Court Action Question

Merc1234

Hi
I have been going back and forth with a debt collection agency/solicitor following a PCN in 2017. 
Long story short, they are chasing me as the owner of the vehicle despite me not being the driver and a transfer of liability letter being sent to the parking company within 28 days of the PCN being issued. 

In mid February this year I received a LoC from the solicitors to which i responded and was told: 

-We will request the information from our client and address all your points raised.

Despite no response to the above, in late March I received court proceeding forms and replied to them with my defence and the evidence/correspondence I have had with the parking company and debt collection agency/solicitors. I also sent this to the solicitors who responded as follows:

 -"I can confirm that Claim has been issued in error. Our file is on hold whilst we await a response from our Client."

-"We would seek client instruction and then revert back to you. If a resolution is reached we will discontinue the Claim. However, if a resolution is not reached, we would have issued legal proceedings at this stage, so will return to the Court process at this point and so no prejudice has been caused."

A month later I had still heard nothing from the solicitors nor their client, however to my surprise I received Court Directions as the next stage in proceedings. When I wrote back to question how they could send this despite me not hearing anything and their above statement that the file is on hold and would return to court if a resolution wasn't reached, I received the below response: 

-"We are still awaiting client instruction.....Once this has been received, we will revert back to you."
-"However, as I have previously confirmed, the Court directions state that we must confirm by a set date whether our client wishes to proceed with the matter, to avoid the matter becoming stayed. This would incur further costs. Therefore, we have filed and served our intention to proceed, along with directions questionnaire"

I have been left rather bewildered and increasingly frustrated by their actions as they said one thing and did another without their client acknowledging the fact they are in the wrong. My question is, have I been treated fairly by the legal firm and is action this allowed/legal?

DoaM

No you haven't. However you must treat this as a live claim ... follow the advice in post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ thread.

Redx

They are not chasing you as owner , they are chasing you as keeper of the vehicle despite you naming the driver

beamerguy

Who is the parking company and the solicitor ??

Merc1234

beamerguy said:

Who is the parking company and the solicitor ??

It's DCB Legal who are the solicitors acting on behalf of OPC

nosferatu1001

Wow
Do you havea  local court yet? If YES, send them a letter, enclosing a copy of the letter CONFIRMING THIS CLAIM WAS AN ABUSE, and ask the court to strike it out using their case management powers. 
Ask that your costs to date be paid as this is *clearly* unreasonable - they knew or should have known they had no cause to raise a claim, admitted as such, and are continuiing the process despite being officers of the court who know they are misleading the court

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.N

Friddy07

I have just lost an adverse possession case and the lying people who have stolen my land are now claiming costs from me so not only have I lost my land I am now fighting having to pay for the privilege. Can anyone tell me the best way to fight paying their costs. 

Thanks

KeithP

@Friddy07, sorry but this doesn't appear to be anything to do with parking. You are unlikely to get much help here.

Have you considered a more legal orientated forum? Maybe LegalBeagles.