Debt Recovery Plus – Appeal Guide

Have you received a letter of demand from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd?  This page explains your options in dealing with that letter.

Did they purchase the Debt?

The first thing to understand is whether or not Debt Recovery Plus  (DRPL) have purchased the debt off the creditor, or whether they are simply acting for the creditor.  In most cases, such as with Parking Charge Notices (PCN’s), you will find that DRPL are simply acting for the creditor and have not purchased the debt.  If they can get the money off you, then Debt Recovery Plus get a percentage commission.  If they can’t the money off you, they get nothing.  In this letter from DRP debt recovery, they say “Our client, APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd have written to you recently…”.  This is a dead give away that they haven’t purchases the debt of APOCA.  They are simply sending letters on APOCA’s behalf.  Why is this relevant?  Because if they haven’t purchased the debt, Debt Recovery Plus  have no legal right to take any action against you (other than send you letters).   Only the creditor (APCOA in this example) can take action against you.  Reading on, the letter asks the question “what if you don’t pay what you owe?”.    Then it gives the answer “if you don’t pay the full amount by …. then we will recommend to the creditor’s solicitor that court action should be taken to recover what you owe”.  Oh really scary stuff!  The creditor’s solicitor already knows you haven’t paid, and they know they can take you to court now, but they haven’t done so because its expensive to take people to court for small debts.  So a recommendation from  Debt Recovery Plus Ltd they the creditor takes you to court means absolutely nothing.

 

What can Debt Recovery Plus do to me?

In short, they can’t do anything to you other than try to scare you.  You will notice on this letter from Debt Recovery Plus, it says on the heading line “DEBT COLLECTION INVESTIGATION AND ENFORCEMENT SERVICES”.  This is designed to create an image in your mind of an investigator taking some enforcement action against you.  But they can’t take any action against you whatsoever.  All they can do is send you letters and ring you up.

 

Can Debt Recovery Plus affect my credit rating?

No one can impact your credit rating except a court.  To have a debt impact in your credit rating, the following things have to happen:]

1. You receive a Letter before County Court action

2. You receive a County Court Claim

3. You lost the case in court.

4. You refuse the pay the amount owed within 28 days of the court judgement.

Only at this point can your debt go on your credit report. Until then, you don’t have to worry about debt collection agencies such as Debt Recovery Plus putting anything on your credit file.

 

Are DebtRecoveryPlus Ltd Bailiffs?

Bailiffs and debt collection agencies are two different things.  DebtRecoveryPlus are not baillifs, they are a debt collection agency.  Bailiffs act on a court order from a court and have more powers that debt collection agencies.  In fact, debt collection agencies have no special powers at all – they can only send you letters, ring you up or knock on your door and ask to speak to you.  If someone from Debt Recovery Plus knocks on your door (this is rare for parking charge notices) then you don’t have to answer and don’t have to talk to them, they cannot enter your house unless you invite them to, and they cannot take any belongings from your house.

OK, what are my options

1. Your first option, as always, is to pay the amount they are asking.  But I assume you’ve come to this website because you don’t want to do that.

2. You second option, is to appeal to the parking company itself.  Don’t bother appealing to Debt Recovery Plus, as they don’t have the power to withdraw your parking fine, but the parking company does.

3. Your third option is to go back to the retailer at the car park where the PCN was issued and convince them you are  a regular shopper and asking them to contact the car park company to have the charge notice withdrawn.

4.  Your final option is to simply ignore the letter of demand from Debt Recovery  Plus  and wait and see if the Parking Company sends you a letter before county court claim.  If they do, then you can think about paying it then.

In reality, the best option is a combination of options 2-4.  Get an appeal into the parking company, and whilst your appeal is being considered, talk to the retailer where you were parked.  And whilst you are doing this, simply ignore the letters from Debt Recovery Plus.

What if my appeal to the parking company was unsuccessful?

If your appeal to the parking company was unsuccessful, then your options remain the same as already mentioned. You can either pay the parking charge, or you can ignore the letters from Debt Recovery Plus and hold out to see if you receive a Letter Before Action. If you don’t receive an LBA then all well and good. And if you do receive and LBA, then you can decide at that point if you wish to pay the parking charge.

 

Will  the debt increase?

The inescapable fact is that Debt Recovery Plus will quite likely add costs and send you letters demanding higher amounts.  They do this purely to scare you into paying now.  However, as well  as costs going up, costs often come down.  See this letter http://unassailablefortress.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/parking-charge-notice-should-you-pay.html where Debt Recovery Plus are offering a driver a reduced settlement.

Which car park companies use DRP Debt Recovery?

- Euro Car Parks
- Parking Eye
- National Car Parks (NCP)
- APCOA
- Smart Parking
- G24
- UKPC
- Excel
- Parking Collection Services
- Parking Control Management UK Ltd
- Private Parking Solution
- First Parking Services
- Highview Parking Limited
- Vehicle Control Services
- CP Plus Limited
- Northamptonshire Parking Management
- Northwest Parking Enforcement Ltd
- Total Parking Solutions

Debt Recovery Plus – My Story

Amy D’Orazi

Amy D’Orazi stopped at a Cheltenham car park when her six-month-old daughter, who was suffering from a heavy cold, started crying, and Mrs D’Orazi was worried she would be sick.  But attendents in the car park gave her a parking charge notice.  She has now been battling for months to get UK Parking Control to overturn the parking fine.  UK Parking Control then appointed a debt collection agency, Debt Recovery Plus, to recoup the money.

But Mrs D’Orazi says initial fine was for £75, but this eventually went up to almost £150 after Mrs D’Orazi continued to refuse to pay it. Lisa Clure, director of Debt Recovery Plus, said there had been a problem with shoppers using the car park in the past.  After carefully reviewing the case, we were unable to cancel the charge due to the historic problems of unauthorised parking in this car park”.
See also http://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/164752/False-debt-collection-the-threatening-letter-of-the-law

 

Dukinfield

Debt Recovery Plus head office is located in Dukinfield.

 

Scotland and Northern Ireland

If you receive a letter for demand from Debt Recovery Plus for a matter that occurred in Scotland or Northern Ireland, then be aware that most people ignore these letters as the matter does not fall within the Protection of Freedoms Act (2012).  This means that DRP cannot hold the keeper liable and must therefore be able to prove in court who the driver was.  These letters refer to so called “landmark” case of Parking Eye versus Beavis.  However, in this so called landmark case, the identify of the driver was not disputed (Mr Beavis admitted to being the driver).  Therefore the landmark case is not relevant to scenarios in Scotland and Northern Ireland where the keeper has not admitted to being the driver.

 

 

 

 

 

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