Claim Form Received - Do I have to pay the full amount?

AndrewGogun

Hi all,

Earlier this year I received a parking ticket from a private company. I refused to pay without checking out the guides online and made the mistake of trying to differentiate from Beavis. (Yes I know and I'm sorry.) I see now that it seems like a waste of my time/energy to go to court so I intend to pay, despite the PPC being amoral entrapment artists. My query is as follows:

In the claim form I have received, the amount claimed breaks down to:

Amount Claimed '170'
Court Fee '35'
Legal representative's costs '50'

Do I have to pay all of these?

In regards to the £50.I was previously under the impression that at the very least, the legal representative costs could not be claimed? I imagine I'm misinformed, as it's allocated for on the official claim form.

In regards to the £70, is there any way I can weasel out of that? (quoting their claim) 'The Defendant failed to pay the PCN at the reduced amount of £60 by [date.] The defendant then failed to pay the due amount of £100 by [a few months later] when a LoC was sent by the Claimant to the Defendant following the Pre-Action Protocol. The LoC informed the Defendant of the increased cost of the PCN now totalling £170 in line with BPA Guidelines, namely, section 23.1(b) of the BPA Approved Operator Scheme Code of Practice and gave the Defendant a deadline for response of [recent date.]' That's all accurate, so I suppose I just have to bend over?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Cheers,
Andrew

Browntoa

Have you read the newbies thread ?

Is the claim form from Gladstone's or another company ?

Quentin

They can and do put inflated and non allowed costs into a claim in the hope it bullies the defendant to pay now and stop the costs rising

Even if you lose in court the likely figure you will have to pay is £175 - ,£200

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

AndrewGogun

Thanks everyone for the responses.

I have read the newbies thread. I couldn't see anything about the claim form charges and I figured it was a more general law question.

The claim form is not from Gladstones, it is from a smaller rogue PPC that seem to have a business model built around their penalty charges.

The issue date on the claim form is 06/11/2018 and it was received at my parents address on the same day. (I live in the next county and so I only got to open it on Sunday, but I don't think I can get any lee-way because of that.)

I really want to know specifically, which of these charges I can refute? It seems like I have no choice but to pay the £100, and obviously the court fee. I'm not sure about the legal costs or the interest.

KeithP

AndrewGogun wrote: »

The issue date on the claim form is 06/11/2018.

With a Claim Issue Date of 6th November, you have until Monday 26th November 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 link from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.

Having done the AoS, you then have until 4pm on Monday 10th December 2018 to file your Defence.

That's almost four weeks away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


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.


Yes, I have read the thread. At least do the AoS while deciding whether to pay or not.

AndrewGogun

Hi Keith,

Thank you. Your advice is practical and I will follow it. My problem is that I don't have any idea of what to do for a defence.

Whilst the PPC are morally illegitimate my argument was that the charge (£100, as per Beavis) was unreasonable and did not reflect any of their losses. I can see now that this won't stand and so all I want to do is pay the minimum possible with a minimum of hassle.

Many thanks

beamerguy

AndrewGogun wrote: »

The claim form is not from Gladstones, it is from a smaller rogue PPC that seem to have a business model built around their penalty charges.

Gladstones is a dodgy solicitor so who is the claim from

Coupon-mad

My problem is that I don't have any idea of what to do for a defence.

You have no such problem, you are here!

Examples are in the NEWBIES thread, and if you read any of them you will find the defence attacks the added 'charges'...so your questions are already answered by the example defences.

Show us your draft based on them.

AndrewGogun

Hi all and continued thanks,

The claim is from Premier Park Ltd. (I wasn't sure I could mention names on this forum.)

Apologies regarding not reading the example defences. I figured that they wouldn't prove useful in my case, but I'll take a look for the parts mentioning inflated charges and prepare a defence on that.

Cheers

Coupon-mad

You are not admitting liability at all, you are defending in full.