Gladstones Solicitors - Letter Before Claim - PPC Total Car Park Management Ltd - Help & Advice

Zangief

Firstly, I want to sincerely thank all the individuals responsible for putting all this information together in the newbies thread and elsewhere.
As a complete newbie I was able to follow the thread and advice provided, and the purpose of me posting here is to tell anyone in a similar position that this forum is full of invaluable information put together by amazing people that is actually straightforward to use.
It also serves as a record of events, and what I am doing based on the information in the newbie section, as well as providing feedback which I know is welcome.
If there are any further suggestions I would gladly appreciate them, but absolutely no need to tell me to "read the newbies thread" as I have immersed myself in this.
___________________________________________
Facts of the case:
PCN issued to my girlfriend in Feb 2020 (so over a year ago).
Issued at StarCity Birmingham by Total Car Park management Ltd. This is a "free parking" at this site.
The alleged offense was parking in a "hatched bay". The hatching lines were faded and surrounded by normal white parking lines. The day itself was dark, heavily raining, and my girlfirend (who is disabled) had her two small children with her at the time. There was no obvious signage in sight, and her car was small enough that it easily fit within the bay area. There was nothing to indicate (other than hatched lines which were extremely difficult to see) that the parking area was not suitable. When its pouring down with rain and you are struggling with two very young kids.... anyway, you get the idea.... There are no photo's available and StarCity is very far away from us so returning to the site is not easy.
I encouraged her to repeatedly "ignore" these privately issued PCN's (a mistake on my part) which has eventually led, after several letters late, a Letter Before Claim being issued by Gladstones Solicitors in Feb 2021 (see attached).
- Not allowed to post "links" yet, so here is the url....
HTTPS and then     i.imgur.com/HJwnnb3.jpg

Following the advice on this forum, I helped her do the following:
1) Send a "complaint" to TCPM LTD as follows
______________________________

Dear Sir/Madam

A PCN appears to be issued over a year ago (dated xx/2/20) in StarCity Birmingham. A PCN I believe was issued due to parking in an incorrect place. I recall on the day that it was evening time, very dark and heavily raining, and visibility of any “lines” was significantly reduced. I parked in a space at the end of a row, directly opposite another vehicle, which I genuinely believed was a legitimate space, and any lines were obscured by the standing water. With having to manage two small children at the time as well, in torrential rain you can understand that it is almost impossible in the circumstances to notice whether the space was a valid one. There were no bollards or other visible obstacles to the parking space.

It is frustrating and upsetting to be receiving aggressive debt collection letters from Gladstone Solicitors (a firm that is notorious for unscrupulous practices and appears to be the subject of investigation) and I would suggest you carefully review your policies in this regard.

 I would respectfully ask you to consider cancelling the PCN as this is causing me significant distress and I genuinely believe I was not at fault for the alleged offense.

Yours faithfully

XX XXX

__________________________

2) Issue a SAR to TCPM Ltd as follows:
__________________________

Dear Sir or Madam

Subject access request ( Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) )

My name:         XX

Address:          XX

Car:                  XX

Please supply the data about me that I am entitled to under data protection law relating to myself.

This requests is specifically aimed at any data around an alleged parking infringement at STARCITY BIRMINGHAM on xx/02/2020 and relating to PCN number  xxxxxx

Please provide

• any paperwork
•  ALL photographic evidence
• all letters/emails or other correspondence
• Full copies of an PCN (Parking Charge Notices) and NTK (Notice to Keepers)
•  or other data that relates to this action
• All copies of evidence that are to be relied upon in any claim against this alleged parking charge notice
• Or other data that relates to me individually

If you need any more data from me to confirm my identity please let me know as soon as possible. It may be helpful for you to know that data protection law requires you to respond to a request for data within one calendar month.

If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your Data Protection Officer, or relevant staff member. If you need advice on dealing with this request, the Information Commissioner’s Office can assist you. Its website is ico org uk or it can be contacted on 0303 123 1113.

Yours faithfully

xxxx

___________________________________
3) Email & sent a physical letter to Gladstones as follows (she has had no reply from them)

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: LBC reference XXXXX

I refer to your recent Letter Before Claim dated XX Feb 2021 under reference XX.XXX

I am seeking debt advice but I deny any debt and the case must be put 'on hold' for not less than 30 days under Pre-Action Protocol (Debt PAP 2017).

I have also sent your client (Total Car Park Management Ltd) a SAR (Data Subject Access Request).

Yours faithfully

XXXX

_____________________________

4) Email & sent another physical letter to Gladstones (she has had no reply from them and it has been over 7 days)

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: LBC reference XXX.XXX

I refer to your Letter Before Claim (“LBC”) dated XX February 2021.

I am unsure that your claim is legitimate. I require that you inform me as to what legal authority you have to add an amount of £60 to your claim.  

Gladstones Solicitors clearly already know that this is Abuse of Process and in a recent claim made by Gladstones in Worthing County Court, Claim number F0GF1K4A, D.J.Harvey clearly said .... this was ABUSE OF PROCESS and adding ....

• "Deliberate attempt to mislead the court"

• "In contempt of court"

• "Cut and paste witness statement with no attempt to address the defence"

It was noted that you did not represent yourself in court and Judge Harvey awarded £293.02 costs against you.

There are many other cases dismissed for Abuse of Process and here we are again, Gladstones practicing abuse of process which you already know is unlawful.

As I will reference this judgment (and many others where claims have been struck out), in any claim you make together with a copy of this letter, I ask you, on what legal authority do you have to add £60 to your claim? 

Any reply from you will be shown in court and if your reply states "without prejudice", I reserve the right to advise the court that you have replied not wanting the court to read it.

This is now a very serious situation for you and I now give you the option to immediately discontinue all of your claim and you and your client bears their own costs. 

In turn, I will not claim costs against your client.

Please reply within 7 days from the date of this email with your intentions

Yours faithfully

Subsequenty the SAR/complaint has provided the following information:
1R) Response to complaint:

_______________________

Good Afternoon

Thank you for your email.

Your opportunity to appeal has now passed due to the time since the PCN was issued to the vehicle.

We will however process your email as a complaint should you advice what the basis of your complaint is as a PCN was affixed to your vehicle and a reminder notice posted to the registered keepers address prior to the instruction of a debt recovery company.

 Kind regards

________________________
2R) Response to SAR
Copy of PCN and several photographs that look photoshopped as the brightness scale is far too high..
HTTPS and then   i.imgur.com/yifmyOO.png
HTTPS and then   i.imgur.com/yU7qGDh.png
  
She is getting very stressed out about all of this, but I remain cool as a cucumber. However if there is any further advice it would be highly welcomed. Otherwise I shall wait for Gladrags to see what they do next....
regards and thanks
Z

Fruitcake

LBC     https://i.imgur.com/HJwnnb3.jpg

Images. (No PCN as it doesn't appear as though you included it, but it isn't really important since the driver's identity appears to have been revealed.)

https://i.imgur.com/yifmyOO.png

https://i.imgur.com/yU7qGDh.png

Has a complaint been made to the landowner?

Other than the original incorrect advice to ignore, you appear to be up to speed and now await the inevitable court claim.

Fruitcake

Have you looked on Google Streetview (GSV) to see if at least the entrance and signs are shown there? If you are really lucky, the camera car may even have entered the car park.

nosferatu1001

Shame the dirver was outed
What happ[ened when you complained to Star City? You dont complain to the PPC, but the organ grinder!

Zangief

Fruitcake said:

LBC    

Images. (No PCN as it doesn't appear as though you included it, but it isn't really important since the driver's identity appears to have been revealed.)


Has a complaint been made to the landowner?

Other than the original incorrect advice to ignore, you appear to be up to speed and now await the inevitable court claim.

She has not complained to the land owner, shall do so later today... thanks, will keep everyone posted so I’m hoping this will be a complete end to end thread.

Zangief

Note: we have never revealed who the “driver” is... they got her details presumably from DVLA as the registered keeper. No admittance as to who the driver is was made.

nosferatu1001

Yes it has been. I PARKED is pretty unambiguous

Zangief

So by way of update (or lack of it), there has been nothing issued or any further correspondance from Gladstones...

Have they decided to quit or are they just taking their sweet time? Prepared to go all the way... but nothing so far from them

SayNoToPCN

They have 6 years from material date. No other deadline exists. 
We see 5year old claims on here regulalry.