Can anyone offer advice please on my receiving a Court Claim for a parking charge notice from an alleged parking infringement in October 2011?

Briefly the details are:

In Oct 2011 I loaned my car to my brother to shift furniture for his friend.

Over the years since I have received threatening letters from Excel Parking services which I have ignored as I was not the driver.

I shouldn't have ignored them but I saw no reason to respond.

My brother was a disabled badge holder but I am unable to determine if he used it at the time as he died in 2014.

A company 'bwlegal' started chasing me for various sums of money late 2016.

Their last letter stated Excel were going to issue court proceedings for a sum of £258 made up of various items.

This raised concern with me and I wrote to them a few days before their deadline to advise them I was not the driver.

I did not mention who was the driver as there was little point in doing so.

I have never been taken to court before and appreciate any advice on how to proceed.

This has been going on and on and I wish to see the end of it.

I intend to defend their claim in court and have until 28 March to respond.

It looks like I have to return a 'Acknowledgement of service' to gain 28 days grace to prepare my defence.

My questions are:

As the alleged contravention took place before 2012

am I correct in ascertaining that the Protection of Freedoms act, specifically 'clause 4' which holds the registered keeper liable, is not valid in this case?

The response from bwlegal to my letter states that I have been given opportunity to disclose who the driver was and quotes 2 further legal cases which I will have to argue against. Elliot V Loake 1983 and Combined Parking Services V AJH films 2015.

I believe I can argue against these points with some more research.

Advice please on how to proceed.

Thanks in anticipation.

Hello and welcome to CAG.

I've moved you to the private parking forum where the guys will know what to do about this, and left you a redirect to follow from the Welcome forum,

My best, HB

Thank you HB.

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***Updated-Aug-2016***(1-Viewing)-nbsp

just a quick note to say don't worry its easy to defeat excel/bw on these historic claims

there are 100's of like claims here if you want to go read

just use our search CAG box of the top red toolbar

using..

excel vcs bw claimform

Name of the Claimant ?EXCEL PARKING SERVICES LTD

Date of issue – 09 MAR 2017

What is the claim for –

1.The Claimants Claim is for the sum of £90.00 being monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant in respect of a Parking Charge Notice (PCN)

issued on xx/10/2011 at Ebbw Vale, The Walk - Anpr Eps Differential Charge Scheme

The PCN relates to under registration _******

2.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.

3.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 0f 0.02 from xx/10/2011 to 08/03/2017 being an amount of £39.

4.The Claimant also claims £54.00 contractual costs pursuant to PCN Terms and Conditions.

What is the value of the claim? £258

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. EXCEL

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? not to my knowledge

that's not the link I sent you...

can we have the location please

Sorry, I misunderstood.

The location of the car park is Ebbw Vale, The Walk

Thanks

ok thanks.

pop up on the MCOL website detailed on the claimform.

.

register as an individual

note the long gateway number given

then log in

.

select respond to a claim and select the AOS box.

.

then using the details required from the claimform

.

defend all

leave jurisdiction unticked.

click thru to the end

confirm and exit MCOL.

.

get a CPR 31:14 request running to the solicitors

.

don't sign anything

.

to the solicitors

[Your address]

.

[Their address [solicitors]

.

[Date]

.

Dear Sir or Madam,

.

Re: (Claimant's name) v (Your name) Case No:

.

CPR 31.14 Request

.

On (date) I received the Claim Form in this case issued by you out of the (Name) county court.

.

I confirm having returned my acknowledgement of service to the court in which I indicate my intention to contest all of your claim.

.

Please treat this letter as my request made under CPR 31.14 for the disclosure and the production of a verified and legible copy of [each of the following / the] document(s) mentioned in your Particulars of Claim:

.

1. the contract between [parking company name] and the landowner that assigns the right to enter into contracts with the public and make claims in their own name,.

.

2.proof of planning permission granted for signage etc under the Town and Country Planning Act 2007

.

3.copies of the notice to driver, notice to keeper and any other correspondence from [insert Claimant Name] & [insert Solicitors Name} to the defendant that they intend to rely upon in court.

.

You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the document(s) I have requested are disclosed at your earliest convenience..

.

Your CPR 31 duties extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for the originals of the documents I have requested, the better for you to be able to verify the document's authenticity and to provide me with a legible copy.

.

Further, where I have requested a copy of a document, the original of which is now in the possession of another person, you will have a right to possession of that document if you have mentioned it in your case. You must take immediate steps to recover and preserve it for the purpose of this case.

.

Where I have mentioned a document and there is in your possession more than one version of that same document owing to a modification, obliteration or other marking or feature, each version will be a separate document and you must provide a copy of each version of it to me. Your obligations extend to making a reasonable and proportionate search for any version(s) to include an obligation to recover and preserve such version(s) which are now in the possession of a third party.

.

In accordance with CPR 31.15© I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.

.

If you are unable to comply with this request within 14 days and believe that you will never be able to comply with this request please confirm in your response.

.

You are reminded that as this case is yet to be allocated to a track, CPR31:14 does apply, a refusal to comply because you 'think' at this stage you dont have too will be used against you in any filed defence.

.

Yours faithfully

.

TYPE YOUR NAME DO NOT SIGN IT

ends

some thread worthy of a read .............

https://cse.google.co.uk/cse?cx=partner-pub-8889411648654839:6449422593&ie=UTF-8&q=Ebbw+Vale,+The+Walk&sa=Search+CAG#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Ebbw%20Vale%2C%20The%20Walk&gsc.page=1

Thank You dx100uk

I'll get cracking on it right away.

Thanks dx100uk for your assistance.

I just completed the 'Acknowledgement of Service' on line (seemed to work ok.)

I will get the suggested letter off requesting cpr 31.14 info to bwlegal first thing tomorrow

( with a proof of posting.)

Thank you for your time and effort in assisting me.

good, they wont respond so you can add to your defence that they have failed to show a cause for action, locus standi and havent followed the civil procedure rules. Sometimes the latter is enough to sink their claim as they are supposedly solicitors and therefore know about such things.

The reality is they send out so many of these claims they cant be bothered to do it properly and when someone defends and pulls them up on it all they can do is try telling lies to the judge to distract them from this truth.

Ultimately when you say you werent driving and the fact there is no keeper liability it wont harm anyone to tell the court you know who was driving but arent going to tell Excel because there isnt an obligation to do so.

Well this is pre-POFA, so you are not liable as keeper.

Apologies if this seems insensitive, and I am sorry to hear about the loss of your brother, but is there any mileage in telling Excel exactly who you know to have been driving, and that they are deceased?

That in itself will show no cause for action against you, and is doomed to fail if they don't discontinue their claim immediately.

I'm in the same boat as you

Been following your thread as well.

the 2 bits of case law are irrelevant,

they refer to a case where there was abundant evidence of the identity of the driver and the second one refers to a case where there was a corporate responsibility.

Anyone driving a car is not the "servant" of the keeper,

the law on insurance amongst other things has changed since that was the norm.

They also have that particular position chucked out when they try it on.

As for naming the driver- it may well put the brakes on the claim but I wouldnt guarantee it so you should proceed in gathering your defence evidence as though they are going to continue.

alos, your claim cause of action predates the latter decision and the law is not retrospective.

Current situation.

I have acknowledged service of the court claim online.

Written to the solicitor CPR request

Now

I don't wish to fall foul of any time limits as the date the claim from was issued is 9 march.

The rear of the form says that I have 14 days plus 5 from the is due date to allow for postal delays.

This takes me to the 28 march to submit a defense by my way of reckoning.

Does this mean I need to fill in a brief sketch defense as I've read in the forums in the next two days please?

Or do I have an extended period as I have acknowledged receipt of the claim?

I'm a little confused with these time scales.

Thanks

Def not due till 10th April

And you can file on mcol

have you had a response to your information request i haven't yet?

posted 13/03/17

Jcbkabs

No, not yet but only posted to bwl Thurs 23rd

Ok I'll let you know if I have a reply

that will make it a bit tight if you gave them 14 days to respond

but generally they dont as that will sink their claim

and they know that but you can use it as part of your defence as stated.

As a skeleton argument is al that is needed for the moment

it will be something like no keeper liability as pre-POFA so none can be created.

The driver at the time is deceased and his estate has been settled.

All detail will be needed for a hearing but I doubt if they will go there,

this is a speculative claim and they will ahve sent out around 200.

About 30 will be defended so they make enough of the ones they win by walkover to pay the pittance they have to shell out in costs for the others.

Situation update 07.04.17

Letter received from bwlegal yesterday (06.04.17)

'we write in reference to the above matter and your recent correspondence.

We have requested evidence of the contravention from our client. We will forward you the requested

Documentation upon receipt.

We will revert to you in due course.

This must be the same letter sent to the other recipient in another thread located in Ebbw Vale.

Time to submit my outline defense as the deadline is 10.04.17

Is it worth mentioning they haven't responded properly to my request yet or shall I just

input the basic reason that I wasn't driving and there is no retrospective liability on me

as registered keeper as the alleged incident was pre POFA?

I suspect they maybe dropping this documentation on my lap when it gets to court.

Thanks for your help with this.

well they cant

all documentation must be served in the correct way and by the correct times

It would be very naughty to ambush you like this. But, you could use it to your advantage.

If, on the day that you go to court, someone tries to hand you something before you enter the court, refuse to accept it. Tell them that your Mother warned you never to take gifts from strangers

Then, when you stand up in court and say that you've not received any of the 'evidence' that you've asked for from the claimant, and if they are planning to rely on anything that you've previously asked them to produce, because they have failed to do so, your defence is compromised.

The claimant (or their representative) will have only a couple of options. Try and hand you the evidence again, this time in front of a judge, at which point you could ask that the claim be struck out due to the fact that the claimant has not complied with the order of the court and produced their evidence 14 or more days before the hearing. Or you could ask that if the claim is not struck out, for the case to be adjourned for two weeks (or the next available court date after that) to give you a chance to study the 'evidence' of the claimant, and that if the case is adjourned, could a wasted costs order be made against the claimant due to their unreasonable behaviour.

Or they can bottle it and fold, at which point you also need to ask for any and all of your reasonable (provable) expenses to be taken in to account.

Either way, the judge will probably tear the claimants representative a new one, which is always a bonus