My mistake, yes it is a Notice of Discontinuance.

UPDATE: ****CLAIM DISMISSED******* I sent BW Legal the following letter, after which they immediately issued a letter dismissing the claim!! WITHOUT PREJUDICE Dear Sir or Madam, Re: National Car Parks (EUK) Limited v TXXXX Claim No: XXXXXX I am writing in regards to your continued harassment of my client, TXXXX and request that your client, NCP Car Parks (EUK) Limited drop the case against the defendant, TXXXX, on the basis that this case is without merit as the procedural rules of the Protection of Freedoms Act (were not complied with). Specifically, the notice to keeper from your client was sent outside of the relevant period under Section 9(5) of Schedule 4 of the Protections of Freedom Act (2012). In the Parking Charge Notice to Keeper on which your client is seeking to rely in order to claim damages, the date of the alleged incident is noted as 29/05/2021, and the date of the notice is 15/06/2021. This is 17 days instead of the prescribed 14 day maximum of the relevant period set out in the legislation. Following this letter, if the case is not dropped immediately, and my client informed, then I will be bringing a separate case against your client for damages for harassment and predatory conduct, as well as seeking recompense for continuing with a case that clearly has no merit. Furthermore, if this case is not dropped and your client instead chooses to still take it to a formal hearing, then I will be seeking to counterclaim costs in attending the hearing. Namely, return travel from London to the court, accomodation costs, plus costs for childcare outside of normal school hours for my client’s children. This will be in the amount of £500 or more, which is far more than the amount of the original claim. Please confirm receipt of this letter. Yours faithfully NXXXX

Nope. BW filed a response to my partner’s defence and I received confirmation from the court that BW are proceeding to a trial.

@dx100uk BW have filed a defence. However, is it really necessary to take this all the way to a hearing? With NCP in clear contravention of multiple sections of POFA 2012 could I not email BW legal laying out the key defences of (1) Wrong person being sued (2) Notice to keeper sent too late. Would they not drop the case as there is clear contravention of the overarching legislation namely POFA?

Received this letter from BW Legal yesterday - text pasted below: Good morning, Thank you for completing the required security questions. We note your CPR 31.14 request as per your email dated 12 January 2023 on behalf of the defendant. Be advised that we are not pursuing yourself in this matter but the defendant, TXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXd. CPR 31.14 Response We note that many of the items you have requested under the CPR 31.14 requests are not relevant to this matter as they have not been mentioned in any statement of case. We refer to our full response below. 1. Our Client is engaged by/on behalf of the landowner of the Car Park, and therefore authorised to manage and enforce the terms and conditions displayed in the signage, issue PCNs and enforce them. As the agreement covering this is commercially sensitive we will not be disclosing this document at this stage. 2. Our Client is not aware of any challenge or enforcement action being taken (or contemplated) by the local authority. In any event, such an issue would be a matter between Our Client and the local authority, and subject to the procedures set out in the relevant legislation, and therefore not for consideration between the parties and the court in relation to a simple contract claim. 3. Please find attached a copy of the notices sent by Our Client to the defendant. We note that the defendant has filed a defence with the County Court. We will await a copy of this and respond accordingly once received. If you are in any doubt about the content of this email and/or require guidance/assistance on clearing the balance due to financial difficulties, we would advise you to seek free advice, details of which can be found on the reverse of any of our letters, alternatively you can obtain legal advice from a Solicitor. Yours sincerely, Matthew McMahon Paralegal bwlegal® Surely the case would centre around the defendant (my partner) not being liable as he was not the driver at the time of the incident?

Thank you all! The defence looks fine as it is so here it is: The Defendant contends that the particulars of claim are vague and generic in nature which fails to comply with CPR 16.4. The Defendant accordingly sets out its case below and relies on CPR r 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made. 1. The Defendant is the recorded keeper of motor vehicle registration number XXX. 2. It is denied that the Defendant entered into a contract with the Claimant. 3. As held by the Upper Tax Tribunal in Vehicle Control Services Limited v HMRC [2012] UKUT 129 (TCC), any contract requires offer and acceptance. The Claimant was simply contracted by the landowner to provide car-park management services and is not capable of entering into a contract with the Defendant on its own account, as the car park is owned by and the terms of entry set by the landowner. Accordingly, it is denied that the Claimant has authority to bring this claim. 4. In any case it is denied that the Defendant broke the terms of a contract with the Claimant. 5. The Claimant is attempting double recovery by adding an additional sum not included in the original offer. 6. The Particulars of Claim is denied in its entirety. It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief at all.

@FTMDave but presumably actually going to court for a case will cost them more?? Are there any template defences I can amend for my case?

@dx100uk ah, noted! Thank you! @FTMDave that's good news indeed. What do I do now? Can this be settled before a court hearing, or will I need to submit a defence?

@lookinforinfo we are very friendly with our postman. At the time of the first BW letter I even asked him if he'd seen any letters that looked like they came from NCP and he said he didn't recall, but it was a while ago so he couldn't be sure. I doubt they even sent them at all - and have doctored the letter to update the address as it's very strange that the BW letters reached us, but the original PCN and follow ups from NCP didn't...

@dx100uk sent this evening

@lookinforinfomy apologies for not replying! The address on the NTK and the one on BW Legal's letters are exactly the same and are our current address (and has been for many years) Also, my husband did indeed respond. He wrote a long letter to them authorising them to speak to me on his behalf, AFTER I sent them the email telling them I was the driver.

@FTMDave They appear to still be suing my partner. Despite me telling them I was the driver back in March 2022, all letters have continued to be addressed to him...

@lookinforinfoyes, i quickly realised I'd really shot myself in the foot about 5 minutes after I decided to have a look online... 12 November 2021 was the first letter we received. This was a letter from BW Legal which unfortunately I have been unable to locate the hard copy. I didn't leave the UK until 19th June, however no mail arrived until then from NCP, and on receiving the letter from BW Legal, I double-checked through all the letters we received and confirmed that received neither the Notice to Keeper, nor the Final Reminder or the original PCN had been delivered while we were gone. We returned in August, and obviously if we had seen the PCN then it wouldn't have slipped my mind! Interestingly, BW did not actually attach the original PCN to their pack of evidence - only NTK and Final Reminder.... Yes that's right. Yes, my partner left earlier than me. I drove through France on 19th June to meet him there with my daughter and dog in the back, and 5 months pregnant with my son! My partner did reply to BW Legal's request, however he mailed a hard copy of the letter as it was hand written. I'll ask him if he has a copy scanned.

Here is everything BW have sent, plus the email sent to BW unfortunately outing myself as driver. Email_BW.pdf PCN notices_compressed.pdf