County court claim on a PCN from 4 years ago

Matilda13

Hi, i’ve been searching for info about other ‘historical’ PCNs but haven’t found any. A county court claim appeared in my post box yesterday. It’s via BW Legal for Premier Parking Solutions. It is to me, the registered keeper, and they have tracked me down at my new address. I honestly have no recollection of the PCN and neither me or the other insured driver even knew where the car park was. Therefore we don’t know how to defend it. We don’t know who was driving, what the alleged contravention was or even whether I received letters/NTK before.
I have submitted the court admission and said I will fully defend it. Now i’m wondering how, and would love some advice.
Thanks

KeithP

You are not the only one.

You only have to look a few posts down the list to find this thread:

Help please.....Claim form received from court

There other similar threads posted in the last couple of days.

I have submitted the court admission...

What does that mean?
What is the Date of Issue on your Claim Form?

Matilda13

Sorry, the acknowledgment of service. The date of issue is 13/09/18

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 13th September, and having done the AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 16th October 2018 to file your Defence.

That's nearly four weeks away. Plenty of time to hone the Defence to perfection.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as described here:

1) Print your Defence.
2) Sign it and date it.
3) Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
4) Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
5) Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
6) Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
7) Wait for your Directions Questionnaire and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Matilda13

You are awesome, thank you

onlyfoolsandparking

So get reading the newbies section especially the court claim section, loads of useful info there.


get up to speed on writing a 'Defence' WS etc and all the other timely things you have to get right, basically read, read then read some more.


I have been on here just over 6 months and I'm still reading and learning about the game I'm now caught up in.

Coupon-mad

Matilda13 wrote: »

Hi, i’ve been searching for info about other ‘historical’ PCNs but haven’t found any. A county court claim appeared in my post box yesterday.

It’s via BW Legal for Premier Parking Solutions.

It is to me, the registered keeper, and they have tracked me down at my new address. I honestly have no recollection of the PCN and neither me or the other insured driver even knew where the car park was. Therefore we don’t know how to defend it.

We don’t know who was driving, what the alleged contravention was or even whether I received letters/NTK before.

I have submitted the court admission and said I will fully defend it. Now i’m wondering how, and would love some advice.
Thanks

Luckily there are at least 4 other cases on the forum right now, about PPS BW Legal claims from PCNs issued when PPS were in the BPA, in 2014/2015.

Usernames are:

Prinndogs

SingStar101

Justice13075

phoenixfreespirit


Now your task is to use the forum to go and find and read their threads and bookmark them, and I'd suggest sending them a pm so you can all hold each other hands through this to come out winning on the other side.

I won't provide links to threads; I never do.

I am a firm believer in people getting up to speed on how to search or skim read the forum for relevant stuff, as soon as possible, so they are well practised as they move through the process of defence, DQ, witness statement & evidence, then hearing.

You will have to defend your case without knowing specifics (till much later) but we get this all the time. Can be done.

Does the claim form show the PCN amount as £100 or £130?

Search the forum over the weekend as well, for bargepole defence menu of choices and find one that is concise. Base your first draft on that style, maybe amalgamating in some parts from one of the many examples in the NEWBIES thread post #2, where a Defendant has written that the Particulars of Claim are sparse and embarrassing and the parking event far too long ago to expect a registered keeper to recall the day or who was driving.

And show us your draft!

Matilda13

That’s really helpful, thank you. I’ve seen a couple of those. I’m still not sure if I should apply to PPS for evidence, prior to my defence. I’m going to write and ask.
The original amount was £100, now it’s £263.

The_Deep

That £263 indicates the scam. Even if you lost against them in court, the maximum a judge would to award them is unlikely to exceed £200, read this

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor 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 lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

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 House of Commons recently

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

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

Coupon-mad

You won't be paying £263 even if you (and this is rare here) lost the defended case!

Coupon-mad

And along come more victims of the latest PPS batch of greedy claims:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5898792/county-court-claim

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5877446/letter-of-claim-from-bwlegal&page=3

How on earth can these bullyboy parking firm employees actually sleep at night?