Parking Eye LBA - Response

GeoffBungle

Umkomaas wrote: »

Your sent PM won't appear in your 'Sent' box unless you tick the button for it to be copied there. I very often forget to do this - damn, especially if it's a detailed PM that I might want to reference in the future.

Noted. Thank you! I can see me doing the same, though!

After sending a further letter along different lines on September 20, I still haven't heard anything back from them.

It goes against my instinct to send another letter and possibly awaken the beast from its slumber.

Thoughts? I wonder if they're quietly dropping cases against people who received that astonishing, inaccurate and threat-filled screed in response to their initial acknowledgement if they detected a chance of someone willing to defend it. As stated elsewhere, the PD non-compliance, outright misleading information and intimidating tone wouldn't have gone down well with a judge...

Coupon-mad

I think as long as you have responded then the ball is in their court. I suspect they drop a few balls when they are juggling all these cases and complaints and responses.

zzzLazyDaisy

GeoffBungle wrote: »

I wonder if they're quietly dropping cases against people who received that astonishing, inaccurate and threat-filled screed in response to their initial acknowledgement if they detected a chance of someone willing to defend it. As stated elsewhere, the PD non-compliance, outright misleading information and intimidating tone wouldn't have gone down well with a judge...

Hi Geoff

Yes I think you are right. They very quickly withdrew that letter from their library when they realised that people were actually being advised to produce it to the court, and to the best of my knowledge no cases involving that letter have proceeded to court.

The LBCCC thread has been updated - see post 3 onwards

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4754020

Briefly we are now advising people to report PE to the SRA for deliberately serving defective LBCs and flouting the Practice Direction.

You will see a letter to [Text removed by MSE Forum Team] about this at post 3.

If you have already sent a letter along these lines, then I suggest that you forward your file of correspondence to the SRA and ask them to investigate the conduct of PE's legal department and that of its Supervising Solicitor, [Text removed by MSE Forum Team], in breaching the Principles of the SRA Handbook when dealing with members of the public, I have highlighted the main ones below*.

You will need to spell out what the problem is - ie the deliberate and persistent refusal bt PE's Legal Department to comply with the Practice Direction on Pre-action Conduct despite requests that they do so; and its conduct in sending a threatening letter which misleads the recipient as to the relevant law which is quite clearly intended to intimidate and threaten the recipient (refer to the enclosed template letter, by date).

Make the point that [Text removed by MSE Forum Team], as an in-house solicitor, has allowed her professional independence to be compromised by her client/employer, and that as a consequence she has failed to uphold the rule of law and/or to act with integrity in her dealings - and that of the Legal Department for who she is responsible - with members of the public, and she has failed to behave in a way that maintains the confidence that the public is entitled to have in the legal profession, and ask the SRA to investigate this complaint.

A complaint to the SRA does not get much feedback, and they may not launch a full investigation based on one complaint. But a steady stream of complaints will be taken seriously, as you can see from THIS thread about GPB solicitors (who were also up to their neck in the PPC scam).

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4788479

See here for details of how to complain to the SRA:

How to report a solicitor or firm to the SRA
When reporting, please

• set out your concerns clearly
• identify individuals you consider responsible,
• attach any evidence you have in support.

To send your information to us:

Complete our report form (DOC 184K, 2 pages) and send it to
Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
or
Email us at [EMAIL="report@sra.org.uk"]report@sra.org.uk[/EMAIL]

For guidance on the complaints process, call our contact centre. Note that we cannot provide advice about your issue, however we can point you in the right direction.

Hope this helps.

Daisy

*The Principles are listed here:

The Principles

The Principles are at the core of everything that we do, and everything those we regulate do. If there is a clash between two or more Principles, the course of action taken will be according to the Principle that best serves the public interest.

The Principles say that

"You must:

uphold the rule of law and the proper administration of justice,
act with integrity,
not allow your independence to be compromised,
act in the best interests of each client,
provide a proper standard of service to your clients,
behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services,
comply with your legal and regulatory obligations and deal with your regulators and ombudsmen in an open, timely and co-operative manner,
run your business or carry out your role in the business effectively and in accordance with proper governance and sound financial and risk management principles,
run your business or carry out your role in the business in a way that encourages equality of opportunity and respect for diversity, and
protect client money and assets."

GeoffBungle

Excellent, thanks Daisy.