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Legal matters

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Original poster

Stopping excessive mail to someone who doesn’t live herr

99 replies

Rhinosaurus · 27/08/2019 21:27

Help - I feel as if I am being harassed. A legal firm acting for a parking company for disputed charges are sending between 2 to 5 letters a week to my son at my address. My son has not lived here for over a year and is travelling overseas and does not have a forwarding address. The constant letters are really causing me stress and upset now. I don’t open them, but I know where they are from due to the franking/return address:

So far I have returned to sender, I have written politely to them saying he no longer lives here, I have sent normal mail and also email, and recorded mail with return of the letters. I have completed a cease and desist letter earlier this month saying that he no longer lives here and letters are not reaching him, with a fee schedule if I have to spend time and money returning them stating that if they continue to send letters that constitutes agreement to the fees. Since then if anything letters have increased, I have sent four back today - one received daily since last Wednesday with an invoice for my fees.

Surely this constitutes some sort of harassment?
My son is not on the council tax or electoral roll here since he left the uk early last year.

Any ideas gratefully received, is there an omsbudsman I can complain to I? Or the law society as they call themselves a legal firm?

OP posts:

Toneitdown · 28/08/2019 07:10

*Write 'Return to sender, not known at this address' on every letter and put it back in the postbox. Don't try to contact them any more, you've already done everything you can.

If anyone comes to the door, tell them that he doesn't live at your address. If they won't go away, call the police.*

Absolutely just follow this course of action. Stop engaging with them. I wouldn't even mention to anyone that it's your son, just continue with the line that he is no longer at that address and it's nothing to do with you.

I'm amazed how many posters are banging on about why you won't pay it for him or hassle him to pay. No wonder companies like this send so many threatening letters even when they are breaking the rules - sounds like a lot of people are total mugs and can easily be pushed into paying fines for other people or do the bailiff's chasing for them!

ChicCroissant · 28/08/2019 07:13

It's not that much hassle to return the letter though, OP - it is annoying, yes, but not that onerous.

I bet you happily keep other mail for him though, it's just this one that you return!

StellaBoo · 28/08/2019 07:15

How can they email him when he has a brick phone!! There is going to be a huge amount of money to pay, and you are partly to blame because you are not addressing it head on. Your son is away hiding from the fine and you are being hassled. Open a letter and see what is being said. You are basically doing the same as him - hiding from the enevitable.

MrsElizabethShelby · 28/08/2019 07:18

Tell your son he needs to deal with it. He is an adult. You can't stop the letters. Tell him from now on you will just be chucking them straight into the recycling.
If he doesn't deal with HIS problem the ccj will be his fault.

MirrorrorriM · 28/08/2019 07:24

Where is all his other mail going? Could you give the legal firm that address and then let your DS sort?

HotDogGuy · 28/08/2019 07:29

I notice you’ve picked up on the bit I said about the credit rating impact and dismissed that as not needing that advice. But you haven’t answered my (and others) question about where the rest of his post goes. If it’s your address then you can’t pick and choose which post you accept. Your address is his legal address. If not then he must have another address which the letters can be forwarded to until he returns and deals with this.

Tonnerre · 28/08/2019 07:31

It's pointless sending an invoice for your fees, you have no basis for charging them.

However, I don't understand why people keep saying your son must sort it out. As I understand it, he's told them the debt is disputed and why. What else do people imagine can he do to sort it out?

In your position I would keep a running record of envelopes received, refer it to the Financial Ombudsman, and in the meantime simply put "Not at this address. Return to sender" on every envelope and send them back.

Longsleepneeded · 28/08/2019 07:44

Do you keep other mail for him? If you don't you can ask your local delivery office to stop sending mail for him. You'll need to put it in writing to them but it means he won't get anything with his name on delivered to you. Is that an option?

donquixotedelamancha · 28/08/2019 07:51

It's pointless sending an invoice for your fees, you have no basis for charging them.

This. What a weird thread this has been. The OP makes pretty clear that these are speculative invoices, no legimate company sends 3 letters a week.

I have no useful knowledge, but as you've had such terrible suggestions, I'll make two suggestions:

Write to them telling them to delete your data under GDPR. When they carry on harassing you contact the information commissioner.

Contact the police about harassment. If you've kept all those letters, I think you have a strong case.

I've had a company do this, though not as aggressive as yours sound. They are not going to take you to court or put a note on a credit file, because they have no basis to do so. Mine kept sending letters for a year then gave up.

onedayiwillmissthis · 28/08/2019 07:54

Do you accept/hold/forward other mail addressed to your son?

Is he still registered at GP etc as residing at your address?

His driving licence/travel insurance etc? Your address?

Will he be returning to your address once he finishes his travelling?

Let's get real...he's your son, old enough to be off 'travelling', he didn't and isn't sorting out his own problems i.e. fines/debts.

Chuck all his mail in a box in cupboard/garage...let him sort it when he gets back.

Bet you wouldn't be complaining if it was a windfall/inheritance/good news type 'harrassment'!

HepzibahGreen · 28/08/2019 08:00

There is going to be a huge amount of money to pay, and you are partly to blame because you are not addressing it head on
Sorry, what?! Her son is an adult and if she chooses to have nothing to do with his legal disputes or debts that's perfectly fine!
I really don't know why so many of the responses have been so hostile and scolding to the op? I have constant letters like this to the previous tenant of my house and agree it's very disconcerting.

All you can really do though is try and contact your son OP and get him to change the address with everything.

Jeezoh · 28/08/2019 08:01

If you mean the Financial Ombudsman Service, they can’t consider complaints about debt collection of the original debt relates to a parking fine.

I’d save up the letters and post them back without a stamp. Are the firm chasing a member of any other professional body you could complain to?

donquixotedelamancha · 28/08/2019 08:09

Let's get real...he's your son, old enough to be off 'travelling', he didn't and isn't sorting out his own problems i.e. fines/debts.

Do you not read the OP or the thread before you post? It's not a debt or a fine.

Bet you wouldn't be complaining if it was a windfall/inheritance/good news type 'harrassment'!

You imagine an actual solicitor would write 3 times a week?

minisoksmakehardwork · 28/08/2019 08:13

If your son is on the electoral role at your address, is registered with the nhs at your address, registers his bank accounts at your address, receives other mail at your address, then to all intents and purposes, it is his address.

Be aware that if it does go as far as bailiffs turning up at your door, him being in a foreign country won't mean they walk away. They will want proof that everything you own in that house is yours, eg receipts, otherwise it could go as far as removal of goods. The onus is on you to prove ownership not the bailiff. They just have to ascertain whether it can be removed. Eg car on finance can't be touched. A tv or computer, jewellery etc at the same address, unless you can show you purchased it, it is owned by you, is considered fair game.

I suspect the original company have sold the debt on and this is why you are being hounded.

Your choice is to either continue to return the letters, in which case the company knows they are being received, or bin them and hope nothing further happens until your son returns.

TheClitterati · 28/08/2019 08:14

Another option is to just save them up, put them all in a big envelope, address it and send it back without any stamps on once a month.

I would send each letter back individually, post unpaid, with a note stating "doesn't live here, stop sending mail" etc

Original poster

Rhinosaurus · 28/08/2019 08:22

Is nobody reading the thread....
Spectacular ignoring of what I actually asked advice for....

No other mail comes here for him, he does not receive mail where he is as he is transient and staying in hostels. He is unlikely to return here for at least another 12 months and will not be returning here to live with me. Other companies he needs to be contacted by email him. He picks these up when he has access to email either via a friends phone or Internet cafe. He is basically off grid the rest of the time, which is his prerogative. I am not going to spend the occasional phone calls I have with him nagging him to sort out a cowboy parking scam sending speculative invoices. If it goes to CCJ so be it, good luck to them finding him to get their money.

I am not ignoring the letters, I am writing to the company and telling them he no longer lives here, I have been sent proof, the letters are all being sent back as they cannot be forwarded. It is frustrating that they keep sending them as I have told them multiple times they won’t reach him here and I have no forwarding address.

Actually laughed out loud re the inheritance/windfall comment, I am sure they would send up to 5 letters a day - and of course that would equate to a disputed parking ticket

OP posts:

Original poster

Rhinosaurus · 28/08/2019 08:24

He is not on the electoral roll here, he removed himself.
No other post arrives here as he has been gone over a year, initially if post arrived I would send back unopened (if there was a return address on the envelope) with a covering letter and it eventually all stopped.

OP posts:

Luckypoppy · 28/08/2019 08:26

Is his driving license still registered at your address? It's the thing most people forget to change and if he has no other address then he probably hasn't. ABC if he hasn't - to the DVLA he lives at your address.

Original poster

Rhinosaurus · 28/08/2019 08:27

And they are harassing me. They have been made aware of at least ten times of the circumstances and have been asked not to use this address by me, the legal occupier. They have had proof he does not live here. To blatantly ignore this and continue to send mail is harassment.

OP posts:

Original poster

Rhinosaurus · 28/08/2019 08:30

Parking companies use car registration details from the DVLA, they have no remit under GDPR to get information about a persons driving licence, only vehicle keeper details. We are talking about a private parking company here, not the police. I would presume his licence is still at this address.

OP posts:

MerryChristmasHarry · 28/08/2019 08:31

It's perfectly possible for someone not to have a legal address. The reality is that not everyone has one.

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 28/08/2019 08:34

Parking tickets don’t affect your credit scor^

A CCJ will and he'll really struggle with renting anywhere if he gets back to one.

Original poster

Rhinosaurus · 28/08/2019 08:39

@Longsleepneeded that is a good suggestion, I will look into that.

Re his credit rating - that is pretty poor anyway, and his credit rating/future borrowing isn’t my concern and I will certainly not be paying off this spurious parking ticket/speculative invoice.

OP posts:

ChangeItChild · 28/08/2019 08:48

You say your DS is travelling, and moving from hostel to hostel, surely your address is his permanent home address in the UK then?

Your DS needs to contact them and sort this out, if this is stressing you out then he needs to deal with it.

The DVLA are not doing anything wrong, they are attempting to contact him at his last known permanent address, your DS is by avoiding dealing with this issue.

Original poster

Rhinosaurus · 28/08/2019 08:51

The DVLA are not contacting him.

OP posts:

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