Hi all I have also received a county court claim form letter as other people have

... relating to an alleged offence on 23/04/2015.

The 'offence' was in land where there were no signs and I was told by the café we could park there.

.. I retuned to see what i can only describe as a thug getting over excited slapping tickets everywhere on cars.

. I questioned his authencity and tried to reason with them that there were no signs

or even pay machines that I could see so how can they be slapping me with a £100 fine!

I rang them up to inform them of this poor signage and generally to complain about those rude men.

.. she said they would get it sorted and apologised and I heard nothing back..

.. therefore assuming they had voided it off their system.

I started then getting legal letters and looking on various threads where people ignored them so I didn't think much of the BW Legal letters..

Now I receive this county court claim form and they are requesting a total of £238.26.

I have since gotten married moved from manchester to midlands,

changed phone numbers and have no way of getting photographic evidence of the parking at that time.

Do I have a leg to stand on?

It just seems so unfair and ridiculous what they are putting people through! I was stressed with family matters at the time hence rang them instead of writing letters and I feel this will just be my word against theirs now.

can you fill this out please

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?465231-Received-a-Court-Claim-From-A-Private-parking-Speculative-invoice-How-To-Deal-With-It-HERE***

threads merged and posts tidied.

please action link in post 2

thanks

Name of the Claimant : Vehicle Control Services LTD

Date of issue – 29 July 2016

Particulars of claim

the claimants claim is for the sum of £100 being monies due from the defendant to the claimant in respect of a parking charge notice (PCN) issues on 23/04/2015 at 20:24:41 at Erin Basin the quays Salford excel parking services.

the PCN relates to make of car under registration XXXXXX

the terms of the PCN allowed the defendant 28 days from the issue date to pay the PCN but the defendant failed to do so.

despite demand having been made, the defendant has failed to settle their outstanding liability.

The claim also includes statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the county courts act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum a daily rate of 0.02 from 23/04/2015 to 28/07/2016 being and amount of £9.26.

The claimant also claims £54.00 contractual costs pursuant to PCN terms and conditions.

What is the value of the claim? £238.26 .

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor

or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim ?

A company called BW legal who are actioning all of this.

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? No specific letter was received saying it was being handed over... other than the BW legal letters saying I owe them money in reference to the PCN.

ta

ok pop up on the MCOL website

get the claim acknowledged [AOS box]

defend all

leave jurisdiction unticked

Ok I will get onto that now.

in your experience do you think I will be made to pay this fine etc given that in court..

. I technically have no pictures/evidence to support me?

Iv looked at so many threads/websites and the information is like an overload.

Really cant afford to have bad debt registered against me..

. and these parasitic companies are doing nothing but giving me stress!

its not a fine

its a speculative invoice

its not a bad debt either.

9/10 they lose hands down and run away before the day.

the ONLY ones BW have got have been undefended claims

if it went bad it would be a CCJ that if you paid within 28days

would NOT show anyway.

Do you mean Erie Basin or Heron Basin or have they stated Erin Basin. Can't find an Erin Basin in the Quays when doing a search on Google Earth.. Post Code M50 3SA.

Typo.. Its Erie Basin.... In salford quays. Im not masively familiar woth the area my self .. It was the only one time id been to it.

And thank you for the clarification dx100uk! Your help on the matter is really appreciated!

It might be an idea if you go on the Salford City Council website

and find out what planning permission,

if any,

has been given regarding the car park.

i.e.for signage etc or even the carpark itself.

Others should be able to help you with regards to asking for the contract between the land owner and the parking company giving them the right to claim for money.

Generally the web sites dont contain planning decisions that are more than a couple of years old so you will have to ask them. Make sure that you ask about applications from VCS and the landowner/company using the site as it may be that there is planning for signs but they are to do with the advertising of the shops and not parking conditions.

i will definately get onto this as i couldnt find anything on the internet to state theres a car park in that location.. Even when u map it , it just shows random land!

Iv done a search and under erie basin theres are no planning permissions relating to car parks / signs.

The earliest on there dates back to 1992 for lanscaping works so im assuming this means there is no car park / signage permission?

I will be calling up to check this also

Iv just managed to find the car park and it does NOW have signs etc to show its a car park which DEFINATELY were not there when i was there

Ok, look at google as that will be at least 6 months old unless you are lucky and see what the signs look like on there.

You should also send a demand for sight of the contract between VCS and the landowner that assigns the right to enter into contracts and make claims in their own name.

Do this under CPR 31.14, give them 14 days to respond and then slap in a request to court that the claim be struck out for VCS not having locus standi.

VCS havent been an entity of that name for that long so you might well find that it is another company that had the contract and then an assumption that the rights could be assigned to VCS.

A court has decidd that this isnt true and certainly not good enough fo making contracts with the public.

Sometimes the contrcat is in the name of Excel and again, without proof that the LL is happy with a reassignment they dont have it.

Well iv called up the council and they have nothing on their records and iv tried looking on land registry and cant find who that particular land belongs to either.

Any other suggestions on how i can find it who the land owner is?

For the planning issue it doesnt matter, they are obliged to apply themselves.

If they had done so it would crop up and likewise if the landowner had applied on behalf of VCS that would show as well.

So essentially, VCS are breaking the law and that means you CANNOT enter into a contract with them (even if you wanted to) so they cant claim for breach of contract nor for a contractual charge.

Your witness statement should also point out that there were no signs and you were told by an agent of the landowner that you could park

(VCS will have to prove that the cafe didnt have the authority and that will cost them more than they could ever hope to win in just getting the paperwork)

Thank you Ericsbrother.

That's really helps when im putting things together.

The only thing I could find in terms of planning is the link to do with planning... for new offices?

It states the address as Erie Basin Car Park and property description is Erie Basin car Park

but under property history there's a buildings control application and it says its for new office building works which have started? :/

http://publicaccess.salford.gov.uk/publicaccess/propertyDetails.do?previousCaseType=BuildingControl&previousKeyVal=N2OR1ZNP00A00&activeTab=summary&previousCaseNumber=14%2F20762%2FOTHFP&keyVal=L8BLP2NP02G00

You can phone and ask the council if VCS have been granted PP for their signage under the advertising hoardings regs of the Twon and Country Planning Act 2007.

You must be specific about the where and what it is for

as there may well be permission for a big sign saying

"CAR PARK" but nowt else

No one seems to know anything at the council when i have called up and I'm just going in circles :/

Sorry for what may seem a stupid question... but would i make the request for the sight of the contract to BW Legal?

Yes in a cpr31:14 request

when you phone the council ask for the planning dept and dont talk to anyone else. YOu must ask if they have planning permission for their signage at the specific locality (give them the address and postcode and the name of the site-eg sainsburys car park) under the advertising hoardings regs of the Town and Country Planning Acts 2007

They do need it so if the council says that it is privae land or deemed consent ask them why that si the case as the law disagrees with them.

Hi all , in the hope of keeping people updated. I am still awaiting a response having sent a letter! ***watch this space***

urm you should have filed your defence 2 days ago.

dx

it says i have 28 days?!?! did i read that totally wrong??

date on the top right of the claimform is?

29 July 2016 from above

you then have a total of 33 days to file a defence

whereby that date is ONE in the count