UPDATED - County Court Business Centre + BW Legal - Looking for urgent advice

Dom_M

I have shortened my defence to try and make it more to the point....


Feedback on this would be appreciate before I send this.




Statement of Defence

I am xxx, defendant in this matter and deny liability for the entirety of the claim for the following reasons:

I assert that I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed, or any amount at all, for the following reasons:

1. It is admitted that the Defendant was the authorised registered keeper of the vehicle in question at the time of the alleged incident.
2. The identity of the driver of the vehicle on the date in question has not been ascertained.
a. The Claimant did not identify the driver
b. The Defendant has no liability, as they are the Keeper of the vehicle and the Claimant must rely upon the strict provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 in order to hold the defendant responsible for the driver’s alleged breach.

3. I was not in receipt of a compliant “Letter Before Court Claim”, under the Practice Direction, meaning the Defendant could not compile a Formal Response. This is in direct contradiction with paragraph 7 of the particulars where the Claimant’s solicitor states ‘The Claimant has complied with the requirements of the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims’ and the Defendant believes that this is a deliberate attempt to mislead the court. The Defendant invites the Claimant to provide proof of their compliance.

4. Total Parking Solutions are not the lawful occupier of the land. I have the reasonable belief that they do not have the authority to issue charges on this land in their own name and that they have no rights to bring this case.
a) The Claimant is not the landowner and is merely an agent acting on behalf of the landowner and has failed to demonstrate their legal standing to form a contract.
b) The claimant is not the landowner and suffers no loss whatsoever as a result of a vehicle parking at the location in question
c) The Claimant is put to prove that it has sufficient interest in the land or that there are specific terms in its contract to bring an action on its own behalf. As a third party agent, the Claimant may not pursue any charge. I have the reasonable belief that they do not have the authority to issue charges on this land in their own name and that they have no right to bring action regarding this claim.


5. The signage was inadequate to form a contract with the motorist
a. The signage on this site is inadequate to form a contract. It is barely legible, making it difficult to read. The signage was only the wrong side of the road for drivers entering the car parking making it nearly impossible for a driver to attempt to read the sign and not provide an obstruction to the car park entrance. The car park signage font is below the required sizing. Industry standard signs recommend a minimum height of 3 inches in a bold font to have any readable impact at 30 feet.
(g)In the absence of ‘adequate notice’ of the terms and the charge (which must be in large prominent letters such as the brief, clear and multiple signs in the Beavis case) this fails to meet the requirements of Schedule 4 of the POFA
c. The sign did not contain an obligation as to how to ‘validly display’ the permit in the windscreen, therefore there was no breach of any ‘relevant obligation’ or ‘relevant contract’ as required under Schedule 4 of POFA.
d. In the absence of ‘adequate notice’ of the terms and the charge (which must be in large prominent letters such as the brief, clear and multiple signs in the Beavis case) this fails to meet the requirements of Schedule 4 of the POFA.





6(a) The Claimant has at no time provided an explanation how the sum has been calculated, the conduct that gave rise to it or how the amount has climbed from £70 as per the PCN issued on 08/08/2018. This appears to be an added cost with no apparent qualification and an attempt at double recovery, which the POFA Schedule 4 specifically disallows.
b) The Protection of Freedom Act Para 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper.

7(a)No figure for additional charges was 'agreed' nor could it have formed part of the alleged 'contract' because no such indemnity costs were quantified on the signs.
b) The Defendant also disputes that the Claimant has incurred £104 legal representative costs and £25 court fees.
c) The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred £70 costs to pursue an alleged £70 debt.
d) Notwithstanding the Defendant's belief, the costs are in any case not recoverable.
e) The Claimant described the charge of £104 "legal representative costs’’ not "contractual costs".
CPR 27.14 does not permit these to be recovered in the Small Claims Court.
10. The driver did not enter into any 'agreement on the charge', no consideration flowed between the parties and no contract was established.
a. The Defendant denies that the driver would have agreed to pay the original demand of £70 to agree to the alleged contract had the terms and conditions of the contract been properly displayed and accessible.

I believe the facts stated in this defence are true.

KeithP

Send a separate Defence for each Claim.
You should perhaps mention the other case in each Defence. Point out that this is an abuse of process leading to extra costs for the Defendant.

At the same time try to get the cases merged into one.

You seem to have slipped into 'first person' at the start of paragraph 3.

What is an 'authorised registered keeper'?
The word 'authorised' is superfluous.

Dom_M

Update on progress


I submitted a defence for both of the claims, obviously BW Legal wish to continue with claim and has sent across their directions questionnaire. They have requested on both to go through mediation rather than court, I have started to fill out a copy I downloaded rather then wait for the courts to reject mediation and ask for this and my local court.
Is there anything else i should do or prep for?


Unfortunately I now have THIRD claim from Northampton bulk centre - i used this car park a few times over a short period so i imagine they are treating each claim separate rather then rolling them up into one claim.
I intend on following the same process as before, send in my defence and request the claims are merged into one to save on court fees and time.
Is there anything else i can do to stop them sending in multiple claims ?


Additional i am about to send BW Legal a cease of harassment letter as they have continued to contact an address that I am not at despite the person asking them to take her number off there system.
Should i send of copy of this to Total Parking Solutions as well?


Thank you again for any advice on this.

beamerguy

Dom_M wrote: »

Update on progress


I submitted a defence for both of the claims, obviously BW Legal wish to continue with claim and has sent across their directions questionnaire. They have requested on both to go through mediation rather than court, I have started to fill out a copy I downloaded rather then wait for the courts to reject mediation and ask for this and my local court.
Is there anything else i should do or prep for?

Additional i am about to send BW Legal a cease of harassment letter as they have continued to contact an address that I am not at despite the person asking them to take her number off there system.
Should i send of copy of this to Total Parking Solutions as well?

Mediation is only in the interests of BWLegal .... AND NOT YOU
These dodgy legals often try this on because they are unsure if they will win

As far of the BWLegal HARASSMENT, if they have already been been told to stop phone calls,this comes under the The Administration of Justice Act
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75234858#Comment_75234858

They therefore act illegally and must be reported

1ST STEP
The SRA
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems.page

2nd STEP
Your local Trading Standards

Dom_M

Just as i thought, i will defiantly push to avoid mediation and proceed in my local court.


So rather then warn BW Legal to stop again i should just report them ?

beamerguy

Dom_M wrote: »

Just as i thought, i will defiantly push to avoid mediation and proceed in my local court.


So rather then warn BW Legal to stop again i should just report them ?

Mediation is a YES or NO from you, they cannot decide

BWLegal take no notice anyway so yes, report them, why waste your time with this bunch

Jetslick

Dom_M wrote: »

So rather then warn BW Legal to stop again i should just report them ?

I've now sent 4 emails to BW Legal telling them to cease unsolicited phone calls and to remove any number they have on my account. That's 4 emails now. Point being, they just ignore the request and continue to harass me a month after the initial request. I'm just warning you that they're pests who will likely continue to harass.

That said, I'd still warn BW Legal again. Then complain/report them to the ICO (although they're frustratingly slow to investigate) and the SRA. They must be getting sick of hearing BW Legal's name.

nosferatu1001

Tell the SRA that one of their members is harassing someone unconnected in anyway, have been told in non uncertain terms they have nothing to do, and are refusing to update their records.

Have you asked for the cases to be combined? UYou cannot be expeted to defend three times the same car park and similar circumstances.

beamerguy

Jetslick wrote: »

I've now sent 4 emails to BW Legal telling them to cease unsolicited phone calls and to remove any number they have on my account. That's 4 emails now. Point being, they just ignore the request and continue to harass me a month after the initial request. I'm just warning you that they're pests who will likely continue to harass.

That said, I'd still warn BW Legal again. Then complain/report them to the ICO (although they're frustratingly slow to investigate) and the SRA. They must be getting sick of hearing BW Legal's name.

Then BWLegal are now acting illegally

Complain to the SRA and your local trading standards

The Administration of Justice Act
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/75234858#Comment_75234858

Coupon-mad

Is there anything else i can do to stop them sending in multiple claims ?

I intend on following the same process as before, send in my defence and request the claims are merged into one to save on court fees and time.

Keep putting a clear covering letter at each stage from now on, which cites all 3 claim numbers and asks for the 3 claims to be put in front of a Judge to order that they be combined into one hearing, because this is an abuse of process and an onerous burden on the Defendant and the courts alike.

At some point down the line your local court will pick that up and run with it, I hope.