BW Letter of Claim - response help

BountyHunter · 11 November 2018 at 2:50PM

Hi I hope somebody can advise me with this or point me in the right direction of any further research I need to do.

I looked through the newbie staff and also read PRE-ACTION PROTOCOL FOR DEBT CLAIMS, so concluded that I need to send a response within 30 days of my letter of claim.

Background

I received a parking notice over 2 years ago (as registered keeper). The driver had stopped on an airport road to collect a passenger who had walked out of the car park.

I have not responded to any of the subsequent requests, ignoring all due to previous advice I found on pepipoo and parking cowboys (perhaps I should have come here first?). The advice was that the parking notice was 1) legally unenforceable due to land ownership 2) the driver has not been identified 3) the signage at the time was inadequate (someone has posted dash-cam footage of the small print that requires you to stop and get out of your vehicle to be able to read it).

This went quiet for about 12 months ignoring until the notice of claim received.

bwlegal
LETTER OF CLAIM
Dearxxxxxxxxx
Date of Contravention: dd mm 2016
Balance Due: £160.00
Our Client:
Account Number: xxxxx
Vehicle Registration: xxxxx
Contravention Description: 6.3 Parking in a prohibited area
Contravention Location:
We have been instructed by xxx to commence legal action in the form of issuing a claim against you in the County Court in respect of the above debt. If payment or a response is not received before dd mm 2018, we are instructed to issue a Claim against you in the County Court without further notice. If you dispute this debt, please tell us why so that we can help resolve this matter

Estimated Claim
Such legal action may result in you being liable for court fees, solicitors' costs and statutory interest which are estimated below

Enclosures
Enclosed with this letter are:
Information Sheet:
Reply Form
Income and Expenditure Form:

Principal Debt + Initial Legal Costs £160.00
Estimated Interest - £xx
Estimated Court Fees - £xx
Estimated Solicitors' Costs - £xx
Estimated Total - £xxx

My letter is very similar to these cases so I think I can use them to draft a response:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5789281&page=2#topofpage

&

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=74046569#post74046569

Questions:
1. Should I respond in email, recorded delivery or both?
2. I have also received a text this week from BW Legal (assuming I updated DVLA with my mobile number at some point). Is this within GDPR rules for them to pursue by text if I haven’t given specific consent? Should I request a SAR from all companies involved – would that delay any process or just be an annoyance to them?
3. Is there anything else I need to consider?

Many thanks

(Thread title now edited).

The_Deep · 11 November 2018 at 2:54PM

Was this land covered by bye-laws.

BountyHunter · 11 November 2018 at 8:26PM

Thanks for making me check that - I think I knew this answer 2 years ago when I first got the letters but had forgotten.

Yes the land is covered by bye-laws:

"PROHIBITED ACTS ON PRIVATE AIRPORT ROADS ETC.
On any private Airport road or other part of the Airport to which the Road Traffic Enactments do not apply, no person shall:
Parking in Prohibited Areas
Wait in, leave or park a vehicle where waiting or parking is prohibited by notice."

What impact does that have on their claim?

The_Deep · 12 November 2018 at 10:23AM

It means that there is no keeper liability, that if the PPC do not know the name of the driver they are Friar Tucked. That stopping momentarily to allow a passenger to alight is unlikely to be an offence under the bye-laws, that only the owner or the driver can be prosecuted, in a Magistrates Court within six months of the offence, and the PPC does not get a penny of any fine imposed, and that the PPC cannot pass your details to the TOC on pain of committing a DPA offence.

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week, hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. It has even been suggested that some of these companies have links with organised crime.

Watch the video of the Second Reading and committee stage in the House of Commons recently. MPs have a very low opinion of this industry.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-07-19/debates/2b90805c-bff8-4707-8bdc-b0bfae5a7ad5/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill(FirstSitting)

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by in the not too distant future..

BountyHunter · 12 November 2018 at 2:03PM

Thanks for the info thats great to know. I will draft a reply to the claim in the next few days.

BountyHunter · 26 November 2018 at 9:39PM

Finally got round to sending a response to BW Legal, as well as a SAR to them and UKPPO - intentionally close to the 30 days.

Their auto reply is below.

Question - am I am obliged to provide my contact number and DOB (I supplied everything else on their list).

Particularly as I am receiving daily text from BW Legal so I added this text in my response:

.....I wish to note that consent to share my mobile telephone with your client or yourselves was not “freely given”. I refuse and withdraw any implied consent to contact me further by SMS text message or telephone from the date you receive this letter.

"Thank you for contacting BW Legal.

Your email has been received and will be dealt with as soon as possible.

Before we are able to reply we need you to confirm a few Data Protection Questions which we have specified below.

If your email does not contain the below information, we kindly request you resend your email with the required information to enable us to deal with your query effectively.

BW Legal Reference:
Full Name:
First Line of Address:
Postcode:
Date of Birth:
Telephone Contact Number:
Authorised Email address:
Confirmation you wish for us to correspond with you via this address (Yes/No):

We make no commitment to response times on this general email account. Therefore, if you consider your matter is urgent, or should you wish to discuss your account with one of our helpful representatives today, you can call our offices on 0113 323 1784 and we will be happy to help.
Please be advised that our standard opening hours are:

Monday - Thursday 8am – 8pm
Friday 8am – 7pm
Saturday 9am – 1pm

Alternatively, you can also manage your account online by utilising our customer portal at https://www.bwlegal.co.uk and clicking on the customer login link to set up your account online. Our Customer Portal provides you with the functionality to speak to us by webchat, raise a query, complete your income and expenditure, make a payment or set up an affordable payment arrangement at your convenience.
BW Legal does not accept service of any court documents at this email address. Service of any court documents can be sent to disputeresolution@bwlegal.co.uk with the name of the court document in the subject header, followed by the parties names [eg: Witness Statement: ABC v XZY]."

Redx · 26 November 2018 at 9:54PM

no , do not give them your DOB or phone number, they are not allowed to harvest data and there is no requirement for you to provide them

if they accept your email address is from the person they wrote to, then that is sufficient and they are in possibe breach of the GDPR by asking for more details, so an ICO complaint my be in order

BountyHunter · 12 December 2018 at 8:43PM

Received the below responses to my letter sent by email:

It's hard to determine which parts they are answering as they didn't follow my numbering.

For reference - these are the byelaws that apply https://www.newcastleairport.com/media/1353/airport-byelaws-2009-1.pdf

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 (CONVENIENTLY NOT ANSWERED)
4. what the details of the claim are (where it is claimed the car was parked, for how long, 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.

• Our Client's cause of action is that you breached the terms and conditions of the contract which you entered into by parking your vehicle in prohibited area.

• Our Client is pursuing you as the registered keeper of the vehicle.

• The details of the claim are that your vehicle parked in a prohibited area.

• The Parking Charge Notice (PCN) which you have been issued with is for a breach of contract. The only right which you have to enter the land in question are on the terms and conditions which apply. It is unnecessary to apply an analysis of offer, acceptance and consideration quite simply because the contract was formed on mutual promises. By parking your vehicle in the car park you have entered into a unilateral contract with Our Client. Acceptance does not have to be communicated, the act of parking your vehicle is acceptance.

• This is not a claim for trespass.

• Please be aware that the contract between Our Client and the landowner is a legally privileged document which you have no right to inspect. However, should this matter progress to court, the contract will be adduced as evidence.

• Our Client is under no obligation to supply this.

• As established members of the Independent Parking Committee, Our Client adheres to their Code of Practice for Private Enforcement on Private Land and Unregulated Car Parks ('Code of Practice'). This Code of Practice gives recommendations in regards to the signage within the Car Park. The signs within the car park comply with the recommendations in the Code of Practice and are therefore deemed reasonable.

• £100.00 remains unpaid for the Parking Charge Notice. Additionally, you are also liable for our £60.00 instructions fee as your file has been passed to us.

• This will be issued in due course.

Accordingly, the full Balance is Due.

Please contact us within 7 days of the date of this email to discuss repayment.

Question - should I just sit and wait for any further contact?

I've received 2 SARs and also have a DVLA query in progress just in case.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

KeithP · 12 December 2018 at 11:26PM

Wait patiently for a Claim Form to drop through your letter-box.

Do not ignore it.

BountyHunter · 16 February 2019 at 6:19PM

Claim form now received - dated 15 Feb.

I will acknowledge as per advice on the newbies thread, do some defence research and post draft here for comments/advice.

KeithP · 16 February 2019 at 6:26PM

BountyHunter wrote: »

Claim form now received - dated 15 Feb.

With a Claim Issue Date of 15th February, you have until Wednesday 6th March 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 link 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 20th March 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over a month away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the very 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 "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put 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.

BW Letter of Claim - response help

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