Vcs/bw legal county court claim form

Fimbaz

Hi guys

I'm so sorry to start a new thread on this, but I've read through so much on here and all the information has just merged into one and now I'm even more confused than ever! My husband has had correspondence with various companies over a 45 minute VCS parking ticket from July 2012 (pre-POFA) in which neither of us were driving. We don't even know who was driving the car as there was various family and friends driving both cars over the weekend as we were attending a family wedding and had people staying over, and it was obviously a bit manic. We have had letters sporadically over the years, and have replied accordingly after following advice given to others on these forums. This morning, my husband has received a letter headed 'Claim Form', and we are literally clueless how to respond to this one. I, for one, am finding this extremely distressing (and yes, I know that's what they prey on ��), so any advice from you wonderful, knowledgeable people would be so greatly appreciated. Many Thanks in advance for any replies, and/or help. ��

Redx

so its BEFORE pofa2012 came in in oct 2012 , so no keeper liability (he must be the keeper if the form is in his name)

read post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky thread at the top of this forum

acknowledge the claim online (nothing else, just acknowledge it as detailed in that post #2)

then use the forum search box and suitable search words to find similar cases that are pre-POFA both on here and over on pepipoo forums as well

base your defence on those other threads, but DO NOT READ anything older than 2016 or later , so only 2016/2017 cases

then start to draft your defence and hone it over the next 4 weeks

and read the threads by lamilad about his court cases against either EXCEL or VCS (same parent company) - these will also give you insights into your own defence

System

Follow the instructions on the claim form to Acknowledge online to give you the full 28 days to get a defence together.

What is the allegation? Overstaying, not paying etc.

VCS are not issuing these claims as such. It is BW Legal on a no win/no fee basis. Some lacky will sit and look at the paperwork and construct some nonsense about the Keeper driving - without proof - or even that whoever was driving was an "agent" of the Keeper.

All nonsense but they do it to get people to fold.

Get the Acknowledgement in and then check the threads for a defence.

Fimbaz

Thanks guys, will get onto that. Just to answer your questions, yes he is the registered keeper (or was, he hasn't had the car since 2012, and we have also moved house since, 2 years ago). We asked them for any CCTV etc, which would have proved he wasn't driving. Got no acknowledgment to that.

And the allegation is not paying.

Thanks again

Redx

they dont use CCTV nor would they be allowed to use it or to retain the data or footage for these purposes , so a waste of time asking them for it or expecting it , plus nobody here has asked about it or expected it to come up in conversation or replies, its a no no , not relevant to the case at all as this is a civil matter

the fact that he was the keeper on the day is all they need for the moment in order to start their court claim, it doesnt matter what happened to the vehicle after it left the car park nor if it was sold, scrapped or anything else subsequent to the event , nor does moving house apart from making sure that the paperwork goes to his current address or a serviceable address

focus on the relevant , not the irrelevant

start to draft the defence once the claim has been acknowledged

Lamilad

JackBasta's thread is recent pre pofa case on here. Also look at Dub Cat on Pepipoo

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

Fimbaz

No probs, thanks guys. Just wanted to give you all the info in case it affected your advice. Thanks again, just getting started now with a draft.

Fimbaz

Made a good start on the defence from reading through others as advised. Just wondering if the following is relevant - not sure whether the order of letters we've received is following the correct procedure. I'm guessing it's irrelevant, but hubby is asking me to ask the question...

04/10/16 - a letter from both VCS and BW Legal. The VCS one saying the account has been passed to their legal team, the BW Legal one saying it needs to be paid, otherwise they will seek their client's instructions to commence legal proceedings in the form of a County Court Claim Form.

31/10/16 - letter from BW Legal asking the RK to provide the details of the driver.

07/11/16 - Final Notice, stating that if the payment is not made within 17 days, the client has instructed them to bring proceedings.

16/11/16 - BW Legal - we will now SEEK our client's instructions to commence CC proceedings.

06/12/16 - Letter of Claim from BW Legal totalling payments from going to court, and stating that if the balance is not paid by 24/12/16, 'our client WILL instruct us to take legal action'.

He then received the LBC (which we cannot find at the moment, so I do not have a date for, now the Court Claim.

So, his question being, does the fact that they have gone back and forward with 'we will seek our client's instructions' to 'we have received our client's instructions', more than once, bear any relevance to the defence. Apologies for waffling - my brain has turned to mush today looking through all this!

Thanks again for all your help

Redx

its all almost irrelevant , even if they failed to follow the pre-court rules its unlikely to affect any outcome and there are no "set procedures" , just "good practice" and the stuff mentioned in the LBC sticky thread by LAZY DAISY

its all he says , she says , back and forth, and VCS are the clients of BW LEGAL, so what ? WHO CARES WHICH LEGAL FIRM (or firms) VCS HAVE EMPLOYED ?

VCS can either do it "in house" or instruct debt collectors and/or a solicitors to pursue this matter

there have been plenty of threads about this , plus blogs on parking pranksters website about them (and many others including GLADSTONES)

if they failed on issues like the LBC then it can all be mentioned in your defence, but the judge is likely to rule on legal arguments , like the law or other court cases where there have been judgments , like the BEAVIS case for example

complaining about the letter chain or harassment etc is not really the issue here , sorry to say , so getting "off on a technicality" like pre court actions is unlikely to win this case and could sidetrack your husband from the main legal issues that need to be raised

ie:- we already know that BW LEGAL are incompetent and fail to follow best practice , same applies to gladstones and wright hassell , but it hasnt stopped them from issuing court cases

Fimbaz

Thanks for the reply, Redx. I thought it would be. We have found a defence on another thread on this site. Is it ok to use these as templates, and edit them to fit our own situation? Or do we need to just take small parts from them? Sorry for all the questions - just want to make sure we do it properly.

Coupon-mad

Yes you can plagiarise anyone's defence on here, we like to see that level of research in fact.