BW Legal claim

Workandpay

I started a thread in June 2016, which has now been closed, after getting a PCN at Britannia's Poole Quay car park.

I stupidly gave them my name and lost the POPLA appeal. I ignored all the debt recovery company letters and nothing happened until March this year when bwlegal started pestering me with letters, calls, texts and emails saying I have to pay £160 or they will take me to court.

The deadline is tomorrow - I've been looking for the NEWBIES thread so I can read #4 about this but I can't for the life of me find it. Could someone please send me a link to it.

I'd like to assess my chances of winning or whether I should try to negotiate with bwlegal

Redx

what deadline ?

the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread is the third thread down from the top of this forum (usually)

scroll it down to post #4 and read about debt collector letters

if they have sent a formal LBC with the 30 day notice and financial forms , then read post #2 about LBC rebuttals, bearing in mind that nobody can determine your "chances of winning"

Le_Kirk

One click back, third post down marked **NEWBIES!! PRIVATE PARKING TICKET?

The_Deep

Is this a council car park?

https://www.poole.gov.uk/parking/car-parks/poole-quay-and-harbour-car-parks/

Is it subject to bye-laws?l

Workandpay

Thanks REdX and Le_Kirk I've found the newbies thread and read some of the relevant bits. It seems the advice is that I should reply to the Letter of Claim from bwlegal urgently to dispute the claim. They wrote that if they don;t receive a response by tomorrow 2nd October they will issue a claim in the county court.

My only defence is that the instructions for payment were unclear as the letters on the green VALID key had been worn away and I git confused. I took photos after I got the PCN to show this. Also the sun was shining on the screen on the day and it was extremely difficult to see although I obviously can't prove that.

I've read through some of the rebuttals but haven't so far seen anything like my case. Does it sound like I have a case that is likely to succeed do you think?

Workandpay

Thanks the Deep, no it's not any of those. It's a private one run by Britannia

Redx

Workandpay wrote: »

Thanks REdX and Le_Kirk I've found the newbies thread and read some of the relevant bits. It seems the advice is that I should reply to the Letter of Claim from bwlegal urgently to dispute the claim. They wrote that if they don;t receive a response by tomorrow 2nd October they will issue a claim in the county court.

My only defence is that the instructions for payment were unclear as the letters on the green VALID key had been worn away and I git confused. I took photos after I got the PCN to show this. Also the sun was shining on the screen on the day and it was extremely difficult to see although I obviously can't prove that.

I've read through some of the rebuttals but haven't so far seen anything like my case. Does it sound like I have a case that is likely to succeed do you think?

that is a witness statement about frustration of contract, not a defence

a defence is based on legal arguments

and in any case, if you have an LBC you need to read recent B W LEGAL rebuttals and copy , paste and proof read it before sending it

however, this is only going to delay the inevitable , the chances are they will issue the court claim on behalf of Brittania anyway - regardless

its just ping-pong at this interim stage (and nobody can tell you your chances of winning in court, court is a lottery and depends on the judge , the evidence etc)

The_Deep

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.

Workandpay

OK thanks RedX

Coupon-mad

Workandpay wrote: »

Thanks REdX and Le_Kirk I've found the newbies thread and read some of the relevant bits. It seems the advice is that I should reply to the Letter of Claim from bwlegal urgently to dispute the claim. They wrote that if they don't receive a response by tomorrow 2nd October they will issue a claim in the county court.

My only defence is that the instructions for payment were unclear as the letters on the green VALID key had been worn away and I git confused. I took photos after I got the PCN to show this. Also the sun was shining on the screen on the day and it was extremely difficult to see although I obviously can't prove that.

I've read through some of the rebuttals but haven't so far seen anything like my case.
Does it sound like I have a case that is likely to succeed do you think?

Yes, why not?

There are decent example defences written by bargepole, linked in the NEWBIES thread, based upon faded lines & unclear signs (same sort of thing, just change the words).

But you are at LBC stage, not defence yet, so are you saying this is about a wrong VRN input in the keypad?

If so, search the forum for Rectification Notice VRN and find how to send by email to the PARKING FIRM'S 'DPO', a data protection notice requiring the PPC to 'rectify the known error' of the inaccurate data.

Copy to BW Legal telling them that they must put any litigation on hold as you have objected to the processing of the inaccurate data and require Britannia to remedy the error caused by their faulty keypad.

Do that tomorrow, there's an example here in post #47:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5690655/entered-wrong-reg-on-app-messed-up-my-appeal-now

Surprised you didn't already find that one when you searched for Britannia cases to read. But we do have a lot of them!

You would just need to adapt the detail and talk about the faded green key and that it was the fault of the scuffed old machine in sunlight, not the driver's fault, and they must rectify the inaccurate data.

They won't...!

Then you complain to the ICO like in that case, like in every case...