Please read!!!

muleskinner

Lauren,

I feel your pain. People on here can be very helpful but also very quick to criticise - I have felt the sharp end of that myself. I think it's because they get asked the same questions so many times by people who simply haven't read all the introductory stuff in the stickies (which has taken a long time to put together).

I am no expert at this stuff but I'd think your first action would be to find out as many facts about the CCJ you have just been issued with and re-post with info. Do you still have all the correspondence that was sent to your previous address? If your partner had multiple fines from Excel were they from the same place (place of work or residence)?

CCJs can be overturned and it's a notorious PPC tactic to send correspondence to an old address but no-one here can help you unless you give them more relevant facts as clearly as possible.

lauren606

Mules Skinner,

Thank you so much for your reply. I clearly have upset a few people on here, by not using paragraphs and maybe over egging my exclamation marks to express my anger.

I haven't looked at the Newbie section, I didn't realise I was to do that. So for everyone taking the time to comment I apologise.

I wasn't actually looking for advice either I was merely writing to say please tell your friends and family to watch out for this if it was to happen to them.

As far as I'm aware there is actually nothing we can do about the situation but I thought I would make an account on the site and just let everyone know to be careful as I wish I'd known this myself.

Thank you for taking the time to read my horrendous 'wall of text'

catfunt

The regulars on here have to go through many, many posts per day and try to assist people.

A big block of text is much harder to read and digest, trust me, and the regulars will most likely just skip a big block of text and go on to an "easier" post.

Your best bet is to edit your post and break it up into paragraphs to make it easier to skim-read, then hopefully you will get the help you need.

In the first instance, have a read of the Newbies thread and the Parking Prankster blog, to get a handle on what this is all about.

You have 2 options:

Pay up (which no-one on here will recommend, as it's just funding the scammers)
or
Fight, which will take time and you will have quite a bit to learn, but think of it as an educational and character-building experience.

With the right help, you have a good chance of beating them, and even if you lose in court, you should be paying less than their inflated charge (and certainly no more) and you will have no CCJ if you pay up in time.

DoaM

Has this actually been to court yet? Or have you just received letters threatening court action?

(Yet another reason why you should make your post easier to read).

lauren606

Thank you for explaining that to me, again I am sorry I haven't paragraphed. I realise now I should have proof read and split it up.

I received letters yesterday from my land lady which date back from June 2017- we moved out of the apartment in Nov 2016 and I didn't inform BW Legal of my change of address because the previous fine they sent we settled it.

It hasn't gone to court yet but I do have a letter now from the County Court Business Centre saying we owe £270.30.

I spoke to a person from BW Legal last night and they said baliffs can come to the door and demand the money back, also the interest will be building if we do not pay it.

beamerguy

WOW lauren606, pleased to see that everyone are friends again.

My quick question is ...

You say ..
It hasn't gone to court yet but I do have a letter now from the County Court Business Centre saying we owe £270.30.

Do you mean you have a court claim and are waiting for
a court hearing

BWLegal are lying to you about bailiffs, that can only happen
if you lost at court and did not pay.
You cannot be dealing with a legal firms who lies
so STOP talking to them

Have you read this thread all about BWLegal
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5672664

lauren606

I will try and bullet point and sum up the situation...

My partner received a parking fine from Excel Parking Ltd in 2015.

They were sending correspondence of this to the wrong address, when we finally received these letters a CCJ had been issued and we were dealing with BW Legal.

We contacted BW Legal and paid the debt in full immediately to which we were told the debt was settled and there was no longer any outstanding debt with this company.

We paid the court fees and went to court to have the CCJ removed.

We then move house again (moved in with my parents to save for a mortgage) during this time letters are being sent to our old address to which we have no knowledge of.

Me and my partner now have a mortgage and are living again in a new address.

My landlady contacted me yesterday to tell me there was lots of letters for us at our old address and she would drop them off.

These letters are from BW Legal again telling us there is another parking fine from 2014 (bearing in mind we paid the 2015 one off) and because we have not responded, again because we no longer reside at that address, they have issued us with another CCJ and we have another £270.30 fine to pay.

I have contacted BW Legal and their response was it's your own fault for not telling us you had moved and when you paid off your first fine you should have asked us if you had any other debts with us.

I don't think I can go anywhere with this as I have even spoke to the county court business centre this morning and they said there is nothing they can do?

lauren606

Oh my word thank you beamerguy!!!!

I received a letter dated at the top 26th sept 2017 saying a CCJ has been obtained against you by our client on 10th August 2017.

I have a separate letter to that saying to the defendant you have not replied to the claim form... and explains how much we have to now pay. We have a claim no. and it says the county court business centre.

Do I now have to wait for another letter about going to court regarding this matter? If so do we pay to go to court and can the judge dismiss their claim where we will not have to pay?

Umkomaas

Right, a bit clearer now (but a paragraphing of your OP really would help to ensure we get the full picture).

I spoke to a person from BW Legal last night and they said baliffs can come to the door and demand the money back

Utter rubbish, in fact it’s lies.

One of the reasons we advise never to speak by phone to anyone in your parking charge case, everything in writing, as that is evidence, phone calls cannot be evidenced (short of recording them, but that is subject to strict rules).

[STRIKE]As you now have a court claim, please read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2, which deals specifically with small claims procedures. It should be your ‘go-to’ advisory resource to help you through every step of the way. [/STRIKE]

[STRIKE]First, if you’ve not done so already, you need to urgently acknowledge service (AOS) of the court papers, which, if this is done within 14 days of receipt gives you a further 14 days to develop your defence, in fact 33 days from the ‘Date of Issue’ shown near the top of the N1 document. But please read the sticky about what (and what not) to put in your acknowledgement. [/STRIKE]

[STRIKE]Give BWL enough of a hard time by going through all the processes on time and by building a strong defence, can often see them discontinuing when they realise they have no case to pursue and/or they have a tiger by the tail. But this will be further down the road rather than anything instantly. [/STRIKE]

We will help you deal with this, just work with us.

PS - I do have a very full and satisfying life, whether I’m living in my home in the UK or that in my beloved South Africa - and from either location I’m always here trying to help motorists beat the scourge of unfair and outrageous parking charges, levied by an out of control PPC network, rapacious debt collectors and a small number of complicit solicitors who risk trashing their reputations chasing the buck of their involvement.

EDITED - was typing this obviously as your post #18 was finding its way to the forum - so wrong advice from me in light of what you’ve now said. My next post will provide correct advice.

Redx

thank you for doing the bullet point summary in easy to read paragraphs and now that you are onboard and presumably have read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread, hopefully you will get the advice you need

if I were you I would still edit post #1 in case there is anything useful to take from it

its a disgrace how people like BW LEGAL treat members of the public so please complain to your local MP about it , especially as Teresa May promised action a year ago on issues like yours

it would seem you need to pay £255 for a set aside and start again

good luck