County Court Claim from Total Parking Solutions / BW Legal

sachwarge

Hi there

I’m a newbie here, and I’ve read as many posts and previous cases as I can trying to find advice on my particular issue. What I have been advised now that we’ve been sent an actual Claim Form from the County Court in Northampton, is to start my own thread so here goes!

It’s simple really, we were parked in a Total Parking Solutions carpark in front of a Halfords and a Pets At Home. We did a tonne of shopping in both (new car and new dog!) and overstayed the allocated free time in the carpark. We’re not sure what this was as we didn’t notice the signs and as far as I know there wasn’t an option to pay extra.

We were later sent a PCN , then chased by BW Legal with a few letters, all of which we ignored, (which I understand now after reading through these posts that we were acting on outdated advice to do this!!)

Now we’ve been sent a County Court Claim. (Claimant is Total Parking Solutions, correspondence address BW Legal). I understand I must respond now but can someone walk me through how to respond to give us the best chance of fighting this?

I’ve also contacted Pets At Home and also Halfords social media team on Facebook because we’d read they had successfully cancelled some of these charges in the past, but they just referred me to the store manager (still waiting for his call).

I’m about to login and do the Acknowledgement of Service, and then do I also still need to request SAR? From BW Legal or TPS or both?

Before I do this, can anyone advise:
1. “Defendant” is sited as owner of our car but there’s another box to fill in “Defendants full name IF different from name on the Claim Form” Should I just leave this empty? I’ve been told not to name the driver?
2. Same with name/address/signature , does this have to be the driver or defendant?
3. There are an awful lot of questions about employment, bank account details, expenses, income ...do I need to fill all this out or is this only if you intend to pay the charge?
4. Defence section - I understand from other posts I should leave this blank?
5. When I do form my defence I’m still not sure what to actually say... is there a good template for this? I’ve read hundreds of posts but it’s quite overwhelming! I’m not sure I even have a good defence other than we were legitimate customers who ran overtime!

Thanks in advance!!

Coupon-mad

“Defendants full name IF different from name on the Claim Form”

That is not for changing the defendant to the driver, not possible (although I hear it has been done...). That is for someone whose name has changed, such as after marriage. The D remains the person named.

There are an awful lot of questions about employment, bank account details, expenses, income ...do I need to fill all this out or is this only if you intend to pay the charge?

The NEWBIES thread post #2 explains what to do - read the links under the red heading 'IMPORTANT - KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN', especially bargepole's COURT PROCEDURES thread which should be your bible.

No filling in forms. No doing the AOS by paper either.

As for the defence, you pick the nearest similar one from the 17 example defences I've linked in the NEWBIES thread, and many people just use bargepole's concise one about signage, then add in the words in post #14 of beamerguy's ABUSE OF PROCESS thread which exposes the unrecoverableness of the added 'costs'.

Send TPS a SAR by email if you are missing stuff like copies of the PCN and letters/photos (if you threw them away). Tito their CEO replies and has to show them to you and that will help you see what's what.

Again see the NEWBIES thread - search it (CONTROL & F) for the word SAR.

Two questions:

1. What is the issue date of the N1 claim form?

2. Have you got the Notice to Keeper still (first letter/PCN by post)? When you get your hands on it, compare it to para 9 of the POFA because as the D was not the driver, you have a defence point to add, that the C has not complied with the POFA on signage adequacy or in wording of the NTK (probably).

sachwarge

Wow thank you! I clearly have some more reading to do!

1. Issue date on the claim form says 04 SEP 2019

2. Unfortunately I don’t have the original NTK, but the defendant was not the driver , does that help me? I’ll read up some more!

Coupon-mad

Your SAR will get you the NTK, as I said. So search the NEWBIES for the word 'SAR'.

nosferatu1001

Just be aware that your SAR MAY NOT be responded to before the time to file the defence is up. You CANNOT miss your defence deadline - this is an absolutely critical thing.

KeithP

sachwarge wrote: »

Issue date on the claim form says 04 SEP 2019.

With a Claim Issue Date of 4th September, you have until Monday 23rd September 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 7th October 2019 to file your Defence.

That's nearly four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence could 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.

sachwarge

Thank you, this is all so helpful!!

beamerguy

I’ve also contacted Pets At Home and also Halfords social media team on Facebook because we’d read they had successfully cancelled some of these charges in the past, but they just referred me to the store manager (still waiting for his call).

You are being fobbed off and should contact the CEO of each company.
However if it is a retail park, it would need be the landowner

The landowner can still get this cancelled right up to the last minute

Assume BWLegal have added a fake £60 to the claim.

This is ABUSE OF PROCESS
Abuse of Process ... District Judge tells BWLegal

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

sachwarge

Thank you! Pets at Home and Halfords were the only two businesses on the premises and using the carpark. How could I find out who the landowner is?

Still playing phone tag with Halfords manager. Received this message from Pets At Home:

“I am really sorry regarding this situation but Pets at Home have no affiliation to the company that own the car park.

We do not have the ability to interfere with this process as the car park conditions for parking are sign posted and this is sent from them directly with no collaboration with ourselves or any other companies on the retail parks they are responsible for.

You would need to appeal the ticket directly which should be an option they include in the letter they send out when making you aware you had overstayed the time frame they offer to park freely.

I apologise again for the situation but Pets at Home do not use this company as an agent we simply are based on the retail park and the usual process i believe is to appeal this ticket within the time frame they offer however if you have received further letters and a county court claim, that would normally imply they have not received any communication from you since the initial letter was sent and the time frame offered to appeal has been and gone.

Is that the case?

It may still be worth trying to contact them directly if you haven't already but unfortunately Pets at Home have no control over this process.

Many Thanks”

nosferatu1001

Have you tried google?

If you havent done so, get your defence written. Time IS ticking and that has an absolute deadline you cannot miss.

sachwarge

Thanks all, an update...

I filled out the Acknowledgement of Service last week, and I now have another week to put together a defence.

In the meantime I’ve spoken to the Halfords manager, who was very helpful. No questions asked he just apologised and said they would try to cancel the ticket! He actually copied me in on an email to TPS asking them to cancel the Court Claim!

Someone from TPS has replied now though saying they’ve “contacted BW Legal and asked them to cancel the ticket”. I would’ve thought this was in TPS’s control though, am I wrong? They are the ones taking me to court?

Meanwhile I’ve no idea how to tell if/when it’s actually been cancelled so I’m pressing on with the defence.

Any advice at this stage? Thanks!