BWLegal £800 fine

Nexa

Hi all

I've received through a follow up to a letter of claim (please see attached) from my good friend BW Legal asking me to pay a total of £800 with a pre approved payment plan or run the risk of being taken to court.

In an ideal world I wouldn't be paying this but I don't think I have a leg to stand on, happy to be proven different of course. The fine represents 5 different parking tickets from the car park next to my block of flats. Of which I used to pay a monthly parking permit to countrywide. I never put this on direct debit so was constantly caught out by the odd day where the monthly permit was lapsed as my car was parked here all the time. This has amounted to 5 parking tickets all of which I ignored as I now realise you shouldn't from reading the newbies thread.


I don't want any chance of missing a letter summoning me to court as I know this could land me with a CCJ so I'm actually considering paying this off via a bespoke payment plan they've very kindly provided. I would be happy to defend this in court with some assistance but don't want to run the risk of missing a step and ending up with a CCJ.

I realise this probably won't be easy to fight but I want to try and stick it to these guys and the worst that can happen is I lose in court right?


[Image removed by Forum Team]

KeithP

Welcome Daniel.

You have shown the world your full name and address.

Did you not see this banner across the top of the page?...

I have reported your post in the hope that MSEForumTeam will remove that image, but they only work during normal office hours.

B789

You have not been "fined" so please stop using that word. If you find that word anywhere on all the paperwork you have received over this, I will give you £100 for each occurrence.

Why would you not fight this? It is more likely than not that they have illegally added £60-£70 for each of the PCNs. Offering to roll over and just fund the scam is as bad as the scam itself by perpetuating it.

They have not "kindly" provided a bespoke payment plan. They have offered the gullible victim plan, a way to pay the full amount including the illegally added costs.

Did you send them a 30-day holding request for debt advice before the 20th of July? If not, have you received a claim yet? Did you rebut their LoC and demand that they provide all evidence to back up their allegations? Have you SAR'd Highview? Have your tried Plan A by complaining to the landowner and have you written to your MP?

In the meantime, can you clarify the details of the car park where you received these PCNs? Whilst you say you pay for the space, is it connected to the property in any way or is it a separate location owned by someone independent from your landlord? What does your lease/AST say about parking? What it doesn't say is just as important.

Coupon-mad

In an ideal world I wouldn't be paying this but I don't think I have a leg to stand on, happy to be proven different.

Happy to say: you have got it wrong. It's also not a 'fine'.

There is also nothing (AT ALL) 'risked' by defending a parking case in court.  In fact that is when & where Defendants win 99% of the time here.

Exactly what you want, if your efforts at PLAN A fail to work.

I don't want any chance of missing a letter summoning me to court as I know this could land me with a CCJ.

Wrong.  do you honestly think all the people happily defending parking charges on this board every day are risking CCJs?

We would never put forum posters to that risk but you DO WANT a claim!!

What do the t&cs say in this agreement you pay for with Countrywide, whoever they are?  Isn't your contract squarely with them?

Obviously you reply to BW Legal but again, this is already set out in the NEWBIES thread.  You do not admit liability nor offer money.

Coupon-mad

Nexa said:

Hi all

I've received through a follow up to a letter of claim (please see attached) from my good friend BW Legal asking me to pay a total of £800 with a pre approved payment plan or run the risk of being taken to court.

In an ideal world I wouldn't be paying this but I don't think I have a leg to stand on, happy to be proven different of course. The fine represents 5 different parking tickets from the car park next to my block of flats. Of which I used to pay a monthly parking permit to countrywide. I never put this on direct debit so was constantly caught out by the odd day where the monthly permit was lapsed as my car was parked here all the time. This has amounted to 5 parking tickets all of which I ignored as I now realise you shouldn't from reading the newbies thread.


I don't want any chance of missing a letter summoning me to court as I know this could land me with a CCJ so I'm actually considering paying this off via a bespoke payment plan they've very kindly provided. I would be happy to defend this in court with some assistance but don't want to run the risk of missing a step and ending up with a CCJ.

I realise this probably won't be easy to fight but I want to try and stick it to these guys and the worst that can happen is I lose in court right?

What happened next please?

Have you got a claim yet?

KeithP

@Nexa hasn't signed in to MSE forums since the day they started this thread.

Nexa

Update: My good friends at BW Legal have been kind enough to issue 2 claim forms to me for standard reasons of "an unpaid parking charge following a contractual breach". 

One is for £160 (a single charge) The other is for £960 (6! charges) rolled into one.

The letters have issue dates of 4 and 6 Dec respectively so I'm aware I have until the 23 and 25th to file an acknowledgement of service form which I shall be doing online after checking the newbies thread for a template. 

I understand I'll then have 14 days to prepare a defence which it would be great to have some help with as there's nothing I'd rather be struggling with over the christmas period  I'll again consult the stickied thread to help with along with updating this thread and hopefully some other advice.

KeithP

For both those claims, you have until Thursday 28th December to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying them.

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner for each of the claims, you have until 4pm on Monday 8th January 2024 to file a Defence for each claim.

That's over two weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute. 

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

Nexa

I have now completed the Acknowledgment of Service for both of the claims 

My next step will be looking through the defence guide in the newbies thread tomorrow morning 

Coupon-mad

Do the single one first.  Ideally this week.

Then in January - leave a fairly big gap between the two - do the multi-PCN one including the Henderson v Henderson point. Search the forum.

Nexa

I'm currently unable to fill out my defence. I am trying to login into my money claim online account to fill in the defence and am being directed to a government gateway login.

The password I have for this is obviously incorrect and there is no facility to change it online and the forgotten password option simply grants you a temporary code and access to the main site.

I've called through to the HMRC number and am being prompted to call through to the 03300 200 3600 number and select 2 for personal tax account. I've spent much of the morning sat in this queue and am not getting anywhere.

Is there another way I can submit the defence?