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    • Well barristers would say that in the hope that motorists would go to them for advice -obviously paid advice.  The problem with appealing is at least twofold. 1] there is a real danger that some part of the appeal will point out that the person appealing [the keeper ] is also the driver.  And in a lot of cases the last thing the keeper wants when they are also the driver is that the parking company knows that. It makes it so much easier for them as the majority  of Judges do not accept that the keeper and the driver are the same person for obvious reasons. Often they are not the same person especially when it is a family car where the husband, wife and children are all insured to drive the same car. On top of that  just about every person who has a valid insurance policy is able to drive another person's vehicle. So there are many possibilities and it should be up to the parking company to prove it to some extent.  Most parking company's do not accept appeals under virtually any circumstances. But insist that you carry on and appeal to their so called impartial jury who are often anything but impartial. By turning down that second appeal, many motorists pay up because they don't know enough about PoFA to argue with those decisions which brings us to the second problem. 2] the major parking companies are mostly unscrupulous, lying cheating scrotes. So when you appeal and your reasons look as if they would have merit in Court, they then go about  concocting a Witness Statement to debunk that challenge. We feel that by leaving what we think are the strongest arguments to our Member's Witness Statements, it leaves insufficient time to be thwarted with their lies etc. And when the motorists defence is good enough to win, it should win regardless of when it is first produced.   
    • S13 (2)The creditor may not exercise the right under paragraph 4 to recover from the keeper any unpaid parking charges specified in the notice to keeper if, within the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which that notice was given, the creditor is given— (a)a statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement; (b)a copy of the hire agreement; and (c)a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement. As  Arval has complied with the above they cannot be pursued by EC----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S14 [1]   the creditor may recover those charges (so far as they remain unpaid) from the hirer. (2)The conditions are that— (a)the creditor has within the relevant period given the hirer a notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (5) (a “notice to hirer”), together with a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2) and the notice to keeper; (b)a period of 21 days beginning with the day on which the notice to hirer was given has elapsed;  As ECP did not send copies of the documents to your company and they have given 28 days instead of 21 days they have failed to comply with  the Act so you and your Company are absolved from paying. That is not to say that they won't continue asking to be paid as they do not have the faintest idea how PoFA works. 
    • Euro have got a lot wrong and have failed to comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4.  According to Section 13 after ECP have written to Arval they should then send a NTH to the Hirer  which they have done.This eliminates Arval from any further pursuit by ECP. When they wrote to your company they should have sent copies of everything that they asked Arval for. This is to prove that your company agree what happened on the day of the breach. If ECP then comply with the Act they are allowed to pursue the hirer. If they fail, to comply they cannot make the hirer pay. They can pursue until they are blue in the face but the Hirer is not lawfully required to pay them and if it went to Court ECP would lose. Your company could say who was driving but the only person that can be pursued is the Hirer, there does not appear to be an extension for a driver to be pursued. Even if there was, because ECP have failed miserably to comply with the Act  they still have no chance of winning in Court. Here are the relevant Hire sections from the Act below.
    • Thank-you FTMDave for your feedback. May I take this opportunity to say that after reading numerous threads to which you are a contributor, I have great admiration for you. You really do go above and beyond in your efforts to help other people. The time you put in to help, in particular with witness statements is incredible. I am also impressed by the way in which you will defer to others with more experience should there be a particular point that you are not 100% clear on and return with answers or advice that you have sought. I wish I had the ability to help others as you do. There is another forum expert that I must also thank for his time and patience answering my questions and allowing me to come to a “penny drops” moment on one particular issue. I believe he has helped me immensely to understand and to strengthen my own case. I shall not mention who it is here at the moment just in case he would rather I didn't but I greatly appreciate the time he took working through that issue with me. I spent 20+ years of working in an industry that rules and regulations had to be strictly adhered to, indeed, exams had to be taken in order that one had to become qualified in those rules and regulations in order to carry out the duties of the post. In a way, such things as PoFA 2012 are rules and regulations that are not completely alien to me. It has been very enjoyable for me to learn these regulations and the law surrounding them. I wish I had found this forum years ago. I admit that perhaps I had been too keen to express my opinions given that I am still in the learning process. After a suitable period in this industry I became Qualified to teach the rules and regulations and I always said to those I taught that there is no such thing as a stupid question. If opinions, theories and observations are put forward, discussion can take place and as long as the result is that the student is able to clearly see where they went wrong and got to that moment where the penny drops then that is a valuable learning experience. No matter how experienced one is, there is always something to learn and if I did not know the answer to a question, I would say, I don't know the answer to that question but I will go and find out what the answer is. In any posts I have made, I have stated, “unless I am wrong” or “as far as I can see” awaiting a response telling me what I got wrong, if it was wrong. If I am wrong I am only too happy to admit it and take it as a valuable learning experience. I take the point that perhaps I should not post on other peoples threads and I shall refrain from doing so going forward. 🤐 As alluded to, circumstances can change, FTMDave made the following point that it had been boasted that no Caggers, over two years, who had sent a PPC the wrong registration snotty letter, had even been taken to court, let alone lost a court hearing .... but now they have. I too used the word "seemed" because it is true, we haven't had all the details. After perusing this forum I believe certain advice changed here after the Beavis case, I could be wrong but that is what I seem to remember reading. Could it be that after winning the above case in question, a claimant could refer back to this case and claim that a defendant had not made use of the appeal process, therefore allowing the claimant to win? Again, in this instance only, I do not know what is to be gained by not making an appeal or concealing the identity of the driver, especially if it is later admitted that the defendant was the driver and was the one to input the incorrect VRN in error. So far no one has educated me as to the reason why. But, of course, when making an appeal, it should be worded carefully so that an error in the appeal process cannot be referred back to. I thought long and hard about whether or not to post here but I wanted to bring up this point for discussion. Yes, I admit I have limited knowledge, but does that mean I should have kept silent? After I posted that I moved away from this forum slightly to find other avenues to increase my knowledge. I bought a law book and am now following certain lawyers on Youtube in the hope of arming myself with enough ammunition to use in my own case. In one video titled “7 Reasons You Will LOSE Your Court Case (and how to avoid them)” by Black Belt Barrister I believe he makes my point by saying the following, and I quote: “If you ignore the complaint in the first instance and it does eventually end up in court then it's going to look bad that you didn't co-operate in the first place. The court is not going to look kindly on you simply ignoring the company and not, let's say, availing yourself of any kind of appeal opportunities, particularly if we are talking about parking charge notices and things like that.” This point makes me think that, it is not such a bizarre judgement in the end. Only in the case of having proof of payment and inputting an incorrect VRN .... could it be worthwhile making a carefully worded appeal in the first instance? .... If the appeal fails, depending on the reason, surely this could only help if it went to court? As always, any feedback gratefully received.
    • To which official body does one make a formal complaint about a LPA fixed charge receiver? Does one make a complaint first to the company employing the appointed individuals?    Or can one complain immediately to an official body, such as nara?    I've tried researching but there doesn't seem a very clear route on how to legally hold them to account for wrongful behaviour.  It seems frustratingly complicated because they are considered to be officers of the court and held in high esteem - and the borrower is deemed liable for their actions.  Yet what does the borrower do when disclosure shows clear evidence of wrong-doing? Does anyone have any pointers please?
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      The judge's reasoning is very useful and will certainly be helpful in any other cases relating to third-party rights where the customer has contracted with the courier company by using a broker.
      This is generally speaking the problem with using PackLink who are domiciled in Spain and very conveniently out of reach of the British justice system.

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Linked to debts that aren't mine?!


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Since moving house around 18 months ago I've had a number of instances of debt collection agencies contacting me over debts which are not mine.

 

A bit of background. The house I've moved into is my girlfriend's family home which they've owned for over 20 years. Nobody in the house has shared a common first or surname. We recently completed the purchase of the house some months back. Also I have very few debts (a mortgage and a bank over draft) with all my loans paid off in full. I have no credit cards. My credit record is clear without any defaults.

 

Late last year this all started. Out of the blue I got a letter from a debt collection agency stating they were looking for someone of my name who'd previously lived at a stated address. I'd never even been to the town in question so phoned up and stated it wasn't me - they seemed happy and advised they'd update their records.

 

In March of this year I received a series of letters from Lowell/Red Debt relating to the above mentioned debt - both chasing me for payment/threatening legal action and offering up payment plans. After a letter of response where I explained that I didn't acknowledge the debt, did not know of their company and had never had a credit card, let alone with the company they'd bought the debt from they responded back confirming the matter was close. I did have to send a further letter threatening action if they failed to clear the entries they'd put on my credit record (which they'd advised had already happened) which they eventually did.

 

Then a few months back I get another letter. A different debt this time and a different debt collection agency (unrelated to the above as best as I could fine). Unfortunately I can't seem to find the letter for this one. However again in this instance I spoke to the people involved - despite the rude tone taken by the person on the other end of the phone they eventually agreed they had the wrong person.

 

So onto this morning. I receive a letter from another debt collection agency - Direct Legal & Collections. I don't believe they're related to either of the above (though as I can't find the second set of info I can't be 100% sure). They claim I owe Hillesden Securities over £1,500. I understand Hillesden aren't the company who the debt is likely to be with. However as at the opening, I don't have any debts - certainly nothing that I know of.

 

The letter states that they have been unsuccessful in contacting me at my previous address and that I've failed to notify them that I've moved. Their 'sources' have confirmed I live at this address and they want me to contact them to resolve the issue.

 

So I have both a short term and long term question.

 

In the short term how do I respond to DLC? Replying by phone doesn't seem the best option so do I need to respond in writing stating that I don't acknowledge them, their client or the debt and explain that I believe they have the wrong person and that I don't knowingly have any outstanding debts? Should I mention that this isn't the first instance of a DCA contacting me incorrectly? Should I request details of the debt at this stage or see how they respond?

 

Also longer term, how can I stop this from happening. Other than the name in the first two instances and I presume in this instance, there's nothing I can see that links me to any of these debts. Even though I'm absolutely confident in knowing I don't owe money to any company - you start to get worn down by this kind of thing!

 

Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

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I would personally throw the letter in the bin and waste no more time with these idiots, failing that just send their letter back with person not known at this address, preferably wrapped around a house brick with no postage attached.

 

Have you checked you credit record latley to see if any spurious entries linking you to a previous address has been added by these morons?

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Have you checked you credit record latley to see if any spurious entries linking you to a previous address has been added by these morons?

 

In the first instance they did link the address in question but after they confirmed they contacted me in error they eventually had this entry removed.

 

Just checked my record now and it's still only showing the current and previous addresses I lived at.

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Not disputing the advice but it's pretty **** that I can continually get hounded by this and seemingly other than ignore it, there's not a great deal I can do.

 

It's harder to return the letters as it's only after opening that I realise what it relates to.

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You could complain to the Information Commisioners office about Data protection etc

 

Complaints - Privacy & electronic communication - ICO

Data protection

 

If you have a complaint about any aspect of data protection – maybe you believe your personal information has been handled incorrectly – we may be able to help. First, please read the data protection section. This will tell you what we can investigate, what you should tell us and the possible outcomes you can expect

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Funny you should mention data protection as I was on a briefing about that yesterday. I'm not sure how it applies to the wider problem - whilst I can see how it could in the individual instances relating to misuse of my personal data. It wouldn't prevent someone from doing it in the future. Maybe that's the crux, if they're just randomly going through the phone book writing to everyone with the same name as the debtor there's not a great deal I can do. It's very frustrating though.

 

Maybe the OFT would be better to complain to?

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some of the lowest DCA's do a trawl of names and bulk send out begging letters in the hope that someone will respond, they then do their damndest to pin some debt onto the poor sod who responded first.

 

all such letters should be sent to the companies nearest Trading standards and or OFT for their records on how these lowlife operate

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Not disputing the advice but it's pretty **** that I can continually get hounded by this and seemingly other than ignore it, there's not a great deal I can do.

 

It's harder to return the letters as it's only after opening that I realise what it relates to.

There are stories of people who couldn't cope with this and either paid up to get a quiet life or topped themselves!

 

Remember that when responding to these 'people'.

 

I would get a short letter together as it seems to be a regular occurrence.

 

I would demand they confirm no further action will be taken, that they confirm that they haven't updated your credit file and why they thought that you were the correct person in the first place and why they didn't carry out any checks before they contacted you.

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Thanks for the response. It's exactly your first point that annoys me - given my confidence that it's not my debt I'm in no hurry to give them any money (or top myself) however I can easily see how someone could rush into that situation given the tone they take.

 

I think I will respond in writing - I'm not a big fan of sitting doing nothing. I'll post what I propose to say.

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I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY OR ANY COMPANY YOU CLAIM TO REPRESENT.

I am writing to you regarding the letter I received today dated 5th November.

 

I believe that you have incorrectly linked me to the debt referenced above. I have no financial dealings which have an overdue balance at this time nor have I at any time in the past with yourselves or any other company.

 

Therefore unless you can provide evidence to the contrary I would kindly ask you to confirm in writing that you have in fact incorrectly linked this debt to and that my record with yourself is now closed. I also expect that no entries are made in my credit file or if they have that you take the action to remove them and also confirm this in writing.

 

However should you wish to pursue this matter then I would request full details of the debt including a copy of the signed credit agreement, the information from which you have ‘confirmed’ that the debtor is in fact myself and details of the address at which the debt relates to.

 

If you fail to comply with the above then I will seek out legal advice on the matter and also seek guidance from the Office of Fair Trading reminding you that the OFT guidelines state that it is unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

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DLC are an absolute pain in the ar*e and are very aggressive. They sent a letter to my son's address 60 miles away looking for me - I've never lived there, he'd only moved in 6 months efore and he hadn't lived at home for 7 years before that. Doesn't make for happy families I can tell you! However after a complaint to the CEO of DLC and informing Trading Standards I eventually received a letter confirming that they had made a mistake and it wasn't me they were looking for. (I have that letter in a VERY safe place!)

 

Absolute proof that they trawl credit reference agencies and electoral rolls for similar names etc. They should be closed down.

 

 

Ell-enn

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My advice is based on my opinion and experience only. It is not to be taken as legal advice - if you are unsure you should seek professional help.

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DLC are part of Hillesden.

 

Nasty characters indeed, who operate in an extremely underhand way.

 

Here is the letter that I would send to all of these goons -

 

I ACKNOWLEDGE NO DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY NOR ANY COMPANY YOU PURPORT TO REPRESENT

 

Dear Mental Defectives,

 

You have contacted me/us regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.

 

I/we would point out that I/we have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (insert company name).

 

I am/we are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.

 

As I have no knowledge of this alleged debt, I demand that you prove your entitlement to enforce it. No further correspondence will be entered into unless you can prove that this alleged debt exists, and that I am indeed the debtor.

 

As your letter of xx/xx/xxxx already puts you in breach of the Office Of Fair Trading Debt Collection Guidance a complaint has duly been filed. Any further breaches will be added to this complaint.

 

Should you fail to comply with my demand for proof, the matter will be brought to the attention of my own local Trading Standards department, as well as the one in your local area.

 

As you have demanded money with no proof of entitlement, you can regard this letter as the initiation of a formal complaint. I therefore request a copy of your official complaints procedure which you are legally obliged to supply. Should you fail to satisfy this complaint, it will be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

 

Should you be unable to provide proof that this alleged debt is genuine, then you are in breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 and must cease processing my data immediately. Failure to comply with this will result in a complaint to the Information Commissioner and may result in court action.

 

Also, note that while the account relating to the reference number above remains in strong dispute, you are not allowed to pass it on to any third party. Should you do so, further complaints will be made to the relevant authorities outlined above.

 

I look forward to your reply that this matter is now closed and that you have totally removed my data from your system.

 

Yours Faithfully,

 

xxxxxxxxxxx

 

Don't waste money on Special or recorded delivery, as this is not a document that will be relied upon in court.

 

Follow up with complaints as appropriate, preferably by email. Cheaper.

 

SH

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