BW Legal Threatening Letter

el_patron

Hi All

I received a private parking ticket in Jun-17, because it wasn't me driving at the time I decided just to ignore it. I then continued to get the rubbish letters from Debt Recovery Plus, I eventually phoned them around April this year and told them it wasn't me driving and so I'm not paying, at the time I didn't know about POFA 2012.

Anyways that was the last I heard from them but I have just received the following letter from BW Legal.

Our Client: Britannia Parking Limited
Account Number:
Date of Contravention: June 2017
Balance Due: £160.00
Vehicle Registration:
Contravention Description: Parked longer than the maximum time permitted.
Contravention Location:

We have been instructed by Britannia Parking Limited in relation to the balance due for the above Parking Charge Notice ("PCN")

The balance due includes the £100 PCN charge plus our clients initial legal costs of £60 which are detailed in the car park or signage terms and conditions. Our clients terms and conditions are clearly displayed in our client signage.

As you have failed to make payment or raise an appeal within 28 days of the date of the PCN the balance due remains outstanding and we require payment in full within 16 days of the date of this letter. If you fail to make payment or provide for non-payment within the specified timeframe we will seek our Clients 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 procedures rules.

County Court Proceedings
In the event County Court proceedings are issued against you, you may be liable for Court fees, further solicitor costs and statutory investment. If our client successfully obtains a County Court Judgement against you then a CCJ may be recorded on your credit file for 6 years unless you satisfy the CCJ in full within a month of the CCJ being issued. A CCJ on your credit file may affect your ability to obtain future credit and may affect your employability. Our client also reserves the right to commence enforcement proceedings against you for recovery of the balance due.

What You Need To Do Now
It is important you contact us to resolve your account. We are keen to work with you...
Call us today on 0113 323 4479 or email us at contact@bwlegal.co.uk to discuss this matter with one of our helpful team.

...........
This was accompanied by a letter from Britannia saying they've handed my account over.

Any ideas on what my next steps should be?

I've moved since i originally received the ticket and so don't have any of the original letters, but I'm pretty sure the car had only over stayed by 12 minutes and they were charging 100 quid, its free parking everywhere on street and in the council car park nearby and so that was ridiculous. The signage is also very unclear. I can attach pictures if that helps?

I was thinking of writing back asking for all the evidence and letters sent to me and for all the information they have on me, is there anything else that I should include?

Also do you think it would be worth sending a check for 12 minutes worth of parking? In the hope that this goes away.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

KeithP

el_patron wrote: »

Any ideas on what my next steps should be?

That's a debt collector's letter and can be ignored.

You would be best advised to read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to better understand the game you are now caught up in.

Post #4 on that thread explains how to deal with debt collector's letters.

Post again on this thread if ever you receive either a Letter of Claim or official court correspondence and you still have questions.

el_patron

Thanks for clarifying that, I'll give that thread a read.

Do you know if many of these cases do end up in court?

The_Deep

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.

Umkomaas

el_patron wrote: »

Do you know if many of these cases do end up in court?

We no longer have access to the great PADI website that would have provided such detailed information as to the number of cases pursued in court by Britannia - it disappeared a few weeks ago.

But Britannia were never a highly litigious Operator, but they have, like many similar low/non-litigious PPCs, been recently swept up by BWL no doubt offering a low-rent deal to roboclaim and robopursue unpaid charges on their behalf.

Whether fully defended cases actually end up in the courtroom it is too early to know, but one thing is for sure, unless a claim is defend, it is likely to end up as a default judgment against the Defendant, with an even bigger mess to sort out than had the claim been fully defended earlier.

beamerguy

The balance due includes the £100 PCN charge plus our clients initial legal costs of £60 which are detailed in the car park or signage terms and conditions. Our clients terms and conditions are clearly displayed in our client signage.

Go and take pictures of the signs and the terms. Let us see if they can form a contract.

The £60 is a fake add-on, BWL are trying to extort money from you

BWLEGAL ADD ON A FAKE £60 ?
In addition to the 'parking charge', the Claimant's legal representatives, BWLegal, have artificially inflated the value of the Claim by adding costs of £60 which has not actually been incurred by the Claimant, and which are artificially invented figures in an attempt to circumvent the Small Claims costs rules using double recovery. >>>> thanks to bargepole

el_patron

Umkomaas wrote: »

.
Whether fully defended cases actually end up in the courtroom it is too early to know, but one thing is for sure, unless a claim is defend, it is likely to end up as a default judgment against the Defendant, with an even bigger mess to sort out than had the claim been fully defended earlier.

Thanks, I fully plan to defend this, at this stage do you think it would be better to ask for all the evidence, a copy of the NTK etc or just continue to refuse liability?

el_patron

beamerguy wrote: »

Go and take pictures of the signs and the terms. Let us see if they can form a contract.

[/I]

I've taken pictures, but I'm pretty sure they've put up new signs since June-17, the new signs are in the same position though which i don't think is appropriate anyway.

The new signs are fairly bog standard ppc signs but i can't find the T's and C's anywhere.

Would it be up to me to prove than the signs have changed? Or would they have to prove that these signs were up on the original date.

beamerguy

el_patron wrote: »

I've taken pictures, but I'm pretty sure they've put up new signs since June-17, the new signs are in the same position though which i don't think is appropriate anyway.

The new signs are fairly bog standard ppc signs but i can't find the T's and C's anywhere.

Would it be up to me to prove than the signs have changed? Or would they have to prove that these signs were up on the original date.

Let us see the pictures please. What we are looking for is the claim that the £60 is clearly shown

el_patron

beamerguy wrote: »

Let us see the pictures please. What we are looking for is the claim that the £60 is clearly shown

Entrance to car park - imgur com/LJYGIR8
Position of signs - im gur. co m/g7TJpQC

You don't necessarily have to approach the roundabout to get a space and when its busy those signs are easily missed.

Sign 1 - imgur .co m/tvStXcA
Sign 2 - im gur .co m/dUmgPzV

Sorry, wasn't sure the best way to upload the images. Please remove the spaces.

Le_Kirk

Here are your links made live after realising how many spaces and missing letters and dots there were. You only need to break links once: -
www.imgur.com/LJYGIR8
www.imgur.com/g7TJpQC