CCBC Claim Form - BW Legal/Britannia Parking

Jop05

Morning all,

I’ve read through the newbies thread and found it confusing/conflicting - the one thing that seems to be clear is that if I’m at the court stage, to start a new thread, so here goes!

I have a claim form relating to a PCN issued on 23/4/17. Back then, I disputed the claim stating the signage to be unclear/confusing and this coupled with balancing a new born baby combined with trying to understand their Sunday charges to be unreasonable to have issued a fine. I received no response until now. I’ve completed the AOS online and have 15 days left to submit my defence - what next please? Any help much appreciated

Redx

post the DATE OF ISSUE on your claim form

post the POC information as well, plus the charges and total cost, but no personal info

make sure you login to the MCOL site and do the AOS online, dont do anything else, follow the walkthrough so you get it right (post #2 again of that NEWBIES thread)

then start on your defence , by reading post #2 of the NEWBIES thread and read a few of the other dozens of similar BRIT & B W LEGAL court case threads on here

if in doubt , start with the concise defence by BARGEPOLE and add to it (adapt it)

post your draft defence below for critique

nosferatu1001

Post 2 is the only post for you to read in the newbies thread.

Its not confusing, its just necessarily long, and may contain terms youre not immediatley familiar with. As this is a legal process, you cannot expect it to be straightforward and immediately accessible.

Are you sure you only have 15 days> What is the date of issue?

What next is you need to comile a defence. Given we dont know
1) Where this is
2) what you VERBATIM stated in your appeal
3) details of any signs
4) What you mean by struggling to understand sunday charges, see 3
We cant really give you any specifics

Have you at least READ and UNDERSTOOD the Bargepoole -written example defence?

Umkomaas

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.

Jop05

As requested: DOI 21/2/19, POC in short: £85 claim PCN issued 23/04/17, Stat interest 8% £13.38, £60 contractual costs.

AOS already completed. Will read #2 on newbies and Bargepole - thank you all.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 21st February, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 26th March 2019 to file your Defence.

That's that's just over two weeks away. Loads of time to produce a good 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.

Jop05

Okay, I’m amending (!!!!!!!ising!!) Bargepoles defence to fit my own situation, but it seems to be aimed at allocated parking? To be clear, this was a P&D car park and the signage on the meter was confusing and hard to establish if payment covered the day (Sunday) or the hour. My question being, before I continue, is the Bargepole defence still relevant to me please?

Le_Kirk

There are several concisely written defences by Bargepole and Coupon-mad, just pick the one nearest to your situation and adapt and amend accordingly. Remember your task is to refute everything the PPC alleges in their POC.