Smart Parking/Debt Recovery Plus - ASDA store in Livinsgton

[awhite6000]

Hi,

 

I have received exactly the same letter from DRP.

 

I parked at an ASDA store in Livinsgton.

 

 

Came out to find a parking (Smart Parking) ticket on my windscreen.

 

 

After reading a few forums (and there are many) on this the advice that was mostly given was to ignore the ticket.

 

Three weeks ago I received a letter from DRP (debt recovery) with a payment request for £120 which I again ignored.

 

 

Today I have a second letter from them threatening court action if it is not paid before the 25th October.

 

 

I immediately called ASDA customer services in their head office who called the Livingston store to discuss it with them.

 

 

The advice they came back with is to send a copy of my till receipt to Smart Parking and to appeal.

They washed their hands of it.

 

I have until the 25th of October to do something here and I am unsure what to do.

 

 

Can someone answer a few questions I have:

 

1. Can DRP actually pursue court action and this £120 parking debt

2. Can I appeal it if I sent a copy of my till receipt?

 

What should I do - help!!!!

 

regards.

[dx100uk]

own thread created

 

 

dx

[dx100uk]

if you read the recent threads here you will see it is very rare.

 

 

when was this please

 

 

dx

[ericsbrother]

You dont have to worry about any deadline that DR+ give you because it is nothing to do with them,

 

 

they are just paid to send out threatening letters so you can ignore them completely.

 

 

As the store is in Scotland the PoFA doesnt apply so only the driver of the vehicle CAN have any liability

and they have contacted you as the keeper so they cant claim from you in that capacity.

 

 

They have to prove who was driving so ignoring them is the best thing you can do.

 

 

By responding they may get the idea that you are the driver but that is for them to prove so dont help them.

 

Smart? not a word I would use with parking companies.

[awhite6000]

Dear ericsbrother,

 

Thank you for your advise. I shall ignore this DRP letter for now and see what transpires.

 

regards

Awhite6000

[DragonFly1967]

DR+ are a bit like Popeye without the Spinach

 

They'll send you 3 or 4 letters in total, all increasingly threatening (read desperate) and then give up

 

As ericsbrother has said, because you're in Scotland, there's not a great deal then can do bar asking you to name the driver, which you don't have to do.

[themagician]

ignore advice has not been freely given on this site for over 2 yrs now ,what have you been reading??.

[Cardiff Devil]

Read up a few posts. POFA doesn't apply in Scotland, so there is no matter of keeper liability. The parking company would still need to identify the driver, as they did in England & Wales pre-POFA. Simply ignoring remains the best option in these cases.

[ericsbrother]

especially DR+ they are unregulated so cannot legally take your money anyway.

[Dublindel]

I thought as a debt collector they have to be regulated, can you enlighten me further

[ericsbrother]

If they take money they must be a licenced deposit taker and regulated by the FCA. As DR+ arent any money paid to them is not protected so theoretically the creditor can ask you to pay again when they do a runner.

[Dublindel]

Thanks for the info. I assumed all debt recovery had to be licensed compulsory. Live and learn