@
cringepcnskekw, at this stage, definitely do
not pay Trace Debt Recovery and do
not contact them. They are merely useless/powerless debt collectors. They cannot issue proceedings in their own name, determine liability, or affect a credit record simply because this £170 remains unpaid. Their only "power" is to intimidate the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree into paying out of ignorance and fear.
The admission made here — that the driver knew parking was restricted and stopped for KFC — should obviously not be repeated to PCM, Trace or anyone acting for them. Whether the driver had a particularly good reason for parking is not the issue now. PCM would still have to establish the legal basis for the charge, the contractual terms displayed, adequate signage, authority from the landholder, the sum claimed and, if pursuing the registered keeper rather than an identified driver, any applicable Schedule 4 PoFA requirements.
The one thing I would do now, because the original notices have been shredded, is submit a Subject Access Request (SAR) directly to Parking Control Management (UK) Ltd. Ask for:
• the original PCN/NtK and every subsequent notice;
• all photographs of the vehicle;
• all ANPR/patrol photographs and timestamps;
• all correspondence and case notes;
• the VRM/DVLA data obtained and the date it was obtained;
• copies of any photographs of the signage relied upon for this PCN.
That gets you back to the position you would have been in had the paperwork been retained. Do not use the SAR to discuss what happened and do not identify who was driving.
Otherwise, you can safely ignore ordinary Trace debt-collection demands and wait for something substantive. In particular, do
not ignore a genuine Letter of Claim (LoC)/Letter Before Claim (LBC) from PCM or their solicitors, and obviously do
not ignore a County Court claim form. If an LoC arrives, that is the point at which we respond formally and require the documents and evidence supporting the threatened claim.
Also, the wording at the bottom about the credit rating needs putting into perspective. Absolutely nothing in this Trace letter damages a credit rating. Even if PCM later sued, obtained judgment and the judgment were then paid within the prescribed one-month period, it would not remain as a registered CCJ affecting credit in any way whatsoever. There is a very long road between this £170 debt collector letter and any credit consequences.
So my advice at this point is:
SAR PCM now, ignore Trace, retain everything received from now on, and come back when the SAR material or an LoC arrives.
