NCP Parking Charge gone to TRACE - advice please!

beamerguy

Assume this is from BWLegal

Assume this letter gives 30 days to respond.

What is the explanation for the added £85 ?

Coupon-mad

I also went back to the car park and took my own shot (from a dashcam) of the entrance which shows a tree in front of the sign that explains the charges, in case I need it for evidence. Really my defence I think hinges off of what I explained previously, where they sent all correspondence to my old address until it got to debt collection stage.

Your defence hinges on both, but mainly the lack of visible signs, Your photos don't go with the defence anyway but will be used as evidence later.

Bargepole's Court Procedures thread (linked in post#2 of the NEWBIES thread under the red heading) will pre-warn you about what happens and what forms and evidence to do and when.

Parkwang

beamerguy wrote: »

Assume this is from BWLegal

Assume this letter gives 30 days to respond.

What is the explanation for the added £85 ?

Both assumptions are correct. The extra costs are: Estimated Interest, Estimated Court Fees, and Estimated Solicitors Costs. Actually on re-reading they're only asking for the £160, this is a quote for if I don't pay up now.

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Your defence hinges on both, but mainly the lack of visible signs, Your photos don't go with the defence anyway but will be used as evidence later.

Bargepole's Court Procedures thread (linked in post#2 of the NEWBIES thread under the red heading) will pre-warn you about what happens and what forms and evidence to do and when.

So it looks like for the claim form I have to put that I'll defend the claim in court and send it off - no need to fill in particulars about income etc. that they're asking for.

Thanks guys!

beamerguy

Parkwang wrote: »

Both assumptions are correct. The extra costs are: Estimated Interest, Estimated Court Fees, and Estimated Solicitors Costs. Actually on re-reading they're only asking for the £160, this is a quote for if I don't pay up now.

So it looks like for the claim form I have to put that I'll defend the claim in court and send it off - no need to fill in particulars about income etc. that they're asking for.

Thanks guys!

So BWLEgal has added their usual scam by adding a fake £60

Currently BWLegal are suffering in the courts and are getting spanked for abuse of process
Abuse of Process ... District Judge tells BWLegal
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

As this is a letter of claim, you can respond by asking what legal authority they have to add on the £60

We know, the courts know that there is no legal authority

It is now up to BWLegal to offer an explanation about the £60 which of course if it goes to court you will be showing a judge

nosferatu1001

Erm, do you have a claim form? I thought you just had a letter BEFORE claim?
You dont say give me more time as ive sent a SAR. You state you are denying the dbet but seeking debt advice and you require they put it on hold for 30 days. Of course, this is ONLY a response to a LBC, not an actual claim form!

You wont pay anything so dont need to give them income info . Thats if you want to do a payment plan.

Parkwang

This is the confusing bit, nosferatu - this isn't an official court letter or anything - it's from bwlegal themselves. The letter is headed "Letter of Claim" but I think it's actually an LBC as the info sheet with it states I can use their reply form and get a further 30 days to discuss the debt with them.

Sounds like they're deliberately trying to mislead here!

So I guess I use their reply form but tick the following options:
- I dispute the debut (I'm asked to give a reason - do I have to at this point?)
- I am intending to get debt advice (I'm asked who from - do I have to disclose this?)

I'm also able, as part of the form, to request info such as a written contract for the debt, interest calculations, statement of accounts, etc - should I tick that box too? Sounds like I should so they "show their hand"?

On the back they also ask for all personal income/expenditure I have - I'll obviously be leaving that blank!!

Cheers for your help.

Coupon-mad

Why are you guessing what to do with a LBC and filling in the 'reply form' that we tell people very clearly, NOT to use? See the NEWBIES thread second post about LBC stage; that sticky thread is your go-to first read at every stage now.

Parkwang

Yeah, so I've just realised it is actually an LBC and not a "letter of claim" as stated on the letter itself - so I'll follow the newbies thread and just reply with my own letter stating I've requested an SAR and require them to restrict processing blah blah blah.

Even though I do already have the SAR back from them. But we're expecting them to deny the request to restrict processing anyway, right?

Thanks for your help guys, it's a real minefield when it's not your area of expertise and there's a mountain of things to read up on in the newbies thread and I'm also juggling a handful of other things in my personal life. I'm promise I'm not usually completely useless !

Coupon-mad

But we're expecting them to deny the request to restrict processing anyway, right?

They can't if you use the magic words that you are 'seeking debt advice'. That adds a month to the process and no claim can come till March and maybe the hearing would be late Summer/Autumn depending on how busy your local Court is.

However, think about the hearing and your Summer plans...would you rather they crack on with a claim in February making the likely court hearing early Summer, if so then don't reply again and let them issue the claim now.

Parkwang

Gotcha. My birthday is in late summer so assuming there's no legal ramifications of leaving it till the actual court papers, I'll do that. Saves money on a stamp too!

Jokes aside, thanks for the help and I think now it's clear enough in my head that the next steps will be directly from the newbies thread playbook for now.

Cheers!