BW LEGAL EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE

chiv97

Hello all, 
I have been reading through several threads and I fear I may have already stopped myself from being able to have a solid argument against BW Legal. I emailed them this: 

Dear Sir / Madam,

I have received your letter from 25 March 2020. I cannot access my mail due to the coronavirus crisis because I am self isolating away from my home address due to a vulnerable family member being at home.

The debt is denied. Please refer the case back to your principal.

The debt is denied for the following reasons:

 *   I am a loyal member of The Gym (location) . I pay for a monthly membership that comes with two hours free in the (location) car park. I input my number plate into a device inside the building and for some reason that day it did not submit my data but I have proof that I was in the gym at the time stated through The Gym app. It logs which time I signed in and out of The Gym.
 *   You have somehow obtained my personal phone number and have been harassing me by calling me directly. This is an extremely difficult time for me as I am about to be made redundant due to the coronavirus crisis and the harassment has caused me severe anxiety. I have no money to give you. I am in a very dark place due to the prospect of losing my job but I cannot go to the doctors  as I do not want to waste valuable NHS healthcare at such a crucial time.

Since the debt is denied, debt collection and CCJ activities are not appropriate and will be wasted costs on your part. Should the principal wish to settle the matter in court, please ensure they follow the appropriate practice directions for the civil courts. You must delete my details and only contact me by mail from now on and I will ask a family member to forward my mail to me.

Please do not contact me again. Any further correspondence from you will be considered harassment and will be reported to the appropriate authority.

Yours faithfully,
(Name)


Their reply was this: 

Good Morning

Thank you for your recent email, the contents of which have been noted on file.

Thank you for your request to change your contact preferences. We will update your preferences as soon as possible. Please bear in mind that any communications currently being processed may be unaffected by this change. Please note that these settings are preferences, and where necessary, we reserve the right to contact you through any method. We may respond to you in the same way you communicate with us or according to your express wishes.

Please be advised we have a legitimate interest in contacting you on behalf of our Client. As harassment has been referred to in your correspondence, we feel obliged to point out that under S1(3)(c) of The Protection from Harassment Act 1997, a course of conduct that someone alleges to be harassment will not be deemed so if the person who pursued it shows that in the particular circumstances the pursuit of the course of conduct was reasonable. Under the circumstances our course of action has been entirely reasonable and in no way reaches the high threshold of harassment.

Our Client's cause of action is that you breached the terms and conditions of the contract which you entered into by parking your vehicle in the car park, by parking longer than the time paid for.

The vehicle was observed at Kingsgate car park on 19 September 2019. The vehicle was observed by the Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras entering the car park at 19:08 and leaving at 21:12 – a total stay of 2 hours 4 minutes.

The Parking Charge Notice which you have been issued with is for a breach of contract. The only right which you have to enter the land in question are on the terms and conditions which apply. The signage at the car park is prominent and the terms and conditions are clearly displayed. It is unnecessary to apply an analysis of offer, acceptance and consideration quite simply because the contract was formed on mutual promises. By parking your vehicle in the car park you have entered into a unilateral contract with our Client. Acceptance does not have to be communicated, the act of parking your vehicle is acceptance.

Whilse we sympathise with the current circumstances, our Client is well within their contractual rights to pursue you for the outstanding balance.

Our Client did not receive an appeal for this matter and as the time frame in which to appeal has now elapsed, the full balance remains due and owing.

Please complete and return the Income and Expenditure form attached so we can gain a better understanding of your current financial situation and arrange an affordable repayment plan for the full balance. If you are struggling to make payment due to unemployment, please provide evidence of this and we will be able to take action accordingly based on the evidence.

Kind Regards,

bwlegal

I’m worried because I said I was in the Gym at the time I have admitted to being the keeper! 

I sent the initial email after reading another thread.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

TIA x

Le_Kirk

I’m worried because I said I was in the Gym at the time I have admitted to being the keeper! 

Nothing wrong with admitting to being the keeper, it is admitting to being the driver that is the issue.  Keepers have protection in law (the Protection of Freedoms Act POFA 2012), whilst drivers do not.

Redx

No point arguing with b w legal , by take instructions from their client so arguing with b w legal is futile. Take their letter as an LBC , read what the second post of the newbies FAQ sticky thread says about LBC letters , do NOT fill in the financial forms you were sent

Email a SAR to the DPO at the PPC who issued the PCN , attaching 2 recent redacted utility bills as proof of I D under the GDPR

Which parking company issued the PCN ?

Ideally you contact the gym and get the manager to cancel it , or complain by email to the CEO of the gym company

If you do not get a gym cancellation then the matter will be settled in court sometime in the future , where a judge will decide , same as all the other gym cases we have on here

beamerguy

I sent the initial email after reading another thread.

I do not recall seeing this on another thread.

You are dealing with a scammer and this is NOT the way you talk to them.

Please complete and return the Income and Expenditure form attached so we can gain a better understanding of your current financial situation

YOU NEVER complete these forms, they are not entitled to private information ????

Did the first letter say LETTER BEFORE CLAIM ?

Just to show you what this shower is all about read trustpilot
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/bwlegal.co.uk  

chiv97

beamerguy said:

I sent the initial email after reading another thread.

I do not recall seeing this on another thread.

You are dealing with a scammer and this is NOT the way you talk to them.

YOU NEVER complete these forms, they are not entitled to private information ????

Did the first letter say LETTER BEFORE CLAIM ?

Thanks for the reply!

It was a thread on another website and I feel somewhat stupid for making an attempt to appeal to a scammers human side.
Just to reiterate, I haven't filled in any of those income and expenditure forms. I did however tell them to stop contacting me through my mobile and provided an email address. The first letter was an LBC yes.

I then had another letter a couple of weeks ago saying something along the lines of 'Great news! Due to the coronavirus crisis, we're slashing your debt by 20%, if you pay now.' 

Redx

So read the advice above , obtain your data and prepare for a court claim pack from the CCBC in Northampton

chiv97

Redx said:

Email a SAR to the DPO at the PPC who issued the PCN , attaching 2 recent redacted utility bills as proof of I D under the GDPR

Which parking company issued the PCN ?

Ideally you contact the gym and get the manager to cancel it , or complain by email to the CEO of the gym company

If you do not get a gym cancellation then the matter will be settled in court sometime in the future , where a judge will decide , same as all the other gym cases we have on here

Thank you! It was National Car Parks who issued the initial PCN. I will email the SAR now.

I tried to get into contact with the gym about this over a month ago, but no response. I will try again.

beamerguy

chiv97 said:

beamerguy said:

I sent the initial email after reading another thread.

I do not recall seeing this on another thread.

You are dealing with a scammer and this is NOT the way you talk to them.

YOU NEVER complete these forms, they are not entitled to private information ????

Did the first letter say LETTER BEFORE CLAIM ?

Thanks for the reply!

It was a thread on another website and I feel somewhat stupid for making an attempt to appeal to a scammers human side.
Just to reiterate, I haven't filled in any of those income and expenditure forms. I did however tell them to stop contacting me through my mobile and provided an email address. The first letter was an LBC yes.

I then had another letter a couple of weeks ago saying something along the lines of 'Great news! Due to the coronavirus crisis, we're slashing your debt by 20%, if you pay now.' 

No point in telling a scammer not to phone you, Next time they ring BLOCK them.
No doubt BWL have added a fake £60 to their claim so they have already tainted themselves and the claim.   You must understand what happens to BWLegal in court when they add unlawful amounts .... THEY GET A GOOD SPANKING.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal/p1?new=1

Then your response to their LBA is the letter seen in this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6129744/bwlegal-the-scam/p1?new=1

Scroll down until you see
Dear Sirs,
I refer to XXX dated XXX  

Apart from adding your own info, do not change it.  The response you will get will be simply nonsensical rubbish, great to show a judge.  Even better if they don't reply, because you will show the judge the letter and reference ABUSE OF PROCESS plus they have tainted the claim making it unreliable

Let us know what they say

D_P_Dance

No point in telling a scammer not to phone you, Next time they ring BLOCK them.
Or do as I do, either keep the talking for about 20 minutes, or, if time is short, tell them to FOAD.  

chiv97

Hello again, thanks for your help. I sent the template from beamerguy and got this response back...

Good Afternoon

Thank you for your recent email, the contents of which have been noted on file.

 In reference to (claim no.) it is noted that this is a decision made at a Small Claims County Court hearing. This is not binding on our client and our client has complied fully with the IPC/BPA code of practice.

The signage in situ makes provision for our client to recover any additional costs (Contractual Costs) incurred by them in relation to the PCN. The Contractual Costs referred to form part of the terms and conditions (of the parking contract) which were accepted by you in the course of staying at the Car Park. Save for the fact that the sum of [£60.00] attributable towards these costs are entirely reasonable for nature and type of work involved in recovering the parking charge, such costs are recoverable under the relevant parking code of practice.

Under the BPA Code of Practice, Part B, Section 23 - Recovering unpaid parking charges states, “Where a Parking Charge becomes overdue and before Court Proceedings have commenced, a reasonable sum (which covers the cost of recovering debt) may be added for the debt recovery fees. This sum must not exceed £70 unless prior approval from the BPA has been granted.”.

 

We hope this clarifies our Clients position, the full balance remains due and owing.

Kind Regards,

bwlegal

chiv97

I have since received a second email from someone called Hugh.

"Good Morning

Thank you for your email, the contents of which have been noted on file.

Please be advised our Client has confirmed you were in the car park for a total time of 2 hours 4 minutes, however you were only in the gym for 1 hour and 45 minutes. This means you were parked in the car park for an additional 19 minutes with no payment made for parking. This is a breach of the terms and conditions of the car park.

The Parking Charge Notice (PCN) was correctly issued and the full balance remains due and owing.

Should you not be prepared to pay the outstanding balance, please seek your own independent legal advice

Kind Regards,

bwlegal"

Just to clarify, I have proof that the Gym has two hours free car parking from the website and also, they've completely made up that 1hr 45min figure. The car park is also a 7 minute walk from the Gym so there are only 5 minutes unaccounted for which I was probably driving around looking for a space.