BW Legal / Premier Park £1,300 debt / Letter of Claim

Kenny_Powers

Hello,
I'm new to this forum, but would greatly appreciate some help.
I have received a £1,300 debt letter from BW Legal. It is headed 'Letter of Claim'. It relates to an address I lived in 6 years ago. I have been living at my current address now for 2 years and it's the first letter I've recieved on this matter. It also does not detail the dates the contravention took place, but judging by the debt it's clearly a number of dates.

The letter goes on to say they are instructed by Premier Park Limited to commence legal action in the form of a claim in the County Court. I have called BW Legal for written and photographic evidence which they will supply. Apparently the fines relate to non display of a parking permit, where I parked my car in the underground car park where I lived (so on some days I may have removed the permit by mistake for reasons I cannot recall).

Can anyone advise clearly what I should now do and what steps I should take? They also state court fees would be £70, Interest would be £449.75 and solicitors costs of £80. I'm not clear how they calculated the interest.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Redx

Same advice as in this thread below

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6039075

Do the SAR asap to PP, not B W legal

The_Deep

Please read these

https://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/11/residential-parking.html

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5969018jestershoe&page=5 post 93 et seq

Why do you need a permit? What does the lease say about permits.

Interest would be £449.75
What? Are you sure? Ask for a breakdown copying your letter to the SRA

https://www.sra.org.uk/

and read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so consider complaining to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, 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.

Kenny_Powers

Thanks, for all your help. Yes the interest is added if it goes to court, total circa £1,900. I'm not clear on the lease, will I get these from the SAR request? It was 6 years ago so can't recall the reasons, but I was renting there and was given a permit, however I'm not clear on those occasions where the permit wasn't displayed. Do I have any chance of success here? Thanks

Redx

We don't comment on chances, contact a lawyer if you want a legal assessment

The SAR to PP will not get a copy of the lease, contact whoever the lease was with, using a SAR to them to get copies of their paperwork

Kenny_Powers

Ok, thanks. I'll start the ball rolling.

twhitehousescat

what date and years where the tickets ? , you keep saying 6 yrs

Kenny_Powers

I haven't seen the dates of the tickets, but estimate they will be dated around 2015 when I had a couple of hire cars and didn't swap in my parking permit. I had moved into the flat 6 years ago and left there in Jan 2016. From memory I believe the signage in the car park was clear, so am wondering if this is worth pursuing if they have a water tight case? Is the arguement to the court that the fee BW Legal adds is unjustified? Thanks

Half_way

The signage doesnt matter at the moment, the key document, the thing that really matters and is key is the lease/rental agreement for the property, what does that say?

Kenny_Powers

Just to clarify re the parking permit , when my car was in for repairs, I had placed the parking permit in the hire cars, but had forgotten on a couple of occasions to put it back in my own car, hence the fines

Kenny_Powers

I will need to get the details of the lease and locate the tenancy agreement and will confirm the details once I have them. Thanks