Urgent help! Gladstones letter before claim

TW2011

Hello,

I am in need of some urgent advice, I have received a letter before claim from Gladstones solicitors dated the 20/01/17 in relation to 5 parking tickets issued by national car parks limited for £160 each. These were issued when my wife was driving my car after being ill advised by a friend that there was no need to comply with these "fines" she subsequently failed to tell me about the situation and discarded any letters that were sent to me so unaware if there were any NTK sent. So... where do i start? Of course i'm not thinking about telling them it was her driving at the time, is it too late to offer some form of payment? what should i write in response to the letter before claim? how should i fight this if it goes to court (i'm not sure i have a leg to stand on)
Any help much appreciated, i have been trawling through forums but as a complete newbie don't really have a clue where to start and need to reply within 14 days.
Thanks in advance

Coupon-mad

what should i write in response to the letter before claim?

Same as you see in threads you see when you search 'Gladstones LBCCC', we have loads like this. Put those words in 'search this board'.

how should i fight this if it goes to court (I'm not sure i have a leg to stand on)

On the basis it wasn't you driving and you can't be liable because NCP don't use the POFA 2012* (BTW the PCNs were not £2160 each, they've inflated them by £60 a POP already).

No offer. Defend like everyone else does - we have not lost a Gladstones one yet.


* please read the NEWBIES FAQS thread first.

The_Deep

They are trying to con you out of £300. Unless a judge states otherwise, they are only permitted to claim £100 per invoice. Complain here:

http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page

Why not name the driver, despite what they may tell you, it is not too late, and it restarts the clock.

Gladstones do not do well in cour against us or PPPt, read all the cases on here which are titled "You've been Gladstoned

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

Half_way

If ncp don't use POFA then make sure the driver can not be identified, don't give any hint or clue. refer to the parking as the vehicle was parked.
Dont say brother, uncle, aunt, mum, dad, father, mother, gran, sister, husband, wife or anything else that may give a clue.
If you have already edit it out.

TW2011

Thank you all for the replies. Me and the wife came to the decision that we would name her as driver in order to restart the POPLA clock and go from there (we were panicked at the thought of court), maybe a mistake but we will see where it goes now. Forgive me, I have read through the POFA but what exactly do you mean by "NCP don't use POFA"?

Coupon-mad

I have read through the POFA but what exactly do you mean by "NCP don't use POFA"?

Doesn't matter now...you threw away that slam dunk winning point for POPLA, by naming the driver. Wrong move.

NCP never do court! This would be astonishing but it is a shame the driver has been given away like a sacrificial lamb, so that the POFA can't be used at all now. You (a keeper) could have used the POFA in appeal/defence. A driver can't.

You have thrown away this defence -

On the basis it wasn't you driving and you can't be liable because NCP don't use the POFA 2012

YOU WERE NEVER LIABLE BUT YOUR WIFE COULD BE AND YOU'VE JUST NAMED HER.

TW2011

Okay, so that was a bad move. NCP never do court but it seems Gladstones do, a lot, and this is a big claim for them (although I understand they probably would never have been awarded the full sum) would they really have not gone ahead with it? So now as far as I can make out from reading other various posts NCP will start to write to my wife and then we make a POPLA appeal which if lost and we still don't pay up they will refer back to Gladstones and they still wont bother with court action?

Coupon-mad

Yes that's likely to be what happens now the driver has been named. Certainly if they continue to pursue you, then let it happen & defend, because you have such a strong defence especially if they pursue you despite being given the name and address of the driver.

It's hard to know if your case had been singled out for court, I guess you must wait and see if NCP play this properly now. Trouble is there is the added complication if they pursue your wife, that if these were windscreen PCNs, she already had a right to appeal at that stage. So that right has already been and gone, if NCP realise it. Unless these were postal ANPR PCNs but most NCP ones start with a Notice to Driver on the windscreen that she ignored. She had her chance to appeal. So technically they could bypass POPLA because she never appealed.

You can only wait and see what comes next because for this inflated sum it is worth contesting in court and certainly it would be amusing if they try to pursue YOU under the circumstances; your defence would be very strong now. Your wife's less so, but at least the charges could be contested on signage or something plus the extra added £60 a pop argued as unfair.

TW2011

Update: It took a few months but Gladstone's sent out another LBC to a name similar to my wife's with my name at the top of the letter, (same one as they sent me the first time just put a different name at the top) I sent one back telling them they have the name of the driver and not to pursue me. They sent out a correctly addressed LBC to my wife, unfortunately we were on holiday when this happened and before we had a chance to reply we have received a county court claim. I was under the impression that national car parks would have to 're send the pcn's to the now named driver in order for her to be able to appeal and that these would be what Gladstone's intend to rely upon in court. Have they jumped the gun in issuing the court claim without following proper processes? And any advice where to go from here?

TW2011

Also to confirm this was ANPR so no windscreen ticket

Umkomaas

I was under the impression that national car parks would have to 're send the pcn's to the now named driver in order for her to be able to appeal and that these would be what Gladstone's intend to rely upon in court. Have they jumped the gun in issuing the court claim without following proper processes? And any advice where to go from here?

If you've formally identified the driver and removed keeper liability, this resets the clock and the PPC must issue a new notice to the driver, with the formal appeals routes opened.

You need a very strong complaint fired off quickly to the BPA and copied in to David Dunford of the DVLA, asking both organisations to urgently investigate this case. It should be sent in the driver's name. Stress that this is now very urgent given that court papers have been served.

But this shouldn't hold back processing the court papers. The NEWBIES FAQ sticky. post #2 guides you through the process.

Two-pronged actions, in parallel.