PCN / Britannia Parking & BW Legal

moon_dust

Good morning, friendly, helpful people.

I'll summarise this to try and keep it as concise as possible.

I received a NTK from an alleged infringement of overstaying the allocated free time in a Britannia Parking operated car park. The car park had very poor signage and no lighting, and as such we did not see any signs giving the rules of parking. This was back in November 2018.

I have followed the recommended process given in the Newbies thread (and read many times over). I have appealed both to Britannia Parking and POPLA with no luck.

So yesterday I received the 'Letter of Claim' from BW Legal. If I have understood the Newbies thread correctly, at this stage I do the following:
* Request a SAR from Britannia - simple enough with the template provided; and
* Email BW Legal requesting that the case is put on hold whilst the SAR is being processed.

Is this correct? This is the part I want to ensure I get right as it is now looking like this will end up in court.

Once I have done this, do I just wait for both the SAR and the letter re. court?

Many thanks in advance.

Fruitcake

In addition to the SAR and email to BWL, you need to follow the guide to court written by bargepole that you will find in post 2 of the NEWBIES.

This takes you through step by step from the LBC to the court appearance. You will need to do the acknowledgement of service (AoS) first, assuming you have a LoC as opposed to a LBC.

This is all explained in the bargepole guide.

Also complain to the landowner and your MP about this unregulated scam.

moon_dust

Thanks for the quick reply.

This is the bit I was slightly confused with; the letter received yesterday from BW Legal is entitled 'Letter of Claim'. It states the following:

"We have been instructed by Britannia Parking Group Limited t/a Britannia Parking to commence legal action in the form of issuing a Claim against you in the County Court in respect of the above debt. If payment or a response is not received before 13 June 2019, we are instructed to issue a Claim against you in the County Court without further notice. If you dispute this debt, please tell us why so that we can help resolve this matter"

So I read this as a final warning before court. Assuming this, will I need to do the AoS at this stage?

I will re-read the guide by Bargepole.

The_Deep

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams and will fail in court so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Le_Kirk

Looks like they have given you 30 days to respond but did they also include financial forms (which you don't fill in) and full POC or (POC to follow) plus all the evidence they intend to rely on? You cannot do AoS until you received a real claim form from Northampton CCBC. In order for them to delay processing, it is best to say that, whilst you don't agree there is anything owing to them, you are taking debt advice, so they need to delay processing by 30 days.

moon_dust

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Looks like they have given you 30 days to respond but did they also include financial forms (which you don't fill in) and full POC or (POC to follow) plus all the evidence they intend to rely on? You cannot do AoS until you received a real claim form from Northampton CCBC. In order for them to delay processing, it is best to say that, whilst you don't agree there is anything owing to them, you are taking debt advice, so they need to delay processing by 30 days.

Many thanks.

Yes, they have included a tick-box type reply form and a tacky 'Income and Expenditure Form'. As recommended on the Newbies thread, I am not going to complete and return this paperwork.

Sorry, what is a POC?

Also, no evidence was given in the letter. It just states the contravention and fine amount.

Le_Kirk

POC = Particulars of Claim
All acronyms are explained in NEWBIE thread post # 5.

moon_dust

OK thanks again.

There are no particulars of claim in the letter.

It simply states date, description and location of contravention.

moon_dust

Quick update.

I have now sent off both the SAR to Britannia Parking and the request for the case to be put on hold with BW Legal.

Got auto-replies from both. Britannia will respond to my SAR within one calendar month. Fine.

BW Legal have requested some personal information from me, as follows:


Thank you for contacting BW Legal.

Your email has been received and will be dealt with as soon as possible.

Before we are able to reply we need you to confirm a few Data Protection Questions which we have specified below.

If your email does not contain the below information, we kindly request you resend your email with the required information to enable us to deal with your query effectively.

BW Legal Reference:

Full Name:

First Line of Address:

Postcode:

Telephone Contact Number:

Authorised Email address:

Confirmation you wish for us to correspond with you via this address (Yes/No):

We make no commitment to response times on this general email account. Therefore, if you consider your matter is urgent, or should you wish to discuss your account with one of our helpful representatives today, you can call our offices on 0113 323 4479 and we will be happy to help.

Please be advised that our standard opening hours are:

Monday - Thursday
8am – 8pm

Friday
8am – 7pm

Saturday
9am – 1pm

Alternatively, you can also manage your account online by utilising our customer portal at https://www.bwlegal.co.uk and clicking on the customer login link to set up your account online. Our Customer Portal provides you with the functionality to speak to us by webchat, raise a query, complete your income and expenditure, make a payment or set up an affordable payment arrangement at your convenience.

BW Legal does not accept service of any court documents at this email address. Service of any court documents can be sent to disputeresolution@bwlegal.co.uk with the name of the court document in the subject header, followed by the parties names [eg: Witness Statement: ABC v XZY].

BW Legal


Do I respond to this or just ignore?

Many thanks.

beamerguy

BW Legal Reference: >>> YES

Full Name: >>> YES

First Line of Address: >>> YES

Postcode: >>> YES

Telephone Contact Number: >>> NO THEY ARE PHONE BULLIES

Authorised Email address: >>> Get an email addy for BWL only

Confirmation you wish for us to correspond with you via this address (Yes/No): >>>> To your new email address

moon_dust

Thanks a lot.

I'll do this now.