A BROMSGROVE man has hit out at a debt recovery company which chased him for an unpaid fine, despite it being rescinded two and a half years ago.
Bill Newnes contacted The Standard after receiving a number of demands for £160 from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd (DRP) which was supposedly collecting the unpaid bill on behalf of UK Parking Control (UKPC).
It related to a parking ticket issued on the Bromsgrove Retail Park, Birmingham Road, on February 22, 2013.
Back then we reported on our front page about the issue which had seen a number of people handed fines because, it was said, they had parked there and then left the site, rather than using the stores on there.
Sainsbury’s, the owners of the land, sorted out the issue back then and, as well as the fines being rescinded, those who had paid the amount were refunded in full.
Mr Newnes said he was totally shocked to have received a demand for payment.
“Despite the well-documented cancelled tickets, they have decided to ignore this information and continued to harass me for payment by sending further letters.”
On September 3, we contacted both DRP and UKPC and have not received a reply from either.
However, Mr Newnes received a letter on September 4 from UKPC stating they had looked into it and could confirm the ticket had been cancelled.
The company wrote that ‘it was not their intention to cause undue worry and frustration when enforcing its client’s parking regulations’.
Mr Newnes said: “I am just concerned that if this has happened to me, it could have happened to others who had their fines cancelled back then.
“And what is worse is, after receiving these letters, they may just pay the fine to make the problem go away.”
