How to respond to Parking Eye Without Prejudice Save As To Costs letter

OK, can I go with this...

[FONT=&quot]Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your recent letter.

I do not intend to pay you any money because I maintain that this claim has no basis and that there is no debt. Moreover, since you are now in receipt of further information as you indicate in your letter, I believe you too recognise how futile your position is. Further to this, I have had subsequent correspondence with the Principal and have sought additional legal advice.

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[FONT=&quot]The hotel has confirmed in writing that they have requested the charge be cancelled. Parking Eye replied to the hotel that they cannot cancel as the matter is now subject to court proceedings. Parking Eye know this to be untrue and I reserve the right to bring this to the attention of the court. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Specifically, there is no court rule whatsoever that says once proceedings are issued you have to proceed. It is Parking Eye’s problem that they've incurred court fees. Had Parking Eye complied properly with the pre-action obligations set out in the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct, in particular paras 3, 6(a) and 6(c) then I would have been able, at that stage, to respond and to demonstrate the particular circumstances as indicated in my defence and Parking Eye would have had the choice, back then, not to proceed. I should not be penalised for Parking Eye’s failings and their over-hasty issuing of a claim.

Therefore, be advised that should you continue to pursue this, I shall seek to claim the costs of my defence and additional costs for unreasonable conduct pursuant to CPR Part 27.[/FONT]
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In light of the above, along with the other points raised in my defence, this claim has no realistic prospect of success and the claimant is invited to withdraw the claim with no order for costs. This is a "drop hands" offer to settle with each party bearing their own costs. The offer is available for acceptance for a period of 14 days from the date of this letter.

The terms of the offer have value to the claimant insofar as the defendant will not seek his costs of defending the action, where recoverable and will not pursue any additional but related claim(s) in connection with this matter.

Should the case proceed to a court hearing where I am successful, this clear transgression from the British Parking Association’s Code or Practice will be reported to the DVLA with a request that your client is suspended from further access to the registered keeper database.

I look forward to your reply[/FONT]

One final thing before I fire this off, will my assertion that they should have contacted me prior to being so hasty to claim (pre-action?) be affected by the fact that I'd ignored the 4 previous letters? Or is it irrelevant that I ignored those if they still didn't seek to clarify my particualr circumstances and whether I was/wasn't a patron of the hotel before going straight to the County Court?

Thanks again

Hi SchoolRunMum/Coupon-Mad :-)

Thanks so much for your help, I'll send off the version I've ogt in that case to PE's enforcement team. Should I post by normal mail too?

Will press the hotel more too definitely,

Thanks again

Cool, that's easier for me I suppose.

Have received an email receipt from them so just sit tight for now until their 14 days elapse.

OK, I've had a response from PE.

Another without prejudice save as to costs letter but this time asking for a redcued £40! If they carry on like this they'll end up owing me money :-)

In the letter they do say: "We note your comments in relation to the cancellation request from the hotel. However, once the Parking Charge is processed for Legal proceedings, ParkingEye has no obligation to cancel the Parking Charge and this is done only at ParkingEye's discretion, this is a procedure that the hotel is aware of."

They also ask me to refer to the Reply to Defecne letter dated 20th December (which I've not recieved even though this latest letter is dated 21st December and one would expect it to have arrived earlier?) as their position remains the same.

I also received a double sided semi-completed sheet with no covering letter that is titled "Directions questionnaire (Small Claims Track)" and which seems to indicate their wish to go to mediation. I'm not clear whether this has come from the court or PE (because it's entirely without context or covering letter), in any case it contains sections caleld A) Settlement/Mediation where section A1 has the 'Yes' box ticked when asking 'Do you agree to this case being referred to the Small Cliams Mediation Service' and Your Contact Details (PE's pre-completed on the photocopy which makes me think it's from them) and C) Track and sections for expert evidence (D) and a fee (E).

So, what to do now? I'm assuming going to mediation plays into their hands since bean counters at the court will want to just sort things out quickly and the details won't get the proper airing I'd like.

Do I have to actively agree to also go to the Small Claims Mediation service otherwise it goes the original Coiunty Court route, or instead, if I ignore this does it default to the Small Claims Mediation?

The fact that they're even reducing the costs now suggetss a sign of weakness. Also the mediation is presumably where they thin kthey have the best chance?

Any ideas?

Merry Christmas all ... even PE :-)