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« on: April 01, 2025, 05:26:12 pm »
Hi.
I hope you can help me.
I had a text yesterday morning.
It just stated Marstons and a ref and telephone number. Normally I'd ignore these, but, I have used the Dartford crossing on 14th February, paid, but then last Saturday received a notice of non payment. I telephoned, and stated I had paid, they had no record so they said I should send proof of payment which I did.
Back to the text. I googled the company, found out it was a bailiff and being concerned that it was something to do with the dart charge called.
I've never been so shocked at how bullying, aggressive and railroading this call turned out to be.
I gave the ref asking what it was about, and was asked for all sorts of info. Previous address current address dob. Etc etc. I kept stating you don't need this info, I just need to know what this is about. But she insisted that I give this jnfo before telling me.
It turns out it was a pcn for Hackney Council regarding, I think a bus lane violation. Every time I tried to clarify she was just aggressive and very unhelpful.
So it's a pcn, Hackney council 3rd May 2024.
That was a day I drove from Yorkshire to London to see a relation, before I drove to the channel tunnel, I was driving to Italy and would be away for 3 months. (90 day rule for Eu) So it made sense.
The woman then went on that the pcn was for 3rd of May and was sent to an old address which she stated the Dvla updated 10th May. It was as though she was taking great delight in the fact that it was issued to an incorrect address and that I knew nothing of it. I don't know if Marstons had found this info or Hackney? I stated that I knew nothing off this, and she said, you owe £560 today or we are sending bailiffs. Obviously I said no I'm not paying until I look into this. I also asked how they had my telephone number? Hackney council couldnt have it? So how did they get it. My number is verg private. I dont have it on social media etc etc.She evaded this question. I've had absolutely zero correspondence from either Hackney or Marstons to date. Various other threats of bailiffs visiting etc and I ended the call. It was literally like trying to get blood from a stone asking questions.
I then went on their website entered the number and it stated I " owed" £280!
I then started googling of this was a scam.
I felt very bullied and threatened.
After a bit more googling I decided to send a SAR request through the ico website. This was last night.
I've recieved 2 emails and a further email for a document sharing site. I've not been on this yet.
In the Sar I particularly referenced that I wanted the transcript of the call yesterday, as I can't believe this was a legal or moral way to go about anything. I merely called for info on something I knew nothing about.
So my questions.
Is it legal or representative of code of practice to deal with an enquiry in that manner and using those methods?
How did they get my Telephone number?
Is it worth appealing to Hackney Council. Did they know about my address change? Did they not follow procedure.
Also, even if when I returned home after 3 months away and I had recieved correspondence, I would have been out of town.
Footnote
I'd had a huge amount of problems with Dvla and changing my address etc, so much so I'd had to put numerous complaints in. I even wrote a review on Trustpiolet regarding how difficult they were. They didn't respond to my complaints either. At the end of March I finally spoke to someone that helped and they changed my address, but it appears records were not updated until 10th May.
So what do I do now. Do I appeal to Hackney. Write a seize and desist to Marstons? Any rules and regs I can use? If they state they did send to my new address, which I don't believe they did, and have never recieved anything, did Hackney follow the correct protocol. Should they have rechecked the address after the first notice sent and they didn't get a reply. It seems to me that as I recieved the text from Marstons yesterday, that possibly they have only just taken on the case. Also threatening bailiffs, does it need to have been to court first. I've had nothing from any court?
Sorry for the ramble.
And many thanks for reading and any help.