cp plus and trethowans solicitors

[manwithnoname]

Hi all and thanks for a usefull and informative site!

 

my problem:

 

went shopping to morrisons in ???? in the middle of may.

they have a pay-at-the-machine-and-get-a-refund-at-the-till car park.

we didnt have enough change so didnt pay for the parking.

(when we had no money to pay once before, we had been told by a staff member that it was ok as long as we were in the store shopping!)

came out 20 mins later to find a £40 "fine" (invoice?) on the car.

after researching this site i just filed the ticket away and waited for the reminder/last chance to pay us anything letter.

got my FIRST correspondence in the post today, - a letter from trethowans solicitors demanding £40 by 8 august or cp plus would instruct that court procedings would commence with no further notice! heavy handed or what?

so after my initial shock, my thoughts are to treat it as if it were a debt collection letter, send back a letter asking trethowans to refer the case back to cp plus as it is in dispute and then send the standard template "prove-it" letter to cp plusltd.

 

does this sound sensible, or would anyone recommend a differant course?

 

thanks m.w.n.n.

Edited August 7, 2008 by manwithnoname
edited to remove any details that might give my ID to CP plus!

[Al27]

Trethowans are well known.

 

If you ignore you should get one more (desperate sounding) letter from them and then they'll give up.

[lamma]

word on the street is that Trethowans have set up a little team to chase up PPC debts. A dangerous game for a solicitor to play...

Was the Trethowans letter signed by someone with the first of "Sue".

Word on the street is that she heads up this new team - though I expect letters to be signed by some general bod, I wouldn't expect a real solicitor to sign their name to these [problem] letters and so risk their licence.

[manwithnoname]

thanks for your replys.

 

the letter is not signed by anyone!

 

so do you think i should ignore it, or reply as i mentioned in my first post?

 

thanks again m.w.n.n.

[Al27]

Ignore.

 

They would have taken you to court months ago if they had the law on their side.

[lamma]

Its just Sue trying to make her target figures...

[manwithnoname]

going to post an update, with copys of letters recieved but need to get to 5 posts to be able to attach images as far as i know so just bear with me..........

[manwithnoname]

nearly there i think........

[manwithnoname]

ok still cant attach anything, off to read the help files!!

[manwithnoname]

ok, couldnt make sense of the faq on attachments, will try linking.

 

this first link is the letter i got first, about which the above posts are about.

 

 

this link is the latest instalment, the next please please give us some money letter.

it shows what thin ice these companys skate on.

 

 

my favorite bits:

1st letter: if not recieved in 14 days court procedings will be issued without further notice

2nd letter: necessary to refer back to cp plus for instructions.

 

both letters: no further notification will be sent. (so whats this then??)

 

heading of 2nd letter: cp plusltd v yourself - trying to make it look scary and legal!

 

hope they give you a good laugh

 

regards m.w.n.n.

[Barnsley Boy]

may be just me, but the links still don't work.

[Al27]

Work fine for me.

 

Carry on ignoring. They're entitled to a pound from you if you didn't pay. I doubt they'll be taking you to court for £1 though.

[RichardM]

They're not even entitled to the £1, since if the OP can prove that he/she had made a purchase in the store, the £1 was refundable. Therefore, no loss to the store whatsoever.

[pwb1979]

Hi,

 

Found this thread when searching for trethowans as I have received a request to release my details from the DVLA for a supposed parking offence. The comments make interesting reading and I would like to know if the claim from trethowans was dropped or if they continued persuing the claim? Are the comments based on peoples experience/law?

 

Thanks very much!!

[Al27]

It's not an offence - nobody will be going to prison.

 

From the people posting on here and Pepipoo, Trethowans send two letters and that's that.

 

We know of no case of them taking anyone to court. They are solicitors after all (albeit with this strange sideline activity of sending threatening letters) and know full well they wouldn't get very far in court.

[lamma]

If their letters are outrageous report them here Solicitors Regulation Authority - Protecting consumers of legal services if you can't tell if the letter is outrageous post a picture of it - suitably washed of your personal details.

[pwb1979]

hmm interesting, i'll wait and see if the letters are the same as the ones posted on here. thanks for the replies, the more the merrier where the trethowen bunch are concerned.

[lamma]

and the more that complain validly to the SRA for any of the usual solicitor's letters we see here the better.

[Nelster]

Hey all, I had a similar circumstance with CP Plus Ltd issuing me with an 'invoice' for £40 based on me parking my car 'outwith a designated bay'.

 

I felt that the whole episode was entrapment as I had previously parked in exactly the same spot (along with others) and paid the required sums for the priviledge of doing so. They did away with the 'pay and display' tickets as parking fees in hospital car parks are no longer valid in Scotland.

 

They are trying to recoup the losses of car park revenue by catching patients out. I was issued with a ticket and was so angry that I decided not to pay and await some form of follow up from them.

 

I have received today 'letter 1' from Trethowans and am not going to follow this one up. Both CP Plus and Trethowans fail to offer you a phone contact to discuss matters, only a payment line!!!

 

Its a total [problem] and whilst I don't wish to go to court, I would love to make an argument out of it! Its not ciriminal, just a difference of opinion and its up to them if they wish to take me all the way!

[lamma]

they won't

[manwithnoname]

Hi all

 

just thought i would post to let anyone who is interested know that i never heard anymore after the 2 scary solicitors letters.

so just ignore seems a good tactic.

 

something interesting i spotted today while in the morrisons where i originally got the unsolicited invoice was that the cp-plus badged pay and display machine cash boxes were being emptied by morrisons staff!

 

indicated a closer tie between the two company's than morrisons would have you think!

[lamma]

The money is probably Morrisons by right. Depends on the contract with the PPC, they may only get income from paid invoices.

[Al27]

Morrisons usually knock a pound off your bill at the checkout.

 

Which means you need two pound coins before you even start shoping - one for the car park and one for the trolley. Grrr.

[GOLDRINGER]

1) First of all check the signs on that car park and if the word PENALTY appears anywhere on the signs then the ticket is invalid. Be quick as they are in the process of changing them to make them legal.

Only Parking Charge Notices can be issued on private land.

 

2) The PCN is issued to the driver of the vehicle so if 1 does not apply then write to them and tell them you were not the driver. You are under NO obligation to tell them who was driving.

 

GOLDRINGER

[crem]

It is never wise to write to a PPC for any reason.