Mcol premier park/BW legal

dido

I parked in a private car park last July and got standard letters for PCN

 Business owners using the carpark told me to ignore even though my gut feeling was to pay up 
The carpark has a long history of misuse and they have tried clamping and barriers over the years they now rely on a large camera and PCN letters.
They have a large blue and white sign to the left with a large P on it and the usual blurb about £100 charge contracts etc smaller underneath.
Stupidly l assumed since Gyms etc were closed due to restrictions.l would be OK to park there whilst l did some shopping in the centre near the carpark.l have limited mobility and this seemed the easiest solution.
I suppose my only option is to pay up .
My question is the amount claimed is £164.26 for parking and mcol £25 and £50 legal representative costs Total £229.36.
I don't want a judgement against me but l don't just want to send them this money just because they have issued this .
Any advice? Please be kind l know l have been silly.

Fruitcake

The advice to ignore a PCN has not been given since the law changed in 2012. 
You have now found out why it is not advisable to park on someone else's land without permission, unles the council planning approval allowed people to park and shop elsewhere. It's worth checking that with the council planning department.

Having said that, the scammers are not allowed to claim anything more than the original £100 charge plus allowable court costs, so £175 - £200 at the most if you lost, so it is well worth fighting just for that.
If you lost and paid the court judgment, it will be wiped from your records so nothing to worry about there.

Follow the guide to court written by bargepole that you will find in the second post of the NEWBIES.

KeithP

You mention MCOL in your thread title.
Do you have a County Court Claim Form?
If so, please tell us the Issue Date on it.

dido

My mcol date is the 11th it is a private carpark not council 

nosferatu1001

No
You have a county claim form, N1 .That form has a date of issue on it
MCOL is a system and an "MCOL date" means a number of things

Fruitcake

dido said:

My mcol date is the 11th it is a private carpark not council 

We know it is a private car park. My comment about the council planning application/approval is still valid. If the original planning permission says motorists can park then leave site to shop, then it doesn't matter if the surrounding businesses were closed. If however no such permission has been authorised by the planning department, then parking on someone else's land without permission was a bad idea.

KeithP

dido said:

My mcol date is the 11th it is a private carpark not council 

11th of what? December, January or February... or something else?


For the hard of reading, I'll repeat my question...

KeithP said:

Do you have a County Court Claim Form?
If so, please tell us the Issue Date on it.

dido

Sorry the mcol issue date is 11th Feb 2021its at the top left of the N1

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 11th February, you have until Tuesday 2nd March to file an Acknowledgment of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AoS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AoS, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 16th March 2021 to file your Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Umkomaas

dido said:

Sorry the mcol issue date is 11th Feb 2021its at the top left of the N1

The ones I've seen have it on the top right.  Have you got the correct form in front of you?

dido

Sorry it is on the right 
They have have also sent me a letter from bw legal saying its not too late to get in touch and set up a payment plan 
Also says if l defend ,they would seek to recover additional costs if l loose the case.