Parking charge notice going to court

Cortjames

Hi,

I am being taken to county court by Total Parking Solutions and their debt collectors, BW Legal.

The incident happened at my university campus. The charged parking times there are between 6am and 6pm.

I had parked outside the library at roughly 7pm to work on my dissertation. I didn’t leave the library until roughly 1am. Tired and stressed, I totally forgot I had taken my car and got the bus home. It wasn’t until getting the bus into uni the next morning that I realised I took my car the night before, and was greeted with a ticket on the windscreen.

A couple of friends had received parking fines at uni before and had ignored them all (with success) and suggested I did the same.

...8 months later I have a letter from the county court asking me whether I am going to accept the charges or defend myself.

I totally blame stress as my reason for forgetting I had my car, and plan to take bank statements to court explaining that I always paid for parking during charging hours (with multiple transactions in the same day from where I have extended my stay.


The total costs I am being asked to pay are over £200. The solicitors fees are about half of this.

I am not knowledgable about any processes such as this and was hoping to get some sound advice for how to deal with the process.

I have ignored all of their warnings but now need to create my defence. I plan on providing evidence of multiple payments to the parking company to question why I wouldn’t pay on that occasion.

For references (if it’s relevant) it’s about £15 to use the car park all day.

I appreciate anybody’s help greatly.

Thank you

Umkomaas

What's the 'date of issue' shown in the upper right hand side of the claim form?

Have you complained to the Uni that this lot are taking you to court? Tell the Uni that you intend to call a senior member of staff as a witness and ask who they wish to nominate and when they are not available to appear within the next 3 months, so that the court can make sure they allocate a suitable date for the hearing.

You need to read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2 which details how you deal with this. It includes a walkthrough provided by a legally qualified contributor to the forum - bargepole.

Cortjames

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. I appreciate your time.

I have contacted the uni and they have said that they are unable to do anything as the parking company are a contractor.

They suggested that I contact the parking company directly but is this worth doing as the court date is already in motion and it’s easy for them to send in their debt collectors to court and get paid for it?

Thanks

The_Deep

Principals are responsible in law for the actions of their contractors.

How much over £200?

Were this to get to court and they won, the judge would be unlikely to award the claimant more than £175 - £200.

If they are asking significantly over this take the matter up with their regulatory body the SRA.

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

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.

KeithP

Cortjames, can you please answer Umkomaas' question?

Umkomaas wrote: »

What's the 'date of issue' shown in the upper right hand side of the claim form?

Cortjames

Apologies - November 29th. Thank you

Cortjames

Sorry, didn’t reply to this the first time. But it’s 29th November

Umkomaas

What was the response when you asked them to nominate a senior representative for you to call as a witness?

KeithP

Cortjames wrote: »

...it’s 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 [URL="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread[/URL].

Having done the AoS, you then have until 4pm on Wednesday 2nd January 2019 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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 [URL="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread[/URL] to find out exactly what to do with it.

Cortjames

They just ignored that part and said once court proceedings have started there is nothing they can do. Do you think I should email again asking for who they nominate as a witness?

Appreciate every reply, thank you

Umkomaas

Put it in writing to them. See how they respond.