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BW Legal NCP Letter of Claim after naming driver.
SmallGuyParker
Posts: 2 Newbie
Firstly - THANK YOU so much to all of you who have posted and replied on this board, it is inconceivable that I would have had the confidence to fight these bullies without reading through all the examples here. I am so touched that, in these polarised times, there are so many knowledgeable people who give their time freely to help.: Thanks.
Background:
- my wife parked in what was previously an attended car park but had just converted to
APNR, she paid for an hour and stayed one and a half thinking she could pay the excess at the kiosk. Barrier opened and she drove off.
- I received an NTK and followed the advice on this board to appeal not naming the driver. I missed the POPLA deadline due to personal reasons but wasn't too worried as, at the time, NCP was seldom seen in court.
- Ignored TRACE debt recovery eventually received the "standard" letter from BW Legal (£100 + £60 16 days to pay or they would commence legal proceedings.
- At this point, I took a trip to the car park and photographed all the signs and took a video of the entrance and was fairly confident that the promotional "Park from £1" signs that were everywhere in very large print and with no T&C on them offered a good defence. The car park is also still listed as attended on the NCP website. So against the advice here, I decided to at this point to name the driver before the 16 days were up and take my chances. I sent the letter copied below to BW Legal signed for and they signed for it on 3rd Dec.
- BW legal simply ignored this letter naming the driver and issued a "Letter of Claim"; one day earlier than the schedule outlined in their first letter. I read through the privacy policy on NCP's website and issued them with a SAR. I also informed them that their agent BW Legal was responsible for a data breach by continuing to process my data as a keeper when keeper liability provisions under POFA had not been met. I requested that the Data Protection Officer investigate this breach as outlined in their own data protection policy on the NCP website.
- I have received a template response to the SAR with some of the information they hold but the Data Protection Officer at NCP has simply ignored the data breach.
I am now at a bit of a loss - the time limit for responding to the letter of claim runs out on 08th Jan 2018. I have drafted a Rebuttal Letter and a reply to the Data Control Officer at NCP (all copied below). I am sure BW Legal are going to just carry on regardless and issue court proceedings so I would really like to try and get the case struck out on the basis of no Keeper Liability but have no idea how to go about this. If at all possible could someone check my letters and advise? Again, THANK YOU.
Letter to BW Legal naming the driver (sent):
BW Legal
Enterprise House
Apex View
Leeds
LS11 9BH
xx November 2018
Reference: XXXXXXX
Account no: XXXXXXXX
Vehicle Registration: XXXXXXX
Dear Sir/madam,
Thank you for your letter dated 19 November 2018, the contents of which have been noted.
Your client has failed to make important disclosures pertaining to this alleged breach of contract and this has led to an unnecessary and protracted delay in dealing with this matter.
As Registered Keeper, despite the lack of disclosures from your client, I have now been able to ascertain who was driving the vehicle on the day in question and provide contact details below.
Your client is now in possession of the name and a current address for the driver and therefore keeper liability provisions under the Protection of Freedoms Act have not been met. I therefore request that you cease all processing of my data and remove all my data from your systems. Please write to me confirming you have done this. For the avoidance of doubt, you should consider this a section 10 notice under the Data Protection Act.
Please now refer this matter back to your client in order that they may raise the matter with the driver.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Draft Letter of Rebuttal:
BW Legal
Enterprise House
Apex View
Leeds
LS11 9BH
XX December 2018
Reference: xxxxxxxxx
Account no: xxxxxxxxx
Vehicle Registration: xxxxxxxx
REBUTTAL OF LETTER OF CLAIM
Thank you for your letter dated 4th December 2018, the contents have been noted.
Your own records will clearly show that, in your letter dated 19th November 2018 addressed to me as Registered Keeper, you stated: "we require payment in full within 16 days from the date of this letter. If you fail to make payment or provide reasons for non-payment within the specified timeframe, we will seek our client's instruction to commence legal proceedings against you." I replied to your letter on 29th November and you signed for the reply on 03rd December. In my reply, I informed you that, notwithstanding the lack of disclosures from your client, I had managed to identify the driver and provided you with a current name and address for the driver. I therefore simply cannot understand why, on the 4th December 2018 you would continue to process my data and issue a Letter Of Claim. It is a matter of certain record that, as of 03rd December 2018 keeper liability provisions under the Protection of Freedoms Act had not been met, therefore after that date you have no reason to hold or process my data. Your letter of claim is unsafe and invalid. You have no legal basis on which to pursue me as the registered Keeper. I now repeat the request made in my letter dated 29th November 2018 that you cancel the Letter of Claim and cease and desist from processing my data (second request). The matter should now be referred back to your client.
In your letter of 19th November 2018 your records will show the schedule you laid out before commencing proceedings (16 days after the date of your letter). This period expired on the 5th December. Your bogus letter of claim is dated the 4th December. I simply cannot understand why you would not adhere to your own schedule laid out in your letter of 19th November. As a legal firm you will be well aware that the pre-action protocol requires strict and accurate adherence to all schedules. Your letter of claim is non-compliant. !
I believe your actions referred to above are a deliberate and blatant breach under the Data Protection Act and a failure of your responsibilities as data handler under GDPR. This breach has caused me damage and distress and may have affected my health. I now intend to make a substantive complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
I also intend to raise a complaint regarding your conduct with the regulator. Initially, having raised the matter, you are now required to attempt resolution using your internal complaints procedure. Please could you now write to me outlining your (complaints) procedure and confirming that you are investigating my concerns?
I reserve the right, should my health permit, to seek legal recompense for damages. I have issued your client with a Subject Access Request and asked them to investigate your data breach in accordance with their own privacy policy clearly laid out on their website. You should now prepare the relevant records accordingly.
In order that I can carry out my own investigation, I would like to make the Subject Access as follows:
Subject Access Request (Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR))
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
Please supply me the data about me that I am entitled to for free under data protection law relating to myself.
Please can you provide the following:
• All data held.
•All letters/emails sent and received (including your correspondence with NCP).
Particular details of each instance where my data has been processed after 03rd December 2018.
The legal basis on which you have been processing my data after 03rd December 2018. Including the attempts you have made to contact me by telephone.
•
All steps and procedures that you have taken to ensure my data is safe.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours Faithfully
PROPOSED REPLY TO DATA CONTROLLER AT NCP:
Dear Cleeve,
Thank you for your reply to my email, the contents have been noted.
It is unfortunate that you have chosen a "template" reply and failed to address the issues that I raised in my email surrounding the misuse of my data and the highlighted data breach by your agent. A data breach which you, as Data Protection Officer, are responsible for.
Perhaps you have received insufficient training as to your current responsibilities as Data Protection Officer under GDPR? The ICO is very clear that, in the event of a data breach, you should be given every opportunity to resolve the issue before escalation to an ICO complaint. Additionally, your own privacy policy which is laid out in some detail on your website clearly defines the course of action that should be taken in the event of a suspected data breach. As I entered into your complaints procedure described in the privacy policy in good faith I cannot understand why you would then simply ignore the requests I made in my email.
Please, could you now confirm whether you intend to comply with the ICO recommended course of action and your own privacy policy or whether you intend to ignore them?
Should you simply disregard this email, in the same manner, that you disregarded the relevant part of my earlier email, I will deem to have given you every opportunity to address my concerns and will be left with no choice other than to escalate the matter with the ICO?
You have allready received a copy of my letter to your agent in which I submitted a current name and address for the driver relating to the original PCN. You should note that this was sent, and received by your agent, prior to the commencement of proceedings.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours faithfully,
Background:
- my wife parked in what was previously an attended car park but had just converted to
APNR, she paid for an hour and stayed one and a half thinking she could pay the excess at the kiosk. Barrier opened and she drove off.
- I received an NTK and followed the advice on this board to appeal not naming the driver. I missed the POPLA deadline due to personal reasons but wasn't too worried as, at the time, NCP was seldom seen in court.
- Ignored TRACE debt recovery eventually received the "standard" letter from BW Legal (£100 + £60 16 days to pay or they would commence legal proceedings.
- At this point, I took a trip to the car park and photographed all the signs and took a video of the entrance and was fairly confident that the promotional "Park from £1" signs that were everywhere in very large print and with no T&C on them offered a good defence. The car park is also still listed as attended on the NCP website. So against the advice here, I decided to at this point to name the driver before the 16 days were up and take my chances. I sent the letter copied below to BW Legal signed for and they signed for it on 3rd Dec.
- BW legal simply ignored this letter naming the driver and issued a "Letter of Claim"; one day earlier than the schedule outlined in their first letter. I read through the privacy policy on NCP's website and issued them with a SAR. I also informed them that their agent BW Legal was responsible for a data breach by continuing to process my data as a keeper when keeper liability provisions under POFA had not been met. I requested that the Data Protection Officer investigate this breach as outlined in their own data protection policy on the NCP website.
- I have received a template response to the SAR with some of the information they hold but the Data Protection Officer at NCP has simply ignored the data breach.
I am now at a bit of a loss - the time limit for responding to the letter of claim runs out on 08th Jan 2018. I have drafted a Rebuttal Letter and a reply to the Data Control Officer at NCP (all copied below). I am sure BW Legal are going to just carry on regardless and issue court proceedings so I would really like to try and get the case struck out on the basis of no Keeper Liability but have no idea how to go about this. If at all possible could someone check my letters and advise? Again, THANK YOU.
Letter to BW Legal naming the driver (sent):
BW Legal
Enterprise House
Apex View
Leeds
LS11 9BH
xx November 2018
Reference: XXXXXXX
Account no: XXXXXXXX
Vehicle Registration: XXXXXXX
Dear Sir/madam,
Thank you for your letter dated 19 November 2018, the contents of which have been noted.
Your client has failed to make important disclosures pertaining to this alleged breach of contract and this has led to an unnecessary and protracted delay in dealing with this matter.
As Registered Keeper, despite the lack of disclosures from your client, I have now been able to ascertain who was driving the vehicle on the day in question and provide contact details below.
Your client is now in possession of the name and a current address for the driver and therefore keeper liability provisions under the Protection of Freedoms Act have not been met. I therefore request that you cease all processing of my data and remove all my data from your systems. Please write to me confirming you have done this. For the avoidance of doubt, you should consider this a section 10 notice under the Data Protection Act.
Please now refer this matter back to your client in order that they may raise the matter with the driver.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Draft Letter of Rebuttal:
BW Legal
Enterprise House
Apex View
Leeds
LS11 9BH
XX December 2018
Reference: xxxxxxxxx
Account no: xxxxxxxxx
Vehicle Registration: xxxxxxxx
REBUTTAL OF LETTER OF CLAIM
Thank you for your letter dated 4th December 2018, the contents have been noted.
Your own records will clearly show that, in your letter dated 19th November 2018 addressed to me as Registered Keeper, you stated: "we require payment in full within 16 days from the date of this letter. If you fail to make payment or provide reasons for non-payment within the specified timeframe, we will seek our client's instruction to commence legal proceedings against you." I replied to your letter on 29th November and you signed for the reply on 03rd December. In my reply, I informed you that, notwithstanding the lack of disclosures from your client, I had managed to identify the driver and provided you with a current name and address for the driver. I therefore simply cannot understand why, on the 4th December 2018 you would continue to process my data and issue a Letter Of Claim. It is a matter of certain record that, as of 03rd December 2018 keeper liability provisions under the Protection of Freedoms Act had not been met, therefore after that date you have no reason to hold or process my data. Your letter of claim is unsafe and invalid. You have no legal basis on which to pursue me as the registered Keeper. I now repeat the request made in my letter dated 29th November 2018 that you cancel the Letter of Claim and cease and desist from processing my data (second request). The matter should now be referred back to your client.
In your letter of 19th November 2018 your records will show the schedule you laid out before commencing proceedings (16 days after the date of your letter). This period expired on the 5th December. Your bogus letter of claim is dated the 4th December. I simply cannot understand why you would not adhere to your own schedule laid out in your letter of 19th November. As a legal firm you will be well aware that the pre-action protocol requires strict and accurate adherence to all schedules. Your letter of claim is non-compliant. !
I believe your actions referred to above are a deliberate and blatant breach under the Data Protection Act and a failure of your responsibilities as data handler under GDPR. This breach has caused me damage and distress and may have affected my health. I now intend to make a substantive complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
I also intend to raise a complaint regarding your conduct with the regulator. Initially, having raised the matter, you are now required to attempt resolution using your internal complaints procedure. Please could you now write to me outlining your (complaints) procedure and confirming that you are investigating my concerns?
I reserve the right, should my health permit, to seek legal recompense for damages. I have issued your client with a Subject Access Request and asked them to investigate your data breach in accordance with their own privacy policy clearly laid out on their website. You should now prepare the relevant records accordingly.
In order that I can carry out my own investigation, I would like to make the Subject Access as follows:
Subject Access Request (Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR))
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
Please supply me the data about me that I am entitled to for free under data protection law relating to myself.
Please can you provide the following:
• All data held.
•All letters/emails sent and received (including your correspondence with NCP).
Particular details of each instance where my data has been processed after 03rd December 2018.
The legal basis on which you have been processing my data after 03rd December 2018. Including the attempts you have made to contact me by telephone.
•
All steps and procedures that you have taken to ensure my data is safe.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours Faithfully
PROPOSED REPLY TO DATA CONTROLLER AT NCP:
Dear Cleeve,
Thank you for your reply to my email, the contents have been noted.
It is unfortunate that you have chosen a "template" reply and failed to address the issues that I raised in my email surrounding the misuse of my data and the highlighted data breach by your agent. A data breach which you, as Data Protection Officer, are responsible for.
Perhaps you have received insufficient training as to your current responsibilities as Data Protection Officer under GDPR? The ICO is very clear that, in the event of a data breach, you should be given every opportunity to resolve the issue before escalation to an ICO complaint. Additionally, your own privacy policy which is laid out in some detail on your website clearly defines the course of action that should be taken in the event of a suspected data breach. As I entered into your complaints procedure described in the privacy policy in good faith I cannot understand why you would then simply ignore the requests I made in my email.
Please, could you now confirm whether you intend to comply with the ICO recommended course of action and your own privacy policy or whether you intend to ignore them?
Should you simply disregard this email, in the same manner, that you disregarded the relevant part of my earlier email, I will deem to have given you every opportunity to address my concerns and will be left with no choice other than to escalate the matter with the ICO?
You have allready received a copy of my letter to your agent in which I submitted a current name and address for the driver relating to the original PCN. You should note that this was sent, and received by your agent, prior to the commencement of proceedings.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours faithfully,
0
Comments
-
You've given them enough chances to sort this out. Complain to the ICO.
Continue to defend as the RK as there has been no correspondence with the driver despite being identified (OMG :doh:).
I think I should just flag up at this stage that the forum is neither a legal nor Data Protection Act forum. You will get some opinions, but you won't get detailed legal or DPA advice.
Take a look at the Legal Beagles and Consumer Action Group (CAG) forums to see if there is more germane advice there if you don't/can't get it here.Please note, we are not a legal advice forum. I personally don't get involved in critiquing court case Defences/Witness Statements, so unable to help on that front. Please don't ask. .
I provide only my personal opinion, it is not a legal opinion, it is simply a personal one. I am not a lawyer.
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.#Private Parking Firms - Killing the High Street0 -
Thank you for your quick response Umkomaas, good idea.0
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