Letter of claim from BW Legal

BakedZiti

Hi,

In April of 2019 the driver parked in a free carpark, max stay was 3 hours and they spent 3 hours 35 minutes there. Shortly after they received a PCN from Premier Park, but were away at university at the time meaning they missed all letters until the matter was sent to BW Legal. September 2020 I received a ‘letter of claim’ from BW Legal, with inflated additional charges. They then sent an SAR to Premier Park, along with an email to BW Legal informing them of the SAR, disputing any debt, and questioning their legal grounds for additional legal costs and interest etc. February 2021 they received the information letter from BW Legal which didn’t include any images of signage, any explanation of interest and legal fees, and no NTK correspondence. July 2021 they have received a second ‘letter of claim’ along with the relevant reply forms. 

Unsure on whether a reply to the letter of claim again via email, or via letter is necessary. Would like to know the chances of disputing on the grounds of the signage not being lit, and small print not being visible from the car. Any advice on what to do next would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

Coupon-mad

Welcome!  All this is answered in post #2 of the NEWBIES thread where it tells the defendant what to do at LBC stage.

I also tell everyone reading that post that we have seen cases won about 99% of threads since 2016.  Very high chance and no CCJ risk as long as the claim is not ignored.

I hope you’ve seen and/or done the vital public Government Consultation and email to your MP that we are all discussing?

Please share on other forums, social media and certainly with your MP:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6286801/government-consultation-re-private-parking-charge-levels-august-2021-please-bookmark-this-thread/p1

We are calling for everyone to do a full and robust response by email to the MHCLG, attaching evidence of what happened to you and what you think is wrong about £100 charges and fake debt recovery ‘fees’ that no PPC actually incurs or pays. 

We also need people to contact their MP to ask questions about why the MHCLG appear to have performed a U-turn on their March promise to cap parking charges, and why instead they propose to fund the race to court at £70 a time from victims

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78517562/#Comment_78517562

BakedZiti

Hi, 

Just an update on the situation. 

After the letter of claim a court date was set and I submitted my defence from the template provided on this forum, along with the witness statement & evidence. I then had multiple forms of correspondence from BW legal trying to get payment, and a 25% reduction of fee. After reading their documents (evidence and argument) I noticed many references to this forum & the fact I had sourced information here as a way to delegitimise my defence.  However, I highlighted that the existence of these forums, and the sharing of knowledge & resources, is a result of these manipulative & immoral parking firms. I listened to the advice given here, I called their bluff & thought I’d either go to court or they’d back out just before. 

Today I received a letter from the court stating “the claimant failed to pay the allocation fee and as a result the claim has been thrown out”. Very happy with this outcome, I wanted to post here to give a bit of hope to others searching for advice and guidance, and to reassure them that the advice here is sound. Don’t be intimidated by the parking firms letters and threats, stick to your guns.

Thanks to the mods & sources of information on this forum, I am eternally grateful to you ❤️

Coupon-mad

Well done. We hope it's over!

I want to say - hooray - ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

But keep all letters because it could be a mistake by the court.  We've just seen one resurrected a month later when the solicitor proved they had paid the fee. Courts have backlogs and it happens...