LBC - Settlement Offer - Need advice!

SouRz

Hi everyone!

First off, thanks to everyone that makes all the helpful guides on here! Saved me a lot of time so far!

Little bit of background. I received a PCM on 27/10/16. I ignored as advised but have now recieved the dreaded LBC from Gladstone Solictors, templated of course. I have had personal issues in my life recently and this is causing some un-needed stress and I just want them off my back. I also head to university in 2 months... so paying the £160 they are asking is not an option (nor would I anyway).

I have taken the route to respond to the LBC with a settlement cost of £35. I believe this is generous and reasonable. I have posted the letter below that I intend to send to them. I did use the template however some is my own wording, and seeing as I am only 18 with no law background I don't know if what I said could be used against me!

Any advice on the letter below would be appreciated. It must be sent off today!!!



Gladstone Solicitors

The Stables
1 Red Cow Yard
Kutsford
WA16 6DG

Date of letter: 14/07/2017

WITHOUT PREJUDICE SAVE AS TO THE QUESTION OF COSTS

Dear Sir/Madam,


Parking Control Management -v- My NAME
Proposed county court claim


I refer to the Letter Before County Court Claim dated 03/07/2017.

That letter is defective in that it fails to comply with the Practice Direction on Pre-action Conduct.

For the avoidance of doubt liability is denied in full. Should your client choose to start court action against me, the claim will be vigorously defended.

Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the above comments, in the spirit of disposing of this matter swiftly and conveniently, I am willing to make an offer of settlement in the sum of £35.00 in full and final settlement of your client's claim. This offer is made entirely on a 'without prejudice' basis and with no acceptance of liability. The offer has been calculated on a generous basis, due to the parking position used, which did not impact any residential parking space, and also the time and length of time spent there. The parking charge notice was issued at 21:45 (GMT) which is at a time when activity in that area would be considered ‘minimal’, and the vehicle was parked at the location for approximately 18 minutes, from 21:37 until 21:55.

PLEASE NOTE: This offer will remain open for a period of 23 days from the date of this letter (namely 21 days plus two days for service) after which time the offer will be withdrawn and any court action will be defended in the normal way. In the event of you failing to achieve a judgment in excess of the sum offered in this letter, an application will be made for an order that your client pay the defendant's wasted costs of the action in full.

I respectfully remind you of your client's duty to mitigate its losses and trust that you will advise your client accordingly.

I look forward to receiving your written acceptance of this offer within the timescale stipulated in this letter.

Yours faithfully

My name

beamerguy

Doubt £35 would be accepted

You mention £160 which sounds like a pimped Gladstones letter
and a debt collector using it. Was it signed by Tim Hawker and who are they asking you to pay

Umkomaas

@BG. Tim Hawker has no connection here. He is the Wright Hassall and QDR debt collection front man.

Half_way

little bit of background. I received a PCM on 27/10/16. I ignored as advised

where did you read/were advised to ignore?
need more background, why did you get a parking charge notice in the first place?
who from?
whos car park?

beamerguy

Umkomaas wrote: »

@BG. Tim Hawker has no connection here. He is the Wright Hassall and QDR debt collection front man.

ok thanks for that

SouRz

I got a parking charge notice for parking in a resendential area that, unbeknowst to me at the time, had parking regulations. I did not park in any marked space and definitely didn't take up any assigned space. The area I parked in was literally a "gap" cutout between two bushes that I see lorries and vans sit in all the time to eat their lunch and stuff as it's right by the river.

It was from Parking Control Management Ltd, the same people who do tickets at Bluewater shopping center.

I sent in an original appeal via their website which received no response. From then on, I became quite ill and due to personal reasons I didn't have the time to deal with it any further until receiving this recently.

If I offered to pay a higher amount, such as £50-£60, would it be more likely?

snnl

If you are so intent on paying, why did you not pay up as soon as you got the ticket on the day? Why let it get this far? (I know you said you was ill but a PPC will not care, sorry to say it).

First, is this an actual LBC? Can we see the letter? I only ask as PCM also got Gladstone's to send me a rather ambiguous letter where it neither said it was or wasn't an LBC.
This could just be a letter from Gladstone's acting as a debt collector and using their 'Solicitor' name to scare you in the paying with some clever/scary wording on their part (which sounds like its working).

Personally I wouldn't pay, I would fight it, but It sounds like they have got you sweating and now (probably) won't accept any offer apart from full payment as they will believe you are a 'soft' target and will quickly cough up.

Feel free to see what I did with PCM & Gladstones. I am yet to hear from them.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5651827

Redx

I doubt that anything less than the amount demanded will be accepted, because DRP will want their cut

I do not believe this letter you received is from GLADSTONES , it will be a DRP letter

why ?

1) the address is incorrect, they have not been at red cow yard for ages

2) the amount is the original £100 plus £60 DRP added on

3) a proper GLADSTONES LBC will have the PPC listed as the client , and the DRP details wont be mentioned

any offer to pay a lower amount will be seen as a capitulation and allows them to go for the jugular - it can even be seen as an admission of guilt

I reralise you are very young but you will need to learn a lot about this sc@m industry

if it is a DRP letter with the wrong address on it , ignore it

read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5035663

and this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5678983

Half_way

are you a resident at this place, or visiting a resident?
where did you get informed to ignore the parking charge?
paying could cause issues depending upon the above answers, regarding future liability/acceptance on your part.
need more information, otherwise you could get yourself in difficulty, if the advice isn't right

SouRz

I didn't pay it on the day as at the time, from research I completed online, I decided it was in my best interest to not pay. I am only considering paying now as I am just over flustered with all of this, especially seeing as I move across the country in 2 months for uni and I don't want to be worrying about this!

It is an acutal LBC. The letter has in bold "Letter Before Claim" at the top (I believe, it definitely mentions those three words). I am currently at work and will not be able to post the letter until lunchtime.

Redx, the letter in my original post is my letter I intend to send to them to settle the cost. Thanks for letting me know about the incorrect address, however it was only found via a quick Google search and would have been checked anyway

I am not a resident of this palce, nor was I visiting the resident. It is a very nice area by the Thames that I go to sometimes to relax at a night time. I'm not sure if it helps, but below is a Google maps linkt hat shows the space (the one at the end of the road by the Thames, that is not marked (Next tot he Johnsons Real Estate van in Streetview)

I can't post a link so just put the google domain before the below URL.

/maps/@51.4548808,0.2922118,3a,75y,284h,58.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1secE9Z5kJ-f9llFpF3Z7wlg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656[

I read online on forums that the PCM's were nothing more than invoices, and an appeal can be made but I saw loads of posts to just ignore it! I now see that was probably not the smartest thing to do, but I did put in an appeal originally which was not responded to. Live and learn I guess.

SouRz

Also to add to that Redx, it appears it is their address:

gslcollections (dot) com/How-to-Pay.html