SMART PARKING/DEBT RECOVERY PLUS credit rating

[Annoyed1]

It's just a quick question really....

I have a PCN (which I don't believe I should pay) from Smart Parking and they have now passed on my details to Debt Recovery Plus who have sent 3 letters demanding £160.

My partner and I are applying for a mortgage soon and she thinks I should just pay the debt to avoid it affecting my credit rating and affecting our chances with the mortgage.

As we still live with her parents until the mortgage stuff is sorted, she is also worried that bailiffs will turn up at the door

So will it affect my credit rating if it doesn't go to court and what are the chances of bailiffs turning up?

Thanks

[R0b]

Re: SMART PARKING/DEBT RECOVERY PLUS credit rating

I am sure others will be around to help but assuming this is a private parking ticket and not a council one since you mentioned Smart Parking, they cannot just send bailiffs round.

There is a process to follow and the starting point would be to issue court proceedings against you. It is not uncommon for cases to take up to 6 months or more before a hearing date is given and, even after this point should you lose then you have one month to make the payment in full from the date of the judgment being made, before a CCJ is applied to your credit report. Bailiffs can only be used following a judgment in their favour and even then you would still have time to pay before then.

It would be more likely than not to be unlawful for Smart Parking to apply any adverse entry to your credit file in respect of the PCN, I doubt they have done it before and it would be extremely foolish of them to start doing so now.as it would enable you to bring a claim for breach of data protection and claim against them anything from around £500-£700 or more.

If your mortgage application is going through now, I would imagine that result would be known way before any legal proceedings have commenced so is unlikely to affect you right now. There are usually good chances of defending any claim made by parking companies but the choice is entirely up to you as to whether you pay or not - my first instinct says you shouldn't pay, but you've not given any background to the PCN so difficult to establish anything at the moment.

I've tagged @mystery1 or @charitynjw to provide more info

[ostell]

Re: SMART PARKING/DEBT RECOVERY PLUS credit rating

DR+ are eminently ignoreable in the grand scheme of parking things. And Smart tend to give up when sensibly challenged.

So post up details of that PCN, with identifying details removed and you will get help combating the original source of the problem. Most important: Do not identify who was driving. Look at this link to get some idea of how to handle them. Knowing that Court claims cost them more than they could possibly recover they seem to back off if collection of a payment becomes difficult.

[Annoyed1]

Re: SMART PARKING/DEBT RECOVERY PLUS credit rating

I've done a rough timeline with what's happened. I can give a more detailed account when I get home from work...

28/04/2017 Visited car park
05/05/2017 Received PCN
10/05/2017 Appealed PCN online *
14/07/2017 Received denial of appeal (say I went against T&Cs because my reg didn't print) (over 28 day)
25/07/2017 Sent letter to Smart Parking (COPY AND PASTED BELOW)
27/07/2017 Received debt letter
09/08/2017 Went away on holiday
25/08/2017 Got back received another debt letter and reply from Smart Parking saying nothing they can do as it has now been passed on etc

Bold are exact dates, unbold are rough dates

* Image attached


Letter I sent:

To whom it may concern

I am writing to you in regards to a recent denial of an appeal against a parking charge notice you have issued to me.

The letter is dated 09/06/2017 but it wasn’t received by myself until 14/07/2017. This meant that it past the 28 day appeal period and was therefore the POPLA Verification Code was invalid so I couldn’t file an appeal with them. When contacting yourselves to ask for another POPLA Verification Code, I was told that you couldn’t do this as the Royal Mail delivering late is no fault of yours. Sorry but of course this is your problem. You choose not to send these letters out recorded or signed for. I am being penalised unfairly for something that was completely out of my control that could have been avoided if your company had chosen a more guaranteed way of it being delivered.

But that aside, I still believe that I should never have received the PCN in the first instance. I entered Rock Street car park in Oldham on 28/04/2017 at 14:58:28. When I entered the car park, I entered with the full intention of paying to park for the full time I was there – you have confirmed this is true by acknowledging the fact that a ticket was purchased. When I got to the machine, I put my coins in, pressed the button and the ticket was automatically printed at 15:00. I paid £1.50 for a 2 hour stay and left the car park at 16:25:50, meaning that I left 34 minutes before the ticket expired.

You have acknowledged that I paid to park in that car park for the 87 minutes that my car was there. The fact that your company has machines that allows a ticket to be printed or monies to be entered when the VRM is incomplete is again, a fault of yours. The fact you have a machine that will allow an invalid ticket to be printed is ridiculous in itself. Common sense should prevail in this case in that you can clearly see a ticket was purchased and yourselves have suffered no loss in terms of money.

I will send a copy of this letter my MP, Oldham Council and my legal representation on this matter to gain their advice, should this not be resolved in 28 days, as you gave me.

In summary, you are trying to take advantage of weak and vulnerable people, thinking they will just accept this joke, when all you are doing is trying to hide behind terms and conditions. Not only is this embarrassing for you but it is insulting to me. My car was parked, a ticket was bought and money was paid, end of.

I believe this has now been passed on to a debt recovery company so I shall expect you to contact them to inform them that my PCN has been quashed and that I shall receive no further correspondence from them or yourselves chasing any monies from me.



Yours faithfully

[ostell]

Re: SMART PARKING/DEBT RECOVERY PLUS credit rating

It is a shame that you identified the driver in that letter. The NTK if insufficient to make the keeper liability as it does not comply with POFA.

At the moment it may just be a case of igoring any further letters from DR+ and others from the same stable. Come back if you get a letter before claim.

[Annoyed1]

Re: SMART PARKING/DEBT RECOVERY PLUS credit rating

Hi there!

As you can see above, I have had 3 letters from Debt Recovery Plus demanding £160, their client will take me to court etc

Well I ignored them and hadn't heard anything in a while but came home from a holiday to a letter from Zenith collections this time?

My partner is adamant I pay because if this goes to court and ruled against me, it will seriously hinder our chances on a mortgage

any advice???

[ostell]

Re: SMART PARKING/DEBT RECOVERY PLUS credit rating

And who are Zenith Collections asking you to pay? Zenith are the next desk in the DR+ office. Look carefully at the small print at the bottom of the letter.

You will only get a CCJ against you IF they take you to court and IF you lose and IF you do not pay within a month.

You are not yet close to court.