BW Legal - Notice of County Court Claim issued for £265.70

SWB

Early in 2015 a car was parked in a supermarket Car park. The Car Park was almost empty.

The Car Park is to the rear of a supermarket but is actually owned by one individual and the supermarket has since changed a few times since then.

Communications from Premier Park began.

Advice at the time was to ignore these scams and so none of the communication was replied to or kept.

On 29 April 2019, a 'Letter of Claim' was received which was also ignored.
Today, a 'Notice of County Court Claim issued' letter dated 18 July 2019 was received.

'Googling this Car Park shows the following information that I believe will help this case.

Signage at the time was in-adequate
Planning permission was not in place for the signs or the cameras
There was no contract between the Supermarket/landowner and Premier Park
Premier Park failed to prove that the ANPR and ticket machine were working correctly
Abuse of process, an extra charge of £60 had been added

Previous legal challenges have been thrown out due to every point above

I believe my next steps are to ask Premier Park for the following:
Please provide a SAR for *** ****** giving copies of all information being held and all communication sent
Please provide a map showing photos of the signs and supplying details of the position and size of the signs.
Please provide details of the approved Planning Permission for the signs and the cameras
Please provide a copy of the contract between the land owner and Premier Park and Morrisons.
Please provide details of the the ANPR servicing and calibration.
Write to BW Legal asking them to put this on hold as I am seeking legal advice.

In the meantime, when the official Court letter from the Court arrives, the Acknowledgement of Service will need to be completed.
I am going to struggle to write any defence because I cant remember any details until the SAR has been actioned and sent.

I have spent a few hours reading through the 'newbies' post, you are all so helpful in supplying all this information but I get confused and so to keep track, I would like to document as much as I can in this post to try and keep me on the right track.
Any help/comments would be very much appreciated.
Thank you

KeithP

When you receive the County Court Claim Form in the next few days, please tell us the Issue Date on it and confirm that it was sent from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton.

Fruitcake

The advice to ignore a private parking charge has not been given here since the law changed in 2012, and there has never been any advice to ignore court papers as far as I'm aware. I'm not sure where you saw advice to ignore, but it was not on this forum.

Who sent the notice of county court claim? You need to respond to it pronto like you should have responded to the LOC as per the guide to court from post 2 of the NEWBIES.

SWB

Fruitcake wrote: »

The advice to ignore a private parking charge has not been given here since the law changed in 2012, and there has never been any advice to ignore court papers as far as I'm aware. I'm not sure where you saw advice to ignore, but it was not on this forum.

Who sent the notice of county court claim? You need to respond to it pronto like you should have responded to the LOC as per the guide to court from post 2 of the NEWBIES.

Thanks Fruitcake.
Todays 'Notice of County Court Claim Issued' letter was received from BW Legal.

Fruitcake

SWB wrote: »

Thanks Fruitcake.
Todays 'Notice of County Court Claim Issued' letter was received from BW Legal.

Have they added on fake charges such as an additional £60 to the original PCN amount? This is an abuse of process and a complaint to the court should be made and a request for the claim to be struck out once the Claim has been issued, but not before.

Read here about the scamlicitors adding on fake scamounts of scamoney.

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

SWB

Fruitcake wrote: »

Have they added on fake charges such as an additional £60 to the original PCN amount? This is an abuse of process and a complaint to the court should be made and a request for the claim to be struck out once the Claim has been issued, but not before.

Read here about the scamlicitors adding on fake scamounts of scamoney.

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

Yes, they have.
I am going to contest on all five points:
Signage at the time was in-adequate
Planning permission was not in place for the signs or the cameras
There was no contract between the Supermarket/landowner and Premier Park
Premier Park failed to prove that the ANPR and ticket machine were working correctly
Abuse of process, an extra charge of £60 has been added

SWB

I was waiting for the Court letter and have just discovered that someone had put in a pile of opened mail on our desk and so its just been sat there I didnt think they were going to bother as I hadn't received it.
The Claim Form is dated 18 July and it is from County Court Business Centre. I guess I now need to request a SAR from Premier Park Ltd and complete the Acknowledgement of Service now.
Any and all help invited and appreciated
Thanks

KeithP

SWB wrote: »

The Claim Form is dated 18 July and it is from County Court Business Centre.

With a Claim Issue Date of 18th July, you have until Tuesday 6th 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 Tuesday 20th August 2019 to file your Defence.

That's nearly three weeks 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.

SWB

Thanks Keith, appreciated

Fruitcake

Just one point, planning permission is required for scameras, but Advertising Consent is required for signs. Not having the latter is a criminal offence.

You need to check with the planning department regarding advertising consent for the signs, not planning permission.

Have you complained to Morrison's current CEO?

Don't forget to complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

SWB

Thanks for your help Fruitcake.
I wrote to Premier Park asking for the SAR and asked for a copy of the approved Planning Permission because I know they didnt get PP for the cameras.
There was also no contract with the land owner.
Both lack of PP and contract have had previous claims thrown out of court. Google is definitely my friend

The SAR asked for:
• All letters and communication sent to myself including a copy of the original PCN
• Photographic evidence of the supposed offence
• Photographic evidence of every sign along with its height from the ground, size of each sign, font size of wording. Please include the signs at the entrance.
• A record of the Pay and Display payment details along with the details of its maintenance
• Any/all other data held by yourself in relation to this supposed parking offence
• A copy of the Contract with the landowner
• A copy of the Contract with the supermarket
• A copy of the approved Planning Permission for both the signs and the cameras

Thanks again, really appreciated