Help please - Formal Demand Letter from CPM

I am thinking to send this letter which I took from the forum and have made slight changes so that it applies to my case:

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter dated 4th October 2018.

When your client's debt collectors first started contacting me, I asked them a number of questions to obtain details of the basis upon which money was being claimed, including all photographs taken of the vehicle at the relevant time. I received a reply that did not provide all the information requested.

You have now sent a Letter Before Claim. However, your letter contains insufficient detail of the claim and, again, fails to provide all the information which I requested as long ago as January 2018. It does not even say what the cause of action is. Nor does it contain any mention of what evidence your client intends to rely on, or enclose copies of such evidence.

This action on the part of your client is a clear breach of its pre-action obligations set out in the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct, with which as solicitors you must surely be familiar (and with which your client, a serial litigator of small claims, must also be familiar). As you (and your client) must know, the Practice Direction binds all potential litigants, whatever the size or type of the claim. Its express purpose is to assist parties in understanding the claim and their respective positions in relation to it, to enable parties to take stock of their positions and to negotiate a settlement, or at least narrow the issues, without incurring the costs of court proceedings or using up valuable court time.

Nobody, including your client, is immune from the requirements and obligations of the Practice Direction. Your client cannot simply fail to provide or omit any relevant information.

I require your client to comply with its obligations by sending me the following information/documents:

1. an explanation of the cause of action
2. whether they are pursuing me as driver or keeper
3. whether they are relying on the provisions of Schedule 4 of POFA 2012
4. what the details of the claim are (where it is claimed the car was parked, how the monies being claimed arose and have been calculated, what contractual breach (if any) is being claimed)
5. a copy of the contract with the landowner under which they assert authority to bring the claim
6. a copy of any alleged contract with the driver
7. a plan showing where any signs were displayed
8. details of the signs displayed (size of sign, size of font, height at which displayed)
9. if they have added anything on to the original charge, what that represents and how it has been calculated.

I am clearly entitled to this information under paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c) of the Practice Direction. I also need it in order to comply with my own obligations under paragraph 6(b).

If your client does not provide me with this information then I put you on notice that I will be relying on the cases of Webb Resolutions Ltd v Waller Needham & Green [2012] EWHC 3529 (Ch), Daejan Investments Limited v The Park West Club Limited (Part 20) – Buxton Associates [2003] EWHC 2872, Charles Church Developments Ltd v Stent Foundations Limited & Peter Dann Limited [2007] EWHC 855 in asking the court to impose sanctions on your client and to order a stay of the proceedings, pursuant to paragraphs 13 ,15(b) and (c) and 16. I will draw to the court the fact that I have requested this information since as early as January 2018 yet your client has failed to provide it.


Until your client has complied with its obligations and provided this information, I am unable to respond properly to the alleged claim and to consider my position in relation to it, and it is entirely premature (and a waste of costs and court time) for your client to issue proceedings. Should your client do so, then I will seek an immediate stay pursuant to paragraph 15(b) of the Practice Direction and an order that this information is provided.

Yours faithfully


Is this the right thing to do?
Thanks

nosferatu1001 wrote: »

Nowhere on this forum states you only have 15 days. Nowhere
Some "LBC" are actually from DRP, and give 16 days.

Yes it is right to send a response to their LBC.

Sorry it was 14 days - stated in red on the thread titled:
Parking - Letter Before County Court Claim (LBCCC) - Fight back! Guidance Thread

It may be that I am reading something that doesn't apply to me but I thought it did? I am getting confused as lots of the info relates to people dealing with tickets from Parking Eye/Car parking violations - but mine isn't from Parking Eye and is for parking on a private road.

nosferatu1001 wrote: »

It is 30 days
For a start, thats what the PAP says. You can confirm this easily yourself, or you coan continue arguing.

NEWBIES thread.

30 days gives me a little breathing space then but I will aim to get the letter sent off asap as I don't like it hanging over me...

Does the letter I posted above make sense? Thanks