VCS Parking - CCCF Letter Received - Defence helped needed

saarchy

My case has now been assigned to my local court after the DQ submission, but I'm contemplating sending the below e-mail to VCS... Can I please have some feedback on this draft?

Dear Sir,

I am writing in regard of claim:#

This claim has now progressed to a stage where a court date seems inevitable. It is, in my opinion, an invalid claim and therefore a waste of time for everyone involved. This opinion is based on many factors; photographic evidence, previously overturned tickets & advice from those well versed in this area to name but a few.

This claim has forced me to halt planning travel aboard and that is jeopardising my livelihood. As such, despite the frivolous nature of the claim, I am of the mindset to propose a ‘drop hands’ offer in order for this matter to reach a quick conclusion.

I dispute all parking charge notices as per, but accept VCS have incurred £60 of costs to date for submitting this claim to the CCBC. Despite this being no fault of the Defendant whatsoever, I will offer to pay 50% of the court cost to resolve this, a total of £30. This is dependent on VCS cancelling the aforementioned claim and all outstanding PCN for vehicle “REG”

Should this offer be rejected, the Defendant will be forced to take legal guidance on submitting a counter claim for loss of earnings.

I await your response,

Saarchy

The fact that this could take months to reach a court date is causing me some major issues in my personal life and I would rather this was resolved ASAP, despite my case being pretty bullet proof. I appreciate £30 is a bit of a light sum given their demanding £880, but I really do think I would win this one in court and don't want to waste 2/3 months to find out....

Lamilad

I understand you want this to go away but it's not going to. Your letter would not make a blind bit of difference - you're assuming that they have an ounce of humanity or the ability to listen to reason - they DO NOT!

I am not exagerating when I say they are devoid of any sense of decency, honour or fairness. They are rotten to the core, complete and utter scum. They want your money, they don't care about anything else; and they will stoop to any level, they will twist your words, manipulate information and lie to to the court, to get it.

They would only try to use this letter against you either by twisting into ad admission of guilt or by exploiting it as a sign of weakness on your part.

If you were to make them a 'drop hands' offer then that offer would be zero. It would have to be far more assertive/ borderline aggressive and be along the lines of "I have a very strong case backed up by statute law, you have a very weak case that will certaily fail as is the case on almost every occassion against a well prepared defendant. I will be seeking costs for my ordinary expenses as well additonal costs for your unreasonable behaviour under CPR 27.14(g). Unlike your company - who is well known as a serial litigant and issuer of 'roboclaims' - I prefer not to waste the courts time with this pointless exercise. i am therefore offering you this one-off opportunity on a 'drop hands' basis, to save your company the hearing fee and the costs that I will be awarded. It is open for 14 days only and must be confirmed in writing to the defendant and the court through a 'notice of discontinuance' ...blah... blah.... so on and so forth"

beamerguy

LISTEN TO LAMILAD

He has first hand experience dealing with these vermin

VCS are the lowest form of life you can get and are to be treated as such

[Deleted User]

Saarchy FWIW you should not write to anyone stating that you have no legal advice. Try the below. Less emotion, more formality.

You need a letter stating at the top Without Prejudice Save As To Costs and then simply state:

the defendant believes the claimant's claim is without merit. The defendant will claim his costs of any successfully defended proceedings to include the cost of and occasioned by court hearings.

Nevertheless, With a view to saving costs and avoiding protracted litigation, the defendant will accept a drop hands settlement. If accepted each party will discontinue these proceedings and bear their own costs.

This offer has settlement value to the Claimant, with the opportunity to avoid both an adverse judgment and costs order.

I look forward to hearing from you.

When you win, show it to the court and request your costs on an indemnity basis - stamps, letters, daily attendance at court, petrol expenses etc....

Lamilad

When you win, show it to the court and request your costs on an indemnity basis

Where does​ the CPR discuss claiming costs on an 'indemnity basis'?

You can either request ordinary costs - petrol , parking loss of a day's leave or costs for unreasonable behaviour under CPR 27.14.2(g)

[Deleted User]

In principle the court could do so under its general powers relating to costs. Part 27 does not disapply part 44. However, we are agreed that the costs are codified by part 27, so the difference wouldn't be massive in any event. Such that such an order would only assist in relation to claiming expenses such as mileage if the claimant challenged the distances/rate claimed or reprographics costs per page.

It'd be nice to think that unreasonable conduct costs would be awarded, but I can see the DJ would be reluctant to award them in many cases.

saarchy

Thanks for the feedback. I'll redraft a more strongly worded e-mail and post again here for feedback.

The main issue is that I need to urgently book flights and know there will be costs involved should the court date conflict. You guys seem to only mention travel costs to/from the court as what I could get back, but what about rebooking travel/lose of earnings?

Most frustrating is I feel my case is about as solid as they come. If they want to waste 2/3 month of my time putting this WOT through the system, what can I do to punish that? I'd like to make this point abundantly clear in my 'drop hands' offer and trust they'll pull the claim.

I know for a fact they are also pursuing my colleagues for parking on the same road. Many of them did not appeal like I did and likely won't put in as much effort in their defence. In fact, some might just pay because they fear the court summons. I believe I was targeted first though, and when I win, would that judgement affect the other claims they're progressing? Given they'll have wasted my time, it's also highly likely I'll directly help my colleagues in fighting their individual claims...

If so, surely that's a woeful mistake and I need to make that abundantly clear in my e-mail....

saarchy

I've put together the below based on the responses from Lamilad and Johnersh. It's an amalgamation of both your responses so I'm hoping it will cover all bases and ensure the offer is accepted. Are there any changes/amendments I should be making on the below?

Without Prejudice Save As To Costs

Dear Sir,

I am writing in regard of claim:#

I have a very strong case backed up by statute law, you have a very weak case that will certainly fail as is the case on almost every occasion against a well-prepared defendant. I will be seeking costs for my ordinary expenses as well additional costs for your unreasonable behaviour under CPR 27.14(g). Unlike your company - who is well known as a serial litigant and issuer of 'roboclaims' - I prefer not to waste the courts time with this pointless exercise.

The Defendant believes the claimant's claim is without merit. The defendant will claim his costs of any successfully defended proceedings to include the cost of and occasioned by court hearings.

Nevertheless, with a view to saving costs and avoiding protracted litigation, the defendant will accept a drop hands settlement. If accepted each party will discontinue these proceedings and bear their own costs.

This offer has settlement value to the Claimant, with the opportunity to avoid both an adverse judgment and costs order.

I look forward to hearing from you within 14 days of the date of this e-mail.
Saarchy

Umkomaas

I look forward to hearing from you

...... within 14 days of the date of this letter.

saarchy

Umkomaas wrote: »

...... within 14 days of the date of this letter.

Thanks, amended above.

I was planning on sending this as an e-mail directly to litigation@vcs. Is there any issues doing that over a traditional letter?