NPM taking me to court?

clarke-17

Hi all,

I've received the following letter from NPM (on their headed paper) and I wonder if you could advise me.

'As it has not been possible to resolve this matter, we have taken the decision to proceed to court. I write to you in compliance with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct.
You have been issued with seven Parking Charge Notices.
From you we are claiming £640.
We have calculated the total breakdown as follows.
Four PCNs at £100 = £400 Note the descrepancy - earlier says seven PCNs now saying 4
Passed to collections department which has incurred another £60 per PCN issued = £240.
Listed below are the documents on which we intend to rely in our claim against you.
We have various correspondence and photographic evidence which is time and date stamped.
The areas in which we operate is private property, therefore contract law applied. The terms and conditions of parking on the land are clearly displayed on the signage displayed within the parking area. By entering or remaining on the land, the motorist freely agrees to abide by all the terms and conditions. Breach of any term or conditions will result in the driver being liable for a parking charge.
We can confirm that we could be agreeable to mediation and would consider any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts.
We would invite you to put forward any proposals in this regard.
Alternatively, you can choose to make payment by any method in which the details are sent with this letter, with no further actions to be applied.
In closing, we would like to draw your attention to paragraphs 15 & 16 of the Practice Direction which you can view by following this link: (link) which gives the courts the power to impose sanctions on the parties if they fail to comply with the direction including failing to respond to this letter before the claim.
We look forward to hearing from you in the next 30 days.
Should we not receive a response to my letter within this time frame then we anticipate that court action will be commenced with no further reference to you'

They have enclosed their payment details, The Pre-Action Protocols including a reply form.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Umkomaas

National Parking Management, or Northern Parking Management?

We can confirm that we could be agreeable to mediation and would consider any other system of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in order to avoid the need for this matter to be resolved by the courts.

This is a good option. They say 'any other system of ADR', well here's the chance to say, OK, let's go to POPLA'.

If it's National Parking Management they will start backpedaling like crazy, as their standard ADR is the IAS. But as they've offered in writing 'any', I'm sure a Judge will be interested in having this pointed out to him/her.

clarke-17

Thank you for your reply.

National Parking Management.

I am a total newbie so forgive me - is there some kind of template letter I can send them? Or what are my next steps?

Thanks :j

Half_way

who's car park was this? and why did your vehicle get a ticket on the first place?

Umkomaas

Responding robustly to a Letter Before Claim is covered in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2, including an example of how to respond.

You need to check that the LBC you've received complies with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims. There is a whole host of documents to which you are entitled, so check out what you've been given and what's missing - and ask for anything missing in your response. Here's the link to the PaP.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/pdf/protocols/debt-pap.pdf

You will also need to accept their offer of 'any other system of ADR' and tell them you will look forward to putting your case to POPLA. Ask them to make the arrangements for that to happen.

But don't rush to respond to this (others will hopefully chip in here as well), leave it to nearer the 30 day deadline, or earlier if regulars see and 'sign off' your response to NPM.

System

NPM have recently discovered Roboclaims so don't expect anything other than having to see this one all the way.

Though their paperwork looks OK, there will be issues about the signs and the contract. You won't see the contract till the last minute but go and get pics of the signs and the layout of the car park.

** The last accounts show the company net worth to be £431 up from £114 - looks to be a smash and grab operation via Gladstones.

clarke-17

@Half_way
I really don't know! It says in their letter that I had seven tickets and then four..!

Castle

clarke-17 wrote: »

@Half_way
I really don't know! It says in their letter that I had seven tickets and then four..!

Send them a Subject Access Request, (SAR); it's free and they have to reply within 30 days

Half_way

The reason for asking as to whos car park, and why the tickets were issued, is that it gives us a good idea on how to tackle the issue with the landowner, and too see how easy it would be to get a landowner cancellation.
If the landowner , as principal instructs its agents, the parking company to cancel then that would/should kill any chances of this succeeding in court, and as long as you have checked that the parking company know of the landowners wish to cancel as well, then if it does end up in court the door is open for you to claim unreasonable behaviour costs against the PPC

Coupon-mad

clarke-17 wrote: »

National Parking Management.

I am a total newbie so forgive me - is there some kind of template letter I can send them? Or what are my next steps?

Dunno why but I detest the phrase 'what are my next steps?' Really grates, sorry, no idea why, I think it sounds like children and asking to be spoon-fed or helped to walk, even if not intended.

Before you posted, did you not read any threads, in particular:

'NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST'?

...where post #2 covers pre-court and then court defence stage completely?

pogofish

clarke-17 wrote: »

I am a total newbie so forgive me - is there some kind of template letter I can send them? Or what are my next steps?

They are fully outlined in the Newbies Sticky - which you clearly agreed to read before posting anything.