BW LEGAL County Court Claim Issued - please help

Asd345

Should I email them the evidence of payment or await to hear from court?
Thanks

Coupon-mad

Await the next court directions.  Ignore the hot air!

But please don't just go away for months. UK motorists need you!

Please make sure you join us in doing a robust response to the DLUHC's final Public Consultation of course.

Your voice is important.

All covered in the top thread by MSE_JC in a reply I put there.

Obviously to make sure you get alerted when the Consultation opens, you need to bookmark that thread after reading & understanding it, AND enable email alerts on your profile for new posts on bookmarked threads.

Asd345

Hi,
I have now received a hearing date (sometime in January) and have prepared my WS, I wonder if someone can read it and assist me.
I intend to rely on key piece of evidence which confirms that the money due was paid on the day(s) in question and as such, no money is owed/due. I have prepared the below:

Claim number: xx                          Mr xx                            Hearing Date:

In the County Court of xx

                                                                                                                                       Claim Number:

 

National Car Parks Limited           (Claimant)

V

xx                                   (Defendant)

Witness Statement of DEFENDANT

For Hearing on

I am xx and I am the defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge. In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. My defence is repeated and I will say as follows:

Sequence of Events:

On 18/06/2021, 19/06/2021 & 20/06/2021, I was the driver of the car xx that was parked at Cambridge North Car Park. Upon parking the car there, I followed the signage and instructions, and paid the amount due for each day via the app, entering the location reference number and making full payment for each day. The full amount was paid and the documents confirming this are attached below.

Since making the payments, I have received numerous letters from BW Legal demanding a sum of £835.48, because they allege that no payment was made on the day(s) in question.

Despite being provided with the evidence confirming correct payment was made, the claimant is still pursuing this claim and has added sum of £480 as ‘damages/admin’ or ‘debt collection’, when no debt or monies is owed.

I am appending with this bundle, a fully detailed costs assessment which also covers my proportionate but unavoidable further costs and I invite the court to consider making an award to include these, pursuant to the court's powers in relation to misconduct (CPR 44.11). In support of that argument, I remind the court that I appealed and engaged with the Claimant at every step and they knew all along that the tariff has been paid. Not only could this claim have been avoided and the Claimant has no cause of action but it is also vexatious to pursue an inflated sum that includes double recovery.

My fixed witness costs - ref PD 27, 7.3(1) and CPR 27.14 25. As a litigant-in-person I have had to learn relevant law from the ground up and spent a considerable time researching the law online, processing and preparing my defence plus this witness statement. I ask for my fixed witness costs. I am advised that costs on the Small Claims track are governed by rule 27.14 of the CPR and (unless a finding of 'wholly unreasonable conduct' is made against the Claimant) the Court may not order a party to pay another party’s costs, except fixed costs such as witness expenses which a party has reasonably incurred in travelling to and from the hearing (including fares and/or parking fees) plus the court may award a set amount allowable for loss of earnings or loss of leave.

The fixed sum for loss of earnings/loss of leave apply to any hearing format and are fixed costs at PD 27, 7.3(1) ''The amounts which a party may be ordered to pay under rule 27.14(3)(c) (loss of earnings)... are: (1) for the loss of earnings or loss of leave of each party or witness due to attending a hearing ... a sum not exceeding £95 per day for each person.''

 

DEFENDANT’S SCHEDULE OF COSTS

Ordinary Costs Loss of earnings through attendance at court hearing : £95.00

Further costs for Claimant’s misconduct, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 44.11 Research, preparation and drafting documents (15 hours at Litigant in Person rate of £18 per hour): £270 Stationary, printing, photocopying and postage: £24

TOTAL COSTS CLAIMED £484

is this sufficient? Even though I submitted my defence as per the template provided on this site, I think I am better off defending this on one point: payment was made. Would this be fine or will I have any issues at the hearing? Thank you.

Not_A_Hope

Your witness statement is to back up all the points raised in your defence. Whilst your strongest point might be the one you have included if the judge does not accept it he could throw out the claim on any of the other points raised in your defence.

The forum are currently recommending the defence from @Aphex007 is used as a template to base a WS on. Just adapt to your own specific case

Asd345

Hi,
How do I find the WS statement from @Aphex007? Is there a direct link?
I am confident I can win the case purely based on the evidence that I a paid for parking. Even though I used the template in my defence, if I now decide not to proceed with those points and just stick to my key point about payment, would this, in any way, have an impact on my case or affect it negatively?

Coupon-mad

@aphex007 is a link to his/her profile already.  You'll find the thread there.

We don't go find the thread for people.  Nor the actual WS.  That defeats the object of new posters learning what's to be found where on a profile, and also some posters would never even read aphex's thread if we handed over just the WS within it.

Posters do so much better here when they learn how to use the forum well, hop around and back to where they were, without having links handed to them nor sitting there with ten tabs open.  We are trying to 'teach/coach' some fifty or more new posters every day, in our own time, so we give everyone the tools they need to win their own case.

Asd345

I have found the link from the person's profile.
Would you mind answering my earlier question - whether or not it would make a difference if I now decide to contest this on one key point only and only include that on my WS?
Thanks

Coupon-mad

I think the fact you paid is your main point but would never, ever advise you to make it your only point.  If nothing else you should always attack the quantum (over £830 for 3x PCNs is unconscionable by Beavis case standards) AND distinguish your case from Beavis, as the aphex007 WS example does.

What is the allegation?

Are they saying you made a typo on the app and paid for the wrong VRM or wrong location code?  Or did the system reject your payments later ... unlikely if payments are showing on your bank statement, so I guess this is all about a typo?

They are not saying you didn't pay. Even if you don't know because they've never explained, I'd advise you to cover the 'typo' possibility and quote the BPA Cop and the new incoming DLUHC CoP about keying errors.

I'm also just copying your first post below, so that people know the level of extortion involved here, for 3 PCNs:

NCP Car Parks Limited. Back in 06/2021, I parked my car at Cambridge Station for 2 nights, I was staying at a hotel that is situated next to the rail station. For both nights, the parking was paid via their app/website on the day and I have screenshots/bank statement to prove this. Even though I advised BW legal of this via email and sent the screenshots, they have still issued this claim! They are demanding £835.48, and I won't be paying a penny.

Le_Kirk

Asd345 said:

I have found the link from the person's profile.
Would you mind answering my earlier question - whether or not it would make a difference if I now decide to contest this on one key point only and only include that on my WS?
Thanks

Your witness statement is in support of and backs up what you put in your defence; if you didn't have that point in your defence you cannot introduce it now.  Well you can try of course but the claimant might try to have it thrown out.  Just been back and checked the defence and in that your partner paid for the parking on the app and in the WS you state that you drove and paid!

KeithP

Asd345 said:

Would you mind answering my earlier question - whether or not it would make a difference if I now decide to contest this on one key point only and only include that on my WS?
Thanks

You would be unwise to rely on a single point.

What happens if, for what ever reason, the judge disagrees with you on that one point? 
Then what do you do?