County Court Claim Form - BW Legal

banana101

Hi all, I was hoping I may be able to get some advice:

Today I received a Claim Form from a County Court Business Centre (claimant being BW Legal) for Parking Charge Notices issued to me between 06/02/2015 and 20/03/2015. Naturally I am required to respond to the Claim Form either admitted, denying, or putting forward a counter claim.

As it stands, originally I was being challenging by Premier Parking for the sums, of which a tenant (not owner) of the flats I was purportedly parking at, took photos of my vehicle, and used those cowboys to send me the threatening invoice letters. About 3 months ago I made a Subject Access Request (SAR) to Premier Parking, and they sent me many photos of my vehicle; however, and I believe this to be an important factor, the location of the sign changed mere minutes after on of the photos was taken, and I can prove this with the photos. Additionally, I had not seen any signs when parking there, so am debating whether or not the sign was originally there, or if this was just the ploy of the tenant to make some money?

I have not disclosed who was driving, or sent any correspondence that could prejudice this case.

I plan on making a Counterclaim for anxiety and depression for a sum that I think is fair, but I would like some advice as to whether this would be a suitable argument to undermine the Claimant's case, or if there is anything else I may be able to add?

Also, if I was required to go to a County Court, am I able to request the location of the court, as the Business Centre the letter was sent from is some 3.5 hours away from myself?

Thank you all for everything!

Lewis.

KeithP

Later in the process, if you are an individual, you will get to choose your local County Court - if indeed any hearing is to take place.

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?


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banana101

Thank you, Keith.
The issue date is 17/07/2019, and that is a very good idea - will change it asap

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 17th July, you have until Monday 5th August to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 19th August 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over a month away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but please don't leave it to the 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 "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep 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.

Redx

and remove your name from post #3 above

no names etc on here, no personal info to be posted on here , thank you

banana101

Ok, I have drafted a defence using lots of the info available on the sticky thread. Does anyone think there is anything I should add/remove?
'
1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all. The Defendant is the registered keeper of the vehicle in question. The Claim relates to alleged debts in damages arising from a driver’s alleged breach of contract, when parking at xxxxxxx on dates: 06/02/2015; 12/02/2015; 20/03/2015.

1.1. Any breach is denied, and it is further denied that there was any agreement to pay the Claimant’s three £100 ‘Parking Charge Notices (‘PCNs’).
1.2. The Claimant has spent almost 5 years harassing the Defendant with ever increasing and intimidating demands pursuing the baseless charges, sending debt collector letters and causing the Defendant and their family significant distress, despite having no basis to charge such amounts. The distress, as having manifested as anxiety and depression within the Defendant will be the basis for the Counterclaim, and will be substantiated with the relevant medical records.


2. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle. These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

3. Due to the sparseness of the Particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

4. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the claimant's signage was present at all times; rather, that the sign was simply ‘hooked’ onto a fence at a time convenient to the Claimant and then removed after the photo had been taken. This can be exemplified by ‘Image 1’ and ‘Image 2’ as signposted, which were both taken on 20th March 2015, one at 09:07:51; one at 09:08:32, where the signage was absent in the former image, but could then be seen 41 seconds later in the latter image. I addition, image 3 also exemplifies some form of signage which is almost completely obstructed by an overflowing refuse bin, and so, prove incapable of binding any reasonable person parking in the area.

5. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.
5.1. Even if the Claimant was authorised to issue PCNs in their own right, it is denied that the limited landowner contract in 2015 gave this Claimant the express legal standing to form contracts and litigate in their own name.

6. The Claimant may try to rely upon ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67. However, with no ‘legitimate interest’ excuse for charging this unconscionable sum given the above facts, this Claimant is fully aware that their claim is reduced to an unrecoverable penalty and must fail.

7. In addition to the original PCN penalty, for which liability is denied, the Claimants have artificially inflated the value of the Claim by adding purported added ‘costs’ to the Principal Debt which cannot be demarcated, and which the Defendant submits have not actually been incurred by the Claimant.
7.1. These have been variously described as a ‘BW Legal instructions fee’ (in the pre-action exchange of letters)/ and/or a ‘debt collection charge’. Accordingly, in addition to the three £100 charged, an additional £272.16 has been added to the Claimant’s claim. This equates to 90.7% add-on to the initial charge, which, being vague and disingenuous, has alarmed the Defendant by this gross abuse of process.
7.2. Not only are such costs not permitted (CPR 27.14) but the Defendant believes that the Claimant has not incurred legal costs. Given the fact that BW Legal boasted in Bagri v BW Legal Ltd of processing ‘millions’ of claims with an admin team (and only a handful of solicitors), the Defendant avers that no solicitor is likely to have supervised this current batch of cut & paste PPS robo-claims at all, on the balance of probabilities.
7.2.1. According to Ladak v DRC Locums UKEAT/0488/13/LA the Claimant can only recover the direct and provable costs of the time spent on preparing the claim in a legal capacity, not any administrative cost.

8. In summary, it is the Defendant's position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true. '


Once again, thank you all!

Coupon-mad

I'd change #7 onwards, and replace it with the words I wrote in beamerguy's Abuse of Process thread recently, about the fake costs. Then add paragraph numbers for all.

The distress, as having manifested as anxiety and depression within the Defendant will be the basis for the Counterclaim, and will be substantiated with the relevant medical records.

If you are counterclaiming you have to file that with the court at the same time, and pay a fee. You haven't shown us a counterclaim yet?

If you want to see one that won, Google Henry Hippo pepipoo UKPC counter claim or a similar mix of words, and read his thread where I wrote a counter claim shown in the pepipoo forum thread.

Due to this:

it is denied that the claimant's signage was present at all times; rather, that the sign was simply ‘hooked’ onto a fence at a time convenient to the Claimant and then removed after the photo had been taken. This can be exemplified by ‘Image 1’ and ‘Image 2’ as signposted, which were both taken on 20th March 2015, one at 09:07:51; one at 09:08:32, where the signage was absent in the former image, but could then be seen 41 seconds later in the latter image.

...drafting a counter claim for a few hundred pounds for your case looks worth you doing! They are likely to discontinue their claim when they realise what you are saying here.

But your images do not yet go with the case. Defence stage is JUST the written words signed by you. No attachments or photos yet.

beamerguy

lewsmit2 ..... you make mention of the fake add-on from BWLegal and their abuse of process.

A busy judge may well skim read this ?

You must be very clear about this abuse from BWLegal

Coupon-mad has written a paragraph that you must include
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

See post # 14. Add in it's entirety

The judge must read REAL cases where BWLegal have been kicked out

banana101

Thank you both, this has been extremely helpful!

banana101

Hi all. Following on from the above, I have sent in my defence, and also submitted my counterclaim.
Does anyone know how and when I am given the opportunity to present any photographic evidence in support of both my defence and the counterclaim? Thank you.

KeithP

As you might expect, post #2 of the NEWBIES thread offers good guidance on everything about court claims - including when youe Witness Statement and evidence is due.

Did you pay the Counterclaim fee?