How to respond to Parking Eye Without Prejudice Save As To Costs letter

beamerguy

iaing1000 wrote: »

So presumably it makes sense to both send a drop hands offer AND to simultaneously be contacting the hotel to push harder anyway. That way I give myself more chance of a better outcome, no?

Also, any ideas on the choice of words for the drop hands offer? Any knowledge of a template or a verbatim example lurking on the internet which can be appropriately modified?

Thanks All :-)

The letter KeithP refers you to is by a solicitor, so he knows
what he is talking about
Of course you adapt it to your own case

Parking Eye can cancel right up to the last moment

By all means copy in the hotel so they aware that their
agent is ignoring them.

You could indicate to the hotel that you will involve them
in the case as a witness.

If this actually did go to court, any judge would scratch
his/her head when they know that the hotel instructed
parking eye to cancel.

The judge may well give Parking Eye some on site
training about how the system works and how not
to waste the courts time

Loadsofchildren123

What utter rubbish.
Of course PE can withdraw their claim. They are the claimant and can at any stage discontinue a claim. There is no court rule whatsoever that says once proceedings are issued they have to proceed. It is their problem that they've incurred court fees. Had they complied properly with the pre-action obligations set out in the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct, in particular paras 3, 6(a) and 6(c) then you would have been able, at that stage, to respond and to demonstrate that you were a hotel patron and they would have had the choice, back then, not to proceed. You should not be penalised for their failings and their over-hasty issuing of a claim.


Press ahead with the hotel on this one and send PE a drop hands offer. Include something along the lines of the above paragraph and tell them if they don't withdraw unconditionally then you will be seeking a costs order under paragraph 16 of the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct and under rule 27.14(2)(g).

ampersand

Ms blah blah, 'front of office manager'...scents of monkey, not organ grinder, as does her poor, ignorant, obsequious writing style.
#
You will succeed in this, op.
Best wishes.

beamerguy

iaing1000

There you have it, all the techie stuff from LoC123 which
is brilliant

You now know that PE are trying to con you and you must
let the hotel know all about these down and outs and their lies

iaing1000

Here's my planned letter, any thoughts?

Dear sir/Madam,

Thank you for your recent letter.

I do not intend to pay you any money because I maintain that this claim has no basis. Moreover, since you are now in recipt of further information as you indicate in your letter, I believe you too recognise how futile your position is. Further to this, I have had subsequent correspondence with the Principal (who you know requested this be cancelled) and sought additional legal advice.

In light of the above, along with the other points raised in my defence, this claim has no realistic prospect of success and the claimant is invited to withdraw the claim with no order for costs. This is a "drop hands" offer to settle with each party bearing their own costs. The offer is available for acceptance for a period of 14 days from the date of this letter.

The terms of the offer have value to the claimant insofar as the defendant will not seek his costs of defending the action, where recoverable and will not pursue any additional but related claim(s) in connection with this matter.

If you do not withdraw unconditionally, the defendant will seek to claim his costs of the defence and additional costs for unreasonable conduct pursuant to CPR Part 27.

Also, should the case proceed to a court hearing where I am successful, this clear infringement of the International Parking Community's Code or Practice will be reported to the DVLA with a request that your client is suspended from further access to the registered keeper database.

I look forward to your reply

waamo

this clear infringement of the International Parking Community's Code or Practice

Parking Eye are BPA not IPC

beamerguy

as waamo says, they belong to the BPA not IPC

Reword it as you now know you are being scammed

Reject their offer of £60 as there is no debt.
Their principal (the hotel) has confirmed in writing
that they have requested the charge be cancelled.

Parking Eye replied to the hotel that they cannot cancel
as the matter is now subject to court proceedings.
Parking Eye know this to be untrue and you reserve
the right to bring this to the attention of the court

Therefore, be advised that should you continue to
persue this, the defendant will seek to claim his costs of the defence and additional costs for unreasonable conduct pursuant to CPR Part 27.

NOTE ONLY TO THE OP ....... NOT FOR PE
There has been no infringement regarding any code of
practice but Parking Eye has lied to their principal and misled
them about procedure clearly to avoid cancellation

Coupon-mad

now in recipt

typo, should be receipt

iaing1000

OK, I've now got an email form the Hotel Manager showing the reply from PE to her. Can anyone tell me for sure whether this alters anything and whether I can still claim they lied?

Hi,

Please see reply below from Parking Eye, as per the email they advised that they had contacted you with the same email. I am sorry that I do not have anymore experience with regards to the claims and would not know if they are liable to cancel at anytime.

We note that you have requested that this Parking Charge be cancelled but unfortunately, having reviewed the case, we can confirm that this matter has now progressed and a county court claim has been issued to recover the outstanding amount. In this instance, the motorist did not contact us regarding the Parking Charge upon receipt and did not lodge an appeal with our dedicated appeals team. This was despite 4 letters being issued before legal action.

As a court claim has now been issued, we have incurred additional costs in the sum of £75. These are in addition to the outstanding Parking Charge. In total the outstanding sum claimed is £175.

However, in an effort to bring this matter to a conclusion without further cost to either party and bearing in mind the circumstances now outlined, ParkingEye would be prepared to accept £60 in settlement of this claim. We can confirm that we have today contacted the motorist with this offer and have asked that payment be made within the next 14 days.

Please note that should the motorist not wish to make payment, then they will need to follow the instructions provided with the claim form to either defend the claim or admit the claim in full/part. In default of the court receiving a response, a default judgment may be entered against them.

Kind regards,
Ms XYZ123, Front Office Manager



Thanks again all :-)

beamerguy

Even better, this shows they are lying and as the letter
does not show Without Prejudice, this letter can be
shown in court

Continue with your drop hands offer to PE and also
advise the hotel that you will include them in court
as a witness