What to do

Le_Kirk

You could but don't miss your deadlines. What did you put in the DQ as your preferred court? Alternatively, are you defending this as a company?






ETA. Just seen C-m's response - perfect advice (as usual).

Coupon-mad

Luce2120 wrote: »

Got a date....I have received a letter saying that my case has been allocated to a Judge and a Court in Leeds.
Couldn't be any further away for me but is where BW Legal are based I see.

Is this because you are a company Defendant?

You could try writing a quick letter to the Judge and copying in BW Legal, stating that you are xxx miles away and your costs schedule for attending currently looks as attached (and attach a hefty costs schedule that includes your loss of leave, travel, overnight stay, the lot, making it about £500 if you can, by including 25 hours of time spent at £xx per hour).

Ask if the case can be reallocated to a court between the actual Claimant (Armtrac are West country are they?) and your firm, in the interests of justice and accessibility for both parties. State that you are aware that BW Legal never send a rep from their company and just use either hired guns, or Armtrac themselves who are nowhere near Leeds either so this appears to be the wrong court venue for the case taking into account it's two relatively small companies, neither of whom are based near Leeds.

Maybe work out the place between you and Armtrac and suggest the case be moved to there, to save costs on both sides. If you don't ask quickly you don't get (might not get the move but ask now, try, and copy in BW Legal).

It contains a RED warning saying that i must send all documentation to the court and the other party no less than 14 days before hearing.

OK glad they made it clear. It's usually buried & many people miss it.

Should I be waiting to receive their documents first so that I know what I am up against prior to filling my own?

Ideally yes, but you can prepare by reading the WS and evidence BW and Armtrac have recently fielded in other cases on here.

It WILL be a template seen before not written specially for your case. Hence there is much you can learn from other BW Legal cases (even if not Armtrac) because BW Legal use standard wording. So read ANY BW Legal claim threads that are ahead of you or where the person has already won, and learn from them.

Find wins easily by searching the forum for another one bites the dust

Luce2120

Yes I am a company defendant. When you say letter, will e-mail suffice?

Le_Kirk

Luce2120 wrote: »

Yes I am a company defendant. When you say letter, will e-mail suffice?

Do you have email details for the court? If so, then yes but it hardly takes much longer (you have to type it anyway) to drop a letter in the post, then you are covered both ways. If you do post it, just first class from a post office with a free certificate of posting.

Luce2120

I am now preparing my witness statement and evidence etc in preparation for court. I feel like I have been reading and researching for days and not sure I am getting anywhere.

Is there a template to follow anywhere or at least a list of must haves to include?

Luce2120

I have visited the site today where the contravention took place and from looking at the pictures provided by bw legal the vehicle was reverse parked in the entrance of the premises. Only the back half of the vehicle was on the premises with the drivers cab outside and on council property.

The signage is on the wall at the entrance. (drivers side). Is it fair to say that seen as the vehicle was reversed in, and the drivers cab did not cross onto the premises or pass the signage then it is feasible that the signage was not visable to the driver? Likewise a driver of a left hand drive vehicle may also miss the signage as it is only posted on the right hand wall at the entrance.

Luce2120

Is it sufficient to email witness statement and supporting evidence to BW Legal? I will be hand delivering the copy to the court

Coupon-mad

I wouldn't, as they often say they don't accept WS by email.

Show us the company's draft.

Remember to say that the POFA 2012 Schedule 4 limits the sum recoverable from the registered keeper (the company in this case) to the sum on the Notice to Keeper, and that is ONLY where there has been adequate notice of the parking charge on signage that was seen (or 'so prominent that it was bound to be seen') by the driver.

And that the ParkingEye v Beavis case confirms that £160 charge cannot be claimed, as per paras 98, 193 and 198 of the judgment where the Supreme Court specifically stated three times, that the parking charge has to include the operational costs of sending letters in a case, pre-court. So they cannot recover the same costs twice.

Read the court report from 11th November in CEC16's thread. Whilst a company cannot use the CRA 2015, you can use the other two points.

nosferatu1001

Unless you have their permission, the CPRs state you CANNOT serve via email. So no, post it to them. Keep a record of these costs, in case you get unreasonable costs added on...

Le_Kirk

nosferatu1001 wrote: »

Unless you have their permission, the CPRs state you CANNOT serve via email. So no, post it to them. Keep a record of these costs, in case you get unreasonable costs added on...

.......... and get a FREE certificate of posting from the post office, do not use recorded/signed for.