NEWBIE - Gladstone Solicitors and Brewerygate ltd - ADVICE NEEDED

sickofthiscrap90

1. 29th Aug 2023 received PCN issued for parking on 21st Aug 2023
2. Appeal sent Royal Mail (1st class stamp at the counter) 2nd Sept 2023.
3. No response. Sent another letter with evidence signed and recorded 29th Sept. Confirmation of signature received. Brewerygate are members of IPC.
4. Received demand from Gladstone 21st Oct 2023.
5. Responded with evidence that Brewerygate had ignored my appeal past 28 days rendering it accepted as of 1st Oct. Gladstone deny client receipt of appeal. I supply evidence. It goes silent and I assume its abandoned.
6. February 2025!!!!! Gladstone implies that as my appeal was sent via post, not online, Brewerygate don't have to acknowledge it (false) and now 'suggest' I pay £170. Not a formal letter, inflated costs and bullying/harassment over prolonged period.
7. I refute their demands again citing their client's breach of code. 
8. 11th June 2025 I make a formal complaint to both Gladstone and Brewerygate
9. Receive !!!!!! reply from Brewerygate after 20 days (their policy is 10 days) which quotes my original appeal and says you didnt give evidence of payment so we took legal action. Doesnt acknowledge their failure to respond to the appeal and therefore the fine should have been cancelled on 1st Oct 2023.
10. I have received no response from Gladstone to date. Their policy is also 10 working days.

I've now made formal reports to IAS and SRA and am drafting a Letter Before Action to both parties for their failures and the distress, time and effort, misuse of data, procedural abuse and for the solicitor, harassment. 

Shall I send both an LBA asking for compensation for the reasons above?
Or just the solicitors? or neither

Should I wait until the IAS and SRA outcome before sending?

And if they refuse to play ball (as I suspect they will) do you think it stand up in a small claims court?

ChirpyChicken

Do not bother with any of that waste of time
Deal with any court claim using the resources on here

Car1980

It's an invoice and there is no legal obligation for them to do anything at all. If their "appeals" process is a sham and they disallow every single one, just ignoring what people email or post to them is of no consequence since they were always going to refuse. 

A policy is just an advertisement to make them sound efficient. There is no obligation to stick to it.

sickofthiscrap90

ChirpyChicken said:

Do not bother with any of that waste of time
Deal with any court claim using the resources on here

Are you saying wait until they potentially take me to court? or that I might have a leg to stand on in a small claims court - Im looking for compensation. They're a joke by all accounts and they cant just keep getting away with it. Ive reported them to the SRA - looks like theyve already been done in 2022 for misconducts and fined £30k

Le_Kirk

Compensation for what?  Can you define your monetary losses?  Making a claim (or a counterclaim with your defence) is a high bar to cross and not many have argued it successfully.

sickofthiscrap90

Time and effort spent defending and erroneous fine and postal fees for sending my evidence etc 

Gr1pr

More than likely to fail and cost you money that you wont get back 

Coupon-mad

sickofthiscrap90 said:

Time and effort spent defending and erroneous fine and postal fees for sending my evidence etc 

You are describing costs, which are awarded only in cases where a party acts unreasonably.