MIL Collections - Letter Before Action

HO87

Squired wrote: »

Hi there,
I wonder if I could PM you please? I have now had court papers through and want to ask some specific questions and run my planned defence before you. Thank you for any help you can provide
Best Regards

You have a PM

desres52

May be worth you reading the parking pranksters latest blogs regarding MIL. If you send your defence to the court and receive a response from MIL, check if it is signed by the elusive Matt Murdoch. Further details are on the PP blog and suggestions of what to do.

Squired

Happy to report that my case was heard this week (7th September) in Lancaster County Court and lasted about 3 minutes. An Agent did show up on behalf of MIL, although she kept referring to them as MLI (which was quite amusing!) She was clearly not well briefed and had no response when questioned by the judge about the first (of a long list) of legal anomalies. As soon as she could not answer, the Judge dismissed the case and we spent more time talking about expenses incurred that we did about the case. MIL are a hideous business with a hideous business model and I only pursued this case (with fantastic help and support from HO87 & John Wilkie) because I was determined not to line their pockets further. They rely on fear of the legal process to get people to pay up but when it actually comes to a court case they are totally inept and unable to offer any kind of coherent argument (mainly because what they are doing actually has no legal basis) I am sure that they realise they will lose in court when it gets that far but continue to this stage to demonstrate that the only way to shake them off is to go to that extreme - they know most people will not want to do this for the sake of £50 which is what they offered me to settle 2 weeks before the court date.
For what its worth my advice would be don't ignore them, that plays in to their hands and they win so either wait until the offer of £50 and settle or if you feel strongly (as I did) then push on to court and use the forums to your advantage (Parking Prankster / Pepipoo / MSE) and have your day in court - On reflection the other route is to pass your case on to private parking appeals PPA and for £19 let them do battle on your behalf.

So after 18 months I am feeling relieved, vindicated and more than anything angry towards MIL/Alan Davis/ The fictional Matt Murdoch/k - I am looking forward to getting my cheque from MIL though!

I am happy to share my experiences if they can be of any help to anyone.

beamerguy

Squired wrote: »

Happy to report that my case was heard this week (7th September) in Lancaster County Court and lasted about 3 minutes. An Agent did show up on behalf of MIL, although she kept referring to them as MLI (which was quite amusing!) She was clearly not well briefed and had no response when questioned by the judge about the first (of a long list) of legal anomalies. As soon as she could not answer, the Judge dismissed the case and we spent more time talking about expenses incurred that we did about the case. MIL are a hideous business with a hideous business model and I only pursued this case (with fantastic help and support from HO87 & John Wilkie) because I was determined not to line their pockets further. They rely on fear of the legal process to get people to pay up but when it actually comes to a court case they are totally inept and unable to offer any kind of coherent argument (mainly because what they are doing actually has no legal basis) I am sure that they realise they will lose in court when it gets that far but continue to this stage to demonstrate that the only way to shake them off is to go to that extreme - they know most people will not want to do this for the sake of £50 which is what they offered me to settle 2 weeks before the court date.
For what its worth my advice would be don't ignore them, that plays in to their hands and they win so either wait until the offer of £50 and settle or if you feel strongly (as I did) then push on to court and use the forums to your advantage (Parking Prankster / Pepipoo / MSE) and have your day in court - On reflection the other route is to pass your case on to private parking appeals PPA and for £19 let them do battle on your behalf.

So after 18 months I am feeling relieved, vindicated and more than anything angry towards MIL/Alan Davies/ The fictional Matt Murdoch/k - I am looking forward to getting my cheque from MIL though!

I am happy to share my experiences if they can be of any help to anyone.

That is good news. MIL are just a failure .. PERIOD.

Does your case show on the Pranksters blog

Squired

Yes was blogged on Prankster site this morning

beamerguy

Squired wrote: »

Yes was blogged on Prankster site this morning

Ah, it was you, thanks. and again HO87 does the biz.

My view about Alan Davis is that he seriously needs medical help, don't know a medical word for his condition but it's very serious.

Amazing the "agent" for MIL did not even know who she was representing.

With so many MIL cases failing, the courts surely must have flagged MIL for abusing the system.

Great, well done and again leaves bad eggs on the Davis face.

The BMPA has already said about MIL ..

"Have become active recently in buying up "uncollectable" parking tickets and then issuing spurious claims via MoneyClaimOnline"

UNCOLLECTABLE being the OPERATIVE word

Coupon-mad

HO87 wrote: »

+1 to C-M's comments and - as ever to those of Umkomaas.

MIL can be beaten. And, no that doesn't mean they can be beaten after a seven hundred mile hike and a bloody battle but it does involve some effort and keeping your nerve. I know that is very easy for those of us who are at the coalface, so to speak, to say.

MIL's entire approach is based on a minimum of paperwork and a maximum of bullying and bluster. Having purchased a debt - that by the time it appears on a claim form is usually in the £175 to £225 range - for just £1 the investment of an additional £25 to issue court proceedings is chickenfeed.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of people will simply pay up the full amount. The greatest shame is that we know that their claims are built on sand - legally speaking - and every one of them could be fought and won. I understand why people pay up but all they are doing is perpetuating the practice. That is how PPC World has expanded in the way it has over the last 5-6 years.

I've removed my earlier posts but well done HO87, as ever.

hoohoo wrote: »

Courts are not the problem. MIL make their money from people they bully into paying up before it gets to a hearing.

How any company can think that is acceptable business practice is beyond most of us.