Final letter before debt recovery or court action from ARMTRAC

tamallama

Hoping someone here can help me!

I received a PCN on my windscreen on 20th August which I appealed and they sent a letter stating this 12th September. Last week I received a 'final letter before debt recovery or court action' basically saying if I don't pay within 14 days the matter will be passed to debt recovery people or Gladstone's Solicitors.

I have photos of my ticket on the floor of my car because it fell off but of course none of their photos show the ticket clearly enough to read it!!! So I really don't want to pay these crooks any money!

Any advice on how to proceed would be much appreciated!

Umkomaas

Ignore everything now unless/until you receive a Letter Before Court/Claim/Action which gives you 30 days to respond, or real court papers. Come back on this thread should you get either.

Read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2 to prepare yourself for the court process, should it get that far. Mildly litigious.

http://www.parkingappeals.info/companydata/KBT_Cornwall.html

tamallama

2 days ago I received a letter from them saying my account with them has been passed to BW Legal and also a letter from BW Legal saying they need payment within 16 days from the date of the letter which is 7th Dec!! As I haven't paid or raised an appeal (which I did when I first received the ticket). They say they will seek instruction from Armtrac to commence legal proceedings if I don't pay or give reasons for not paying. Is it worth writing to them to say why I won't pay?

Not sure what to do as I don't need anything bad that might affect my employability (is that just a threat they add in?) but also don't want to pay when I had a ticket etc!!!

Not sure where to go from here.

KeithP

tamallama wrote: »

2 days ago I received a letter from them saying my account with them has been passed to BW Legal and also a letter from BW Legal saying they need payment within 16 days from the date of the letter which is 7th Dec!! As I haven't paid or raised an appeal (which I did when I first received the ticket). They say they will seek instruction from Armtrac to commence legal proceedings if I don't pay or give reasons for not paying. Is it worth writing to them to say why I won't pay?

Not sure what to do as I don't need anything bad that might affect my employability (is that just a threat they add in?) but also don't want to pay when I had a ticket etc!!!

Not sure where to go from here.

That is a harmless debt collectors letter.

It can safely be ignored.

Post again on this thread if you ever receive either a Letter of Claim or official court correspondence.

The_Deep

What you have received from BWL is a debt collectors' letter. Follow the advice in post 2.

It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business. Hopefully that will take place in the near future. The Bill has passed through the HOC without hitch, and goes to the Lords soon. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers. Read this one which I wrote earlier

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially Smart}, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week), hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Third Reading in late November, and, with a fair wind, will become Law next year.

All three readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 6-7 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.

tamallama

Thanks for the reassurance. As much as I know they use scare tactics it doesn't mean the don't work at all!

I was planning to contact a local MP but I think I will do some more research first! I tried to contact the landowner but I am struggling to find out who exactly it is...

tamallama

So today I received a claim form from the County Court. What do I do now?! I definitely don't have £240 to pay them back now and I am shortly moving away to start a new job so I won't be able to do anything to do with this case for most of the year now.

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Did it come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton, or from somewhere else?

You now need to be reading post #2 of the NEWBIES thread to discover how to deal with it.

What response did you get from your MP when you contacted him/her?

Did you not receive a Letter of Claim about a month ago?
How did you respond to that?

tamallama

I never had a response from my first contact with them however have recently contacted them again using a different method, hopefully this time I will get something back!

The issue date is 3rd May 2019 and it has come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.

I received a letter of claim from BW legal on 24th December and did not respond to that.

KeithP

tamallama wrote: »

The issue date is 3rd May 2019 and it has come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.

With a Claim Issue Date of 3rd May, you have until Wdnesday 22nd May to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 5th June 2019 to file your Defence.

That's a whole month away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the last minute.


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

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. 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'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep you under pressure.
   
7. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Coupon-mad

See you when you've done the easy bit (AOS) and drafted your defence like every other newbie on every other court claim thread.

I think I need a break today - this is like Groundhog Day, no idea why so many posters ask what to do next before reading the NEWBIES thread first.