Claim Form Received

inydaisy · 13 May 2019 at 12:30PM

Apologies in advance if this is a duplication but I have trawled through the Newbies thread and cannot see anything relating to a defence when I did in fact pay for my ticket, I sent evidence of payment to Britannia Parking in my appeal and also in my appeal to POPLA - however both appeals were rejected!!!!
Following multiple threatening letters from BW Legal, it would seem I am off to court.......
I stuipidly admitted in my appeal that I may have used a 0 instead of an O as it was a new car and I wasn't familiar with the reg and that may explain the confusion. I am now at a loss as to whether I can defend this purely by showing that I have paid eventhough I may have made a transposition error:(. As well as being infuriated I am also feeling overwhelmed by it all so any advice would be much appreciated.

I am not sure whether it is relevant but I didn't recieve an LBCC from them so have not had an opportunity to request a SAR. I also wrote to Britannia parking, requesting a response and evidence that they used manual checks to establish whether an incorrect reg had been entered in line with their CODE of PRACTICE, I got no response, instead they just passed it to BW Legal.

The machine I used was a pay on departure machine , where you enter your reg and it tells you what to pay. I did this and have evidence of the fee leaving my bank account.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Coupon-mad · 13 May 2019 at 12:33PM

I may have used a 0 instead of an O

Send a SAR to Britannia now anyway (today) and I think they will discontinue the claim if they see that was the issue, as the BPA Policy gives them very shaky ground.

There is NO DIFFERENCE between 0 and O in a VRN, so you were not wrong.

What's the issue date of your claim?

inydaisy · 13 May 2019 at 2:03PM

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, the date of my claim is 10.05.2019.

KeithP · 13 May 2019 at 2:23PM

inydaisy wrote: »

...the date of my claim is 10.05.2019.

With a Claim Issue Date of 10th May, you have until Wednesday 29th May to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 12th June 2019 to file your Defence.

That's nearly a month away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the last minute.

When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

Sign it and date it.
Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep you under pressure.
Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

inydaisy · 13 May 2019 at 2:54PM

Hi,

I've done the AoS and sent a SAR to Britannia parking as advised by Coupon-mad.. I'll get started working on the defence soon. I'll review the guidance on the Newbies thread regarding defence, however, given that I did actually pay the correct amount (and have evidence of this in my bank statement), can I simply use this as my defence? Or could these scammers or scammers solicitors still try and claim I failed to make a valid payment?

Thanks again for all responses, already feel more confident about taking these guys on.....

Coupon-mad · 13 May 2019 at 3:09PM

given that I did actually pay the correct amount (and have evidence of this in my bank statement), can I simply use this as my defence?

No, go into a bit more detail including quoting the BPA statement about 'simple keying errors' in the 2018 POPLA Annual Report, which shows this claim is against the Trade Body rules and policy, and the usual defence points about signage, landowner authority and objecting to the added fake costs.

inydaisy · 21 May 2019 at 3:05PM

Hi,

I've had a response to my SAR request from Britannia parking, they have advised me that they are not required to provide me with any transcript from the payment machine on the date in question unless it directly relates to my vehicle. They have not included the evidence of payment that I sent to them in my appeal, instead including a copy of a payment I made for a different PCN 2 years ago ( where incidentally they admitted the error was theirs). They also failed to include a letter that I sent to them by registered post outlining their responsibilities when using ANPR (I have evidence that they received this).

Given that they have failed to include them, can I also expect that they won't be including these in their case?

In regards to my case, I was also thinking, that, for the machine to have asked me to pay 50p (it is a pay on departure machine by entering my registration, no ticket required) then it must have recognised my registration. How else could it have known I owed how much I owed? Surely this totally undermines their " parked without payment of the valid parking charge" ? Should this be a seperate to defence point also?

Once I have completed my defence I will post here for review if this is ok?

I also received another letter telling me that it was not too late to pay the fine...........needless to mention, I didn't......

Castle · 21 May 2019 at 3:10PM

What is the exact name of the claimant on the claim form?

The_Deep · 21 May 2019 at 3:16PM

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

inydaisy · 22 May 2019 at 9:47AM

Hi,

The exact name of the claimant on the claim form is
Britannia Parking Group Ltd T/A Britannia Parking

Coupon-mad · 23 May 2019 at 1:12AM

I've had a response to my SAR request from Britannia parking, they have advised me that they are not required to provide me with any transcript from the payment machine on the date in question unless it directly relates to my vehicle.

They have not included the evidence of payment that I sent to them in my appeal, instead including a copy of a payment I made for a different PCN 2 years ago ( where incidentally they admitted the error was theirs). They also failed to include a letter that I sent to them by registered post outlining their responsibilities when using ANPR (I have evidence that they received this).

Given that they have failed to include them, can I also expect that they won't be including these in their case?

You need them to show the data that related to your payment, so press again and tell them that this was a pay on exit machine which calculated the tariff at 50p, so the data must have been machine to your VRN to have done that calculation.

Also tell them you will report them to the ICO for:

(a) retaining data from 2 years ago from a cancelled case, and you want that erased, and

(b) they have missed out of the SAR, a letter sent by recorded delivery (there's no such thing as 'registered post' and hasn't been for more than 40 years...) and so you believe they have deliberately or negligently been selective with the data shown.

In regards to my case, I was also thinking, that, for the machine to have asked me to pay 50p (it is a pay on departure machine by entering my registration, no ticket required) then it must have recognised my registration. How else could it have known I owed how much I owed? Surely this totally undermines their " parked without payment of the valid parking charge" ? Should this be a separate to defence point also?

Yes I would put that in the defence too, using one of bargepole's concise defences as your base, of course.

However, I suspect the machine did NOT relate to your VRN and needed you to input the VRN in order for the default 50p to change to the true tariff...

Once I have completed my defence I will post here for review if this is ok?

Yep, based on the examples in the NEWBIES thread, as there are standard headings, etc.

Claim Form Received

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