Counterclaim - Civil Enforcement Ibis Hounslow - WON £500

Swedishcabbie

Here’s the response I’m gonna fire at them tomorrow morning:

Dear Sirs,
Thank you for your offer to settle this matter.
I am willing to accept settlement, subject to the following conditions:
1. Payment of £550 in total, comprising the £500 counterclaim sum plus the £50 court fee I paid to file the counterclaim, which is a legitimate disbursement incurred as a direct result of your conduct.
2. Your confirmation in writing that your original claim is formally discontinued.
3. This settlement contains no confidentiality or gagging clause of any kind. I reserve the right to discuss this matter freely.
Payment to be made within 7 days of your written confirmation of these terms.
Please confirm your agreement to the above in writing at your earliest convenience.

Yours faithfully,

Xxx

Coupon-mad

You can safely give them your bank details too. That'll encourage them to pay up!

Then you can report them to the DVLA, BPA and ICO.

Swedishcabbie

Slightly chamged my reply, here’s what I’m serving tomorrow morning:

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter. Before addressing your settlement proposal, I must take issue with your characterisation of events.

You describe this matter as arising from a genuine and isolated ANPR capture error. I reject that framing entirely. An ANPR error that is identified and corrected promptly might reasonably be described as isolated. That is not what occurred here.
When I received the Parking Charge Notice, I appealed formally and clearly explained that the vehicle shown in your own photographic evidence bore a different number plate to my vehicle. Your company reviewed that appeal and rejected it, choosing to continue pursuing me despite having been explicitly told — by me, in writing — that the image showed a different vehicle. You then continued to process my personal data and pursue enforcement action. That decision was made by a human being, not an automated system. To now seek shelter behind the concept of an ANPR error, after rejecting an appeal that identified the precise problem, is not an accurate account of what took place.

Furthermore, your assertion that processing was undertaken on the basis of Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR legitimate interests is difficult to sustain in circumstances where you had already been informed that the data did not relate to the correct vehicle. The KADOE contract under which you obtained my data from the DVLA expressly requires you to verify that the vehicle data matches before relying upon it. You did not do so, and when I provided that verification myself through my appeal, you disregarded it.
I also note your position that this error does not meet the threshold for a notifiable data breach or give rise to aggravated damages. I disagree, but I do not propose to litigate that point in correspondence.
Turning to your settlement proposal, I am willing to accept settlement subject to the following conditions:

1. Payment of £550 in total, comprising the £500 counterclaim sum plus the £50 court fee I paid to file the counterclaim, which is a legitimate disbursement incurred directly as a result of your conduct.
2. Your written confirmation that your original claim is formally discontinued.
3. This settlement contains no confidentiality or gagging clause of any kind. I reserve the right to discuss this matter freely.

Payment to be made within 7 days of your written confirmation of these terms.
Please confirm your agreement in writing at your earliest convenience.

Yours faithfully,

Xxx

Bazarius

I would remove 3 - because there was no gagging clause in previous offers . Don’t remind them to add it . You can freely discuss your wining case to people but cannot say they accepted liability.

Swedishcabbie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906841#Comment_81906841

Well spotted mate, thats a good one! Thank you

edit: reply email sent

Next update tomorrow.

Counterclaim wording up tomorrow as well - stay tuned.

Thank you all ! 🙏🏼

NCC1701-A

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81906841#Comment_81906841

in my limited experience of suing various internet providers, airlines, insurance companies, manufacturers et all, the gagging clause(s) is added by their lawyers after you have agreed the recompense money.

Entirely up to the OP whether to include or exclude mention, and then decide whether to accept or reject should it appear in final agreement.

Bazarius

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81907256#Comment_81907256

in my experience- only VCS / Excel add a Confidentiality Clause as standard . In VCS v Ferguson- Mr Ferguson told JB he’s not accepting such gagging clause in return for payment . He refused to budge and paid the price .

DCBLEGAL never ever do it even when they had to pay £2465 settlement of a £3k Counterclaim . I’ve not seen one from CEL yet till now . I doubt they will slip it in -we’ll see if they do

Swedishcabbie

latest update from CEL

Bazarius

accept it.

Avoid going to court because 99% of cases with similar facts gets dismissed - let alone ever award £500 , CEL are being generous.

Jame4ters

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81907494#Comment_81907494

CEL are not being generous. The way they have folded indicates that they know that they have royally messed up