LBC Received from Gladstones

Lotuslady

Any help gladly appreciated... I have received a LBC from Gladstones Solicitors though feel it’s my worst nightmare.... it relates to a date approx 1 and half years ago...
I am going to have to put my hands up here as did receive an on-screen ticket at the time ( having been told by a friend to park here for free as was an old supermarket car park where the shop had closed down.. though it still had some parking notices up of some sort at least by the payment machine).
The friend who was also my therapist later admitted receiving at least 3 parking tickets, when I told her that I had received one.. all of which she had ignored... and had gone no where, so I decided to do the same as money has been very tight....

Have read NEWBIES thread about LBC.. though wondering if I have a hope in hell of winning this at all as I did ignore all tickets/posts re this charge up until this point..

Am I better off just paying this ticket? As I followed bad advice it seems?

I had a bit of a mental breakdown earlier this year and am just getting myself back together now.. I do sometimes it seems misinterpret/misread stuff.. Am wondering if I have a hope in hell of fighting this or best to just try and pay it?
Am worried that given the circumstances and my ignoring everything that any possible defence if there is one would be long drawn out and lengthy. (I already have another thread going where Parking company where definately in the wrong.. so don’t want to overload myself as have a bit of a history of severe mental health difficulties)

Date on letter is 15th May and have 30 days... and Client is Horizon.. they want £150

Coupon-mad

wondering if I have a hope in hell of winning this at all as I did ignore all tickets/posts re this charge up until this point..

Makes no difference that you ignored the letters as you considered them a scam, and you were heading for a mental breakdown in those months as well so it's perfectly understandable that 'real life' took over and sapped all your focus & energy, not a scam set of demands about an event where no contract was agreed to pay £90 (I assume that was the parking charge sum?).

Am I better off just paying this ticket?

No. £150 is the figure you might pay of you lost the case, anyway, and only 1% here lose. The fact you had a windscreen PCN is neither here nor there.

99% of posters here win, and there is no risk.

Have read NEWBIES thread about LBC.

Jolly good - time to send the PPC a SAR by email, then, to see their hand!

Lotuslady

Hiya a coupon mad.. thanks so much for your reply been rereading NEWBIES thread to make sure I have all abbreviations correctly understood before I replied to you...

ThankU for confirming that I can fight this... Didn’t keep any previous correspondence though original parking charge sum would seem to be £80.. as LBC say £150 includes £70 claimed by our client for time spent resource facilitating the recovery of the charge..

Have found email address to send SAR to and address for one to Gladstones re putting my claim on hold.. so that seems to be all I need to do at this stage till I get anything back?? Just slightly confused as read bit about MCOL and acknowledgement of service... am I right in assuming MCOL and acknowledgement bit is at next stage and not now...?

Many thanks

KeithP

Lotuslady wrote: »

Just slightly confused as read bit about MCOL and acknowledgement of service... am I right in assuming MCOL and acknowledgement bit is at next stage and not now...?

MCOL and Acknowledgement of Service will need your attention after you have received a County Court Claim Form.

The_Deep

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams 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.

Lotuslady

Hiya Keith P,

Thank you so much for clearing that up for me, has put my mind at rest, thanks again

Lotuslady

Hi there The Deep,

I have written to my MP and received a reply that she has attended a debate on the matter this March and has concerns regarding an increasing number of members in her constituency.. good to see that it is being acted upon.

Thanks again

Lotuslady

Have received SAR details back from Horizon Parking who are kindly posting to me also...

SAR contains 9 pages of info including 9 photos of my car parked in situ time/date “stamped” plus a photo of a Horizon sign (with BPA logo @ bottom) which I could attach saying Customer Car Park... fee of £1, it is nowhere near as clear as the Beavis sign.. and is located at the side of the car park. Also copy of PCN.

Also contains NTK dated approx 33 days later sent to my home address...

Sent request to Gladstones to “put on hold” they are giving me till 4th of next month, saying if I haven’t paid by then etc legal proceedings will have commenced or similar.

Thinking about my defence now, as brain not good at emergency last minute stuff due to mental health...

Can anyone help please.. ? what I can see from reading BPA code of practice is that...

1) Horizon haven’t sent me any pictures of signs at the entrance to the car park indicating this is an official car park.. when I returned recently and took pictures, there is a Budgens one..(this supermarket hasn’t been here for many years) plus a smaller Horizon one set back.. though obviously this is over 20 months since the alleged “offence”

Do BPA or Horizon hold these sort of pictures anywhere else for each car park they manage... They have assured me that this really is all the data they have on me..

2) According to the BPA code of practice which says that following the NTK , Horizon may send a reminder (Which is optional) but then a Final reminder... In the wording it say they “may” send this.. does this mean they 100% have to? As it says that after the FINAL reminder they then have to wait 14 days before charge recovery/court action stage?

There is no data held on me to show that they sent me a FiNAL reminder,, so as far as I can see they haven’t followed the code of practice correctly..?

3) On my NTK they have misspelt my surname (though all other info seems correct) and also on a screenshot of their computer screen relating to the records they have it is also misspelt.. Can this be used?

4) Photo’s of my car windscreen areas of which there are several are not entirely clear due to shadows and reflections , I normally place parking tickets I buy in the far right corner area to the right of my steering wheel, is it worth mentioning this, that there is NOT a clear picture of this area shown?

I have checked the PCN etc, and all details seem to be correct and have all relevant info etc it should have on it..

In hope.....

Coupon-mad

Do BPA or Horizon hold these sort of pictures anywhere else for each car park they manage... They have assured me that this really is all the data they have on me..

An entrance sign is not your personal data, so they don't have to disclose that as part of a SAR.

However, under the PAP for Debt claims, you CAN email Gladstones back and ask for the evidence upon which their client intends to rely, in terms of the signage, given that as far as your own research has discovered, their own sign is in small print and dwarfed by an ancient Budgens sign for a shop that hasn't been there for two decades.

So, ask clearly for pictures of the signage that their client says existed on the material date, under the PAP for Debt Claims, and re this:

4) Photo’s of my car windscreen areas of which there are several are not entirely clear due to shadows and reflections , I normally place parking tickets I buy in the far right corner area to the right of my steering wheel, is it worth mentioning this, that there is NOT a clear picture of this area shown?

...ask Gladstones for all photos of the dashboard because the SAR is inconclusive due to shadows & reflections. Say that surely their client must have more photos, or the claim is meritless, because drivers of this car normally place parking tickets in the far right corner area, to the right of the steering wheel, and the SAR has failed to show no ticket in that area of the dash.

Neither of these matter:

There is no data held on me to show that they sent me a FiNAL reminder,, so as far as I can see they haven’t followed the code of practice correctly..?

3) On my NTK they have misspelt my surname (though all other info seems correct) and also on a screenshot of their computer screen relating to the records they have it is also misspelt.. Can this be used?

Lotuslady

Hiya Coupon Mad,

Many thanks for this, will get on the case ASAP... and report back, though it seems that it is rare for Gladstones to reply anything personal if I have read up correctly.. was surprised they had emailed back giving me until early July...!

Thanks again

Lotuslady

Hi,

I have since received an email from Gladstones attaching a letter and some photographs..

In it there appears to be a couple of other photographs that I had not seen previously, showing the far right of the windscreen a bit more clearly, so I do feel it is questionable wether I could use this as defence still...

I have replied to them re the payment data proving that the machine was working..(as they do not appear to have supplied me with this) asking for this evidence.

They have supplied me with photographs of the signage at the entrance from approx 5 months before the “offence” plus others showing the positions of the signage plus an aerial view of the car park with labels and arrows on pointing to either a T&C sign or P&D machine.. I am querying this last photo (with the arrows on) as it doesn’t show a date or where it has come from/who did it.

Am beginning to feel quite worried about this case as they giving me 60 days to pay it, and my mental health treatment starts in a couple of weeks.. am being advised to rest as much as poss (though have to continue working P/T despite advice for financial reasons).

Do I have a hope in hell of winning this, The Entrance sign that they have shown me a photo of does say it’s a “Pay and Display Car Park”. And actually this part of the sign is in quite large writing and it does say “see signs in car park for more details” though this part is a bit smaller..
My mum has offered to pay this ticket previously, and am on verge of giving up as don’t feel I have much of a case here.. any advice gratefully received...