NCP going to court

chancev4 · 23 July 2019 at 9:00PM

Ok this may be too late but better late then never.
my girlfriend parked her car in a ncp car park. paid for a 2 hour ticket and then over stayed by 20 minutes (she was actually sat in the car eating her lunch for the 20 mins)
The ticket was issued in the post with anpr images of the car entering and exiting the car park however the first letter was received some 3 1/2 weeks after the offence (the date of issue on the letter confirms this). The car is registered to us and there is no reason why it should be delayed

A quick google at the time seemed to confirm this was outside 14 days and so not legally allowed hence all further correspondence was ignored thinking it was just a scummy parking firm trying on a scam.

my girlfriend was then issued with small claims court proceedings and I then hurried googled a defence and sent it in thinking that referring to the 14 days stuff would make the problem go away. this is the deference i posted -

Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 C.9 Schedule 4 paragraph
9 the Notice To Keeper must be issued within a 'period of 14 days
beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of
parking ended.'

The alleged date of offence for this case is ..............
The 'date of sending this notice' on the original parking charge
notice to keeper is ...............

This falls well outside the 14 day period.

Due to this extended time frame it is not possible to identify the
driver of this alleged offence

we have now received confirmation that the case is to proceed either through mediation or a hearing. what do we do now? I've read loads of threads on here and realise I should of done a bit more on the defence. I've seen reference that the fine amount shouldn't be ramped up like it is (from £100 to £242) but am i too late to submit that, can it be done in court on the day?
should we try mediation and just offer to pay the 20 minutes or offer the original £100 and put it down to experience (we no longer ever use a ncp car park).

basically what is the best course of action at this late stage?

Redx · 23 July 2019 at 9:21PM

the defence should have been a lot better

the extra charges can be contested at the WS + exhibits STAGE

THE WS HAD BETTER BE GOOD TO COUNTER THE APPALLING DEFENCE

mediation is pointless IMHO

read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread and the post by bargepole

bear in mind the keeper is the defendant and is the one who will appear in court if it gets that far

Umkomaas · 23 July 2019 at 9:26PM

paid for a 2 hour ticket and then over stayed by 20 minutes (she was actually sat in the car eating her lunch for the 20 mins)

Crazy complacency. That's still parking that needs to be paid for (like it or not). The whole world of private parking has changed, and every motorist needs to be aware of the traps set in their way. Once they avoid falling into them, the private parking sector dies!

I've seen reference that the fine amount shouldn't be ramped up like it is (from £100 to £242) but am i too late to submit that, can it be done in court on the day?

Read beamerguy's thread on 'Abuse of Process'.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=6014081

this is the deference i posted -

Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 C.9 Schedule 4 paragraph
9 the Notice To Keeper must be issued within a 'period of 14 days
beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of
parking ended.'

The alleged date of offence for this case is ..............
The 'date of sending this notice' on the original parking charge
notice to keeper is ...............

Good luck with that. Your girlfriend (not you) will need to understand all the ramifications and nuances to argue this in front of the Judge and any legal gun for hire NCP/BWL might field (however, see below).

should we try mediation and just offer to pay the 20 minutes or offer the original £100 and put it down to experience (we no longer ever use a ncp car park).

That will definitely not fly. Have you read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2 about mediation? Essential reading!

Here is general advice I give about BWL and NCP (and other PPC) cases in this recent litigation fest:

Read the following thread. Your can learn how to bat off their advances and work to get them to capitulate.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5999048

BRITANNIA or NCP or PREMIER PARKING or TPS / BW LEGAL CASES

As you will see from the first few pages of the forum, there is an onslaught by BWL on behalf of Britannia, NCP, Premier Parking or TPS (and a few other hitherto court-shy PPCs) which is being conducted on an industrial scale - roboclaims.

You are caught in a one-way traffic flow where you must fight or pay - there is no longer a safe 'do nothing' option.

1. Pay now, it costs you exactly what they are currently demanding.
2. Ignore it, a 'judgment in default' will inevitably follow for at least what they want - maybe with even more costs added; continue to ignore that, you're getting a CCJ with credit and potentially life crushing consequences for 6 years.
3. Defend, yet lose in court, the cost award is likely to be noticeably less than their current demand ~£175.
4. Defend, and win in court, you owe them nothing and you could claim up to £95 for half a day's pay/loss of annual leave, plus travel costs @45p per mile, plus your parking cost for the day.

Your least costly option has to be 3, with hopefully a win as per 4.

But BWL/and the PPC cannot physically take everyone to court, and there is evidence to show that with a well constructed defence, BWL can come along with a reduced 'offer to settle', which if refused, becomes a discontinuation. We can't give you guarantees on that, but as you have little choice other than to defend (if you don't want to pay), you need to give this your very best shot.

Whether you have a good defendable case to argue, you will need to read other similar cases at the defence (or beyond) stage and learn from those.

This next thread is an important one in relation to Britannia (only). Britannia are issuing claims under the name of a different legal entity to the one issuing the PCN - and this can be extremely useful in any defence preparation.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5915842

ROBOCLAIMS - HOW BWL OPERATE

You might find it useful to understand how BWL operate - as I have surmised from the hundreds of different threads I've read involving BWL.

Other than the auto acknowledgements and template letters, you will get nothing sensible from BWL - they are dealing with literally hundreds of thousands of unpaid parking charges and are spewing out various threatening letters, using a conveyor belt approach to go through a computer controlled process towards a LBC, and a MCOL Claim - and it is really only at the final stages, as a court hearing becomes a possibility, that there's any real human intervention.

You need to understand that you're not dealing with an old fashioned firm of solicitors, just progressing from a quill and ink operation, BWL are industrial harvesters of debt, using the equivalent of massive farming machinery to do their work. This is what their website tells you:
A multi-award winning law firm specialising in volume collections, across both regulated and unregulated sectors, who are dual regulated through the FCA and SRA.

We employ around 265 people at our Leeds based office which in turn makes us the largest privately owned debt collection law firm in the UK.

Of that number, BWL employ only 6 qualified solicitors.

http://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/organisation/people/532848/bw-legal-services-ltd?Solicitors=True

NCP going to court

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