NCP parking ticket- I won!

Eminowa

Ok I will read the letter again. I will start writing the WS now n post on here for advices b4 the court hearing. thanks

Eminowa

Coupon-mad said:

Except, double check that this Order doesn’t state the ‘14 days before’ deadline because they won’t remind you of that if this Order covers it.

Sometimes people ignore what this NoA Order says, then get the hearing one and WRONGLY think that they only have to file and serve their WS and evidence 3 days before the hearing because they never read this NoA properly.  Don’t do that.

@c@Coupon-mad. you right the letter do say something about exchanging witness statement 12 days before the hearing. so I am drafting her WS now. i will post on here when am done. thanks, everyone.

Eminowa

i have requested SAR from Bwlegal. but they haven't replied to me yet. don't know why

Redx

Eminowa said:

i have requested SAR from Bwlegal. but they haven't replied to me yet. don't know why

They have 30 days to reply , after that , chase them up with a reminder giving 7 days to reply or you will report them to the ICO

If it's less than 30 days since you requested it , you are impatient yet again

Coupon-mad

Remind us, why a SAR from a solicitor?  They don’t hold much data at all about you.

Eminowa

Coupon-mad said:

Remind us, why a SAR from a solicitor?  They don’t hold much data at all about you.

I was requesting SAR from them, as they were the ones writing to my wife asking her to produce the signature of the driver and herself before they transfer liability to the driver, but I have lost that letter now, hence I am requesting it

Coupon-mad

Ah that makes sense.

Eminowa

I am almost done with my wife's WS, I would be pasting it here in a bit. 
I have got a very big question. My wife lost her mother during the end of the first lockdown, she was grieving and couldn't appeal poopla. Do we need to put in her mother's death certificate as an Exhibit, because we don't feel comfortable sending her mums death certificate to a parking company client BWlegal? The second question is that my wife has got a disability and she went for an operation in March this year. Again do we have to provide proof as part of our WS. as this is also very sensitive medical information?  we are happy to go to court with it to show the judge as proof but will the judge accept it if it wasn't sent together with her WS?

Coupon-mad

No you don’t need to provide the death certificate.  I’m really sorry to hear about your loss.  A Judge will believe a person saying their mother died as to why they weren’t in a position to appeal earlier.

As for the disability, is it relevant to the defence?  She wasn’t driving was she, so it’s not relevant to the parking contract.  Surely her main point is that she named the driver before court action, if she did, and as such there is no lawful cause of action against her as keeper.  The POFA explains this as do the Explanatory notes to Schedule 4.

Eminowa

here is a draft of my WS

In the County Court at xxxxx

 

Claim Number: xxxxxx

 

 

 

                    NATIONAL CAR PARKS LIMITED (NCP)                          (Claimant)

 

V

 

                               MRS  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                                        (Defendant)

 

 

 

        WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT  AND PART 20 CLAIMANT

 

1.       I am (your name) of (your address),I am the defendant against whom this claim is made. I have very little legal knowledge regarding court proceedings and no legal training, the defence and witness statements have been created from my own research, so please accept my apologies for anything which does not look normal. The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

2.       In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. My defence is repeated, and I will say as follows

3.       Firstly, the defendant is the registered keeper of the vehicle (XXXXX), but was not the driver of the vehicle at the time of the convention.

4.       The defendant only knew about the parking convention on the 19th July 2020, when she received a letter through by post.

5.       On the 20th of July 2020 the Defendant made an appeal to NCP and this appeal was rejected the next day the 21st of June 2020.

6.       The Defendant then received a final reminder notice on the 25th of August 2020.

7.       The defendant started receiving threatening letters from bwlegal.

 

 

THE CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS (PRE-ACTION)

 

8.  Subsequent to the alleged event, on the 19th of July, I received a Notice to Keeper from the Claimant which arrived in the post with a demand for £100, payment to be made within 28 days. Their Notice to Keeper [PCN] is attached marked as “Exhibit A page x”.

 

9.  I wrote an appeal on the 20th of July, stating that (give information about any appeal made).  The appeal is attached on “Exhibit B, page x”   The Claimant rejected my appeal the following day the 21st July 2020

 

10.  Exhibited to this witness statement is the attached is letter-chain (exhibit x) which includes:

 

a) All correspondences received and made to National car park Limited

b) All correspondences received and made to BW Legal.

 

11.  Some xx months had now passed after previously dealing with NCP - a letter from the Claimant’s Solicitors named BW Legal wrote a letter to me dated xx/xx/xx. . It was a “FINAL NOTICE” with a last warning that if a payment of £160 is not forthcoming - a County court action may be issued against me (Exhibit x, page x) The threat of a CCJ not only affected my frail mental and physical health but it could ruin my credit worthiness and employability. I was so distressed by these letters and was brought to a state of distress and anxiety, I was so shocked and angry to have to be put to defend against this false claim coupled with the facts that I just lost my Mom and I can't even move due to a cyst in my spinal cord as a result of my chronic illness ( syringomyelia)

 

12.  I wrote a letter to BW Legal (or whoever) on xx/xx/xx via email stating the facts that I wasn’t the driver at the time of the convention. I proceeded to provide the name and serving address of the driver at the time of the convention, BWlegal was demanding myself and the driver has to sign before liability would be transferred. (Exhibit x page x).

13. On the 29th of March 2021, Bwlegal sent the defendant a letter confirming their refusal to transfer liability to the driver, unless the defendant produce a signature of the driver.

14. Bwlegal continued to threaten the defendant with court proceedings. CCJ and debt collection activities if the name and signature of the driver isn’t produced within 14days.

15. The Defendant wrote to both BWlegal and NCP on the 27th of May 2021 and also the 7th of July 2021, stating she wasn’t the the driver of the vehicle, reminding them of breaching KADOE as well as DPA 2018.

16. The defendant also make it clear to both bwlegal and NCP that they would be facing a counterclaim for £500 for harassment and discrimination of a disabled person (Exhibit C)

 

 

17. On the 12th of March, I went in for a major brain operation, and was in Hospital for 3 weeks, and was bed-bound on my return home for another 8 weeks. I could barely look after my 4yrs old daughter or even move.

18. While trying to focus on my health and no think too much about my late mother, I  received a letter before court action from Bwlegal dated xx/xx/xx (Exhibit x, page xx) arrived out of the blue despite me providing the name of the driver.  BW Legal was demanding I fill out my wages, set up a payment plan or pay the money in full or I face county court judgement.

19.  Demands after demands and threatening letter after threatening letters were sent.  Despite communications submitted in writing, the demands still continued .

 

 

THE EFFECT OF THE DEMANDS ON MYSELF AND MY FAMILY:

 

20.  Nothing I ever did would stop it. The threats were threefold in nature: those to start legal proceedings against me could caused me considerable anxiety, distress and harm to having bailiffs turn up at my door to remove goods and having a CCJ being recorded at the credit reference agencies for 6 years.

 

21. Not only a CCJ would harm my Mental health, but I could also lose my belongings through a debt collector.  What matters most to me is the threat of my credit rating being destroyed causing significant problems applying for loans and mortgages.  I wrote letter after letter and repeatedly asserted that I was not the driver - and I named who was and properly provided their address for service - but to no avail.   The majority of my letters received no response at all - especially not from the Claimant. I had received letters requesting me to provide a signature of the driver which wasn’t feasible at the moment as I was recovering from major brain surgery and I was bed-bound. Besides being bed bound, I was also at high risk of contacting and dying from Covid-19, But then the demands and threats continued. I wasted so many hours of my life on this, instead of, more importantly, I was brought to a state of considerable anxiety and distress on multiple occasions, not knowing whether that I would end up with a County Court judgment and a bailiff would come at any time to remove all my goods, whether I missed a court claim form such that legal proceedings might have already been brought upon me or it had already been reported to a credit rating agency.

 

22.  A further letter dated xx/xx/xx headed as “ LEGAL RECOVERY ACTION” the content of this letter stated that I had failed to pay or make contact to discuss the repayment of this debt, their client has requested them to commend legal action against me. (The letters received from bwlegal are attached (Exhibit x, page xx).

 

23. Due to the fact that I was still grieving my Mom and I was still recovering from my Brain surgery and I was in a lot of pain and on a very high dose of Opioid (pain killers), my anxiety level heightened and I became depressed. I did not contact them to discuss it with them again.  At the same time, my thoughts were “what’s the point?”  On previous occasions, it was never dealt with. I couldn’t bring myself to go through this process again. I decided to focus on my health, to get myself better for myself, 5yrs old daughter and my family.  I started experiencing panic attacks each time I hear my bell rings. I honestly believed they were going to come knocking on my door and clamping my car.

 

24.  At this point I was so angry and distressed that the fact I was put to defend against this bogus demand yet again! It was a never-ending nightmare.  I couldn't see this will ever be resolved at all.  The thought of having to go to court terrified me and it still does.   I wrote an email to the Claimant on xx/xx/xx (Exhibit x, page xx) , explaining that I had written and emailed on separate occasions and they were all blatantly ignored.

 

25. Up till this very date, the Claimant has refused to reply to my email or transfer liability to the driver.

26. on the 17th of July, Bwlegal wrote to me, stating they have received a copy of my  Defence. Bwlegal stated that they are willing to proceed with the matter in court, regardless of my reason for disputing the claim. Bwlegal proceed to inform me that they are confident that the court would find it in their favour in the hearing, and that a CCJ would be entered against me together with additional court cost and that they are giving me up until the 26th of July to pay the money in full. (Exhibit x, page xx).  This letter gave me panic attack.

 

CPR 44.11 - further costs

26.     I am appending with this bundle, a fully detailed costs assessment which also covers my proportionate but unavoidable further costs and I invite the court to consider making an award to include these, pursuant to the court's powers in relation to misconduct (CPR 44.11). Exhibit 5.   In support of that argument, I remind the court that I appealed and engaged with the Claimant at every step and they knew all along that I wasn’t the driver of the vehicle. Not only could this claim have been avoided and the Claimant has no cause of action but it is also vexatious to pursue an inflated sum that includes double recovery.  This is compounded by the witness altering the Statement of Truth (an attempt to avoid a personal duty) and attaching stock images of signs instead of actual images and a redacted 'landowner authority' document that could be from anyone.

 

 

My fixed witness costs - ref PD 27, 7.3(1) and CPR 27.14

27.     As a litigant-in-person I have had to learn relevant law from the ground up and spent a considerable time researching the law online, processing and preparing my defence plus this witness statement.  I ask for my fixed witness costs.  I am advised that costs on the Small Claims track are governed by rule 27.14 of the CPR and (unless a finding of 'wholly unreasonable conduct' is made against the Claimant) the Court may not order a party to pay another party’s costs, except fixed costs such as witness expenses which a party has reasonably incurred in travelling to and from the hearing (including fares and/or parking fees) plus the court may award a set amount allowable for loss of earnings or loss of leave.

28.  The fixed sum for loss of earnings/loss of leave apply to any hearing format and are fixed costs at PD 27, 7.3(1) ''The amounts which a party may be ordered to pay under rule 27.14(3)(c) (loss of earnings) are: (1) for the loss of earnings or loss of leave of each party or witness due to attending a hearing ... a sum not exceeding £95 per day for each person.''

 

 

STATEMENT OF TRUTH:

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

 

name

 

signature

 

date