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Successful pre-court win vs BW Legal/Britannia Parking
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G1874
Posts: 1 Newbie
Hi All - just wanted to share with you my story of beating BW & Britannia Parking.
I've not posted on here before but I have been lurking and reading the advice, so wanted to post my thanks as it helped me massively with winning.
In November 2016, I parked outside of my office building in a lay-by managed by Britannia Parking. There was a sign plastered in their logos stating 20 mins max stay, however there was a separate sign with no logos, a matter of feet away which stated 30 mins max stay.
I parked for 25 mins and received a PCN for this. I took photos of the conflicting signage and appealed using their online appeal form, which was rejected. I decided I did not accept their rejection but at this point did not know about POPLA so did not appeal. Instead I just ignored all letters from them and various debt collectors, plus letters from BW legal some time later. I had previously worked doing debt collection for an energy firm so knew about the processes and how debt collection, court cases, etc worked.
Fast forward to Christmas just gone, I receive a letter from the courts stating BW Legal has escalated my case to Northampton. Using advice from this forum I didn't fill out the income sheet, however I just stated that I wished to defend the case.
After this, I sent a SAR to Britannia Parking, as due to the time that had elapsed between the PCN and this date (over 2 years), I had lost the photos I took for my appeal due to changing phone and laptop. My initial plan was to check out what they had on me and decide then whether to pay (£235 at this point) or fight further in court.
Simultaneously to sending my SAR, I sent an email to BW Legal offering to pay the initial £85 and calling it quits. They rejected me. I sent a follow up offer of £150 which was ignored completely. A week later when I called to chase a response to my offer, a very snooty call handler for BW stated that it didn't matter what I offered, they wouldn't be accepting and will be chasing the full amount.
Fast forward to 30 days after I submitted my SAR, and I've had no response, despite this being the cut off date for a reply. The next day, I submit a defence to Northampton stating Britannia had breached GDPR law, plus my original defence of conflicting signage.
The following week, at precisely 9.01am when their offices have opened, I get a call from BW Legal saying they're willing to accept my £150 offer. I ask if they've received my defence from Northampton, they confirm. I ask why they've suddenly changed their tune on out of court offers, they refuse to answer. I then reject the offer and tell them I'm happy for this to go to court.
Fast forward again to day 70 after sending my SAR, I receive an N180 form from Northampton asking about mediation, my desired court, any pre booked holidays etc. I fill it out and send a copy to BW. Along with the copy I send a reminder to both BW and Britannia that 70 days had elapsed since my SAR and the cut off point was 30 days. I ask them to drop proceedings on this basis.
BW unsurprisingly ignored my request, whilst Britannia got in touch to apologise, say they'd be sending the data later today, and that this wasn't cause to drop the case. I get back in touch to state I didn't accept this and that if they didn't drop the case I'd be complaining to the ICO. Again they reject it.
I reply again stating I know the guidelines of GDPR and that if I complain they can be hit with a fine, and if it's taken this long to send my data, who knows how many others are in the same boat. I also state that I'm confident if I hadn't have sent them a chaser, I never would have received my SAR.
6 hours later I receive an email from Britannia's litigation manager apologising for the inconvenience caused and that they're dropping the charges immediately. I then forward this to BW Legal and couldn't resist signing off with a delightfully petty "Have a nice day".
As a further joke, Britannia send over my data, and the photos on there need to be seen to be believed. They're so blurry you can't make out my reg, the signage or the ticket on the car. I can't post them in a reply to this message as I'm a new user and it won't let me but they'd have been laughed out court with this "evidence".
It all makes sense why they didn't want to send me my data and just decided to bombard me with court action letters in an attempt to scare me into paying.
Anyway, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who contributes to this site as I would never have had the knowledge to fight this without your posts!
Keep up the good work!
I've not posted on here before but I have been lurking and reading the advice, so wanted to post my thanks as it helped me massively with winning.
In November 2016, I parked outside of my office building in a lay-by managed by Britannia Parking. There was a sign plastered in their logos stating 20 mins max stay, however there was a separate sign with no logos, a matter of feet away which stated 30 mins max stay.
I parked for 25 mins and received a PCN for this. I took photos of the conflicting signage and appealed using their online appeal form, which was rejected. I decided I did not accept their rejection but at this point did not know about POPLA so did not appeal. Instead I just ignored all letters from them and various debt collectors, plus letters from BW legal some time later. I had previously worked doing debt collection for an energy firm so knew about the processes and how debt collection, court cases, etc worked.
Fast forward to Christmas just gone, I receive a letter from the courts stating BW Legal has escalated my case to Northampton. Using advice from this forum I didn't fill out the income sheet, however I just stated that I wished to defend the case.
After this, I sent a SAR to Britannia Parking, as due to the time that had elapsed between the PCN and this date (over 2 years), I had lost the photos I took for my appeal due to changing phone and laptop. My initial plan was to check out what they had on me and decide then whether to pay (£235 at this point) or fight further in court.
Simultaneously to sending my SAR, I sent an email to BW Legal offering to pay the initial £85 and calling it quits. They rejected me. I sent a follow up offer of £150 which was ignored completely. A week later when I called to chase a response to my offer, a very snooty call handler for BW stated that it didn't matter what I offered, they wouldn't be accepting and will be chasing the full amount.
Fast forward to 30 days after I submitted my SAR, and I've had no response, despite this being the cut off date for a reply. The next day, I submit a defence to Northampton stating Britannia had breached GDPR law, plus my original defence of conflicting signage.
The following week, at precisely 9.01am when their offices have opened, I get a call from BW Legal saying they're willing to accept my £150 offer. I ask if they've received my defence from Northampton, they confirm. I ask why they've suddenly changed their tune on out of court offers, they refuse to answer. I then reject the offer and tell them I'm happy for this to go to court.
Fast forward again to day 70 after sending my SAR, I receive an N180 form from Northampton asking about mediation, my desired court, any pre booked holidays etc. I fill it out and send a copy to BW. Along with the copy I send a reminder to both BW and Britannia that 70 days had elapsed since my SAR and the cut off point was 30 days. I ask them to drop proceedings on this basis.
BW unsurprisingly ignored my request, whilst Britannia got in touch to apologise, say they'd be sending the data later today, and that this wasn't cause to drop the case. I get back in touch to state I didn't accept this and that if they didn't drop the case I'd be complaining to the ICO. Again they reject it.
I reply again stating I know the guidelines of GDPR and that if I complain they can be hit with a fine, and if it's taken this long to send my data, who knows how many others are in the same boat. I also state that I'm confident if I hadn't have sent them a chaser, I never would have received my SAR.
6 hours later I receive an email from Britannia's litigation manager apologising for the inconvenience caused and that they're dropping the charges immediately. I then forward this to BW Legal and couldn't resist signing off with a delightfully petty "Have a nice day".
As a further joke, Britannia send over my data, and the photos on there need to be seen to be believed. They're so blurry you can't make out my reg, the signage or the ticket on the car. I can't post them in a reply to this message as I'm a new user and it won't let me but they'd have been laughed out court with this "evidence".
It all makes sense why they didn't want to send me my data and just decided to bombard me with court action letters in an attempt to scare me into paying.
Anyway, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who contributes to this site as I would never have had the knowledge to fight this without your posts!
Keep up the good work!
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Comments
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It was all in the hope you’d cave. It’s an ill-disguised debt collection harassment exercise, with the firm expectation that most will either pay up to avoid court, or for those who have moved address, a judgment in default with a CCJ to trash their credit record, only to be subsequently resolved via a lot of work and cost.
Well done on your resilience in getting them to blink first. :T. To my knowledge, despite a great deal of forum froth, we are yet to see a Britannia/BWL case come through us and reach any courtroom.
To save Coupon-mad a job - Another One Bites the Dust.
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 -
Well done good news indeed0
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Typical scam. The clue was there when they suddenly wanted to settle!6 hours later I receive an email from Britannia's litigation manager apologising for the inconvenience caused and that they're dropping the charges immediately. I then forward this to BW Legal and couldn't resist signing off with a delightfully petty "Have a nice day".
As a further joke, Britannia send over my data, and the photos on there need to be seen to be believed. They're so blurry you can't make out my reg, the signage or the ticket on the car. I can't post them in a reply to this message as I'm a new user and it won't let me but they'd have been laughed out court with this "evidence".
Well done to you for achieving that climbdown. :T
Ooo-er, I never even saw this one until you quoted a link to it tonight!To save Coupon-mad a job - Another One Bites the Dust.PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD0 -
I am currently at LOC stage with BWL (Bullies Without Licence). I only read this thread for a bit of a psychological boost
Unfortunately I can't hope for them to screw up so massively as to make the mistakes they did with you (70 day SAR? Crikey, that's seriously illegal, you should take THAT to court without question).
Great to read it nonetheless. Good for you.Combatting the pandemic of BWLegal-19, one 'notice of discontinuance' at a time. :-)0 -
Well done :beer::beer:
Britannia running scared:rotfl:
BWLegal with another fake claim:rotfl:0
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