ZZPS/QDR Scotland Pre-Litigation transfer letter!

motorist111

Hi guys,

I seemed to be in the same boat as many other people on here and had received standard threatening letters from QDR in July each for 8 seperate scottish PCNs (dating back to 2016, spread over many months) which I had ignored following advice on here and MSE. I had been ignoring all letters however just yesterday received another QDR letter titled ‘FORMAL PRE LITIGATION TRANSFER LETTER’ which seems to have added the outstanding balances for the 8 seperate PCNs into one and sounds ominous stating that the case may be transferred to their legal partner Yuill and Kyle Solicitors! I’ve been reading more into the Ninewells case (the three nurses case which the QDR letters quote) and getting more and more worried e.g. after reading the outcome of this thread which seemed to be from one of the 3 nurses who had ignored everything until she got the ‘simple procedure notice’ from court.

link - forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=111073

Apparently he/she even had proof that said person wasn’t at ninewells during those PCN contraventions but still was deemed liable in court. My PCNs date back to 2016 and I would really struggle to provide this. Having said this I am not the only insured driver on my car and my family members have definitely parked this car at the said site in 2016 but I can't obviously remember the exact dates and even if I did how would I prove this in court? I know that in Scotland there is a requirement for a claimant to prove the identity of a driver on the balance of probabilities and that pofa 2012 does not apply in Scotland but if you read that pepipoo thread from presumably one of the 3 nurses joint case, this doesn't seem to hold truth anymore as the nurse (OP in that thread) had ignored everything until the court letter but still got taken to court where he/she lost. I'm really confused.

I have also been reading this MSE thread link - forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4754020[/url])
and so do I treat this letter as a LBC and try going down the practice direction route? Really worried especially after reading about the ninewells case..What do I do? Any help appreciated!



The letter
Link - tinypic.com/r/2con285/9

motorist111

Btw I have been posting on MSE for years but decided to open a new account just to hide any details that might help trace this PCN etc obviously..

System

Yuill & Kyle Ltd work for Britannia in West of Scotland. Which parking company?

Ninewells is also an odd one as they haven't been near court since they won the show trial.

Scots cases are expensive to mount and it tends to be the solicitors that run them and not the parking companies. (CFA). Not surprisingly the are cautious about the money they spend in chasing cases and drop out at the first sign of difficulty.

Those that panic and pass on information on public sites they can use, are always welcome they say.

motorist111

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it. Parking company was APCOA.

I'm a bit confused as to how to proceed. Is a formal pre-litigation transfer letter the same as LBC and should I just ignore this as well? As you can see in the picture of the letter, it still is from QDR so not actual solicitors. The thing that worries me is how they seem to have combined all 8 PCNs into one outstanding balance (which is now >£1000) so maybe worthwhile for them to pursue

Fruitcake

It's not a LBC as debt crawlers can't take you to court. I would suggest they are trying to frighten you by saying we might think about getting real solicitors involved because you have been really nasty to us and ignored all the stuff we've tried to scare you with before.
Other opinions are available.

Personally I would wait to see if you get a real Scottish LBC from real solicitors.

System

Parking company was APCOA.

Congratulations. One of the quietest and most innocuous parking companies. You must have really annoyed them to provoke this reaction.

There is no fixed pre-action protocol north of the border. Next step would be the actual claim. Everything else is just posturing.

Come back if you actually get a claim as otherwise it's all just hot air.

The_Deep

Probably a scam anyway.

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.