PPC (Local Parking Security) [UPDATE] Recieved County Court Claim - please help!

AlexisV

Very flimsy particulars, with no information about the legal basis.

nikon-user

What if a PPC knows you address, your phone number, your signiature and that you were the driver because you were naive enough to send an appeal letter?

To bobd0le, this is what I'm hoping won't happen to me. I don't want to have to go through the quagmire of preparing a defence, but with a friend of mine who is a solicitor I am quite prepared to put forward a stern defence.

Please let me/us know what the outcome is here.

bondy_lad

nikon,you are heading for a heart attack,relax.

nikon-user

bondy_lad wrote: »

nikon,you are heading for a heart attack,relax.

You're quite possibly right there. I'm trying to relax trust me, I'm jusr frightened of 'grey areas'. Is it really that black and white?

HO87

nikon-user wrote: »

You're quite possibly right there. I'm trying to relax trust me, I'm jusr frightened of 'grey areas'. Is it really that black and white?

Unfortunately, life is a risky business - contrary to the way our state indoctrination centres aka "schools" act and what they teach - and risk ("grey areas") cannot therefore be removed from it. That means that sometimes you have to make a judgement.

Some years ago when I was faced with making a judgement at the same point as you are now at - having written extensively to the PPC concerned - I had to make it without the benefit of a goodly number of online forums to guide me. I decided to hold firm and ignore the demands for payment.

Then one morning an envelope arrived on my desk with a claims form in it and about 8 or 9 weeks later off I trotted to the local small claims court. The PPC rocked up, spouted an amount of jibberish about my supposed breach of contract and then I got to make my points. The PPC lost and they left the court with the sound of a judge's wigging ringing in their ears.

I so wish that there had been some forums to have consulted then but I now know that I was just a member of that 1% who collect a claims form.

The standard PPC business model simply doesn't allow for them to do court and if PPC's resorted to court with the regularity they would have you believe then the county courts would have ground to a halt years ago. It's all a numbers game and there are many PPC's who have never once taken a case to court and never will because they know that for every unpaid invoice there will be many understandably ignorant souls who will simply cough up.

There must be a risk that you might receive a claims form in the same way that there is a risk that a bus might stray off the road and plough through your front room. In the overall scheme of things it will be a small risk. Keep in mind that even if you did receive court papers there is no guarantee that the PPC will follow-through as many cases fold when the PPC discover they are not going to win by default. Then, given that you will be assisted with a defence, there's a seriously good chance that even if the PPC follows-through that you'd win.

As suggested, chill. In exactly the same way as you did on that sun terrace in Malaga (or wherever) last summer with the ever present danger of being bombed by a drunken lad from the 6th floor of the hotel. There's a risk but there are plenty of other potential targets.

AlexisV

Which PPC HO87, if you don't mind me asking?

RENEGADE_2

nikon-user wrote: »

What if a PPC knows you address, your phone number, your signiature and that you were the driver because you were naive enough to send an appeal letter?

To bobd0le, this is what I'm hoping won't happen to me. I don't want to have to go through the quagmire of preparing a defence, but with a friend of mine who is a solicitor I am quite prepared to put forward a stern defence.

Please let me/us know what the outcome is here.

I don't know if you're in the process yourself, have you been issued a PCN and do you receive letters telling you to pay?

Scenario: you've appealed, you've admitted driving, you've provided a signature and they know your address.

This sends a signal to the PPC that you acknowledge the authority and you also provide them with information which saves them money in both requesting keeper details and locating the driver. Standard procedure: don't use "appeal" in communications as you would deny the demand outright; don't even admit driving because theirs is the task.

Nevertheless, people in this situation have one more card to play. As you would still be holding the money, your antagonist is still chasing. If they are so sure you owe them the amount sought, they can commence litigation. This will be in the County Court at their cost. Whilst you stand in the corner with your mouth shut, your enemy will have to explain to the court how the demand they seek constitutes actual losses - how their entire campaign has cost them the amount in question - there are no prizes for winning. If you have done something to cause these people to lose £16.45, then £16.45 is what they can legally seek and not a halfpenny more. They are bound by the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and a host of legal protocols dating back centuries which forbid arbitrary fines. No doubt their initial document will have given the driver an option - pay X-amount within 28 days but it is reduced to Y-amount if paid in first two weeks. What are the losses now? The first or the second amount? Even when this is ignored and they start their chains through third parties claiming to be "debt collectors", how do they justify the sudden rise in price with their new fee? (e.g. from £80 to £130).

For the record, my car is at the time of writing sitting in a car park where it has been since 3am, a TESCO; one that is managed by Highview and who frequently send me "PCN"s, no doubt next Wednesday I shall receive one for this overstaying their 2hr limit (destitute of a non-return-by period). I'll pay mine when HO87 pays his for the incident some years ago!;)

HO87

AlexisV wrote: »

Which PPC HO87, if you don't mind me asking?

A long defunct outfit from west London. They admitted at the time that it was the first and only case they'd ever taken to court - and didn't it show. For that reason I'd prefer not to publicly ID the company as I suspect that they are still tied up in the business so would prefer they didn't know who HO87 is.

You have a PM though.

nikon-user

RENEGADE wrote: »

. They are bound by the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and a host of legal protocols dating back centuries which forbid arbitrary fines. !;)

It would be interesting to know which sections to read and apply if needs be. So far I've read and understood section 40 of the Administration Of Justice Act.

I think I (and people like me) as someone who has gone through this for the first time, would like to know exactly what legal paragraphs, sections of Acts that one can use in the unlikely event one has to state them in court. In short, acting as the solicitor yourself (with all the knowledge a solicitor has in this specific area of law) confident in the knowledge that your arguments can kick them back under the stone from where they came.

notts_phil

When are you going to relax and understand this us a scam. Why not Do something more useful with ur time?