Britannia Parking - ANPR parking charge

PotatoSalad_2

Hi all,

Tl;dr
• Got a letter from Britannia, with an ANPR picture not showing the driver clearly.
• Used to be free after 18:00 from what I can remember, time on the PCN is 18:58:07.
• Received letters from Britannia parking (x2), Debt Recovery Plus (x3), Zenith Collections (x2), and now B W Legal (x2). All so far ignored.
• The latest letter is a 'Letter of claim'. Seems to be a letter before claim as I have till 17th of January.
• I have read through the newbies FAQ, and it's slightly daunting.
• What's the next steps?


I received a letter from Britannia parking some time back in June about parking in a near by town centre. I have parked there before a couple of times, long before the date they are accusing me of, and it has been free after 18:00 (Or at least I've never been fined).

The time my car was shown going in was 18:58:07. The picture shows my car from the ANPR camera, but not who's driving. As there are three people on my insurance, I can't be sure who was driving (No one is owning up to it either).

After the first letter I was ready to appeal it straight away. I went and checked the sign in the car park and it says it's 50p after 18:00, not free, and a fine of £85, not as the letter says £60 if I pay within 14 days or £100 if I don't.

I was told by a colleague to just ignore them, and after searching on MSE it seemed a lot of people have ignored them and nothing more has come of it. So I did. I received the 'final reminder', and then nothing for a month or two.

Then Debt recovery plus started sending me letters. So again I searched here, and people just ignored them and they went away, so I continued. Three letters later they went away.

Zenith collections came next a month or so later. Again, searched on MSE, and again ignoring them seemed the way to go. Only the two letters from them though.

Now it's B W Legal. They have sent me the usual 'pay us or we could take you to court' crap. Thinking I knew the game, I ignored them, and searched. But it seems these guys are something different. I only then found the "Newbies private parking ticket" FAQ (Douh!). There's a lot of info there, it's quite overwhelming!

B W Legals latest letter I think is the 'letter before claim', even though it says it's a 'letter of claim'. It basically says pay us £160 before the 17th of Jan and we'll go away. If not, you'll have to pay £239.60 when you loose.

Now I don't really want to be dealing with the courts if I can help it, but equally I don't want to pay the now £160.

What's the next steps? The hassle is starting to get to me.


Thanks!!!

Redx

does it have 30 days to reply plus financial forms to fill in as well ?

if so, its an LBC (LOC , or LBCCC)

if it is, you write back with a rebuttal and also do a SAR to the DPO at BRIT to get their evidence etc

post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread helps you with this

as does reading all the other threads of a similar nature


this hassle will be going on for several months, possibly with a date in court

PotatoSalad_2

It has both of these yeah.

I'll have another in depth read of these.

Thanks!

Redx

in that case its SAR to the DPO and a rebuttal to the LBC by B W Legal
and expect an MCOL in the post early in the new year, in Jan or Feb PROBABLY

Fruitcake

The advice to ignore a PCN has not been given here since the law changed in 2012. I'm not sure where you saw advice to the contrary on MSE. It certainly wasn't on this forum.

That however cannot now be changed so you are stuck with rebutting their LBC, and most likely defending a court claim.

If you discover the driver's identity, don't tell anyone. If you were not driving, then say so.

It is not a fine.

Get photos of the sings ASAP in case they change them before court. This will be important if the charges on the signs are different to the ones on the NTK. Get pics of the entrance and signage around the car park, looking especially for signs high up, small font, damaged, or hidden behind bushes etcetera.

Give your colleague a kick up the hacienda and tell him he is six years out of date with his advice to ignore. Look at the grief you have caused yourself by believing him when you were actually ready to appeal at the time.
Tell all your friends, colleagues, and family to come here if any of them ever get a private parking charge.

Check the NTK against the very strict wording of the PoFA 2012 to see if/where it fails to meet PoFA requirements.

Complain to your MP aout this unregulated scam using the info you will find in red in post 1 of the NEWBIES.

The_Deep

£240 is far more than the Law allows for this sort of claim. The down market solicitors whom the PPCs engage know this, but, because they are solicitors, know that a lot of people will pay up.

It is in fact double charging and non claimable debt collectors' add ons. Imo, this is fraud, or, at the very least, improper conduct.

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

I urge you to report this grubby law firm to their regulatory body, the SRA.

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

as I am sure they do not condone this conduct. Also complain to your MP.

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.