3 questions re: BW Legal claim

Gr1pr

The £160 is merely wishful thinking 

The full default charge on the signs and on the PCN are what they are seeking , in lieu of the original 60p

The rest is spurious added charges that are regularly thrown out in court, so stick to the facts when thinking about this 

£85 was ruled as not unconscionable by the Supreme Court in the Beavis case 9 years ago, the maximum that its ever been in over 12 years is £100

The Claimant can seek the original PCN charge plus some legal and court costs and fees, typically around an extra £100 , which I told you back on page 1 in April, so over 3 months ago  (. £100 + £100.  )

Coupon-mad

Read s71 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Ukay1

@Gr1pr - thanks.  Yes, I see your advice from April.  

Error on my part:

The PCN was initially £50 which went up to
£100 after 14 days.  Then BW Legal demanded £160 (so the PCN plus BW’s charges).   In April when they field the claim, the sum sought went up to £245.

Am I wrong to think that for small claims that legal costs (i.e. BW’s £60 fee) are not recoverable but the court generally makes the loser pay fixed court fees (which I understand for claims below £300 are £35).  

So worst case scenario even if they do win would be that I likely only stand to pay £135 (i.e. PCN + court fee)?

Coupon-mad

No.

£212 because the claim includes £85 in allowable fees (listed in the columns on the right) plus there would be a £27 hearing fee.

Ukay1

Thank you.  So likely worst case scenario is that the court would award £212?   

Have read s. 71 and it makes sense.  Have others succeeded using the template defence?  

Sorry - am rgetting cold feet wondering what my likely chances of success are!

To top it off HMCTS sent a letter through yesterday setting mediation date of 14th Aug (even though I said I would be away all of Aug)

Coupon-mad

Have others succeeded using the template defence?  

Spits out my tea! YES!  Everyone, bar a handful each year (out of thousands going back seven or eight years or so).  This is easy (and risk free) and I told you what your max risked sum is, in the highly unlikely event of losing at a hearing.

You were also advised this same information, back in April:

Gr1pr said:

the claim would be for £100 ( the original pcn charge) , plus the court filing fee of £35 , plus the legal fees of £50 , making £185 , the rest is possibly made up of interest , and lastly debt collectors fees that were not incurred anyway

a typical loss in court is more likely to be around £200 , to £220 , assuming that the judge threw out the ( not incurred ) false debt collectors charges and interest etc , but they try it on in case of default judgments happening, the ones that slip through

You have to attend mediation if the Claim was filed after 22 May. Otherwise, you can say no.  Yours was in April so surely you ticked NO to Mediation in your DQ? Tell the Mediation lot to cancel it completely as it is not compulsory, you are away anyway and it's a complete waste of time.

Ukay1

That’s great to know about the rate of success - thank you!

Yes the claim was filed on 10th April but DQ didn’t give me an option to decline mediation.   

Can I still ask to decline it given the claim was filed before 22nd May?

Coupon-mad

Otherwise, you can say no.

As I said above. I even gave you the date it changed.  

Ukay1

Ok - gone back to decline mediation on the basis it was filed before 22nd May.  Sorry for the repetitive questions and thanks very much for your continued help.

Ukay1

HMCTS has come back to me today to confirm that mediation has been cancelled - thanks, @Coupon-mad!