Moorside legal letter of claim (I have responded to the claim)

Surfallday

Hello, 

I received a letter of claim after ignoring Moorside legal for a parking charge from Alliance parking ltd back in 2022. (I stayed 3 minutes longer) I arrived at night time and did not see any signs.  Following the newbies section I have contacted Help@moorsidelegal.co.uk via email with this - 

Dear Sir/madam,

Ref. *********
Proposed Legal Proceedings
Claimant: Alliance Parking Ltd

I refer to your letter of claim.

I confirm that my address for service for the time being - assuming you don't faff about and delay any claim - is as follows, and any older address must be erased from your records:

My address. ******** 

The alleged debt is disputed and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended.

I am sourcing and seeking independent debt advice and as such, I formally request that this matter be put on hold for an additional 30 days, in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims 2017 ('the PAP').

I note that the amount being claimed has increased by a hugely exaggerated amount which the Government called "extorting money from motorists".

Don't send me your usual blather about that.
I have two questions, and under the PAP I am entitled to specific answers:

1. Am I to understand that the additional £70 represents what you lot dress up as a 'Debt Recovery' fee, and if so, is this nett or inclusive of VAT? If the latter, would you kindly explain why I am being asked to pay the operator’s VAT?

2. With regard to the principal alleged PCN sum: Is this damages, or will it be pleaded as consideration for parking?

I am the registered keeper, but I wasn't driving the car.  Kindly revert back to Alliance parking with the following:

I have researched the PoFA 2012, which does not apply at Parc Tawe retail park. Alliance parking must cancel and erase my data, as I am not the liable party and I decline their belated request to name the driver.

Had you and Alliance parking bothered to actually post the 'ghost PCNs' x2 (original and as part of the SAR reply but which miraculously BOTH never arrived I'd have told you the above fact and you could have avoided this waste of time. Furthermore, you SAR still remains incomplete even though it was requested twice.

If you persist in processing my data and in the event of filing a court claim, take note that I will file a Part 20 counterclaim for not less than £500.  This will be claimed as damages for distress arising as a result of clear breaches of the DPA 2018 and/or the Protection From Harassment Act 1997.

I will rely upon the case of Simon Clay v Civil Enforcement Ltd and similar cases that have succeeded.  I will accept only a cancellation of the respective PCNs by way of settlement in this matter.

As I am the registered keeper of the vehicle, I am not obliged to identify the driver and I decline to do so. As there is no legal presumption that the keeper of a vehicle was its driver on any particular occasion, your client cannot pursue me as driver (see VCS v Edward, 2023). 

As you and your client are well aware, there is no keeper liability at Gateway House because the private service road is not ‘relevant land’ as defined in Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Therefore, your client cannot pursue me as keeper. 

Yours faithfully 

______________________________________

The automatic reply states that I will be contacted within 5 days. It's now been 2 weeks since I sent the email and I have had 0 response from them. Is this normal for them not to acknowledge this email for so long ?   

Gr1pr

Normal or not, it doesn't change anything,  but do check your spam folder as well as your inbox,  because the replies often end up in your spam folder 

You may not even get a response,  but do keep checking your letterbox for a court claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL arriving in the post 

troublemaker22

You arrived late at night but were not driving. Depending on the state of your relationship with the driver, you can rid yourself of the problem and dump it on the driver by sending them the driver’s name and address 

Surfallday

Gr1pr said:

Normal or not, it doesn't change anything,  but do check your spam folder as well as your inbox,  because the replies often end up in your spam folder 

You may not even get a response,  but do keep checking your letterbox for a court claim pack from the CNBC in Northampton using MCOL arriving in the post 

Thank you for confirming that. I have read through threads on court claims and it does seem like a lot of faf and work when a court claims being issued but I'm adamant that I'm not paying a single penny to them. 

Surfallday

troublemaker22 said:

You arrived late at night but were not driving. Depending on the state of your relationship with the driver, you can rid yourself of the problem and dump it on the driver by sending them the driver’s name and address 

I haven't informed them that I was driving. I just mentioned it in this post. 

Gr1pr

If you were the driver,  then naming the actual driver is not possible , only a non driving keeper can name the driver 

troublemaker22

Surfallday (and Gr1pr please note), You wrote to Moorside saying 'I wasn't driving the car'.

You can’t ask us to conspire with you to commit perjury and contempt of court which you must not commit anyway. When you file your defence and witness statement you will end them with the following statement:

'I believe that the facts stated in this [defence][witness statement] are true.  I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.'

You are perfectly entitled to withhold the driver's identity and require the claimant to discharge its burden of proving you were driving, but not to tell an outright lie..  

Coupon-mad

I assume the OP wrote in the name of the keeper? If so, does the keeper wish to transfer liability to you? Why haven't they?

Gr1pr

As mentioned above,  we cannot help you to commit perjury,  if you did tell them that you weren't driving the vehicle,  if you were driving 

Think carefully about what you have written already,  and definitely don't make it worse with a lie 

If you are the keeper and were the driver,  better to say so in any future defence,  even if you said different previously 

Clarity is key here,  legal litigation requires the truth,  so we cannot be complicit with lies,  sorry 

Surfallday

Coupon-mad said:

I assume the OP wrote in the name of the keeper? If so, does the keeper wish to transfer liability to you? Why haven't they?

I have just copied and pasted the information you have posted on newbies and sent the email. I have not told them anything else apart from that. In the original post I am just explaining on the forum that I was driving. 

Surfallday

Gr1pr said:

As mentioned above,  we cannot help you to commit perjury,  if you did tell them that you weren't driving the vehicle,  if you were driving 

Think carefully about what you have written already,  and definitely don't make it worse with a lie 

If you are the keeper and were the driver,  better to say so in any future defence,  even if you said different previously 

Clarity is key here,  legal litigation requires the truth,  so we cannot be complicit with lies,  sorry 

Ahh I think I have messed up then as I have copied and pasted and haven't adjusted