What can I do now?

Redx

debt collector letter, you can IGNORE it , its all may and if

read post #4 of the NEWBIES sticky thread

the time to act is if you get an official LBC or official MCOL or official court papers in the next 6 years (not threatograms from debt collectors)

we cannot tell you if it may go to court, only the PPC know that

fil_cad

Don't cave in and pay the scum, unless its monopoly money. :rotfl: :money:

Coupon-mad

poor_country_girl wrote: »

Hi - I hope you don't mind me asking further advice, I did not pursue this any further and decided to wait it out - Today I received a letter from UCS (Ultimate Custome Solutions) saying that my case has been passed to them, that PCN have not received payment OR any VALID dispute, so now it's too late to pay the discount fee. The balance is now £100 PLUS £60 admin fee, and if it isn't paid within 14 days they will prepare papers for their solicitors.
Is this normal? Should I still just ride it out, or do you think this will go to court? I am so worried! (Plus being pregnant and extremely hormonal isn't helping!)

I would appreciate any further advice or pointing in the right direction.

Thanks again for all your help so far

Kath

What does the NEWBIES thread tell you already about ignore the debt collector stage? Of course it's normal.

poor_country_girl

Hi again - I have had an update today - a Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre giving me 14 days to pay the claimant (not the court) or if I disagree with the claim or wish to counterclaim I can send an acknowledgement of service form or a defence form to the court within 14 days of the date of service. It also states that if the claim results in a judgement order against me I could ultimately struggle to get credit in the future. I would really appreciate any guidance on what to do next, the original fine of £160 is now £254.20, and with a new baby and massive university debt I really can't afford this!

Many thanks in advance

Kath

Ralph-y

have a read through the newbies thread again ....

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

especially the bit about small claims (about a third of the way down post#1 'small claim [in red])

it will give you a good guide as to what to expect...

Who has brought the claim BWLegal ? Gladstones? ????

good luck

Ralph:cool:

catfunt

You will only get a CCJ if you lose in court and then don't pay.

This is defendable..

Did you ever get a Letter Before Claim?

The_Deep

There a a few unscrupulous solicitors acting for these parking companies who are operating at the very fringes of the law. Some of us here are trying to get them struck off. In in the meantime stop worrying, they are most unlikely to follow through with the threat of court. Their claims are based on sand.

It appears to me that you could win this case just by telling the judge, the .truth. The machine malfunctioned and you offered to pay, there was no contract.

Others will advise you about the court processes, but in the mean time do not beat yourself up. If you play your cards right you might even be able to make them pay you compensation for wasting your time.

They use the courts to bully people into paying their fictitious claims. Read this to see the tricks they try to pull.

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/mil-collections-lose-two-cases-without.html

pappa_golf

a stage in the proceedings seems to have been forgotten about


I don't think a begging letter from UCS (Ultimate Custome Solutions) in November last yr counts as a formal letter before claim


who is the solicitor acting for the parking Co (written on the court claim) ?


on the claim , it should have a number and a password to allow you to see this claim online , is there? and is the claim valid?


PPCs have been known to fake/forge document's in the past , please check the authenticity of it

Coupon-mad

poor_country_girl wrote: »

Hi again - I have had an update today - a Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre giving me 14 days to pay the claimant (not the court) or if I disagree with the claim or wish to counterclaim I can send an acknowledgement of service form or a defence form to the court within 14 days of the date of service.

It also states that if the claim results in a judgement order against me I could ultimately struggle to get credit in the future. I would really appreciate any guidance on what to do next, the original fine of £160 is now £254.20, and with a new baby and massive university debt I really can't afford this!

Many thanks in advance

Kath

Submit the acknowledgement of service (AoS) online by registering on MCOL and saying you intend to 'defend in full'. Use the password on the front of the claim form if it's from Northampton central court. Any hearing would be local to you - not all cases end in a hearing but if it does it will be at your local county court - and people can defend these successfully.

This was never a 'fine' and the 'original' was NOT £160 either. It would have been £100.

Read the NEWBIES thread heading 'Small Claim?' including careful reading of bargepole's post linked there, about how to fill in the paperwork.

This situation does NOT affect your credit unless you ignore the paperwork, miss a deadline to submit paperwork before a hearing or don't turn up at a hearing. If you defend it with our help, even if you lose, you would pay less than £250 and there would be no CCJ if you then paid that lower sum, in time.

Once you have done the AoS, then search the forum for the name of the solicitor and the word 'defence'...such as the keywords: 'Gladstones defence' (if it's from them) seeing as you said this was the IPC member parking firm. Or is this from MIL? We've seen them all so do a search of this board. You will see LOTS of cases where posters like you have managed to plagiarise other defences to write a decent one themselves.

I see you said earlier:

it is PCN Parking Solutions for PCN (NW) LTD

and these were the circumstances:

almost every other day the ticket machine isn't working, either your money just keeps coming out again, or it is jammed up, takes your money but won't issue a ticket.

Last Monday it was jammed up - the person in front of me at the machine had lost her money and it wouldn't issue her with a ticket, so rather than lose my money as well I did the same thing I have done every week for the past 2 years, leave a large clear note on my dash board stating the machine wasn't working and that I would be back at lunch time to purchase my ticket - I even leave the £3.50 there for them to see - and I have returned EVERY time and paid (Someone has always contacted the club who assure them the machine will be fixed) I returned to my car at lunch time to find a penalty ticket stuck right in front of my note.

So that should be stated briefly as the first point of your defence. You have admitted to being the driver in your appeal so continue that way with an honest admission at the start, of being the keeper and driver of the car, but denying any contract existed to pay any sum at all to the claimant, because the £3.50 goes to the club (landowner?) and their machine was repeatedly broken.

Then add all the usual points of defence you will see on other defences you will find when you search as explained above. You will NOT of course be able to say you weer not the driver, nor talk about the POFA 2012 nor 'no keeper liability' because you are defending this as the driver. In your circumstances, that's not a bad thing because if it goes to a hearing you can give an honest account.

This isn't a prosecution or criminal court hearing, BTW. To pay now would be madness, as you will not pay £250 even if the case is lost and might pay nothing, as you certainly have grounds for defence.

The AoS must be done first, to extend the time to submit a defence, to 28 days from service.

DO NOT respond, if any poster with less than 1000 posts send you a pm (private message) offering or asking for info to 'help' with the defence off-forum. People with few posts could be anyone, and not acting in your best interests/could even be from the dark side.

So to get help you will need to keep updating this thread and we'll all chip in. You WILL KNOW what to put in a defence when you read others.

HTH




P.S. You haven't got a massive University 'debt' if you are talking about a Student Loan...it's not a real debt. But that's another story.

poor_country_girl

Thank you for all your replies, I shall get my time extended then start working through all the advice - and keep you updated! At the moment I am having to keep popping to my computer when I get 5 minutes spare from the baby, but if I can finish a degree with a new born am sure I can get this sorted as well!
Thanks again

Kath