LBC from BW legal on behalf of GXS

SmidgeSmudge

Hi
I have been following the newbie thread on how to respond to parking charges from GXS and BW legal.
I have now received a LBC from BW legal and wondered if this is the time to seek some guidance. 
I parked in Portland Road Worthing car park operated by GXS and put in 2  wrong digits from my number plate   I appealed directly to GXS and unsurprising got nowhere.  I did not appeal to the independent parking organisation as the its seemed pointless.
I received a letter from GXS advising me that he fine had gone from 100 to 170 with no explanation why.
I also note that since I received my fine they have installed new signage in the car park.
It is now at LBC and I hope I have checked thus far what I needed to be aware of and the template letter of response to BW legal 
I might need some help putting together my defence, I just find it utterly unbelievable that these rogue companies can just fine you for a simple keying error.
any guidance would be appreciated 
 

Coupon-mad

When was this PCN? And date of rejection?

Did GXS offer to settle at £20?

SmidgeSmudge

PCN was left on my windshield date 6th December 2024
I emailed them on the 12th December 2024 declining to pay their invoice and received a standard email response from them on that same day 12th December 2024 rejecting my appeal 
I emailed them again on the 16th December asking them to take note of the BPA guidance and recommendations and not to waste the courts time 
they just passed it to BW legal and now I have a LBC at no time in there correspondence have they clearly identified what the breach was or acknowledged a keying error 

Umkomaas

Did you specifically state in your appeal to GXS that it was a keying error?

SmidgeSmudge

Thank you

I only found this forum after I had already tried to enter into communication with GXS so I hope that I didn't put anything in my correspondence with them that I shouldn't but this is the paragraph from the email I sent them

'As you are aware the BPA recommends that for digit error mistakes the fee should be reduced to £20, and you are refusing to engage in any communication in relation to this.  Therefore, it is your choice to involve a legal serivce and therefore any monies incurred by you is your responsibility and not mine'

For transparency and because it does not make any sense to me why you do not follow BPA guidance or are willing to engage in directly with me and reduce the fee.   I do not want to waste the court time who have far more important things to be considering and neither should you.   It’s shameful on you as a company if you choose to take this matter to court and waste the court time rather than communicating with me and acting on recommendations made by the BPA

there response to me

Further to your email

 An appeal was declined on the 12/12/24, this gave you the opportunity to pay the charge or further appeal to the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). any appeal lodged with the IAS would be adjudicated impartially,

 Regards

 GXS Services

Coupon-mad

SmidgeSmudge said:

I have been following the newbie thread on how to respond to parking charges from GXS and BW legal.
I have now received a LBC from BW legal and wondered if this is the time to seek some guidance. 
I parked in Portland Road Worthing car park operated by GXS and put in 2  wrong digits from my number plate   I appealed directly to GXS and unsurprising got nowhere.

I only found this forum after I had already tried to enter into communication with GXS so I hope that I didn't put anything in my correspondence with them that I shouldn't but this is the paragraph from the email I sent them 

'As you are aware the BPA recommends that for digit error mistakes the fee should be reduced to £20, and you are refusing to engage in any communication in relation to this.  Therefore, it is your choice to involve a legal serivce and therefore any monies incurred by you is your responsibility and not mine'

For transparency and because it does not make any sense to me why you do not follow BPA guidance or are willing to engage in directly with me and reduce the fee.   I do not want to waste the court time who have far more important things to be considering and neither should you.   It’s shameful on you as a company if you choose to take this matter to court and waste the court time rather than communicating with me and acting on recommendations made by the BPA

there response to me

Further to your email

 An appeal was declined on the 12/12/24, this gave you the opportunity to pay the charge or further appeal to the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). any appeal lodged with the IAS would be adjudicated impartially,

 Regards

 GXS Services

OK, so put in a complaint online to GXS, telling them that your MP will complain to the IPC if they do not cancel this PCN immediately because the (frankly claptrap) industry Joint Code dated Oct 2024 says that offering to settle a keying error case at £20 is mandatory. And GXS didn't.

A refusal to comply with a Code of Practice is illegal: a 'misleading commercial practice' under the CPUTRs which is now covered by the DMCC Act. This case has also been used as a 'case study' of rogue practice which has been sent to the MHCLG this month by a member of the Steering / Code Implementation group.

Then email BW Legal and tell them the same & ask if they really want to be associated with a rogue practice case study currently with the MHCLG.

SmidgeSmudge

Thank you 
I will do this tomorrow first thing and come back here with any updates

Coupon-mad

I've added this case to a few case studies I'm sending to the government.

It shows some PPCs have no respect for their own self-serving CoP, which may not sound so awful but it's illegal and now overseen by the CMA, who have a new power to fine companies who use unfair commercial practices, including misleading actions or omissions.

Such as saying you comply with a sector CoP, but don't.

PPC World should be very afraid of this new legislation and CMA extension of powers.

The funny thing is, better PPCs can now contact the CMA with evidence of unfair/illegal practices and whistleblow on their more rogue competitors. Consumers cannot use the DMCC Act to approach the CMA but companies can.

This could be very good and healthy for the sector.  Even the BPA could report an IPC firm or vice versa, I believe!

State everything I said. Every word of that previous reply except the 'directions' from me (the intro words and final paragraph).

SmidgeSmudge

Thank you for being so helpful so glad I came here before I sent off my letter

I just found it utterly unbelievable that GXS and I’m guessing other PPCs  can so blatantly ignore guidance and legislation to deliberately and knowingly extort money from people. What really worries me is that so many people must just pay the money.   I’m really hoping i(and we’ve seen it in other Sectors, Such as the banking sector) that at some point in the future motorists  will be able to file a claim against these companies and be Compensated and get their money back. 

Coupon-mad

SmidgeSmudge said:

Thank you for being so helpful so glad I came here before I sent off my letter

I just found it utterly unbelievable that GXS and I’m guessing other PPCs  can so blatantly ignore guidance and legislation to deliberately and knowingly extort money from people. What really worries me is that so many people must just pay the money.   I’m really hoping i(and we’ve seen it in other Sectors, Such as the banking sector) that at some point in the future motorists  will be able to file a claim against these companies and be Compensated and get their money back. 

I hope so too. 

SmidgeSmudge

This is unbelievable there response 

Dear

You appeal was declined on the 12/12/24, you had the ability to further appeal to the Independent Appeals Service (IAS), you did not take this option, the charge remained unpaid and a Final Demand was issued, payment remained unpaid and the account has been passed to BW Legal for collection.

Looking at the PCN issued, you did not make a keying error, you purchased a ticket from an on street local authority machine, not the one that is prominently displayed within the private car park, in this instance, a reduced charge would not be applicable 

I absolutely did not purchase a ticket from the street the ticket was from brought from the machine in their carpark.  is this another scam ?