BW Legal Notice Of County Court Claim Issued

Tog23

Hi All,
I've received an email from BW Legal today referencing a charge from Total Parking Solutions. Again, I ignored the initial letters rather than appealing like many people seem to have done. I was parked in a retail car park and went over the free hour by about 15 minutes. They are currently trying to get £203.32 out of me! I've copied some of the wording from the email below. I've read several of the comments and threads and learnt that they have to send a 'Letter Before Claim'. Is this email the same thing? I don't want to potentially receive the letter from Northampton Court and then not be able to do anything about it.

Any help or advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks

As you are aware, we represent our client: Total Parking Solutions Limited
We have now issued legal proceedings in the form of a County Court Claim on 29 November 2018 under claim number ******** which you will shortly receive directly from Northampton County Court (County Court Bulk Centre) as you have failed to make repayments on your above account.
The amount of the County Court Claim is summarised below:
Principal Debt £70.00
Interest £4.32
Court Fees £25.00
Solicitors Costs £104.00
Outstanding Balance To Pay Now £203.32
If you do not contact us or reply to the County Court Claim before 19 December 2018 , we may enter a County Court Judgment ("CCJ") against you. If a CCJ is entered against you, it will remain on your credit file for six years and you may have difficulty obtaining further credit.

Tog23

Update. I have also received the claim form from the County Court Business Centre which states that I must reply within 14 days.
Interestingly it states that they claim £54.00 contractual costs as set out in the terms and conditions plus £4.32 in interest. In the post above you can see they call the £104 'solicitors costs'.

I look forward to a helpful reply from someone.

KeithP

What is the Issue Date printed on your Claim Form?

Do not disclose the driver's identity to anyone.

The Registered Keeper has much more protection that the driver in these cases.

Edit your latest post to remove clues to the driver's identity.

Now is the time for you to read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to better understand the game you are now caught up in..

Tog23

The issue date is the 29th November.

KeithP

Tog23 wrote: »

The issue date is the 29th November.

With a Claim Issue Date of 29th November, you have until Tuesday 18th December 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 Wednesday 2nd January 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over a month away 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 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 "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put 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.

Of course, everywhere I have said 'you' or 'your' I am referring to the Defendant.

Tog23

Right, I've now completed the AOS. Is there a useful defence on here anywhere for an ANPR retail parking claim? Also, will I have to go to court or do they sometimes drop it after filing a defence?

Thanks in advance

The_Deep

If they took thi to court, they would, in my opinion, crash and born. A judge is very likely to disagree with them that the heinous crime of entering an "o" instead of an "0" so damages them they they need £100 to compensate them. Indeed he/she is likely to regard this as a trifling matter and, as we all know, the law does not concern itself with trifles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_minimis

This is a scam, purely and simply, and Parliament has put in hand legislation to curb the scammers.

It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business. Hopefully that will take place in the near future. 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.

BTW, those "solicitors costs" ar more than the law allows. The down market solicitors whom the PPCs engage know this, but, because they are solicitors, know that a lot of people will pay up.

It is in fact double charging and non claimable debt collectors' add ons. Imo, this is fraud, or, at the very least, improper conduct. Were this to get to court and win, the judge would be unlikely to award the claimant more than £175 - £200 including all court fees..

I urge you to report this grubby law firm to their regulatory body, the SRA.

https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/code/content.page

as I am sure they do not condone this conduct.

Tog23

Thank you for your help. I’m still unsure as to how to dispute it though? I was over by 15 minutes but £203 for parking for 15 minutes seems a little excessive lol. I just need to know want to say to get out of this mess. I don’t even mind chucking them a tenner but I need a defence.

Castle

Tog23 wrote: »

Thank you for your help. I’m still unsure as to how to dispute it though? I was over by 15 minutes but £203 for parking for 15 minutes seems a little excessive lol. I just need to know want to say to get out of this mess. I don’t even mind chucking them a tenner but I need a defence.

The question is how long was the driver parked for; time on site is not the same as time parked.

As members of the BPA Total Parking Solutions must allow two grace periods of a minimum of 10 minutes each; one period to park and the second period to leave.

Coupon-mad

Example defences are already in the NEWBIES thread, post #2.

Tog23

There doesn't seem to be a defence specifically for being slightly over in a carpark with ANPR cameras.