County Court Claim from Britannia Parking

unpredicatableictus

Hi all,

As the thread topic says, I've received a claim form from Britannia Parking via the County Court Business Centre, Northampton.

Amount claimed £501.34
Court fee: £60.00
Legal representatives costs: £70.00
Total amount: £631.34

I've started reading through the **NEWBIES!! thread and have completed my AOS using Money Claim Online. For reference: the claim issue date was the 24th Jan and the AOS was submitted today (25th Jan).

I'm embarrassed to say that I've thrown away all the previous letters from Britannia – and therefore can't say with absolute confidence – but I am pretty sure this was due to parking at a Costa.

Will try and go through more of the **NEWBIES!! thread this evening, but one of the first steps listed was to create a new thread urgently! So here it is... please help!

Many thanks, on an ongoing basis, for any suggestions and assistance.

Le_Kirk

Post # 2 of the NEWBIE sticky will give you advice on what to do and in what order. First thing is to submit a SAR to the PPC and find out all the data they hold on you, including all letters etc., which should include the original PCN. You might have to send a copy of you V5C to prove who you are. Whilst you are waiting for the response, start working on your defence (examples shown in the same post #2).

The_Deep

Seems a lot, how many PCNs did you receive?

The whole industry is a scam, relying on threats of court, and the public's ignorance of the Law, A bill is currently before parliament which will regulate the scammers, many of whom are ex-clampers.

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 Second Reading in the Lords this month, and, with a fair wind, will l become Law later this 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.

KeithP

unpredicatableictus wrote: »

I've started reading through the **NEWBIES!! thread and have completed my AOS using Money Claim Online. For reference: the claim issue date was the 24th Jan and the AOS was submitted today (25th Jan).

With a Claim Issue Date of 24th January, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 26th February 2019 to file your Defence.

That's a whole month away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put you under pressure.
   
7. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

unpredicatableictus

Thanks for the rapid replies Le_Kirk, The Deep and KeithP.

Le_Kirk: I'll certainly get the SAR submitted to Britannia as per the template suggestion and will confirm what the PCNs were for.

The Deep: I'm pretty sure that this is in relation to 2 tickets issued on consecutive days (certainly in the same week). I used to be a regular at the Costa and if I recall correctly, used it while the kids were in an Easter swimming school. They suddenly started enforcing a 1-hour parking restriction. I will print a correction/clarification when I get the SAR info back.

KeithP: Yours is the big job to get started on. It was all a bit too much information for me to take on, going from receiving the letter this morning. I will definitely start to familiarise myself with the topics and posts beginning this weekend.