Letter Before Action from CPM - URGENT help needed

ajent_a

Dear All

This is plea for help on behalf of my brother. He lives in a housing association flat on private land which have PPC managing the parking. Because of limited spaces sometimes he has to park on the kirb. To cut a long story short, he has received 6 tickets over the last few months which he has ignored. This method used to work as after a few letters they used to stop sending them, but now I know after reading this forum that this is not advised.

I have read the guidance on the “Letter before action” sticky about sending a personalised letter requesting for Practice Direction compliant letter, however since he hasn’t appealed any of the tickets I don’t know how I would do that. I read that the PD letter is actually a letter for the judge as most likely the PPC will respond with a template letter, however since he hasn’t appealed how would that go down with the judge.

Here is the letter received from the PPC

---

Dear Mr X

LETTER BEFORE ACTION – MR X

Total Amount Due: £600.00

I am writing in regards to the outstanding debt which you currently owe UK Car Park Management Ltd.

You have been issued with 6 Parking Charge Notices and failed to respond to any PCN or correspondence which we have issued.

If the total payment of £600.00 is not received within 14 days of this letter, UK Car Park Management will commence court proceedings to recover all outstanding debt and additional costs of £180.00 through the County Court Bulk Centre. The account created on your vehicle holds numerous correspondence and attempts of settlement, all of which have been ignored. This information together with our photographic and PCN documentation will form part of our claim and evidence against you.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

How to nay: Online paymyticket.co.uk

Telephone 0845 463 4040 (24hr)

Post Payments & Collections, PO Box 4760, Lancing, BN15 5BR

Yours sincerely,

A Crowle

Litigation Manager UK Car Park Management Limited.

---

Just one more thing. My brother vaguely mentioned this thing that his neighbour did. When his neighbour received the actual court letter apparently he completed an online form on the court website where he mentioned he is a resident with a permit and on low income etc etc and that got it cancelled. As I said he was vague but does this ring a bell for anyone here, what is he talking about and would this be the best option for him now?

Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

bod1467

Appealing a parking ticket is a choice, not a legal requirement. Your brother could genuinely state that he thought these were simply scams and was following advice he'd found via BBC Watchdog. (Their video is still online).

The PD "dance" is one way to delay the court process. And whether UKCPM will actually proceed with court action is another thing ... for £600+ they might feel it's worth a punt. But as with any other court claim, it can (probably) be seen off with a properly-constructed defence ... and one of the key defence points is Locus Standii ... the claimant has no standing to bring the claim in court, as they are not the landowner and have no contract with the landowner that confers such rights.

Marktheshark

Contact the Housing association and file a harassment complaint.
List the parking company as those causing you the harassment
Put the point that the parking comapny are harassing the tenants of the houses and you believe they are leaving vehicles in residents spaces causing them to be unable to park and then ticketing residents cars who are unable to use the provided spaces.
State the resolution to the complaint is that they order the parking firm to cease Harassing and making court threats to residents and order to cancel any threats or charges and stick to doing what they were brought in to do and that is make sure residents can park.
State that as principles to the agents the housing association have a joint duty to prevent harassment to its tenants.

See what they dribble back in response.

The_Deep

If the HA is a registered charity write to thre Charity Commissioners about this most uncharitable contractor being employed by one of its members to harass HA tenants.

Coupon-mad

Just one more thing. My brother vaguely mentioned this thing that his neighbour did. When his neighbour received the actual court letter apparently he completed an online form on the court website where he mentioned he is a resident with a permit and on low income etc etc and that got it cancelled. As I said he was vague but does this ring a bell for anyone here, what is he talking about and would this be the best option for him now?

That would be a terrible way to defend a parking ticket court claim. Don't do that! Definitely not the best option and it's quite possible that neighbour has a default CCJ he knows nothing about because court claims don't just go away if the PPC pursue them. And it's not just a matter of walloping in a rubbish defence (that was no defence).

Definitely submit a complaint to the HA (cite UKPC v Davy). I wrote a complaint for someone over a year ago you could crib from. post #30 here which was worded as a LBCCC back at all parties:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4777418

Definitely do not name the driver nor suggest 'I parked' or 'I always display my permit' when replying to the LBCCC. He should respond as registered keeper.

Mike172

didnt UKCPM do 15 court cases last year? I always figured they would only have a crack if someone had multiple outstanding tickets like yourself.

Hopefully you get this sorted.

I wouldnt loose sleep over it..... UKCPM really are disgusting animals. Personally if I had a letter like that Id respond saying .... OK see you in court lol.

ajent_a

Appealing a parking ticket is a choice, not a legal requirement. Your brother could genuinely state that he thought these were simply scams and was following advice he'd found via BBC Watchdog. (Their video is still online).

The PD "dance" is one way to delay the court process. And whether UKCPM will actually proceed with court action is another thing ... for £600+ they might feel it's worth a punt. But as with any other court claim, it can (probably) be seen off with a properly-constructed defence ... and one of the key defence points is Locus Standii ... the claimant has no standing to bring the claim in court, as they are not the landowner and have no contract with the landowner that confers such rights.

thanks for the advice. i agree that the PD letter is a delaying mechanism and according to the sticky it should be personalised. since its for my brother i am not going to do that as my writing style if formal whereas his lets say isn't. i like the suggestion of attributing the ignored letters including the LBA to the watchdog guidance should this get to court. and if that fails requesting for proof that they have a contract with the land owner would be plan b.

ajent_a

Contact the Housing association and file a harassment complaint.
List the parking company as those causing you the harassment
Put the point that the parking comapny are harassing the tenants of the houses and you believe they are leaving vehicles in residents spaces causing them to be unable to park and then ticketing residents cars who are unable to use the provided spaces.
State the resolution to the complaint is that they order the parking firm to cease Harassing and making court threats to residents and order to cancel any threats or charges and stick to doing what they were brought in to do and that is make sure residents can park.
State that as principles to the agents the housing association have a joint duty to prevent harassment to its tenants.

See what they dribble back in response.

unfortunately this has been tried many time in the past by neighbours and himself all of which have been ignore by the HA. they are just not interested and reply with a standard template to comply with parking regs.

Coupon-mad

Probably no-one has tried a 'LBCCC' version like the one I linked before.

ajent_a

Probably no-one has tried a 'LBCCC' version like the one I linked before.

Hi CM
i just read through the letter you linked on post 30. very impressive. my question is as a tenant on a HA flat would this template be relevant? reason for asking is the HA is just a part of the whole development, most of the flats privately owned and managed by a separate management company who i think have overall authority of the land. i am tempted to use use letter, the problem is my bro wont understand any of it should it go to court. if i do use your letter should i send a copy to the management company too?

Minyacsaka

It is quite funny. It is happening with me. I get exactly the same letter and the amount is the same too.


I call the lady in the end of the letter. She was so rude and she said I have to pay. In my area you cannot park everywhere even in the street too.

The management company builders are parking on my plot every time. I contact with CMP and they rejected my appeal. In the letter she said I do not respond.

I send a letter to the management company who deal with them and I hope I do not need to go to the court. I hate this procedure. I decided to move from here because of this incidents