LBC letter received

Ralphyface123

Hi,
I am hoping for some help and guidance as I have received in the post a “Letter Before Claim” from One Parking Solutions. The letter refers to a PCN in Sept 2016 for “Displaying an invalid permit for this bay”. I have copied the letter in this post a bit further down as I wanted to quickly give some background info first.
The car park in question is a residents car park in a brand new development in Southampton ( Centenary Quay ) of which at the time my partner and I were residents from Jan 2016. Building work was still going on and none of the promised retail outlets were occupied and by September the only things working were a library and an enthusiastic car park attendant!!
There were two very large car parks. Residents had allocated spaces in the underground levels and on the ground floor was a large car park with no numbered bays.
Although my partner and I were issued with two parking labels only one of us could park at any given time in our one and only “allocated bay” in the underground car park which was never more than half full and the car park on the ground level barely 10% full.
The parking company had put up signs throughout the premises including all the streets within the surrounding area to advise of private parking which meant that even as a resident if you parked in any other bay than your one allocated you would get a ticket, no visitor spaces were provided either. This meant the entire area was locked down despite there being ample parking spaces available and only residents parking there.
I understand the control of parking to ensure availability for residents but with the site still under development the only people being penalized were the residents themselves. However you could argue there is little requirement for this control anyway, as the residents ‘allocated spaces’ are all located underground in a secure car park, accessible only by a key fob.
I have read through much of the forums and although it seems I should have challenged this earlier I have not entered into any correspondence with the parking company. I believe the PCN I received was unreasonable and unfair as the parking space occupied was denying nobody of any parking or loss of revenue.
However now that It appears I am on the brink of having to sort this out through the court I would like to know if I have any grounds to challenge the LBC letter. I am tempted to respond using the extremely useful information posted by zzzlazydaisy but as I have no legal knowledge whatsoever I am hoping that I can get some guidance on my particular issue.
Thanks in advance
Here is the LBC letter:-




LETTER BEFORE CLAIM

Claimant: One parking Solution Limited ( The Creditor )
Total Amount Outstanding: £208 ( plus £1.75 surcharge for all card payments )


VRM PCN Number Date Location Amount
Car reg their ref 08/09/2016 Centenary Quay Southampton £208

The debt relates to a parking charge ( detailed above ) for which you are liable. Full details of the charge have previously been provided to you within the Parking Charge Notice and/or Notice 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 Civil Procedure Rules and in particular paragraph 4 of the same which concerns the courts powers to impose sanctions for any failure to comply.
Unless a satisfactory response is provided, we may start proceedings against you without further notice in order to recover the amount due and any associated costs that are involved in the recovery of the debt. The amount that is claimed might therefore increase in terms of costs and any interest that is recoverable.
If you are unsure about anything contained in this letter you should seek advice from a solicitor or contact one of the following organisations who may be able to help you: National Debt Line, 0808 808 4000, , Consumer Credit Counselling Service, 0800 138 1111, Citizens Advice, ( check for local numbers ) . Community Legal Advice, 0845 3345 4345,

Yours Sincerely

One Parking Limited
Litigation Department

Umkomaas

You need to break up that wall of text into readable paragraphs. Too difficult to decipher. Most regulars skip over these big blocks and move to other more readable threads needing help.

Coupon-mad

I am tempted to respond using the extremely useful information posted by zzzlazydaisy

The thread on question is some 4 years old and refers to the previous Practice Direction.

Newer examples of replies to an LBCCC are in post #2 of the NEWBIES thread.