Received Notification Of Instruction from Elms Legal - what now? Please help!

pomegranate45

D_P_Dance said:

Do you know what my best course of action would now be? 

Wait (up to six years) for a court claim.  Keep everything  Keepyour address up to date with DVLA and the PPC.   Kepp reading this forum.

Okay, thank you for your advice. Fingers crossed it'll never happen  

pomegranate45

Sorry that I missed that. Essentially, then, as above. Keep aware, keep addresses up to date and do not throw any paperwork about this away. They may not ever take it to Court, but you need to be ready if they do. Keep up to date here too

Thanks for your response, hopefully they won't take it to court but I'll just have to wait and see.

pomegranate45

As you have told us that the NtK was received much later than that, then clearly the parking company have failed to successfully jump through enough hoops to be able to transfer any driver's liability to the keeper.

Hi, sorry to be a pain but do you agree with the others that my best course of action now is to do nothing? Sit tight and wait for court proceedings to be issued against me with the hope that this will never happen due to the non-compliance of The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 - the parking company now being unable to transfer the driver's liability to the keeper?

Your opinion would be much appreciated!

Coupon-mad

Yes but you were wrong to ignore the PCN because this was bound to happen and should have been appealed.  Too late to put that right now.

I have ignored all letters based on the fact that the parking company does not know who the driver was and was non-compliant with the rules regarding me receiving the first PCN within 14 working days (it took them 62 days).
I genuinely believed these letters would stop coming weeks ago because I believed they were in no position to pursue any debt due to the non-compliance stated above. 
However, they are continuing to pursue the debt and now an 'external' company is handling the issue. 

So I just need to know precisely to do now.

All of this - including what to do when a claim arrives - is fully covered in the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread.

pomegranate45

Coupon-mad said:

Yes but you here wrong to ignore the PCN because this was bound to happen and should have been appealed.  Too late to put that right now.

I understand now that I should have appealed, but what was bound to happen? That they'd keep pursuing me with empty threats? Or that they will indeed take me to court and have the potential to win?

If the parking company has been non-compliant with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (and they must be aware of this) then surely they could never win if they were to take me to court.

Therefore, surely they would never take me to court?

People have stated that I should just wait for legal proceedings to be issued, but no-one here has said that "the parking company would never take you to court because they wouldn't have a leg to stand on", which is the response I was expecting. 

This makes me think that I'm missing something here - something that isn't included in the Newbies thread.

If you have a minute I'd really appreciate any insight you may have to offer,

many thanks

KeithP

pomegranate45 said:

Coupon-mad said:

Yes but you here wrong to ignore the PCN because this was bound to happen and should have been appealed.  Too late to put that right now.

If the parking company has been non-compliant with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (and they must be aware of this) then surely they could never win if they were to take me to court.

Therefore, surely they would never take me to court?

They could go to court with the intention of convincing the judge that you were in fact the driver so they have no need to consider POFA at all.

pomegranate45 said:

Coupon-mad said:

Yes but you here wrong to ignore the PCN because this was bound to happen and should have been appealed.  Too late to put that right now.

People have stated that I should just wait for legal proceedings to be issued, but no-one here has said that "the parking company would never take you to court because they wouldn't have a leg to stand on", which is the response I was expecting.

Ever played poker? He who blinks first...

Of course we don't have figures for this, but I wonder how many people simple pay up at the stage you are at simply because they mistakenly believe they are going to lose any court case?

Most court cases that are fought with the help of this forum are won by the victim Defendant.

pomegranate45

They could go to court with the intention of convincing the judge that you were in fact the driver so they have no need to consider POFA at all.

Ever played poker? He who blinks first...

Of course we don't have figures for this, but I wonder how many people simple pay up at the stage you are at simply because they mistakenly believe they are going to lose any court case?

Aah, okay, so the idea is that they issue court proceedings hoping that I'll pay before the actual hearing?

As there is no possible way they could prove who was driving the car, surely they could never actually win due to their non-compliance with legislation? And therefore I need to just sit tight and see if they play that hand?

In your opinion, is this now my best course of action?

(Thanks again for the time you've taken to respond to my questions. It's been a massive help.) 

KeithP

But do keep in mind that victims do lose cases. Particularly those that don't follow the process, don't file a good Defence and then file a poor Witness Statement and evidence pack.

Like all games, you must continue to play the game to stand any chance of winning.

pomegranate45

KeithP said:

But do keep in mind that victims do lose cases. Particularly those that don't follow the process, don't file a good Defence and then file a poor Witness Statement and evidence pack.

Like all games, you must continue to play the game to stand any chance of winning.

Great, will do, thanks again for all your time!

Coupon-mad

pomegranate45 said:

If the parking company has been non-compliant with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (and they must be aware of this) then surely they could never win if they were to take me to court. 

Therefore, surely they would never take me to court?

Someone lost in court v Highview a few months ago, despite not being the driver. Highview never use the POFA but still won because litigation is a lottery.  They got a bad Judge and were tongue-tied about explaining the POFA non-compliance, against a legal rep who had all the patter.

People have stated that I should just wait for legal proceedings to be issued, but no-one here has said that "the parking company would never take you to court because they wouldn't have a leg to stand on", which is the response I was expecting. 

Well we wouldn't say that because we won't lie to you. They will proceed.  This is their business model.  Court was almost inevitable, once you ignored the PCN.

Every Excel and VCS claim
Every Highview claim
Every CP Plus claim
Every Smart Parking claim
Every Horizon claim

...are all non-POFA, as are some Civil Enforcement claims and some IPC firm claims.

They are the most common!