TONY HETHERINGTON: I was hounded over an £11 road toll in Hungary - which I'd paid!

Daily Mail​

24-05-2025

Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
J.W. writes: Trace Debt Recovery UK, acting on behalf of Euro Parking Collection, is attempting to fine me £303.
The alleged offence is non-payment of a road toll in Hungary, where I was driving my motorhome in 2023.
I paid the correct toll of 5,500 Hungarian forints (about £11) at the time, and presented my vehicle registration document to the cashier, but they mistakenly recorded the letter D on the numberplate as a letter P.
Tony Hetherington replies: Trace Debt Recovery UK, based in Northampton, sent you a mass-produced threatening letter. Headed 'Final Notice', it warned that if you failed to hand over £303, you could face county court action which might damage your credit rating.
What makes me think the letter was mass-produced? Well, it refers to the 'date of the parking charge notice', completely contradicting the allegation that you have an 'outstanding unpaid Hungarian toll roads penalty charge notice'. There's a bit of a difference!
I asked the debt collectors to take no action while I contacted their client, Euro Parking Collection (EPC), and they immediately agreed. This was sensible, since you have the receipt proving you paid the toll fee in Hungary, and the mistake was not made by you.
Surely EPC would understand? Well, no. It ruled that you were at fault for failing to spot the cashier had got it wrong. Grudgingly it scrapped the demand for £303, but replaced it with a £49 bill – it described this as an 'administrative charge' to alter its records to show the correct registration.
It would have been easy for you to give in to any of these threats, but you told me: 'They are bullying people into paying up. Not me! Twenty years in the RAF has given me a thick skin.'
EPC told me it was just obeying rules set by its Hungarian client. Fine, I replied, so this is a civil debt case, not a criminal matter. Surely it should be considered in a civil court in Hungary? Or, if EPC believed it could sue you in a UK court, then you could name the cashier and the cashier's employer as witnesses.
So I asked EPC to provide their details, and heard back that it was unable to speak on behalf of its client – yet this is exactly what it is doing when it issues demands.
On top of this, EPC is a member of the British Parking Association, the trade body which says its members should accept minor keying errors as long as the driver has paid the parking fee.
I also reminded EPC that paying the DVLA in Swansea to hand over your name and address did not comply with its data protection rules, where motorists' details 'may not be shared with any organisations based outside the UK'.
In a nutshell, the Hungarians lost no money because you'd paid the toll road fee, but they demanded more money because of the mistake made by their own employee. They hired EPC to collect the cash and EPC hired Trace Debt Recovery UK to threaten you. But none of them are a penny richer because you had the guts to stand up to them.
Now let our Government explain why it caves in to every attempt to regulate the sharks who inhabit the car park industry.
My £1,100 gas bill – for an empty house
A.R. writes: My father died in June. I informed British Gas and the electricity supply was put in my name, but the gas account was unchanged for months.
In November, I smelled gas. Cadent Gas came and found the meter was leaking, so they changed it and recorded the readings. British Gas then sent me a big bill.
Tony Hetherington replies: You told British Gas the house was unoccupied, and it said it would cancel the bill, but two weeks later an even bigger demand arrived.
An engineer confirmed the new meter was faulty. However, the bills kept coming, and by the time you contacted me you were facing demands totalling more than £1,100.
You were asked for a meter reading from when you moved into the house – but you had never moved in.
I asked British Gas to investigate, and staff quickly found that Cadent Gas's meter readings were incorrect.
The readings have now been amended to show that you used no gas at all. British Gas was willing to offer you a goodwill gesture of £100 too, but you declined this, telling me that all you wanted was for the demands to be sorted out, and this has now been done.