Letter of Claim (County Court) Britannia Parking & BW Legal

JRL_2

Hi All,

I'm an avid reader of MSE forums and use them frequently but have not registered until now - I've been ignoring letters from the various companies chasing me however today received a letter of claim which I intend to defend.

Firstly thanks for the fantastic content, I've read a lot of the forums and threads for claims so far and would like to use some of this information to help me in my case, however my situation is quite unique it seems (at least I cannot find a similar example on the forums).

Here's what happened:
August 2017:

I went to get my bike repaired and parked in the car park behind the shop, the sign said in big letters 'FIRST 30 MINUTES PARKING FREE', It seems like the car park is controlled through a pay and display machine but also ANPR, I was a little confused by this but having gone back to the car park to check it seems like you have to enter your registration plate into a machine to 'validate' it which for full disclosure I have not done.

Anyway I stayed in the car park for roughly 23 minutes (ANPR verified) then leave.

About 4-5 weeks later I receive a notice from Debt Recovery Plus about this, I called them (first big mistake according to the forums) and asked them what it was about, they didn't help at all apart from stating they were working on behalf of Britannia parking and just said they'd take me to court if I didn't pay. I left it there, then got my father to contact Britannia Direct. They eventually conceded on the phone and sent a 'copy' of the original letter they supposedly sent me, 2 days later, 2 copies of the letter show up, I assume one is the original they meant to send first, then the second copy.

I have responded in writing following the guidelines on these forums arguing the following points:

- I was in the car park less than 30 minutes and that they have incurred no financial loss from my being there given the first 30 minutes were free
- The terms of the car park were confusing, that there are both pay and display and anpr systems on site
- That the car parking notice was never sent to me (they said it was sent on the 18th August 17 but the first notice I got was from Debt recovery plus on the 27th Sept 17) and I requested proof of delivery (yet to be provided)
- Further to the above point that the first point of contact with me was through a debt collection agency not Britannia themselves
-The PCN stated that I had "failed to make a valid payment" however given my stay was within the free period no payment would have been due
- The signage in the car park is misleading, giving the impression of 30 minutes free parking but then going on to state about the complex process you must follow to enable it which is clearly designed to catch innocent motorists like myself out
- I then went on to state that it was ironic that the only reason I heard from Britannia was because I had chased them to send me the PCN and that I reject any notion of liability and requested they send no further communication to me.

I was hounded for months by Debt Recovery Plus and Zenith collections but around March 18 it stopped. After 6 months I (stupidly) went through the correspondence and thinking they'd stopped pursuing it got rid of it. No less than a week later I get BW Legal on my case with a letter - calling me and leaving Voicemails, I eventually blocked the number.

Just before xmas I received a rather badly scanned document asking me to confirm my income and bits and pieces as they intended to take me to court, upon advice from here I ignored it.

Then today I get the county court letter, now whilst I am by no means affluent, I can afford to pay the fees, I just feel they're ludicrously high and unfair given my short stay in the car park.

Am I right to continue defending this or should I concede defeat (given some of my mistakes and genuine errors when parking and not fully understanding the T's & C's of the car park) and just pay up?

I've got to submit a defence, I've seen some good ones on here although none seem too relevant to my case, is there resource I can use to write out my defence and send it back?

Help would be very much appreciated and thanks so much for your time and care in reading this. I have promised myself to be a lot more careful and read the signs more carefully in future.

KeithP

JRL_2 wrote: »

Then today I get the county court letter...

I'll assume that you have received a Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.

If is is a Claim Form, can you please tell us the Issue Date on it and confirm it came from the CCBC in Northampton.

If it is not a Claim Form, then please tell us exactly what it is.

JRL_2

The defence on this thread post number 5 seems good - should I base mine off of that?

Edit: can't post links, it's the "Link Parking County Court" thread

JRL_2

KeithP wrote: »

I'll assume that you have received a Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.

If is is a Claim Form, can you please tell us the Issue Date on it and confirm it came from the CCBC in Northampton.

If it is not a Claim Form, then please tell us exactly what it is.

Thanks for getting back so quickly
It says "Claim Form" in big letters, with a county court stamp on the right side.

I have a claim number and the issue date was the 28th Jan 2019 - it did indeed come from CCBC in Northampton

Coupon-mad

it seems like you have to enter your registration plate into a machine to 'validate' it

Use the template defence about the hidden keypad, and edit & adapt it to suit. That's why quite a few example defences are linked in the NEWBIES thread, and are never linked on individual threads, as we have no time to do that.

Do the AOS first, using MCOL, as shown in pictures in the NEWBIES thread.

You will see I have just edited it today to beg for NO NEW THREADS about Britannia claims until people are ready to show their defence.

This isn't due to you (I've only just read this thread) this is due to the fact there are more examples on this forum right now than any newbie needs.

And it is so common this is all getting a bit silly, given that the advice to get everyone to defence stage is already in all of them, and it's in the sticky thread.

KeithP

JRL_2 wrote: »

I have a claim number and the issue date was the 28th Jan 2019 - it did indeed come from CCBC in Northampton

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th January, you have until Monday 18th February to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox link from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 4th March 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over a month away - but it's a short month. 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.

JRL_2

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Use the template defence about the hidden keypad, and edit & adapt it to suit. That's why quite a few example defences are linked in the NEWBIES thread, and are never linked on individual threads, as we have no time to do that.

Do the AOS first, using MCOL, as shown in pictures in the NEWBIES thread.

You will see I have just edited it today to beg for NO NEW THREADS about Britannia claims until people are ready to show their defence.

This isn't due to you (I've only just read this thread) this is due to the fact there are more examples on this forum right now than any newbie needs.

And it is so common this is all getting a bit silly, given that the advice to get everyone to defence stage is already in all of them, and it's in the sticky thread.

I've already written my defence - I'll send it now so you can see - apologies - I have followed all the steps in the newbie thread, I just wanted to know if it's worth defending and if someone could review the defence?

JRL_2

MY DEFENCE:

The claim and all sums are disputed on the following grounds:
(1) alleged infringement 13.8.2017
(2) the first notice received of the alleged incident was via a debt collection agency, Debt recovery plus on 25.9.2017, no notice from the original claimant Britannia Parking.
(3) an immediate telephone call made to Debt Recovery plus on 26.9.2017 who were evasive, abrasive, unhelpful and rude simply advising i would be taken to court
(4) a telephone call then made to Britannia Parking on 26th September, in relation to the debt recovery notice requesting advice as to when the original notice of infringement had been sent. this could not be verified, and on this basis a copy requested from Britannia Parking
(5) two envelopes franked 26.9.17 were received on 27.9.17 and witnessed by the postman at 14.11 hours containing the copy document, and in the second envelope the original notice.

on this basis alone the original notice fails the 14 day rule for notice of contravention as referred to in the protection of freedoms act 2012

furthermore

the photographic evidence from the ANPR very clearly identifies the time of entry as 12:48 hrs on the 13th August, and time of exit 13:11 hours same day. A stay of total duration 23 minutes. The PCN indicates failure to make a valid payment, directly contradicting the terms of the car park which indicates first 30 minutes free of charge.

on this basis there is no financial loss incurred, no matter the circumstances, and the stay at the site fell within the permitted or allowable 30 minutes free.

A notice of dispute was sent to Britannia Parking on 27.9.17, outlining the reasons for dispute, to which no response received. we clearly indicated if we did not hear further within 21 days we would consider the matter closed. we had neither the courtesy, or for some months any further communication from Britannia, before a new communications from two - three further separate debt recovery agents (who have obviously purchased the debt from Britannia) and therefore considered the matter closed.

we are somewhat surprised BW Legal have brought this matter to the county court, specifically as we have already repudiated liability as above. A copy of the letter of dispute to which no response received enclosed.

Please can you let me know if this is ok, and whether to submit online or best by PDF as advised above?

Coupon-mad

Sorry, you need to start again. There is nothing there that reads like a defence.

KeithP

JRL_2 wrote: »

...whether to submit online or best by PDF as advised above?

There are good reasons not to submit a Defence via the MCOL online system and they are explained in detail in post #2 of the NEWBIES thread. Follow Bargepole's 'what happens when' link.

There' a link to that thread in my earlier post.

JRL_2

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Sorry, you need to start again. There is nothing there that reads like a defence.

I'll rewrite it based on one of the defences' in these forums and repost, this was something I did myself