Philips taking money for a parking fine not passing it to council!

[bigandyuk1]

Hi all,
Just looking for an opinion on this one really, A friend has come to me with this. Back in 2009 she received a parking ticket and thinking she could ignore it did just that. The council involved chased and as far as I can tell took it to court and then passed it to Philips to collect. She made an arrangement to pay starting in October 09 by standing order. She thinks the amount to be paid was £100 but last month the payment went out as usual meaning she had now paid £130! She called the council to find out if the parking ticket was now settled or not and they told her they had received nothing from her or Philips and had now written the debt off. She then called Philips who said they had not received any monies from her at all, she then came to me and I have taken a look at her bank account and printed off the statements showing the payments going to PHILIPS COLLECTION each month.

As Philips have had the money but not paid the council and are denying having received it at all and the council now say they have written the debt off, where do I go from here?

Regards
BigandyUK1

[bigandyuk1]

Re: Philips taking money for a parking fine not passing it to council!

No ideas on this one then?

[Caspar]

Re: Philips taking money for a parking fine not passing it to council!

I'm not an expert, but here's my take on things. If I were you I'd phone Philips and the Council again but make sure you record the conversations as proof. Get Philips to lie to you on the phone about having received no money, then get the council to confirm they have received no monies from Philips.

Once this is done switch to writing. Do not deal with anything further over the phone. Send Philips a SAR request enclosing the £10.00, see what, if anything, they send back. If they don't respond they're committing a criminal offence (which they've already committed by admitting theft over the phone - RECORDED When I record telephone conversations I always introduce the recording -eg- call to Philips Collection, 10.05am October 19th 2010, then let the machine record the number dialling as tone dialling proves it's their number even if they don't answer as Philips, in which case your first question is Hello, is that Philips Collection?).

Next step assuming they provide the SAR information, write to the council informing them they are vicariously liable (hope you're reading this AMY!!!!!!) - this means they are as liable and guilty as the DCA as they employed them to pursue the debt.

At that stage I'd repost on here and seek further advice. Obviously you need the fine writing off and anything recorded on your credit file removed. Then there's the issue of compensation and the issue of the council and Philips having committed theft.

If you need any help, just ask away!