See you in court...

DE_612183

I've been reading the parking threads with interest for the last few weeks / months - I think I may be in line for a call up as I parked in a pub cark park and the pub was shut, anyway.

A lot of thread seems to mention saying to the legal / parking companies - "See you in court" at the later stages of the process -

has anybody actually said in the initial appeal to the Parking Company something along the lines of " I refute your invoice, I will take this all the way to court if I have to and I will win as I use the MSE website"

And if they did what happened?

I know it's great to spank these guys in court or let them run up costs which then they have to swallow, but for some folk surely a swift rebuttal and removal of the invoice is all they want?

Umkomaas

but for some folk surely a swift rebuttal and removal of the invoice is all they want?

No matter what the threat, PPCs routinely reject appeals. In most cases, they hardly read them. They call the shots in terms of whether the case gets to a court stage. 

I think I may be in line for a call up as I parked in a pub cark park and the pub was shut, anyway.

By all means try it if you get the 'call up'. Tell us how it goes. 

Fruitcake

Be aware that unless communication is marked "without prejudice", anything and everything you send could be shown to a judge. Both parties are supposed to "narrow the issues" in an attempt to avoid court, and you don't want to P off the judge before you start.

DE_612183

Fruitcake said:

Be aware that unless communication is marked "without prejudice", anything and everything you send could be shown to a judge. Both parties are supposed to "narrow the issues" in an attempt to avoid court, and you don't want to P off the judge before you start.

Ok, I guess my wording is a bit clumsy and perhaps wouldn't want that in front of a judge!

DE_612183

Umkomaas said:

By all means try it if you get the 'call up'. Tell us how it goes. 

I Will - I guess they have 6 years to chase for it?

Unless the new legislation ( when it comes in ) applies to pre-existing so called infringements...

Umkomaas

If you are awaiting the first contact from the PPC, they only have 6 months to get your details from the DVLA (plus one more month to issue a notice to you). After that you're off any hook, unless they are writing to a former address because of a failure to update your V5C (logbook) of any change. 

If you've moved address during the lifetime of the vehicle involved - check your V5C. 

Trainerman

Having had initial appeal, and appeal to PoPLA 'fail', one of the neighbours that I am helping wrote straight to the PPC to tell them to avoid any silly debt collector letters, they would be ignored and that she wanted them to go straight for the court option so that she could have the matter examined " by independent eyes".

She still got the stupid debt collector stuff, and the silly add on £70 per pcn. It made no difference, BUT it is in my mind that this might give yet another limb to fight the extra £70 on, when it comes to court.

Fruitcake

Trainerman said:

Having had initial appeal, and appeal to PoPLA 'fail', one of the neighbours that I am helping wrote straight to the PPC to tell them to avoid any silly debt collector letters, they would be ignored and that she wanted them to go straight for the court option so that she could have the matter examined " by independent eyes".

She still got the stupid debt collector stuff, and the silly add on £70 per pcn. It made no difference, BUT it is in my mind that this might give yet another limb to fight the extra £70 on, when it comes to court.

I agree. Saying "See you in court" should come after you have gone through the initial appeals stages rather than it being your starting point.

Snakes_Belly

DE_612183 said:

I've been reading the parking threads with interest for the last few weeks / months - I think I may be in line for a call up as I parked in a pub cark park and the pub was shut, anyway.

A lot of thread seems to mention saying to the legal / parking companies - "See you in court" at the later stages of the process -

has anybody actually said in the initial appeal to the Parking Company something along the lines of " I refute your invoice, I will take this all the way to court if I have to and I will win as I use the MSE website"

And if they did what happened?

I know it's great to spank these guys in court or let them run up costs which then they have to swallow, but for some folk surely a swift rebuttal and removal of the invoice is all they want?

I did not mention the MSE website but I think that they would have been aware that I was using it as they are a very litigious PPC.

I did make them aware that I would be prepared for them to pursue the claim via the courts. I also told them that I would not engage with debt collectors. When I received the first letter from the debt collector I wrote and told them that I would not respond to their letters and to refer back to the PPC. They still persisted.

I sent a rebuttal letter to the LBC.  Defended when the claim came. Attended court which was resheduled. Attended court again and whilst I did not actually win I did not really lose. PPC was the biggest loser.

I don't believe in giving in to bullies even if it takes up some of my time. Giving in just perpetuates this grubby business.    
 

DE_612183

Snakes_Belly said:

DE_612183 said:

I've been reading the parking threads with interest for the last few weeks / months - I think I may be in line for a call up as I parked in a pub cark park and the pub was shut, anyway.

A lot of thread seems to mention saying to the legal / parking companies - "See you in court" at the later stages of the process -

has anybody actually said in the initial appeal to the Parking Company something along the lines of " I refute your invoice, I will take this all the way to court if I have to and I will win as I use the MSE website"

And if they did what happened?

I know it's great to spank these guys in court or let them run up costs which then they have to swallow, but for some folk surely a swift rebuttal and removal of the invoice is all they want?

I did not mention the MSE website but I think that they would have been aware that I was using it as they are a very litigious PPC.

I did make them aware that I would be prepared for them to pursue the claim via the courts. I also told them that I would not engage with debt collectors. When I received the first letter from the debt collector I wrote and told them that I would not respond to their letters and to refer back to the PPC. They still persisted.

I sent a rebuttal letter to the LBC.  Defended when the claim came. Attended court which was resheduled. Attended court again and whilst I did not actually win I did not really lose. PPC was the biggest loser.

I don't believe in giving in to bullies even if it takes up some of my time. Giving in just perpetuates this grubby business.    
 

I agree - I will never give in - It just strikes me that reading some threads some people are up for a fight, others just want an easy life - what we need to be able to do is give these guys who want an easy life a quick fix that doesn't involve parting with £170.

But it looks like the PPCs are too stupid to cut their losses when they have the chance and would prefer to rack up costs even if a sensible view would be to cancel and concentrate on the easy pickings....

Snakes_Belly

"I agree - I will never give in - It just strikes me that reading some threads some people are up for a fight, others just want an easy life - what we need to be able to do is give these guys who want an easy life a quick fix that doesn't involve parting with £170.

But it looks like the PPCs are too stupid to cut their losses when they have the chance and would prefer to rack up costs even if a sensible view would be to cancel and concentrate on the easy pickings..."

Some PPC's do just concentrate on the easy pickings and rarely will pursue through the courts. Others are much more litigious.

On this forum the advice is to try to get the landowner to cancel to PCN first. That does work in a number of cases. 

For example if you spend £100 per week on shopping at a supermarket that is £5200 per year. Over a number of years that is a lot of money. It is in the supermarkets interest to not lose a valuable customer as a result of a PCN.

If I received a PCN on a supermarket car park they would lose my business if they did not cancel it.