PCN received well outside 14 day ANPR

vmc-on-top

lol! ok thanks. Yes, I have been entirely absent from the forum since!

Thanks, I'll start reading!

Umkomaas

vmc-on-top wrote: »

lol! ok thanks. Yes, I have been entirely absent from the forum since!

Thanks, I'll start reading!

You've lots of catching up to do! This won't be any easier for having gone AWOL for the past 18 months. These things do not go away.

Ignoring - at whatever stage - can be very costly.

vmc-on-top

Received claim form this morning from County Court from UK Parking Patrol (via BW legal). £248.70.

I have to admit I have been too busy to really engage in any protracted exchange of correspondence either with BW or UKPP.

can anyone give me some pointers as to what and where i should be looking at now? - obviously i need to respond to the claim. do I simply put a defence together for court, or engage with BW legal?

The_Deep

£248 is far more than the Law allows for this sort of claim. The down market solicitors whom the PPCs engage know this, but, because they are solicitors, know that a lot of people will pay up.

It is in fact double charging and non claimable debt collectors' add ons. Imo, this is fraud, or, at the very least, improper conduct.

Were this to get to court and they won, the judge would be unlikely to award the claimant more than £175 - £200.

I urge you to report this grubby law firm to their regulatory body, the SRA.

https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/code/content.page

as I am sure they do not condone this conduct.

The whole industry is a scam, relying on threats of court, and the public's ignorance of the Law, A bill is currently before parliament which will regulate the scammers, many of whom are ex-clampers.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Second Reading in the Lords this month, and, with a fair wind, will l become Law later this year..

All five readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 7-8 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.

vmc-on-top

Thanks for your reply. I am more than happy to report them to the SRA.

In terms of the claim they have served, can you point me in the direction of how i should be defending / replying to it?

[Deleted User]

The PPC won't listen to you unless you're making a payment offer at this point.

If you paid the PCN at £60 that's obviously cheaper than the amount you could have to pay if you lose at trial. But, there's a chance (depending on the parking terms) that you can defend it entirely. That's what the forum is for.

Now proceedings are live it's a case of in for a penny, in for a pound. I'd devote my time to acknowledging the claim and planning a quality defence.

The claim form arrives with a response pack that tells you exactly how to acknowledge the claim. See, in particular the tick boxes "I intend to defend ALL or PART of the claim" (tick as appropriate). Do that asap as it will prevent a default judgment and it buys you more time to do the defence.

Your defence will need to consider the terms of the contract (ie the signs). You may wish to consider:

1. Were they visible
2. Are they limited to parking (Luton airport, I believe, charges for drop offs too)
3. What was the overstay
4. Were the signs only visible when in a queue of traffic (ie. Was there really a choice to contract)

There are good templates on the forum, but don't be afraid to excise stuff that doesn't seem relevant and to add points specific to your case. Most important, don't put in any points that you don't understand. If that sounds silly, just think that these are the same points you'll need to explain to a judge.

Precedent templates are like fire - a good slave, but a bad master!

Finally, bear in mind the defence is for legal points, the statement (which comes later) is the factual points - what you said & did. This point gets a little obscured in these cases because PPCs routinely serve woeful particulars of claim and try and make up for that later with witness statements referring to case law and the like.

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Did it come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton, or from somewhere else?

Coupon-mad

vmc-on-top wrote: »

can you point me in the direction of how i should be defending / replying to it?

Yep, it's all explained in the NEWBIES thread post #2, as well as how to do AOS.

Send a pm to the other posters with the same batch of new UKPPO claims as you, and compare research:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5925855/bw-legal-letter-of-claim-newcastle-airport

The last thing we want is three of you asking the same questions on 3 threads and expecting us to look one by one, and comment on 3 different defences.

Ideally, to avoid a burden we can't manage (like with the current tedious BW Legal/Britannia batch of claims - yawwwwn...!) we need you all to simply do the same as each other and talk to each other.

And ask us once! One draft defence version for all would be good...see that link for some pointers I just gave the others & all 3 of you need to do the AOS, as the NEWBIES thread shows you (easy).

Fredhugh

Hi all !

I’m your 4th person to receive a NTK while a car in my name was caught by cameras stopped in front of the Newcastle airpor Hilton barrier for 5 seconds. This took place in July 2017.

I’d like to express my thanks to the regular posters, you know who you are. Thank you for your time and expertise.

I’ve been following the forums for the past two years. Now that I’ve received my county court claim from Nottingham business centre, I’d like to make contact with the others involved. So that we can write a defence and tell this company where to go. Claim letter dated 15 February 2019.

New to posting to the forum, so still finding my way. Have PM’s and email contacts been exchanged? If so how can I exchange mine?

All the best.

DW190

Sure the response in this post will help: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=72565021&postcount=8

The response states the matter is not contract, but to avoid prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Now they bring a civil claim.