CST Law- Letter Before Claim- Belfast

Belfast77

Hi, 
My partner has received a Letter Before Claim for 3 unpaid parking tickets for a Euro Car park in Belfast, for which they are looking for the sum of £450. She has never entered into negotiations regarding who was the driver on these occasions, and I am wondering what her best course of action is now. She is resident in Northern Ireland and the alleged offences occurred in Northern Ireland. Any advice would really be appreciated! Many thanks.

beamerguy

Firstly, when are the tickets dated and what type of location.
You don't owe £450 ?   CST Law have lied to you.

Have a good read of this thread

CST letters' forum group thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6166004/cst-letters-forum-group-thread/p1

Umkomaas

CST Law are issuing these like confetti to all corners of the UK, including two countries - NI and Scotland - where, if the driver has not been identified, they have no legal means in pursuing the charges.  But, there'll be enough people shocked to receive a 'solicitors letter' to be sent scrambling for their chequebook.  Just ignore the letter. 

Do they suggest anywhere in the letter that, as Registered Keeper, your gf is liable for the charge?  That could be quite damning for them. 

Belfast77

Thanks Beamer guy,

The dates are 7/8/19 (£160), 14/6/19 (£160) and 20/10/17 (£130), all for a Euro car park at Library Street, Belfast. I've started digging and found this, as a possible course of action on another thread:
I would reply and tell CST to delete your data or provide evidence as to who was driving, and why they think that Smart can charge £170 per PCN PLUS £90 on top, when the Late Payment regs do not apply to consumer contracts and the parking charge itself must already include all costs of the operation (confirmed by the ParkingEye v Beavis case at 98, 193 and 198). 

And ParkingEye v Somerfield [2012] EWCA Civ 1338 confirmed that debt recovery/admin sums can't be added to a parking charge, and the POFA doesn't apply in NI so as registered keeper you are not liable and in the absene of evidence, ahve no idea who was driving.  Therefore the only excuse that Smart had to obtain your data from the DVLA (to invite you to name the driver) has disappeared and is no longer a valid reason to keep processing keeper data and pretending that the keeper owes money. 

As such, the case must be returned to Smart Parking and they must cancel it because there is no lawful reason to pursue you in NI and no justification to continue to write to you or share the data with CST.  If CST and/or Smart refuse to cancel the case and insist on continuing to write to the keeper when the POFA has no application in NI, you will complain about both companies to the ICO and will also report CST to the SRA and FCA for breaches of their standards.

Belfast77

Umkomaas said:

CST Law are issuing these like confetti to all corners of the UK, including two countries - NI and Scotland - where, if the driver has not been identified, they have no legal means in pursuing the charges.  But, there'll be enough people shocked to receive a 'solicitors letter' to be sent scrambling for their chequebook.  Just ignore the letter. 

Do they suggest anywhere in the letter that, as Registered Keeper, your gf is liable for the charge?  That could be quite damning for them. 

Cheers for the reply. No mention of registered keeper being liable for the charge. Just the usual bluster that, 'Our client is satisfied that it has sufficient evidence to support this claim, and, if necessary, will rely on this evidence in court.'

Belfast77

Here's the letter:

Thanks in advance for any help.