BW Legal Court Hearing NHS staff

Toddygirl

The Defendant, a hard working NHS staff radiographer has a parking permit (pay slip shows payment) for parking on site at rented hospital accommodation. No PCN on car at the time, 1 August 2017, so Defendant unaware of fine. No letter received from Britannia Parking and moved out of property on 30 September 2017. Letter received from BP at home base (details obtained from DVLA) on 9 November 2017 showing photographic evidence of PCN and parking permit not displayed on car windscreen. However Defendant definitely did not have a PCN and parking permit was believed to be on dashboard or on front seat of car. Britannia parking had not previously supplied the Defendant with a screen sticker for the permit, it was only on a folded piece of paper. The Defendant immediately tried to appeal but this was refused as appeal time had expired. Further correspondence was received from BW Legal, the latest from County Court for a hearing, date yet to be decided. A witness Defence was submitted but BP intends to continue with claim which had now escalated to £231.42. A SAR was acknowledged on 5 March 2019 showing that no letters were sent to Defendant until 9 November 2017, some 101 days after initial alleged contravention on 1 August 2017. Is this time span legal? Mediation was refused by Defendant as advised by forum. What is the chance of Defendant winning if it goes to Court anf if Defendant loses the Court Case, will legal costs have to be paid including the original fine?

KeithP

Very difficult to answer your questions.

Please show us the Defence that you filed.

Redx

paragraphs please, then we can read it

nobody will define the chances of winning in court , its a lottery and several cases that should have won have lost over the years , including Beavis

you will get advice here if you wish to defend your case but you should consult and pay a lawyer if you want legal advice about your case and any odds

you wont get odds here, we leave that to Ladbrokes and Paddy Power

post the ISSUE DATE below , plus post the full defence that was submitted as well

Coupon-mad

A witness Defence was submitted

No such thing. Please do not confuse your defence with your later requirement to file & serve a Witness statement and evidence.

but BP intends to continue with claim which had now escalated to £231.42. A SAR was acknowledged on 5 March 2019 showing that no letters were sent to Defendant until 9 November 2017, some 101 days after initial alleged contravention on 1 August 2017. Is this time span legal?

Yes, if they know who was driving.

But if they are trying to pursue you as registered keeper only, then no.

nosferatu1001

SHow us your defence. Until we know that, we dont know whether the driver was identified or not.

Toddygirl

Sent: 27 March 2019 20:14:42


Defence: PCN 1043578

1) The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed or at all.

2) The facts are, that the vehicle registration *******, of which the defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date, allocated to 1st August 2017.

3) The Defendant, a Radiographer who lived and worked on site at Poole Hospital, rented a room at ***** House with a valid parking permit (see Evidence A and . The Defendant did not receive a penalty notice on the vehicle, despite the photograph provided by Britannia Parking, and had no knowledge of this charge as the Defendant did not receive any correspondence to the communal post-box addressed to the Defendant’s name. The Defendant then moved out of the property on the 30th September 2017. This was due to witnessing a suicide on their floor of the building, which was distressing therefore the Defendant did not return to the property once moved out.

4) When a letter from Britannia Parking (re: 1043578) was received at the Defendant’s parent’s address (home base), on 9th November 2017, the Defendant immediately tried to appeal, but this was refused due to the appeal time having expired. The Defendant was then of the opinion that this was an error. There had been a later penalty notice, dated 14th August 2017, numbered: 1043588 (only ONE digit different to the current penalty being discussed - 1043578). The Defendant appealed this on the 16th August 2017 (see Evidence C), and the PCN was cancelled on 7th September 2017 (see Evidence D). This was due to Britannia Parking having not previously supplied the Defendant with a screen sticker for the permit, only a folded piece of paper. Therefore it had fallen off the dash and they had agreed to dismiss the penalty based on these grounds and proof of permit (see Evidence A). This dismissed penalty notice 1043588 was received AFTER the alleged penalty notice 1043578. However, as previously stated, the Defendant did not receive any paperwork for 1043578 until November 2017. Also, despite photographic evidence, there was no coloured penalty notice sticker on the windscreen. A sticker for the permit was provided by Britannia Parking after the appeal for PCN Notice 1043588 was upheld on 7th September 2017.

5) Further correspondence was received to the Defendant's home base, yet the Defendant believed it had to be a clerical error due to the later penalty notice having already been resolved. As previously stated, the parking charge notice numbers are only ONE digit different (1045388 and 1043578). Had the Defendant received notification of PCN 1043578, they would have appealed immediately, as was done with PCN 1043588, which was a later notice.

6) The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, schedule for (the POFA) at Section 4 (5) states that the maximum sum that can be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper - in this case for 1 PCN (a maximum of £85). This claim inflates to £231.42 in a clear attempt at double recovery. The Defendant trusts that the presiding Judge will recognise this is a wholly unreasonable conduct. Not only are such costs not permitted (CPR27.14) but the Defendant believes that the Claimant has not acrued legal costs at all.

Coupon-mad

Do be aware that is more like a Witness Statement and none of this will have gone forward to your local court (only the defence itself), as you don't send attachments yet:

(see Evidence A and .

Not a bad defence though, albeit the driver has been identified on the balance of probabilities so you can't use the POFA to try to argue no keeper liability.

Do read bargepole's COURT PROCEDURES thread linked under the red heading in the second post of the NEWBIE thread 'important - know what happens when'.

What is the chance of Defendant winning if it goes to Court

By being on this forum you make your chances 99% likely to win, based on 2.5 years' stats & successes.

if Defendant loses the Court Case, will legal costs have to be paid including the original fine?

It's not a fine but as long as you read all the stuff about disproportionate costs, you can argue £60 off the total in minutes, even if the case was lost, and pay less than claimed.

Everyone needs to know how to explain the costs to the Judge in a damage limitation exercise in case a case is lost, to keep the total sum under £200.

The_Deep

In view if the inflated claim by a firm which should know better, report them to their regulatory body the SRA

http://www.sra.org.uk/home/home.page

Also read Beamer's thread here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

and get your MP on board as nine times out of ten these tickets are scams.

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. .

Toddygirl

How do I find this thread, can you send me the link. Thankyou.

Toddygirl

Bargepoles court procedure link that is.....

Redx

Read post 2 of the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum