BW Legal - CCJ Response Pack Help

nostrum

Hi Guys,

Perhaps I've come across this site a bit too late. I've been in dispute with BW for a while now and mostly ignored them. I then received a MoneyClaim from them to which I responded.

My defense is that we used a car park on a certain day and paid for a ticket. We do not have the ticket but I have proof of purchase on a bank statement, along with transactions for the facility we visited which the car park is provided for (not exclusively mind)

We received a PCN which is generated via number plate recognition and so, I assumed we had overstayed our ticket by a couple of minutes (It happened before, I appealed to Britannia and it was revoked) so I appealed again.

This time, we lost our appeal and were given no opportunity to counter their argument which stated that they had no evidence of a ticket being purchased at all.

As we had evidence of the transaction and not been given an opportunity to counter the allegation, I ignored them. We were then bombarded with calls and letters from BW, which I ignored.

I filed a MoneyClaim defense ( which included an anomaly in the case, transactions for our visit were 1 day before BW legal claim we were in the car park.) and I have now received a letter from BW stating they intend to continue with the claim. The court is hundreds of miles from our address (and from the car park, which is in our home city)and I have been provided with a response pack, including mediation questionnaire.

I have read the NEWBIE STICKY POST but so much of it doesn't seem to apply here, I felt I needed to raise a post, so sorry for yet another thread on this!

I'm a bit confused as to what I should do next? I have no way of communicating with anyone apart from BW or a mediator, but it says I have to accept negotiation which I feel is unjust. My opinion is that they have the wrong dates, but if they are suggesting we were there the day after, how can I prove we weren't?

Thanks for taking the time to read and thanks in advance for any replies

Regards

Me :beer:

beamerguy

BWLegal and Britannia are now bosom buddies

How long did they say you overstayed for ??

So, you paid to park and you have proof. We can now only assume that Britannia stole your money and that would be of interest to the judge.

You can refuse any mediation and state you want this case heard in front of a judge. You can also select the case is heard in your local court. These are your rights as an individual

I imagine BWLegal has added a fake £60 .....

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

Read up on BWLegal
BWLegal - the list of failures growing
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5672664/bwlegal-the-list-of-failures-growing

CLUE: When these dodgy legals want mediation, it's because they are unsure of their case ....... as they should be

nostrum

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

They are claiming we never bought a ticket I think. Is there a way to request a case pack for their case? The only remark we have is that they claim £85 in respect to a PCN issued the day (including time) after we have evidence of purchasing a ticket. Charges include interest (8%) and contractual costs of an additional £60 pursuant to PCN terms and conditions.

There is no mention of overstay at all.

This is a drive in, pay at machine and drive out car park.

Good to know I can request another location, thanks for that.

Regards

Me

nostrum

OK, I've reviewed the appeal notice and I now see a POPLA appeal could have been completed. The problem is I didn't even know what POPLA is until I read the newbie sticky and now it's too late to appeal. The option doesn't explain it very well and also states that if I lose I have to pay the charge.

Have I made a mistake here?

nostrum

Perhaps they are claiming that we didn't enter the registration correctly, which I'd doubt but it's not impossible I guess. Seems very ruthless. I have found just about every other parking ticket we've bought apart from this one and the Reg. has always been correct.

The_Deep

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 become so widespread that MPs agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Hopefully, this will become law by Easter .

Umkomaas

The court is hundreds of miles from our address (and from the car park, which is in our home city)and I have been provided with a response pack, including mediation questionnaire.

Presumably Northampton? Northampton County Court Bulk Centre is not a court, but merely a distribution centre for issuing court claims via Rotal Mail. Any court case will be at your local county court - you state your preference later in the process.

BRITANNIA or NCP / BWL CASES

As you will see from the first few pages of the forum, there is an onslaught by BWL on behalf of Britannia or NCP (and a few other hitherto court-shy PPCs) which is being conducted on an industrial scale - roboclaims.

You are caught in a one-way traffic flow where you must fight or pay - there is no longer a safe 'do nothing' option.

1. Pay now, it costs you exactly what they are currently demanding.
2. Ignore it, a 'judgment in default' will inevitably follow for at least what they want - maybe with even more costs added; continue to ignore that, you're getting a CCJ with credit trashing consequences for 6 years.
3. Defend, yet lose in court, the cost award is likely to be noticeably less than their current demand ~£175.
4. Defend, and win in court, you owe them nothing and you could claim up to £95 for half a day's pay/loss of annual leave, plus travel costs @45p per mile, plus your parking cost for the day.

Your least costly option has to be 3, with hopefully a win as per 4.

But BWL/Britannia or NCP cannot physically take everyone to court, and there is evidence to show that with a well constructed defence, BWL can come along with a reduced 'offer to settle', which if refused, becomes a discontinuation. We can't give you guarantees on that, but as you have little choice other than to defend (if you don't want to pay), you need to give this your very best shot.

Whether you have a good defendable case to argue, you will need to read other similar cases at the defence (or beyond) stage and learn from those.

ROBOCLAIMS - HOW BWL OPERATE

You might find it useful to understand how BWL operate - as I have surmised from the hundreds of different threads I've read involving BWL.

Other than the auto acknowledgements and template letters, you will get nothing sensible from BWL - they are dealing with literally hundreds of thousands of unpaid parking charges and are spewing out various threatening letters, using a conveyor belt approach to go through a computer controlled process towards a LBC, and a MCOL Claim - and it is really only at the final stages, as a court hearing becomes a possibility, that there's any real human intervention.

You need to understand that you're not dealing with an old fashioned firm of solicitors, just progressing from a quill and ink operation, BWL are industrial harvesters of debt, using the equivalent of massive combine harvesters to do their work. This is what their website tells you:

A multi-award winning law firm specialising in volume collections, across both regulated and unregulated sectors, who are dual regulated through the FCA and SRA.

We employ around 265 people at our Leeds based office which in turn makes us the largest privately owned debt collection law firm in the UK.

KeithP

So let's clarify a few things.

You received a Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre.

You responded by filing a Defence.

You have now received a Directions Questionnaire / N180 from the CCBC.

Is all that correct so far?

Is it the completion of the DQ that you are struggling with?


Or have I got that entirely wrong?


If you are looking for guidance on completing your DQ, you need to be reading post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.
In there you will find a link to Bargepole's 'what happens when' which tells you how to answer every question on that form.

nostrum

Thanks again for the replies, all much appreciated.

KeithP, yep, that's just about where we are.

I have a Directions Questionnaire in front of me (Small Claims Track) from Northampton CCBC.

I have two options looking at it, I could agree to mediate or not?

Part of me can't be doing with the time I have to invest in this !!!!!!!!, but I'm also feeling this is simply legal extortion and want to fight the case. My only issue is I do not have the ticket, only a receipt of payment in my bank transactions.

Can I ask for thier evidence from them and if so, who would I approach? Brittania parking make it as awkward as possible to deal with to push you into the hands of BW Legal instead. I'd prefer not to even talk to them if I can.

Regards

Me

KeithP

nostrum wrote: »

I have two options looking at it, I could agree to mediate or not?

I said earlier:

KeithP wrote: »

If you are looking for guidance on completing your DQ, you need to be reading post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.
In there you will find a link to Bargepole's 'what happens when' which tells you how to answer every question on that form.

nostrum

Also, sorry to add.

They claim the PCN was issued on the 24th of the month. My transactions were on the day before.

Is this simply the fact that they issued the PCN the day after, or are they claiming we were in the car park on the 24th? It's extremely vague.

Regards

Me