Britania Parking BW Legal CCJ

greenhouse28

Hi all,

Can you please help me as I'm a bit confused with this now. BWLegal have sent me a letter asking for £160 payment before they take me to court and file for a CCJ. I have emailed Britania Parking to request a SAR.

"Dear Sir or Madam

Subject access request ( Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) )

Parking Charge –

Please supply the data about me that I am entitled to under data protection law relating to myself.

- All photos taken.
- Close up photos of the signage taken on the 8th June 2018.
- Evidence that you have paid a debt collector.
- all letters/emails sent and received, including any appeal correspondence earlier.
- PDT Machine Record for the 8th June 2018.
- All other data held in relation to myself and the PCN against me.

If you need any more data from me to confirm my identity please let me know as soon as possible. It may be helpful for you to know that data protection law requires you to respond to a request for data within one calendar month.

If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your Data Protection Officer, or relevant staff member. If you need advice on dealing with this request, the Information Commissioner’s Office can assist you. Its website is ico.org.uk or it can be contacted on 0303 123 1113."

I did include my name and address in the email but removed it for this forum. They have responded with photos of the signage on 30 March not 8th June, and have provided no proof that they have paid a debt collector.

Do I have to pay this fine or is there a way out of it? Any help will be much appreciated!

Coupon-mad

Send a SAR to the parking firm, which is what the NEWBIES thread tells you.

Do I have to pay this fine

It is NOT a fine. And no-one here would pay this.

or is there a way out of it?

Yes - as you already saw, when you read:

NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST

at the top of the forum.

greenhouse28

I have sent a SAR to the parking firm which they have replied with photos from 30th March, not 8th June when I was actually parked there. There data from the machine does show that I paid for 1 ticket which covers 2 hours when I was there for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Apologies for my stupidity with this, this is the only time I've ever received one of these and I'm a bit scared I've left it too late to avoid the CCJ.

Jetslick

This maybe a major coincidence but I'm literally having the same issue with Britannia Parking after just getting a BW Legal letter too. Had ignored all the Debt Recovery letters (and annoying phone calls) but this letter is a bit more concerning. Not trying to derail your thread but not going to make my own when it's same scenario (albeit maybe under different circumstances). Was just researching the NEWBIES thread and forums for advice and stumbled across this.

Going to send a SAR to the parking firm now. Also, OP, if you want, feel free to message me and we can talk through the process (considering we're in the same boat in fighting these guys) :beer:

Coupon-mad

There are dozens of threads the same - clearly a batch has gone out again.

greenhouse28

Now that I have received my SAR shall I contact BWLegal again to dispute the claim on the grounds that they did not have photos of the signage on the date I was parked there? I also read something about requesting they provide a copy of the ANPR Calibration record? Is this correct?

greenhouse28

This was my response to the SAR I received...

Hi,

You have not provided proof of payment made to a debt collector, and the photos of signage are from 30th March not 8th June as per my request.

In addition to what you have already sent, could you please provide the above, and also provide suitable documentation of your camera and timing calibration meeting home office CAST guidelines and ANPR standards. I would need confirmation through calibration documentation that the time stamp is indeed made by the machine and cannot be tampered.

Thank you.

greenhouse28

This is the response they gave me.

"Dear ****,

We do not sell on aged debt, this would be a breach of the BPA Code of Practise and therefore there is no payment. Britannia Parking will always remain as the creditor for the outstanding debt.

We may instruct a litigation company to start court proceedings, however they work on behalf of Britannia Parking. BW Legal will of course charge us for the work carried out on our behalf, however you are not entitled to this information. Please refer to the Letter Before Claim and any other paper you have received, which clearly documents the fees and costs we are claiming for.

It is not practical or feasible to take photos of the signage in the car park on a daily basis, the BPA consider it reasonable to take a new picture pack every 6 months.

In regards to CAST guidelines and ANPR standards this is only guidelines and are for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA’s). It is intended to relate to any ANPR systems which form part of the National ANPR Infrastructure (NAI) and obtain data which may be fed into the National ANPR Data Centre (NADC). Our data is not fed into the National ANPR Data Centre (NADC).

I can however confirm that The ANPR cameras are monitored on a daily basis, both manually and through reporting software, to ensure they’re working at an optimum level for vehicle capture. The camera timings are synchronised using TARDIS which is an application that enables synchronisation between the cameras and time servers on the internet using the protocol NTP. It does this automatically, without intervention, and runs periodically, every 6 hours. Any variance from the internet server of more than 0.5 seconds is automatically corrected by TARDIS. Any downtime or maintenance issues are immediately highlighted via an automated process and resulting in the system being shut down for the required time period. On the day in question the cameras were subject to the regular checking procedure and were working at an optimum level. We also are fully compliant with Section 21 - ANPR, of the BPR Code of Practise.

Please be aware we have no further comments to add all future communication must be with BW Legal, who in turn will communicate with us, if required, regarding your PCN."

I have a feeling I may have to swallow this and just pay them, I've recently bought my first home so I really don't want a CCJ, and I tend to suffer with agoraphobia so I desperately do not want to have to travel to court. I'm going to try another email to BWLegal but they seem pretty adamant on this.

Coupon-mad

I have a feeling I may have to swallow this and just pay them, I've recently bought my first home so I really don't want a CCJ,

No, that's not what you will do. There will be no CCJ. You won't be paying this so STOP.

I tend to suffer with agoraphobia so I desperately do not want to have to travel to court.

So just defend anyway as per the NEWBIES thread (no CCJ risk) then - if they have not discontinued by then - tell your local court not less than a week before the hearing that you want the case heard on the papers in your absence.

Like everyone else does in your shoes. Several threads the same; you defend AS IF you were going to the hearing, to call their bluff, then pull out of the hearing but let it be heard.

greenhouse28

"if they have not discontinued by then - tell your local court not less than a week before the hearing that you want the case heard on the papers in your absence.

Like everyone else does in your shoes. Several threads the same; you defend AS IF you were going to the hearing, to call their bluff, then pull out of the hearing but let it be heard."

Thank you, I did not know this was a possibility, apologies for my ignorance on this!

greenhouse28

I'm also unsure if this is actually a LBCC? The wording in the letter is...

"As you have failed to make payment or raise an appeal within 28 days from the date of the PCN, the Balance Due remains outstanding and we require payment in full within 16 days from the date of this letter. If you fail to make payment or provide reasons for non-payment within the specified timeframe, we will seek our client's instructions to commence legal proceedings against you in the county court upon being served with a letter of claim pursuant to the Pre-action Protocol for Debt Claims as contained within the Civil Procedure Rules"

Is this them threatening a LBC or is this actually a LBC?