UKPC - Small Claims Solicitors - Letter before Claim received - Advice requested pliz

jnoire

Hello Experts!

Seeking advice on what to do now, how to proceed (and appreciate if you can include the "why") and what I can possibly expect from "THEM". Please also do consider some other stuff that I found on the internet (please see below) regarding the latest (I'm no expert but it seems to me that, that's the latest information) in what is happening with parking fine cases.

Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have an opinion on what is the best thing to do (as in - "pay up now to avoid further hassle" OR "Fight! You have a very good chance of winning!").

Appreciate with all my heart - all of your support and responses - small and large!

These are the statement of facts:
1. Car was parked in the office car park. This office is a private building. Building is used by at least 4 different companies. Car park is FREE OF CHARGE for everyone. Entry to car park gained through employee access card. UKPC is the car park "regulator" (!?!??!). Dunno when they were appointed.

2. PCN was pasted on the car windscreen on a September day in 2013.

3. Took advice from a number of colleagues working in the same office building (different companies). ALL of them advised "BIN and IGNORE ALL".

4. Took advise from a specific colleague whose mother is a retired Magistrate. Again the advise was "BIN and IGNORE ALL".

5. Followed advice and started "BINNING and IGNORING ALL"

6. Received invoice - dunno when - BINNED AND IGNORED

7. Received the rest of correspondence from debt collectors, threatening letters, etc., etc., - continued to "BIN and IGNORE"

8. Letters stopped around May 2015. Thought that that's the end of it (BUT no!).

9. Received the following letter (verbatim - identifiable details removed) from Small Claims Solicitors (in their letter headed paper) last week:
[START OF LETTER]

[My name]
[My address]

04 Dec 2015

Dear [my name]

Re: Debt owed to UK Parking Control Ltd

IMPORTANT - DO NOT IGNORE THIS LETTER

We act for UK Parking Control Ltd and are instructed to recover the charges shown below incurred by you in relation to the parking of your vehicle.

Contravention Date Amount Car Registration Reference Location
Did not park correctly within bay 28/09/2013 £150 [My Car Registration] [a no.- I think it is the PCN no] [somewhere in Wales]

Total outstanding: £150

You have failed to pay the above charges despite several letters from our client requesting payment.

Unless payment is made within the next 14 days, we are instructed to issue court proceedings to recover the same and any of our clients' legal costs, without further recourse to you.

We reserve the right to refer to this letter, in particular on the question of costs, should this matter proceed to trial.

In the event that a County Court Judgement is obtained against you and payment is not made, our client will consider all enforcement options, which shall result in further legal costs, including but not limited to:

Instructing County Court Bailiffs/High Court Enforcement Officers to attend your address to remove goods to the value of the debt and costs owed.

Applying for an attachment of earnings order, requiring your employer to deduct sums from your wage and pay them directly to our client.

If you wish to avoid the steps outlined above being taken, please contact UK Parking Ltd., on [03...land line tel no] to clear your balance.

Please note that this letter is to be considered a letter before claim for the purpose of the Practice Direction on Pre-action conduct. Please read this Practice Direction, in particular paragraph 4, concerning the Court's powers to impose sanctions for failing to comply with its provisions.

Please also note that we do not consider that this matter is suitable for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Yours sincerely [do they sign 'sincerely'?]
[squiggle]
Small Claims Solicitors

[Footer]
Small Claims Solicitors is a trading name of LPC Law Ltd., a limited company registered in England and Wales under number 2955453. Our registered office is 24 Martin Lane, London EC4R 0DR and out VAT number is 667 6503 06. LPC Law Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under SRA No. 541619. A list of the Directors is available for inspection at the Registered Office. Our professional rulles can be found at [sra website link] /solicitors/handbook/code/content.page.

[END OF LETTER]

10. If the overwhelming advise from all the good people (YOU!) is to fight, I intend to represent myself and fight. Except if, any one of you good people is in the law profession and would like to take up my case on a free of charge/charge collected from UKPC if case is won. So please do not hesitate to contact me if you are able to help in any way. Appreciate every little help!

11. Please see the latest IMHO in such cases -
[search "parkingcowboys" and within it "parkingeye-vs-beavis/"]

12. After reading post from zzzLazyDaisy on Practice Direction (you are such an helpful person! can't thank you enough for sharing your expertise!), I'm pretty sure the above letter does not conform to it. But I'm looking for professional and expert opinion on this please.

13. Sincere thanks to everyone that have contributed on this topic earlier and continue to contribute, as I have learnt a great deal from you and continue to do so!

14. And finally, I'm eagerly looking forward to your expert advice ASAP as the deadline for reply seems to be by 16th December 2015! Advice especially from zzzLazyDaisy, RedX, Coupon_Mad, et al. Please help as much as you can.

Sorry for a very long post! Thank you once again for reading. Please please please do contribute if you can in any way!

Thanks and regards
jnoire

Redx

I dont give legal advice and this is not a legal advice forum either , your case has almost gone past that stage, hence the info from lazydaisy (who does not seem to advise people any more, plus I think those practice directions changed this year)

if you have read her thread in the crabman sticky thread, plus post #5 of the NEWBIES sticky thread, you have most of the free advice you need at this stage, or if they actually send court papers

I would advise you to also read similar cases on here and pepipoo forums, so you get up to speed on this, becasue since the Beavis result and their recent DVLA suspension they seem to be trying out court cases now (like PE do)

but its fairly new territory, which I doubt you will get bespoke advice about for free, especially not from those who charge for similar services (including some forum regulars)

dont get me wrong, I dont blame them for wanting to be paid for their expertise, and rightly so, but its a conflict of interest if they do it pro bono for some and not others

AFAIK nobody acting on your behalf can claim costs, due to it being a small claim, although you can claim reasonable costs , of say £90 if you win

some recent reading material below using the search word smallclaimssolicitors
or small claims solicitors

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5349872

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5200739

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5373288

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5374397

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5352202

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5364910

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5238667

some good info in this recent case about who can represent you and costs etc , which in this case were awarded for the helper (s) and is not normal

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/

System

Are you London based? UKPC use SCS who try to bounce the claim into the court closest to them - central london.

The further you are away from there the better. Rupert is a tight a r s e and hates having to shell out on lawyers when a cheap threat will do.

Have you Acknowledged service? If you do you get extra time. What is the date of service on your paperwork?

Consider a counter claim against the building manager or whoever hired UKPC.

Marktheshark

The letter is bunkum unless the person signing is a solicitor if they are acting in litigation , it should say in what capacity they are signing and as someone engaged in litigation on behalf of a client that is a business it has to be a direct employee of the first company or a real genuine registered solicitor (legal services act) .
If signed on behalf it would say PP before or after the signature.
Is there a name of who signed ?

If not you may wish to contact your local police fraud department as attempting to gain money by use of a false instrument is a crime that carries a mandatory prison sentence under the fraud act of at least 6 months and up to 5 years in jail.
I would say sending a false solicitors letter not signed by a solicitor would more than count as a false instrument (fake document designed to deceive)

I would not waste time on the SRA, they appear to be more than happy to allow these parking firms to invent and perform legal services without paying their members.
They certainly do not do anything about it thats for sure.

The_Deep

Another link of shame for this totally unprincipled company,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11858473/Parking-firm-UKPC-admits-faking-tickets-to-fine-drivers.html

I doubt if they would dare set foot in court, especially against someone whom they know is going to rake up their sordid deeds.

jnoire

@RedX:
Thank you very much for your quick reply. I am thankful for any help provided, small or large, legal or otherwise, by anyone. From my point of view, such parking tickets, especially the ones at free car parks, are outrageous and should be banned. Having said that, lots of things are outrageous in this life and sometimes we do pay up just to make sure we don't go through further hassle. Thank you for the links and information.

@IamEmanresu:
I am based near Gatwick airport just outside London.
Not sure if I should acknowledge the letter as I don't know what the implications are. I'm not even sure if this is a proper letter before claim as they claim it to be in the letter. I would like to consider all options if I know what it entails and how to go about it. So if you have some information on that, please do help. Appreciate it.

@MarktheShark:
The signature is a squiggle with "Small Claims Solicitors" printed underneath. No name or PP before or after the Signature.
I would love to go to the police with some confirmed information on whether this particular letter can be considered as using false instrument. I will first try to understand if this letter is in fact a letter of claim and then take action.
I agree about the SRA. Lots of stories confirming it.
Thanks for your help!

@The Deep:
Thanks for the link. If I get enough confidence that I do have a pretty good chance of winning, I will use all possible defences to ensure they (both UKPC and any solicitors company) think multiple times before even thinking about sending such letters.

I just saw this on the supremecourt .uk website. Add to that first bit the following /cases/docs/uksc-2013-0280-press-summary.pdf

This was from the 4th of December 2015 so from just two days ago. The judgement takes into consideration whether the penalty was "justified". Not sure if that applies to my case as I think, if indeed I have a case, it will be to do with whether UKPC has any legality to issue penalties.

I'm keen to hear from others (professionals if I could plead!) what my next steps should be.

How to establish if this letter actually comes from a solicitor? I checked the Companies House website. The company registration number is real. Any thing else I need to check?

How to establish if this letter (please see my post above) is indeed an LBC. I have read the post by zzzLazyDaisy and surely there are some inconsistencies that I could figure out myself with my lay eye. I would be very grateful if you also could have a look and let me know your thoughts?

I am definitely planning to contact the building owner and ask what are the possibilities to annul the ticket. Not sure if there is anything they can do at this stage. But I will try anyway. I will post of the outcome.

I would like to thank everyone taking their time to reply to my post! Every bit of support and help is appreciated. If a money making company like UKPC will think twice about taking a case to court due to costs, just think about a middle class person like myself trying to make ends meet. That's why I am asking for help from the people in the law profession. Please do not consider this as trying to take away your earnings!!! If you have some time and the will to help, please do so.

Thanks again!