Parking eye LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Mr-Amiable

Hi,
This is my very first post but have been a follower for some time.
My reason for this thread is having received a parking charge from P.E. on the 13/12/12 I took the advice of many on this forum and completely ignored. True to form as everyone said more letters followed and all ignored.
Then on the 25th April a letter arrived stating NOTICE OF INTENDED LITIGATION lots more threats saying if this letter is ignored they will recommend to the landowner that they commence county court proceedings. The amount outstanding had now reached £150 but again completely ignored.
Now this week received a letter titled LETTER BEFORE ACTION.
Basically it states as the registered keeper of the vehicle I have become liable for a parking charge. This is because it states the requirements of schedule 4 of the protection of freedoms act required the keeper liability to be satisfied. They are now requiring me to pay £100 and I have 14 days to make this payment.
I would really like some help as to what my next move should be? It seems that P.E. are now really following through with their treats. I suppose completely ignoring is no longer an option?
Many thanks to whoever can help me. I hope I've not left it too late!
Regards.

Coupon-mad

You're too late to appeal but lots and lots of people get that letter as a standard piece of scary junk mail.

Have to tell you that SOME of those then get actual small claim papers so watch out for those (you have to respond to Northampton court saying you will defend it, if you get those). Can be robustly defended with help from pepipoo but no need to post there yet unless you do actually get a 'Parking Eye special' from Northampton Court in the post! As shown here in a typical thread from someone who sees it for the trash it is:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=74087

If you get that one don't panic and please don't lose sleep over this utter scam. No point responding to PE at the moment, no point giving them any extra info or indication that their letter has bothered you or even been read at all seeing as they don't send them by a trackable form of post.

Mr-Amiable

Thanks for your swift and consoling advice. I will wait to see what their next move will be. I'm prepared for the fight and refuse to be intimidated by these carpark cowboys.

hillcats

Hmm amazing, they initially state the amount they want as £100 then the so-called debt collectors send letters and they claim amount due has now gone up by £50 to £150 - all ignored. PE now write again and it's now dropped back down to £100 !?!?

Oh the inconsistencies !

Mr-Amiable

Hi,
Just to update. I did in fact receive court papers after all those threats. They were sent from Northampton. I've sent back the acknowledgment of service to buy me an extra couple of weeks. I intend to dispute the whole claim but don't really have a clue how to put together a defence.
Is there a template defence I could use? It seems that PE have issued lots of these recently. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks

Stroma

I would advise posting this on https://www.pepipoo.com as well, there are more users there who can run through the defence with you.