Letter before court. Anything else I can do?

parkingnightmare

I've read all the great info about this and in fact this is the 2nd time I've had a letter before court from a parking company - How on earth are they able to keep getting away with this? Not so long ago Parking Eye took me to court, thanks to the help here the court stuck off the claim very swiftly.

Now I have a problem with Premier Parking Ltd, now handed to bwlegal, who I presume are the same people.
Short of it is, I park at a gym where I teach 8 classes a week so I'm there a lot, been there for 5 years. I have to enter my car reg at reception. A year ago I received a letter from Premier Park Limited stating I had parked and not paid. I've been using that car park several times a week for 5 years and I ALWAYS enter my reg, because I have a specific procedure of parking up, I run into reception and enter my reg, then I go back with help of a student and we take equipment from my car to the gym - without fail I follow this procedure. 
I appealed and Premier Park acknowledged that I am a regular to the car park and confirmed with the gym that I work there and that because of this they would reduce the notice to £20! I ignored it - the gym said I should have paid it, however why should I pay £20 to these criminals for nothing!? 
Since then I've had 6 or 7 letters from bwlegal, and now a letter before court! I'm confident I will win the case (do you guys agree?) but I really do not want to have to go through the ball ache of preparing the defence and court hearing - specially as I'm already struggling work wise due to the Covid restrictions and going through a divorce.
Is there anyway to stop this going any further? I have not written back to the letter before court as of yet, however I'm aware it is good practice to do so.
I've spoken to the gym multiple times about it and they are saying there is nothing they can do about it as it's private land.

My questions are;
1. Is there anything else I can do to stop the country court claim based on my case above?
2. If it does go through I am determined to counter claim with a accusation of fraud. I am 100% confident that I entered my reg correctly that day, so the only feasible reason for the parking notice is technical error, or as I strongly suspect - fraud. Is this unrealistic?

Le_Kirk

It might be private land but someone owns it.  Have you tried the land registry (details for £3) or the local council, to see who pays the non-domestic business rates.  Some council web sites have an Excel spread sheet available; you don't even need to phone them.

Redx

B W legal are debt collectors and lawyers , they are a client of Premier Park , nothing to do with Parking eye , you assume incorrectly

It's either a Landowner cancellation or a court case , 2 options only

A counter claim must be issued and paid for at the same time as filing your defence

There is no judgment until the end of the case , for either party

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 in some cases, cancellation.

parkingnightmare

@Le_Kirk Great idea, thanks!
I've just found out and spoken to land owner (well, manager at the place that own the land) who told me there's nothing they can do about it, which I believe to be false.
Is it worth me calling bwlegal, or am I likely to be tricked into saying something might jeopardise the court hearing?

nosferatu1001

Your chance of a coutnerclaim for fraud succeeding are slim to none. You have zero proof of it, as you yourself admit, and by making such a counterclaim you potnetially move the whole thing out of small claims and into real, full court with real, full costs in play. In short, its a probably stupid idea to counterclaim alleging fraud. 

D_P_Dance

Indeed, a defence against fraud is likely to ensure that they hire proper dirty shirts.

parkingnightmare

@nosferatu1001 Yes, I totally see that. I'm just so frustrated that this is allowed to happen and as this has happened to me before, (even though the claim was struck off) I know how stressful and time consuming it is. I am determined to do something about it.

nosferatu1001

The counterclaim for something achievable. DId they obtain your data and process it without reasonable cause?

D_P_Dance

We share your frustration as we do with all those postmasters/mistresses.

parkingnightmare

@nosferatu1001 Yes, they did obtain my data without reasonable cause. It will be part of my defence.