Letter Before Claim

kem1

Hi - my husband has received a Letter Before Claim from VCS for an unpaid PCN from 3 years ago. I’m not going to go into the details as largely irrelevant to my question - we do dispute it (and did so at the time) but here were are. I’ve read loads of stuff on the internet and these forums about how to fight these claims, and I know lots of people have and won, but we are house-hunting at the moment and will need a mortgage. Ordinarily we wouldn’t give in but he absolutely cannot risk a CCJ.

Therefore, we’ve responded the the letter offering to pay the original £60 (they now want £160) and asking for a response ASAP to try and settle this out of court. The deadline for the response to the LBC is this coming Friday and we’ve not had anything back yet. Can they decide just to take him to court without responding to the offer first? If so I think we’re going to have to pay the £160 on Friday, which both sickens and angers me but as I’ve said, we can’t risk a CCJ :-(

Thanks in advance.

beamerguy

kem1 wrote: »

Hi - my husband has received a Letter Before Claim from VCS for an unpaid PCN from 3 years ago. I’m not going to go into the details as largely irrelevant to my question - we do dispute it (and did so at the time) but here were are. I’ve read loads of stuff on the internet and these forums about how to fight these claims, and I know lots of people have and won, but we are house-hunting at the moment and will need a mortgage. Ordinarily we wouldn’t give in but he absolutely cannot risk a CCJ.

Therefore, we’ve responded the the letter offering to pay the original £60 (they now want £160) and asking for a response ASAP to try and settle this out of court. The deadline for the response to the LBC is this coming Friday and we’ve not had anything back yet. Can they decide just to take him to court without responding to the offer first? If so I think we’re going to have to pay the £160 on Friday, which both sickens and angers me but as I’ve said, we can’t risk a CCJ :-(

Thanks in advance.

100% NO RISK OF A CCJ

READ THIS
The CCJ Myth and threats EXPOSED
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5849106/the-ccj-myth-and-threats-and-lies-told-by-debt-collectors-and-ppcs-exposed&highlight=myth

VCS are a scam company and they are trying to scam you

So, the ticket was £60 and they have a fake £100 ... is that right ?

Fake add-ons are classed as Abuse Of Process and VCS have been spanked by the courts for doing this
ABUSE OF PROCESS
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

You must reply to the letter before claim asking for proof of their claim ..
1: On what authority do they have to charge more than the ticket price
2: Are they aware of POFA2012, the Supreme Court ruling and the courts ruling of double recovery
(all explained for you in the abuse of process thread)
3: Tell them you are aware of ...
VCS CASE STRUCK OUT FOR ABUSE OF PROCESS
(Read post # 105 on abuse of process thread.)

What you are now looking for is what pretence they are using

The_Deep

Therefore, we’ve responded the the letter offering to pay the original £60 (they now want £160) and asking for a response ASAP to try and settle this out of court

Oh dear! I would write, with prejudice, withdrawing the offer, your chances of getting a CCJ are nil if you follow the correct procedures, even if they take you to court and win, which is unlikely as they have abused the process by asking for an extra £60.

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP after the election, as it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

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.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.[/FONT][/FONT]

Fruitcake

If you lost in court you would pay no more than £175-£200 as long as it was properly defended.
If you won you should get up to £95.

As above, how you can get a CCJ is vastly misunderstood. There is no risk of this happening as long as you follow the advice on here.

I too suggest you withdraw your previous offer as you now know this is an unregulated scam.

I suspect the original charge was £100 with a mugs discount to £60 then back up to £100 thereafter. Now I suspect the scammers have added on a fake £60 charge that is not allowed, but only a judge can decide this.
beamerguy knows what he is talking about in this regard. Do read his thread that he has linked in his post, especially the detailed post by Coupon-mad in post 14 of that thread.

Please also read the guide to court written by bargepole that you will find in post 2 of the NEWBIES.
It is a step by step guide from LBC to the court appearance. Follow it precisely.

kem1

Thanks both and sorry for clogging up the forum with another of these threads, I did read loads of stuff before I responded to the letter but there’s so much conflicting information out there we just went with what we thought was best.

I totally did not realise that you can only get a CCJ if you don’t pay what the court orders! In that case they can stuff it and we’ll see if they respond. I’ve also sent them an FOI request asking for photos etc (plus the photos we sent them with the note saying the meter was broken) so if they do start court proceedings we’ll be able to build a defence.

Fruitcake

I hope you sent an SAR with proof of ID, not a FOI.

You can always send it again with the correct name, and a copy of the vehicle V5 as proof of ID. You don't want the scammers to refuse or ignore because you have used the wrong terminology.

Where did the alleged event occur? What happened when you complained to the landowner.

beamerguy

kem1 wrote: »

Thanks both and sorry for clogging up the forum with another of these threads, I did read loads of stuff before I responded to the letter but there’s so much conflicting information out there we just went with what we thought was best.

I totally did not realise that you can only get a CCJ if you don’t pay what the court orders! In that case they can stuff it and we’ll see if they respond. I’ve also sent them an FOI request asking for photos etc (plus the photos we sent them with the note saying the meter was broken) so if they do start court proceedings we’ll be able to build a defence.

A FOI is used for people like councils. It is SAR you send ... SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST

Just remember that VCS are known to the courts for their scam antics ... no reason why you should not win

The_Deep

In these matters attention to detail is a sine qua non.

kem1

Sorry - it is an SAR I’ve sent, not an FOI request. I used a template from a forum. We no longer own the vehicle so unable to send V5, I stated that in the letter.

The PCN was issued about 3.5 years ago. We responded to the first few letters we had from them disputing the charge and sending the photos etc and then we didn’t hear anything from them for ages. We assumed it was sorted (and 12 months ago we moved house) and then got the LBC a couple of weeks ago to our new address.

Fruitcake

Did you send an alternative proof of ID with the SAR such as a redacted utility bill. If not, do so now.

Please answer all the questions you are asked. They are all done for a very good reason.