IAS Appeal Lost - Now what?

Luke_Rick

LBC Letter received...

TO PAY CALL GLADSTONES
SOLICITORS LIMITED ON
01565 655470


LETTER BEFORE CLAIM
Dear

Re : Our Client : Link Parking Ltd
Amount Due: 160.00
Vehicle Reg:

We act on behalf of the Claimant and we have now been instructed to commence legal action against you to recover the amount due above, as you have failed to settle the debts that are owing, or provide a valid reason for non-payment. We understand that our client has written to you to request payment but the amounts are still outstanding.

PCN Number Date of Charge Location Charge Amount
160.00

The debts relate to parking charges (detaled above) for which you are liable. Full details of the charges have previously been provided to you within the Parking Charge Notices and/or Notices to Driver/Keeper that have been served upon you. The Claimant will rely on these documents in the forthcoming action against you.
We refer you to the Practice Direction for Pre-Action Conduct under the Civil Procedure Rules and in particular paragraph 13-16 of the same which concerns the Court's powers to impose sanctions for any failure to comply.

We now require you to pay the full amount within 14 days. Alternatively, you should provide an acknowledgement of receipt of this letter and a full written response within 14 days. Your response should provide your full account of the circumstances that have led to the charges being Imposed and should include confirmation as to who the driver(s) of the vehicle were at the time of each incident and a current address for service for each driver.

Unless a satisfactory response is provided, we are instructed to start proceedings against you without any further notice in order to recover the amounts due and costs associated with the recovery of them. The amount that is claimed may therefore increase in terms of costs and any interest that is recoverable.

If you are unsure about anything contained within this letter, you should seek advice from a solicitor or contact one of the following organisations who may be able to help you;
Yours Sincerely
Gladstones Solicitors

Luke_Rick

So, i've drafted up a LBC response...

I've checked around the newbie forums, along with the pepipoo forums and done this letter.

Gladstones Solicitors
The Terrace
High Legh Park Golf Club
Warrington Road
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 6AA

In relation to Reference: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your letter.
I have received your Letter Before Claim dated 1st March 2017.

First, I deny any debt to Link Parking Limited and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended.
Secondly, there is no reference to your letter being fully compliant with the Practice Direction it is in fact woefully defective and appears to be a deliberate attempt to mislead the recipient.

You cannot presume that I possess all the documents referred to in your letter.
Please therefore provide a Letter Before Claim which complies with the requirements of the Practice Direction on Pre-action Conduct and Protocols.
Areas which you are not compliant are listed below:
2.1
The claimant’s letter should give concise details about the matter. This should enable the defendant to understand and investigate the issues without needing to request further information. The letter should include –
(2) the basis on which the claim is made (i.e. why the claimant says the defendant is liable);
(3) a clear summary of the facts on which the claim is based;
(5) if financial loss is claimed, an explanation of how the amount has been calculated; and
2.2
The letter should also –
(1) list the essential documents on which the claimant intends to rely;
(2) set out the form of ADR (if any) that the claimant considers the most suitable and invite the defendant to agree to this;

Please confirm that your client's contract with the land-holder includes specific authority to take legal action and that this will be produced for the court.
I also require an explanation for the additional £60 charge including confirmation that it has already been invoiced and paid.
When I receive the documents and your explanations I will be in a position to make a more detailed response
It would be unreasonable to proceed with litigation before you have clarified your client's cause of action.
I look forward to your response

Yours Faithfully
[Mr Unknown]

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Thoughts? Feedback?

Crabman

Two threads have been merged together

Coupon-mad

This one is similar and shows a LBCCC response followed by the inevitable claim and what to do after that, to defend it:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72061702#Comment_72061702

Or this one:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71896526#Comment_71896526

Expect to be defending a claim like everyone does v Gladstones. Read the Parking Pranksters blogs about them mucking up cases, Link Parking included. We know what we are doing with defences on here and no-one so far has lost v Gladstones AFAIK.

Luke_Rick

UPDATE

---

So looks like i need to be drafting up my court defense papers. Just received the paperwork today.

I'm reading up heavily in the newbies section so please bare with me as i begin to draft up my defense. I'm just reading in the letter of the "Particulars of the claim" and it states.. "Incurred the parking charge(s) on 28/11/2016 for breaching the terms of parking on the land at..." - now, hopefully someone can weigh in on this and fill me in but... do they not have to state as to what it was i was in-breach of? Or will they take this on the previous submitted documents from them?

I've read numerous of times regarding the state of not owning to driving the car at the time of the issued PCN, but i didn't really read through these forums till after i basically said, yeah i was driving. Would this hinder my defense?

Any help is much appreciated!

Coupon-mad

Yes you are right, and this is already covered in loads of Gladstones generic defences. Try searching on this board for the words: 'Gladstones incoherent particulars of claim' or 'Gladstones money owed preliminary matters defence'

Have you done the AOS on MCOL? There is a walk-through link in post #2 of the NEWBIES thread on how to acknowledge the claim online.

Luke_Rick

Would that be this part..?

"Here is a guide to MCOL & how to acknowledge service (the first step to get time to defend), put together by another genuine PPC fighter:

https://www.dropbox.com/home?preview=money-claim-online-How-to-Acknowledge.pdf
"

For me, the drop b0x link is broken.

Also, going forward, as this is a signage discrepancy, i have from LinkParking, a sitemap which shows all the signs as they have Circles and Marked on a map, with bounding boxes showing their enforceable areas. Would this be sufficient grounds to defend against in terms of their own evidence ruling me out?

Coupon-mad

Dropbox works for me with that link. Do you have Dropbox?

Luke_Rick

Yes i have a dropbox. It does not work for me, just re-directs to dropbox.com/home for me.

Coupon-mad

Well to be fair it's not as if most people actually need to be spoon-fed on the subject of AOS...dead simple acknowledgement (just an annoying Government Gateway system to get through).

Already explained by bargepole in another post on the NEWBIES thread post #2, all is covered there.