BW Legal Parking Fine - Confused what to do next

Shazarr

Hi all, I've tried reading through the newbies section but it's all a bit confusing to me with lots of differing information on different companies and legal firms, and I want some direct advice on my case on what to do next to avoid paying what's in opinion an unjust and inflated charge.

Received a letter from Napier parking saying I'm liable for the charge because: "No valid parking session detected"

I've ignored these, so far receiving 3 letters from them chasing me for £170, as it's a private car park, and not a fine.

The reason for not paying was when I parked up, I went to pay at the machines but neither were working at the time. No matter how hard I tried, the machines wouldn't accept payment. 
I elected to just leave the site and find somewhere else to park, I was on site for no longer than 10 mins, which is confirmed on the original letter from Napier. (9 mins, 36 seconds). In my opinion the signage isn't reasonably readable before entering the site as it would mean blocking a road so I had to park up to read the signage before hand.

Is leaving the site enough of a defence to say I didn't accept the terms of the contract, or is it just by virtue of entering the site I've automatically agreed?

Previous parking charge letters I've ignored even going through legal entities and they have vanished, however...

I've now received a letter from an entity called BW Legal saying to pay within 30 days or we may send you a "Letter of Claim".

I have no intention of paying, however I just need to understand what my next steps are. Do I email BW Legal and start contesting with them immediately or can I wait this out? I've seen others online saying BWL are known to send forged legal documents to scare you into paying to avoid legal actions or CCJs.

I'm mainly concerned about a CCJ with a baby on the way, so any advice would be greatly appreciated! Happy to give more info if required, just trying to be vague as suggested.

Cheers!

Gr1pr

Not accepting the contract by Napier and leaving promptly is a good defence for any future court case 

Wait for the Letter of Claim giving you 30 days notice to respond,  if the current letter isn't one, then respond using the LoC response to B W Legal 

B w Legal do not send forged documents,  but they do try to scare victims into paying,  to avoid a court claim 

If you follow our advice here, you will not get a CCJ 

Do not pay 

Only respond to a Letter of Claim,  or a court claim,  with advice from here and only here 

James_Poisson

From your description of the event you could not comply with their made up terms and conditions and did exactly what a reasonable person would be expected to do and left the site as soon as you could as it was impossible to pay.

You cannot get an automatic CCJ without a county court claim being issued which you would have to lose or not defend and then fail to pay what a judge ordered you to pay with in a given time.

But you have an excellent defence  the joint COP gives a minimum of 5mins consideration on car parks with less than 500 spaces a minimum of 10 minutes with over 500 but these are arbitrary minimum times plucked out of nowhere for use where circumstances are ideal. In this case the parking operators are breaking their own terms and conditions by having faulty payment methods in existence.

If they want to try a punt in court with this a judge would be the best arbitrator!

knightstyle

Just make sure you tell them if you move as they can come back up to six years later and use the old address to get a CCJ.
Plus don't be afraid of going to court to explain what happened it is not a scary place...

Car1980

Personally I would never contact BW Legal, unless you move.

They frequently give up after sending a Letter of Claim. I suspect you have more chance of a court claim if you do respond to their final letter.