BW Legal for VCS county court claim

Djdamo

Hi,


Back in 2016 the keeper received a NTK through the post dated 06/08/2016 for a PCN that Vehicle Control Services claim was issued to the car registration for breaching the terms and conditions of a privately owned car park on 05/06/2016. The reason for the breach was parked in a restricted area of the car park. The keeper nor the driver have never parked in the car park.

The keeper sent an appeal letter using a template obtained from these forums via email to VCS on 17/06/2016.


VCS replied via a letter dated 20/09/2016 acknowledging the appeal and stated they were evaluating the correspondence and were unable to give a decision at the present time however they expected to have their reply by 10/12/2016. They never answered any of the points raised in the appeal nor provided any evidence of the keepers car in their car park.

The keeper then received another letter from VCS dated 08/02/2017 where they said they were unable to process the appeal as it was not submitted in time.


There was no further correspondence by either party until the keeper received a claim form from a county court from BW Legal dated 13/03/2018 for £247.88 giving 14 days to respond.

The keeper was not the driver on that day and the car was not parked in their car at all on that day.


The keeper intends to defend this claim, what is the best method to do so?




Thanks

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for alleged breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They nearly always lose, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P.

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind most of these companies may well be put out of business by Christmas.

beamerguy

Djdamo

If your dates are correct and you have emails/letters
to confirm this .........
THEN ... VCS AND BWLEGAL are all set to be whooped
in court yet again

BWLegal must comply fully to the new procedure set out
on Oct 1st 2017.

This means they must offer proof to you the so called
offence and give you 30 days to respond before they can
take you to court.

There is another thread on here this week about BWLegal
who again have not complied to the new procedure
and again giving 14 days to respond ..... IT'S 30 days

It would appear that BWLegal do not understand the
new procedure.

You need to write back to BWL requesting they comply
to the new procedure as required by law and enclose copies
of the correspondence with dates

Then, let's see how they respond to you ... they must respond

Umkomaas

The keeper intends to defend this claim, what is the best method to do so?

Full details and guidance on how to deal with a court claim, right up to the actual hearing, are contained in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2. Please have a read of that, then come back on this thread if further advice is needed.

Your first priority now is to submit your Acknowledgement of Service (AOS) to 'buy' a further 14 days to submit your defence. Write nothing at all in the defence box - your defence will be submitted later (time available to do that, provided you send in your AOS now, will be 33 days from the date of service on the court papers - 28 days, plus 5 days for service of them to you).

Umkomaas

BWLegal must comply fully to the new procedure set out
on Oct 1st 2017.

This means they must offer proof to you the so called
offence and give you 30 days to respond before they can
take you to court.

@BG - I've read the following as the OP having received formal court papers, now beyond the LBC stage.

There was no further correspondence by either party until the keeper received a claim form from a county court from BW Legal dated 13/03/2018 for £247.88 giving 14 days to respond.

@OP - please clarify what you have received.

beamerguy

Umkomaas wrote: »

@BG - I've read the following as the OP having received formal court papers, now beyond the LBC stage.


@OP - please clarify what you have received.

Yes, you are right, I misread it but before the court claim
did BWLegal comply correctly ?

Djdamo

Umkomaas wrote: »

Your first priority now is to submit your Acknowledgement of Service (AOS) to 'buy' a further 14 days to submit your defence. Write nothing at all in the defence box - your defence will be submitted later (time available to do that, provided you send in your AOS now, will be 33 days from the date of service on the court papers - 28 days, plus 5 days for service of them to you).

Hi Thanks for your reply, Just so I understand, the keeper just needs to complete the online AOS as discussed in the PDF.

Umkomaas wrote: »

@OP - please clarify what you have received.

• NTK received on 06/08/2016 for a PCN which dated 05/06/2016
• Letter of acknowledgment for appeal dated 20/09/2016
• Letter stating appeal was sent to late and would not be processed dated 08/02/2017
• County Court papers dated 13/03/2018

The keeper has copies of all the above plus the appeal email sent to VCS.

Umkomaas

Hi Thanks for your reply, Just so I understand, the keeper just needs to complete the online AOS as discussed in the PDF.

Do you mean 'as discussed in the FAQ sticky'?

Djdamo

Yes sorry, as discussed in the FAQ and following the guide found here dropbox.com/s/xvqu3bask5m0zir/money-claim-online-How-to-Acknowledge.pdf?dl=0

Djdamo

Ive completed the AOS. Ive read quite a few different posts on here but I'm a little confused on the direction i need to take.

What would be my best lines for defence as i was not parked in the car park the NTK says i was. Also they never answered any of my points when i appealed.

Lamilad

What would be my best lines for defence as i was not parked in the car park the NTK says i was.!

It's likely the original NTK was not PoFA compliant so you make that the main focus of your defence stating that they cannot hold the keeper (the defendant) liable.

You also attack particulars of claim, authority to issue tickets and signage.

Any VCS/Excel/BW Legal/ CEL defence posted on other threads, that has been given the thumbs up from the regulars here, will contain these arguments.

So does the Johnersh defence linked in the NEWBIES thread, which you could easily modify.