried about it - some people say ignore, others say pay!

Many thanks in advance!

[LLL]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

We just ignored the letters and have heard nothing more since . And it's 6 months ago now since the last letter so guess that's over now. They probably will take action against the odd person but the business relies on scaring enough people who will pay up.

- - - Updated - - -

My advice is to ignore them

[mystery1]

Re: Debt Recovery Plus - Parking Charge

When it comes to debt collectors ignoring is ok. I wouldn't ignore court papers or a proper letter before claim but debt collectors can't take you to court unless the debt is bought by them so it's ok to ignore them.

You shouldn't let parking tickets, in England and Wales, get to that stage without appealing though.

M1