BW LEGAL County Court Claim Issued - please help

Asd345

Hi, thank you for all your help so far. I have now amended the defence and have added few points from the template. Please can someone read and offer any further guidance?

Also, how do I find out email of BW legal department? I tried to search but couldn't find anywhere..I don't think it's on the paperwork either.

Draft:

National Car Parks Ltd

(Claimant) 

- and -  

xx

 (Defendant)

_________________

DEFENCE

 

1.     The parking charges referred to in this claim did not arise from any agreement of terms. The charge and the claim was an unexpected shock. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver was a breach of any prominent term and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the Particulars.

 

2.     The facts as known to the Defendant:

3.     It is admitted that xx (the Defendant) was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question.

4.     On the days in question, the defendant parked the vehicle in the car park on 18/06/2021, 19/06/2021 & 20/06/2021. The parking charges were paid for each day in question by the defendant’s partner, and correct vehicle registration details (VRN) provided. Parking was paid via  the app called “pay by phone”, as per the instructions on the signage on the site. Location reference number & car registration details were provided. The parking fee covered the duration the car was parked for in the car park. As such, defendant strongly denies any parking breaches occurred and requests the court to dismiss this case.

5.     This Claimant continues to pursue a hugely disproportionate fixed sum (routinely added per PCN) despite knowing that this is now banned. It is denied that the quantum sought is recoverable (authorities: two well-known ParkingEye cases where modern penalty law rationale was applied).  Attention is drawn to paras 98, 100, 193, 198 of ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC67.  Also ParkingEye Ltd v Somerfield Stores Ltd ChD [2011] EWHC 4023(QB) where the parking charge was £75, discounted to £37.50 for prompt payment.  Whilst £75 was reasonable, HHJ Hegarty (sitting at the High Court; later ratified by the CoA) held in paras 419-428 that unspecified 'admin costs' inflating it to £135 'would appear to be penal'.

6.     This finding is underpinned by the Government, who have now stated that attempts to gild the lily by adding 'debt recovery costs' were 'extorting money'.  The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ('DLUHC') published in February 2022, a statutory Code of Practice, found here: (can't post link)

    Conclusion

7.      The claim is entirely without merit and the Claimant is urged to discontinue now, to avoid incurring costs and wasting the court's time and that of the Defendant. 

8.     With the DLUHC's ban on the false 'costs' there is ample evidence to support the view - long held by many District Judges - that these are knowingly exaggerated claims.  For HMCTS to only disallow those costs in the tiny percentage of cases that reach hearings whilst other claims to continue to flood the courts unabated, is to fail hundreds of thousands of consumers who suffer CCJs or pay inflated amounts, in fear of the intimidating pre-action demands. The Defendant believes that it is in the public interest that claims like this should be struck out because knowingly enhanced parking claims like this one cause consumer harm on a grand scale.

 

9.     In the matter of costs, the Defendant asks:

a.     at the very least, for standard witness costs for attendance at Court, pursuant to CPR 27.14, and

b.     for a finding of unreasonable conduct by this Claimant, seeking costs pursuant to CPR 46.5. 

10.  Attention is drawn specifically to the (often-seen from this industry) possibility of an unreasonably late Notice of Discontinuance. Whilst CPR r.38.6 states that the Claimant is liable for the Defendant's costs after discontinuance (r.38.6(1)) this does not normally apply to claims allocated to the small claims track (r.38.6(3)). However, the White Book states (annotation 38.6.1): "Note that the normal rule as to costs does not apply if a claimant in a case allocated to the small claims track serves a notice of discontinuance although it might be contended that costs should be awarded if a party has behaved unreasonably (r.27.14(2)(dg))."   

 

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true.  I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Defendant’s signature:

 

KeithP

Paragraphs 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 from the template defence appear to be missing.

Coupon-mad

Yep. That's not the template defence.  Add it all back in, and don't try putting anything - not a word - in the 'start defence' MCOL box.

Asd345

I have now submitted my defence and have received an automated reply from the court to say they have received my email. Does anyone know how long I can expect to wait before I receive a hearing date...or what happens next? Thanks

KeithP

Asd345 said:

I have now submitted my defence and have received an automated reply from the court to say they have received my email. Does anyone know how long I can expect to wait before I receive a hearing date...or what happens next? Thanks

A hearing date is some months away. The case needs to be transferred to a hearing court before even getting close to a hearing.

Go back and re-read that checklist you were following when you filed your Defence.

That, and Bargepole's 'What happens when' post linked from the second post of the NEWBIES thread, should answer all your current questions.

Are you working on your Witness Statement and evidence yet?

Coupon-mad

Asd345 said:

Does anyone know how long I can expect to wait before I receive a hearing date...or what happens next? 

Yes, we know what happens when, and so will you, when you read the section in the NEWBIES thread headed:

IMPORTANT: KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN

There is a lot more info there than we can repeat on individual threads.

Asd345

Hi again, I have now received a letter from the court asking to fill out the form N180, which I will do now. I have read the newbie thread again and couldn't find answer to this question:

Do you consider that this claim is suitable for determination without a hearing, i.e. by a judge reading and considering the case papers, witness statements and other documents filed by the parties, making a decision, and giving a note of reasons for that decision?

Do I say No to this or it doesn't really matter?

And is it best to fill this out online on PDF and email both parties ( court, claimant) via email, as I did with the defence earlier? Thank you in advance for your help

Regards,

Coupon-mad

See the June thread about that new question, by @Grizebeck (of course the answer is NO!).

What to do with the N180/where to email it is already in the 12 steps in the Template Defence first post.

Asd345

Hi,

Today I received a reply from BW Legal in response to the defence I filed some time ago.

In the response, they have basically called my defence nonsensical and have said it's copy and paste from online sources. They did address all the points I raised.

I was also offered another opportunity to pay the full amount due (800+), set up payment plan or mediate. I won't be doing any of this, as I don't owe them anything.

My key defence is that I actually made the payment via the app on the 3 days I parked my car there, and have evidence of this. They have asked me to send this evidence to them within the next 14 days or else they will pursue this further. I wanted to ask you - should I email this evidence to them as they have requested or wait to hear from the court?

Thank you for your time.

Coupon-mad

Search the forum for the word nonsensical!

You don't need to tell us about standard letters seen in every case.  Always search for an unusual keyword from the letter...all will be revealed!