Received 15 parking tickets, now pursued by BW Legal

Itachi2kg

Hi everyone, my 1st post on here. Ill try to be breif as possible. I have read the FAQ but where I've only come across this now I thought it would be best to post this as I'm not at the beginning stage.

I received 15 parking notices from Britannia Parking in the space of 2 weeks (some tickets for the same day as due to work I had to leave the car park and return) in the car park I have been parking in for work for the past 19 years. The car park has been managed by parking wardens since I can remember, but since December 2019 this car park was not being managed and everyone would park here without using buying a ticket as the meters were switched off due to a massive college being built right opposite the the car park. Even the workers at the building site said that the car park wouldn't reopen. Then out of nowhere I received the 15 fines mid February. Turns out Britannia Parking have installed a camera and new machines plus signs at this car park which monitor cars coming in and going out. Me plus other work colleagues didn't notice this as the meters and signs looked as they did to me for the past 19 years. What also didn't help was that i received the 1st parking notice 12 days after the incident. 1st I appealed to them as I thought it was ridiculous that they expect me to pay 15 parking fines and mentioned everything i have written here plus more, they turned down the appeals so then I wrote to them and explained that I wont be paying, i mentioned I was happy to pay for 1 of the fines as if I have received the 1st one in a timely manner I wouldn't have ended up with 15. Since then I've received 2 letters from the lovely people at BW Legal asking me to pay for 7 fines (im sure ive receive the other 8 soon too) inflating each fine to £160 after adding thier fees. They're even giving me the option to pay monthly to help during this tough time, how generous. Any advice to what I should do next would be much appreciated

Coupon-mad

Hi, and welcome.  What a terrible ordeal for you.

This will be resolved in court near you (currently hearings are being done over the phone) and Judges are very fair.  You are likely to win and we will help you.  That's why we have a sticky thread pinned at the top of this forum, for newbies to read first. 

Please sit down and read the NEWBIES thread tomorrow - posts 1 (about appeals of any newer PCNs) and 2 (about defending a court claim & how to win).  Also post #3 about how to win at POPLA, for any where you;ve appealed them to Britannia first. 

If you still have new ones to appeal DO NOT admit to being the driver.  There is a template appeal for you to use in the NEWBIES thread.

Have any of the PCNs arrived more than 14 days after the parking event it relates to?  If so, then by appealing as registered keeper you can win these at appeal.  That will remove some of them, if they arrived late.  You might also be abe to win Britannia ones at POPLA by demanding that they produce evidence of landowner authority to THIS version of Britannia (their company number is shown at the bottom of the PCNs) because you suspect that this is an old contract signed by Britannia Parking SERVICES Ltd, a different legal entity with a differnt company number. 

Court cases and POPLA appeals have been won like that v Britannia, who often don;t have a contract in the right company name which is fatal to their case.

Any chance of getting the landowner your company rents the property from to cancel all the employees' PCNs?  That's the first thing to push for with your management.  Britannia don't own the car park.  Someone who does, can tell them to cancel these.

Please circulate this thread link to your colleagues.  NO-ONE should be paying and they need to come here and learn not to appeal about 'the story' and not to admit to driving - I bet some of these PCNs are arriving after day 15?

D_P_Dance

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, 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, when life gets back to normal, it will become impossible for those scammers who are left to continue their vile trade, 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.

Le_Kirk

Was it always Britannia or has the PPC changed?  When the "new" regime started (or just before it did) were there signs put up warning motorists that a new system was going to be used?  There is supposed to be a period warning "locals" that it had changed.

beamerguy

Where is the location and where are you located ?

BWLegal are scamming you with their fake £60 which results  in the court spanking them
Adding £60 per ticket in one claim is GROSS ABUSE OF PROCESS
READ HOW THE COURTS SPANK BWLEGAL
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal/p1?new=1

Do we assume these are just chase up letters or are they headed LETTER BEFORE CLAIM giving you 30 days to respond ?

Itachi2kg

Coupon-mad said:

Hi, and welcome.  What a terrible ordeal for you.

This will be resolved in court near you (currently hearings are being done over the phone) and Judges are very fair.  You are likely to win and we will help you.  That's why we have a sticky thread pinned at the top of this forum, for newbies to read first. 

Please sit down and read the NEWBIES thread tomorrow - posts 1 (about appeals of any newer PCNs) and 2 (about defending a court claim & how to win).  Also post #3 about how to win at POPLA, for any where you;ve appealed them to Britannia first. 

If you still have new ones to appeal DO NOT admit to being the driver.  There is a template appeal for you to use in the NEWBIES thread.

Have any of the PCNs arrived more than 14 days after the parking event it relates to?  If so, then by appealing as registered keeper you can win these at appeal.  That will remove some of them, if they arrived late.  You might also be abe to win Britannia ones at POPLA by demanding that they produce evidence of landowner authority to THIS version of Britannia (their company number is shown at the bottom of the PCNs) because you suspect that this is an old contract signed by Britannia Parking SERVICES Ltd, a different legal entity with a differnt company number. 

Court cases and POPLA appeals have been won like that v Britannia, who often don;t have a contract in the right company name which is fatal to their case.

Any chance of getting the landowner your company rents the property from to cancel all the employees' PCNs?  That's the first thing to push for with your management.  Britannia don't own the car park.  Someone who does, can tell them to cancel these.

Please circulate this thread link to your colleagues.  NO-ONE should be paying and they need to come here and learn not to appeal about 'the story' and not to admit to driving - I bet some of these PCNs are arriving after day 15?

Thank you for the reply!
I have read the newbies thread, I was a little confused because in my 1st appeal I did mention that some of the fines arrvied after 14 days, and also when I wrote to them after they turned my appeal down I mentioned that some of the fines arrived ate but they didn't respond to that. All they said was they would be enforcing the fines.
Unfortunately I've admitted being the driver in all cases, wish I came across this thread earlier.
How can I find out who owns the land? 

KeithP

SarvjeetLanda said:

How can I find out who owns the land? 

Ask H.M. Land Registry.

Coupon-mad

I have read the newbies thread, I was a little confused because in my 1st appeal I did mention that some of the fines arrvied after 14 days, and also when I wrote to them after they turned my appeal down I mentioned that some of the fines arrived ate but they didn't respond to that. All they said was they would be enforcing the fines.

They are not fines and the letter didn't say that.  The rejection letter must have had a POPLA code for each one.  That's the stage you need to get to for each one, but by NOT SAYING WHO WAS DRIVING. 

I hope your early appeals didn't tick 'driver' as the choice on their appeals page?

Itachi2kg

beamerguy said:

Where is the location and where are you located ?

BWLegal are scamming you with their fake £60 which results  in the court spanking them
Adding £60 per ticket in one claim is GROSS ABUSE OF PROCESS
READ HOW THE COURTS SPANK BWLEGAL
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal/p1?new=1

Do we assume these are just chase up letters or are they headed LETTER BEFORE CLAIM giving you 30 days to respond ?

Postcode for the area is ss14 1bz in Basildon, Essex. Ive just noticed that this car park is not coming up on google maps and even on the Basildon website where you can find car parks to use, this isn't listed, not sure if that means anything but I have circled around the location if the car park.

Itachi2kg

Coupon-mad said:

I have read the newbies thread, I was a little confused because in my 1st appeal I did mention that some of the fines arrvied after 14 days, and also when I wrote to them after they turned my appeal down I mentioned that some of the fines arrived ate but they didn't respond to that. All they said was they would be enforcing the fines.

They are not fines and the letter didn't say that.  The rejection letter must have had a POPLA code for each one.  That's the stage you need to get to for each one, but by NOT SAYING WHO WAS DRIVING. 

I hope your early appeals didn't tick 'driver' as the choice on their appeals page?

Coupon-mad said:

I have read the newbies thread, I was a little confused because in my 1st appeal I did mention that some of the fines arrvied after 14 days, and also when I wrote to them after they turned my appeal down I mentioned that some of the fines arrived ate but they didn't respond to that. All they said was they would be enforcing the fines.

They are not fines and the letter didn't say that.  The rejection letter must have had a POPLA code for each one.  That's the stage you need to get to for each one, but by NOT SAYING WHO WAS DRIVING. 

I hope your early appeals didn't tick 'driver' as the choice on their appeals page?

For all of the letters received its gone way past the time frame they gave me to appeal to popla, and i believe i ticked (driver) when I appealed to them, wish i came across this thread earlier 

Coupon-mad

OK you need to reply to that one talking about cause of action estoppel and the fact there are more PCNs.  I literally just replied within the past hour on another thread, giving a link about cause of action estoppel as an argument to use at pre-action stage. 

But are you saying there are some at this stage and some newer ones at appeal/POPLA stage? 

You need to carefully sort them into piles and for those that are newer and have rejection letters dated within the past month, you must do POPLA appeals (as keeper, making the point about the POFA 2012 not being met, and about BRITANNIA PARKING SERVICES LTD that I already explained wins at POPLA when well explained).