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    • Well we can't predict what the judge will believe. PE will say that they responded in the deadline and you will say they don't. Nobody can tell what a random DJ will decide. However if you go for an OOC settlement you should still be able to get some money
    • What do you guys think the chances are for her?   She followed the law, they didnt, then they engage in deception, would the judge take kindly to being lied to by these clowns? If we have a case then we should proceed and not allow these blatant dishonest cheaters to succeed 
    • I have looked at the car park and it is quite clearly marked that it is  pay to park  and advising that there are cameras installed so kind of difficult to dispute that. On the other hand it doesn't appear to state at the entrance what the charge is for breaching their rules. However they do have a load of writing in the two notices under the entrance sign which it would help if you could photograph legible copies of them. Also legible photos of the signs inside the car park as well as legible photos of the payment signs. I say legible because the wording of their signs is very important as to whether they have formed a contract with motorists. For example the entrance sign itself doe not offer a contract because it states the T&Cs are inside the car park. But the the two signs below may change that situation which is why we would like to see them. I have looked at their Notice to Keeper which is pretty close to what it should say apart from one item. Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4 Section 9 [2]a] the PCN should specify the period of parking. It doesn't. It does show the ANPR times but that includes driving from the entrance to the parking spot and then from the parking place to the exit. I know that this is a small car park but the Act is quite clear that the parking period must be specified. That failure means that the keeper is no longer responsible for the charge, only the driver is now liable to pay. Should this ever go to Court , Judges do not accept that the driver and the keeper are the same person so ECP will have their work cut out deciding who was driving. As long as they do not know, it will be difficult for them to win in Court which is one reason why we advise not to appeal since the appeal can lead to them finding out at times that the driver  and the keeper were the same person. You will get loads of threats from ECP and their sixth rate debt collectors and solicitors. They will also keep quoting ever higher amounts owed. Do not worry, the maximum. they can charge is the amount on the sign. Anything over that is unlawful. You can safely ignore the drivel from the Drips but come back to us should you receive a Letter of Claim. That will be the Snotty letter time.
    • please stop using @username - sends unnecessary alerts to people. everyone that's posted on your thread inc you gets an automatic email alert when someone else posts.  
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Can I be held responsible...?


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Can I be held responsible for an illegally downloaded computer game that occurred four weeks after I left my old address (abusive marriage) and moved half way across the country to live with friends? To add to this, the solicitors who are chasing me for payment of £900+ have accidentally sent me a letter on the same subject addressed to a complete stranger. Is this a breach of his privacy/the Data Protection Act?

 

They are threatening to take me to court: as my sole income is incapacity benefit/income support, can I be made to pay for something that I feel I'm not responsible for?

 

I would appreciate any advice you could give me.

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can I be made to pay for something that I feel I'm not responsible for?
You don't "feel" you are responsible? If you didn't even live there, then I don't see how feelings even enter the equation...

 

However, you need to work out who is responsible for the line/connection, and therefore who is responsible. If the line is in your name, then I think that technically you are responsible, even if you don't live there, although I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong on this...

 

I would write to the solicitors, explain that you did not even live there at the time of the alleged offence, and that further correspondence on this matter will be deemed harrassment.

 

What I have to ask is where did the figure of £900 come from? Was this a fine for penalty for downloading the game?

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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The line was in my name, as soon as I found out about the download, I cancelled the account.

 

I wrote to the solicitors telling them that I no longer lived at that address and hadn't done for four weeks before the download. I even sent proof of my change of address.

 

The £900 was a fine for downloading the game, but now they want to take me to court and add the court costs on top of that. There is no way I can pay this sort of money as I am living on government benefits, due to ill health.

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I guess that they believe that as the line was in your name, then ultimately you are responsible...and TBH it would be hard to prove otherwise.

 

However, by proving you were no longer at the address at the time of the offence, you can prove that the offence was not committed by you...

 

Another question: where did this fine come from? Surely if it was from a court, then the fine would need to be applied/levied on the person who comitted the crime...that the solicitors are threatening to take you to court seems to imply that the fine is nothing more than a money grubbing [problem].

 

Perhaps you could shed a little more light on the situation, paying heed to the timelines and actions taken...

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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This sounds very very fishy to me.

Sounds something of a setup.

 

Have you got more details of exactly what the £900 is for, IMHO they cannot fine you, that should be done by the regulating authorities - surely

 

If they are suing you for damages then how have these damages been quantified.

 

Was the game downloaded from their servers by any chance - how did the downloader find out about the game being available - surely not via an email - if that email is still around .....

 

Is there even proof that this game was downloaded at all?

 

The responsibility aspect is difficult, as your ISP can be held just as responsible as can the server hosting the game.

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After reading through the letter, if I understand it correctly, the £900 is for compensation or possibly an out of court settlement. It's made up of compensation, my then ISP's admin costs (and legal costs). There is a long list of the things that they have done to incur the costs, in short:

Damages for loss of sales.

Obtaining evidence

Writing to the ISP for my details

Preparing witness statements.

Serving the application order for a disclosure order on the ISP

Attending court to apply for the order

Drawing up the order

Sending the order the the ISP

Ensuring the ISP complies with the order

Corresponding with me

It says "Our client is prepared to give you the opportunity to avoid legal action....", presumably by paying this sum.

 

I don't know how the downloader found out about the game, as I said, I wasn't there.

 

The solicitors say that they act for Reality Pump Sp.zoo, the owner of the rights to the game.

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I would write to the solicitors, repeating the fact that as you were not resident at that address, you did not commit the alleged offence.

 

I would then ask them why they have not contacted you before, with something like a warning letter from their client, something along these lines:

"Dear Customer, it has come to our attention that a game has been downloaded, and this is in breach of copyright/licence rules..."
It seems odd in the extreme that the first contact is a letter demanding payment of "expenses," and threatening legal action if this payment is not met...

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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Don't know if this is anything to do with your particular situation however I found this :

 

ISPreview - UK ISP's Served with Court Order to Reveal User Details

3 Active Claims:

Barclays Refund of Bank Charges (Sole account) - Applied to lift court ordered Stay

Barclays Refund of Bank Charges (Joint account) - Awaiting court date

Barclays Refund of Bank Charges (Joint account) Pre-6 yrs- LBA sent.

 

 

3 Wins :

Barclays t/a The Woolwich (Data Protection Act breach costs & compliance)

HSBC (on behalf of brother)

Settled Out of Court - £3,874.76

Alliance & Leicester (on behalf of friend)

Settled Out of Court - £723.41

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Moving "out" from that post, it would appear that this is a common theme...was the letter from Davenport Lyons? If so, then you can view other people receiving similar letters here and here.

 

It seems they legally compel ISPs to provide account holder details, then mass mail the list in the hope that people will settle, rather than face the threats that they make...

 

My suggestion is still to write to them, and ask where they got your name from. Ask also whether they have proof of the allegations that they are making against YOU. It is clear that this game probably got downloaded, but they are accusing you of something for which they have no proof.

 

My guess is that they will give up trying to extract money from you by threats, and move onto the next person who may be more compliant to their demands...

 

At the end of the day, if they take you to court, the judge will review your situation and finances, and will award a minimal amount if any at all...

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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Thanks for that, it's something I'd not thought of. I have written to the solicitors repeating that I was not at the address at the time of the offence and stating that the people there were responsible for the offence.

 

As for them not contacting me earlier, it is possible that they wrote to my old address as the offence took place on the 26/07/2007. The first I heard of it was when my estranged wife sent me the letter asking for the money, that was dated 26/02/2008, I received it in March.

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Aaaarrggh! Is it the same solicitors? Let us know how you get on. Good luck.

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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Don't know if this is anything to do with your particular situation however I found this :

 

ISPreview - UK ISP's Served with Court Order to Reveal User Details

 

Yes, that's it, same game, same solicitors.

 

After looking at your link and following other links, I came across this, taken from The Register:

 

In most European countries, including the UK, copyright infringement is only a criminal offence when conducted on a commercial scale. Most individual file-sharing would be unlikely to count as a criminal offence.

 

Would this apply to my case? As I can only see the game being downloaded for personal use.

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I think my next letter to Davenport Lyons, if there is one, will be just to say, Stop harassing me, or else I'll be reporting you to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
I don't think you will find anyone here disagreeing with that course of action...good luck.

Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.

 

All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.

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Thank You Spiceskull and Thank You gh2008 for your help. If anything else happens referring to this case I'll let you know.

 

Thanks again to both of you.

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