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    • Thanks for all the suggestions so far I will amend original WS and send again for review.  While looking at my post at very beginning when I submitted photos of signs around the car park I noticed that it says 5 hours maximum stay while the signage sent by solicitor shows 4 hours maximum stay but mine is related to electric bay abuse not sure if this can be of any use in WS.
    • Not sure what to make of that or what it means for me, I was just about to head to my kip and it's a bit too late for legalise. When is the "expenditure occured"?  When they start spending money to write to me?  Or is this a bad thing (as "harsh" would imply)? When all is said and done, I do not have two beans to rub together, we rent our home and EVERYTHING of value has been purchased by and is in my wife's name and we are not financially linked in any way.  So at least if I can't escape my fate I can at least know that they will get sweet FA from me anyway   edit:  ah.. Sophia Harrison: Time bar decision tough on claimants WWW.SCOTTISHLEGAL.COM Time bar is a very complex area of law in Scotland relating to the period in which a claim for breach of duty can be pursued. The Scottish government...   This explains it like I am 5.  So, a good thing then because creditors clearly know they have suffered a loss the minute I stop paying them, this is why it is "harsh" (for them, not me)? Am I understanding this correctly?  
    • urm......exactly what you filed .....read it carefully... it puts them to strict proof to prove the debt is enforceable, so thus 'holds' their claim till they coughup or not and discontinue. you need to get readingthose threads i posted so you understand. then you'll know whats maybe next how to react or not and whats after that. 5-10 threads a day INHO. dont ever do anything without checking here 1st.
    • I've done a new version including LFI's suggestions.  I've also change the order to put your strongest arguments first.  Where possible the changes are in red.  The numbering is obviously knackered.  Methinks stuff about the consideration period could be added but I'm too tired now.  See what you think. Background  1.1  The Defendant received the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) on the 06th of November 2020 following the vehicle being parked at Arla Old Dairy, South Ruislip on the 05th of December 2019.  Unfair PCN  4.1  On XXXXX the Defendant sent the Claimant's solicitors a CPR request.  As shown in Exhibit 1 (pages 7-13) the solicitors helpfully sent photos of 46 signs in their evidence all  clearly showing a £60.00 parking charge notice (which will  be reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days of issue).  There can be no room for doubt here - there are 46 signs produced in the Claimant's own evidence. 4.2  Yet the PCN affixed to the vehicle was for a £100.00 parking charge notice (reduced to £60 if paid promptly).  The reminder letters from the Claimant again all demanded £100. 4.3        The Claimant relies on signage to create a contract.  It is unlawful for the Claimant to write that the charge is £60 on their signs and then send demands for £100.   4.4        The unlawful £100 charge is also the basis for the Claimant's Particulars of Claim. No Locus Standi 2.1  I do not believe a contract exists with the landowner that gives MET Parking Services a right to bring claims in their own name. Definition of “Relevant contract” from the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4,  2 [1] means a contract Including a contract arising only when the vehicle was parked on the relevant land between the driver and a person who is-  (a) the owner or occupier of the land; or  (b) Authorised, under or by virtue of arrangements made by the owner or occupier of the land, to enter into a contract with the driver requiring the payment of parking charges in respect of the parking of the vehicle on the land. According to https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/section/44  For a contract to be valid, it requires a director from each company to sign and then two independent witnesses must confirm those signatures.  2.2  The Defendant requested to see such a contract in the CPR request.  The contract produced was largely illegible and heavily redacted, and the fact that it contained no witness signatures present means the contract has not been validly executed. Therefore, there can be no contract established between MET Parking Services and the motorist. Even if “No Parking in Electric Bay” could form a contract (which it cannot), it is immaterial. There is no valid contract. Illegal Conduct – No Contract Formed  3.1 At the time of writing, the Claimant has failed to provide proof of planning permission granted for signage etc under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Lack of planning permission is a criminal offence under this Act and no contract can be formed where criminality is involved.  3.4        I also do not believe the claimant possesses this document.  No Keeper Liability  5.1        The defendant was not the driver at the time and date mentioned in the PCN and the claimant has not established keeper liability under schedule 4 of the PoFA 2012. In this matter, the defendant puts it to the claimant to produce strict proof as to who was driving at the time.  5.2 The claimant in their Notice To Keeper also failed to comply with PoFA 2012 Schedule 4 section 9[2][f] while mentioning “the right to recover from the keeper so much of that parking charge as remains unpaid” where they did not include statement “(if all the applicable conditions under this Schedule are met)”.    5.3        The claimant did not mention the parking period instead only mentioned time 20:25 which is not sufficient to qualify as a parking period.   Protection of Freedoms Act 2012  The notice must -  (a) specify the vehicle, the relevant land on which it was parked and the period of parking to which the notice relates; 22. In the persuasive judgement K4GF167G - Premier Park Ltd v Mr Mathur - Horsham County Court – 5 January 2024 it was on this very point that the judge dismissed this claim. 5.4  A the PCN does not comply with the Act the Defendant as keeper is not liable.   Interest 6.2  It is unreasonable for the Claimant to delay litigation for four years in order to add excessive interest. Double Recovery  7.1  The claim is littered with made-up charges. 7.2  As noted above, the Claimant's signs state a £60 charge yet their PCN is for £100. 7.3  As well as the £100 parking charge, the Claimant seeks recovery of an additional £70.  This is simply a poor attempt to circumvent the legal costs cap at small claims. 29. Since 2019, many County Courts have considered claims in excess of £100 to be an abuse of process leading to them being struck out ab initio. An example, in the Caernarfon Court in VCS v Davies, case No. FTQZ4W28 on 4th September 2019, District Judge Jones-Evans stated “Upon it being recorded that District Judge Jones- Evans has over a very significant period of time warned advocates (...) in many cases of this nature before this court that their claim for £60 is unenforceable in law and is an abuse of process and is nothing more than a poor attempt to go behind the decision of the Supreme Court v Beavis which inter alia decided that a figure of £160 as a global sum claimed in this case would be a penalty and not a genuine pre-estimate of loss and therefore unenforceable in law and if the practise continued, he would treat all cases as a claim for £160 and therefore a penalty and unenforceable in law it is hereby declared (…) the claim is struck out and declared to be wholly without merit and an abuse of process.” 30. In Claim Nos. F0DP806M and F0DP201T, District Judge Taylor echoed earlier General Judgment or Orders of District Judge Grand, stating ''It is ordered that the claim is struck out as an abuse of process. The claim contains a substantial charge additional to the parking charge which it is alleged the Defendant contracted to pay. This additional charge is not recoverable under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 nor with reference to the judgment in Parking Eye v Beavis. It is an abuse of process from the Claimant to issue a knowingly inflated claim for an additional sum which it is not entitled to recover. This order has been made by the court of its own initiative without a hearing pursuant to CPR Rule 3.3(4)) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998...'' 31. In the persuasive case of G4QZ465V - Excel Parking Services Ltd v Wilkinson – Bradford County Court -2 July 2020 (Exhibit 4) the judge had decided that Excel had won. However, due to Excel adding on the £60 the Judge dismissed the case. 7.7        The addition of costs not previously specified on signage are also in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, Schedule 2, specifically paras 6, 10 and 14.  7.8        It is the Defendant’s position that the Claimant in this case has knowingly submitted inflated costs and thus the entire claim should be similarly struck out in accordance with Civil Procedure Rule 3.3(4).  In Conclusion  8.1        I invite the court to dismiss the claim. Statement of Truth I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth. 
    • Scottish time bar: Scottish appeal court re-affirms the “harsh” rule (cms-lawnow.com)  
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      The judge's reasoning is very useful and will certainly be helpful in any other cases relating to third-party rights where the customer has contracted with the courier company by using a broker.
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Hi

 

I emailed Philips regarding 2 outstanding parking fines totalling £460 and offered payments of £60 per month.

 

They replied today stating they require the balance in full due t the age of the account. I only received notification that they were dealing with the account on the 14th May.

 

I am just wondering the options seen as they are demanding the balance in full.

 

Thanks

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if you havnt got the money, theres not alot they can do about it.

 

Until they start being reasonable, keep your door locked and they'll soon go away.

Professional property investor and conveyancer

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I did on one of the accounts dont recall i did on the second.

 

Considering my circumstances the offer i am making is not unreasonable at all. £460 may not be major but it is alot when you do not have it.

 

Just dont want different charges to be added while i am trying to clear it.

 

Thanks

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if you havnt got the money, theres not alot they can do about it.

 

Until they start being reasonable, keep your door locked and they'll soon go away.

 

I am sorry but this is very bad advice. Bailiffs are routinely instead removing your vehicle outside of your home. Even if a car is kept in a garage it can still be located by way of the bailiffs ANPR vehicle.

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Hi

 

I emailed Philips regarding 2 outstanding parking fines totalling £460 and offered payments of £60 per month.

 

They replied today stating they require the balance in full due t the age of the account. I only received notification that they were dealing with the account on the 14th May.

 

I am just wondering the options seen as they are demanding the balance in full.

 

Thanks

For EACH parking charge notice you should have received a Notice to Owner, Charge Certificate AND Order for Recovery. If unpaid you may also receive just ONE letter from the bailiff company.

 

If you had not received a Notice to Owner then you need to file an Out of Time Declaration with the Traffic Enforcement Centre. All bailiff actions will have to then CEASE until the local authority consider your application.

 

You need to telephone the Traffic Enforcement Centre on: 08457 045 007.

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Vehicle is on HP so i am just the driver not the legal owner.

 

I have heard cases of them still removing vehicles that or on HP but they can try if they want and let it become a criminal matter.

 

Is there nothing you can apply for throught the courts etc or is it just a case of having to put up with their unreasonable requests and harrasment?

 

Thanks

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Vehicle is on HP so i am just the driver not the legal owner.

 

I have heard cases of them still removing vehicles that or on HP but they can try if they want and let it become a criminal matter.

 

Is there nothing you can apply for throught the courts etc or is it just a case of having to put up with their unreasonable requests and harrasment?

 

Thanks

In that case the vehicle is exempt from seizure.

 

A bailiff cannot seize goods that he cannot sell and this is one of them.

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Thanks for the advice.

 

Overall i could understand if i was refusing to pay but the fact is i have been in financial hardship of late and have offered £60 a month which is quite a subtantial amount of my monthly budget considering yet they cannot be bothered to compromise.

 

Is it possible to request a statement of account from them detailing all transactions and charges etc?

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No i am full time employed but outgoings are greater than income at present.

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No i am full time employed but outgoings are greater than income at present.

 

I would strongly suggest that you write again to advise the company that you will not allow the bailiff to have peaceful entry into your home and that the vehicle that you own is subject to hire purchase and that it is therefore exempt from seizure. In the letter you should also confirm that you are copying the letter to the local authority concerned.

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Thanks for the advice.

 

I have sent letters off to philips today informing them they will not be allowed entry and one to the council asking if i can make the payments direct to them. Hopefully they will allow me to do so.

 

Can philips start adding further charges after this? The last letter they sent me informed me they would be adding £60 if the balance had not been paid within 7 days. What exactly is the £60 for?

 

They are just making the situation worse.

 

Thanks

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  • 1 month later...

Hi

 

The council have informed me on a number of occasions that they have placed requests on Philips record system that a payment plan be set up. I have even sent copies of these emails to Philips yet they reply each time by saying they cannot hold action without their clients instruction.

 

What planet are these people on. They are incompetent and illiterate and dont recall ever receiving an email from them that was not full of spelling mistakes.

 

One of their agents recently visited my property when i was at work and tried intimidating my wife and pushing his way past her to which she has 2 witnesses. Is that not a criminal offence under harrassment?

 

What i am wondering is can you report them to Trading Standards and the OFT as they hold a credit licence as i am fed up of trying to deal with this morons.

 

Thanks

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Hi

 

The council have informed me on a number of occasions that they have placed requests on Philips record system that a payment plan be set up. I have even sent copies of these emails to Philips yet they reply each time by saying they cannot hold action without their clients instruction.

 

What planet are these people on. They are incompetent and illiterate and dont recall ever receiving an email from them that was not full of spelling mistakes.

 

One of their agents recently visited my property when i was at work and tried intimidating my wife and pushing his way past her to which she has 2 witnesses. Is that not a criminal offence under harrassment?

 

What i am wondering is can you report them to Trading Standards and the OFT as they hold a credit licence as i am fed up of trying to deal with this morons.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Which local authority is this?

 

What the council need to be aware of is that they are WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE for the actions of THEIR bailiffs. They can ORDER the bailiff to accept your offer of repayment.

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Its Doncaster Council.

 

They have emailed them on a number of occasions but Philips are to thick to acknowledge their requests.

 

Am really cheesed off over their agents behaviour too and have brought this to their attention but they dont seem to want to address it.

 

Thanks

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Gets better with these idiots.

 

Today i had a removal notice posted through my door explaining they attended my premises with a view to remove goods. There was no knock at the door and i seen the notice been pushed through within the 5 seconds it took me to open the door he had gone. Some removal procedure.

 

Also stated that they may re-attend with a locksmith to remove goods in accordance with law. What law is this exactly and what authority? Seen as they have never gained entry or do not hold any kind of warrant to do so.

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I'm starting to suspect that Philips maybe don't even have a complaints department. The only response I've had from letters I've written to them is a set of standard account breakdown printouts, weeks later, which wasn't actually what I'd asked for, and addressed none of the points that I'd made. Even sending them a special TT "you've been paid, go away" letter made no impact. Philips standard call centre operators tell me that there is nobody in complaints that they can put me through to; and they cannot see through their screens either my letters, Philips' responses, or any log of what Complaints/Custeomer Services might be doing with my case.

 

Has anybody else therefore to achieve any point of contact with the mythical Philips complaints/customer services people?

 

In my experience, the only way to go is through the local authority -- because they by law do have to respond to complaints/customer services. The Council's "in-house debt management team" (or equivalent) should have full read access to the detailed information about you on the Philips system.

 

Therefore, I would suggest:

 

1. Urgently ring the council. Confirm with them that there is no record of Philips having successfully levied you; therefore Philips they cannot remove or break in.

 

2. Ask for the account to be put "on hold" until Philips verify what they think they're doing to the Council. (The Council have codes to instruct Philips to do this instantly).

 

3. Request that the warrant be withdrawn altogether from Philips in view of their longstanding and manifest cluelessness (of which you can provide copious examples).

 

4. Make a formal complaint to the Council complaints unit, headed "formal complaint", with an addditional copy to the Council's chief executive, detailing every aspect of Philips's hopelessness, and re-iterating your request for the warrant to be withdrawn from Philips so that you can from now on deal exclusively with the Council directly.

 

From my experience, the latter should finally produce a cascade of correspondence from Philips, backdated a week (unless their letters really take 8 days to deliver), which will still answer none of your questions. But you should get a formal answer from the Council within 14 days, which you can then if necessary escalate through the Council's appeal procedures, and ultimately if necessary take to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Edited by JH101
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Thanks for the advice i have tried contact with the Parking Department who have advised me they have requested Philips set up a payment plan but ultimately refer me back to Philips over the account. Think i will next try your 4th point.

 

What they need to understand is i have never once refused any payment it is Philips incomeptence that is the delay.

 

I am not happy over the agents behaviour when attending and see is actions as harrassment towards my wife. Philips have not even akcnolwedged this point when i brought it up.

 

Today just takes the P*** really as i am sure i will be charged for a removal attempt even though all he did was post the notice and run off more than likely as he sen the car and knew i was in. Cant bully me like he can women.

 

Does anyone know what they can charge in relation to visits? The first time they charged £78 the second visit they charged £86. Why the difference in amount? Furthermore how can they prove they have actually been if i am not in and they are not just saying so to add further charges.

 

Thanks for the advice, its appreciated.

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Fees for collection stemming from a PCN are statutarily regulated by the Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts (Certificated Bailiffs) Regulations 1993, as amended 2003.

 

The bailiff company Equita has a consolidated version online at

http://www.equita.co.uk/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=r0du9hZ12t0%3d&tabid=202

 

If a PCN starts at £x, the council can add 50% for late payment, then a further £5 to register it with the court (specifically the TEC in Northampton) to get a "warrant of execution" to authorise bailiff action. So that is how the original PCN has increased to what you now owe the Council.

 

The bailiff company can then charge you one warning letter/admin fee for each warrant; on top of that they can then charge you "visit" fees up to 28% of the first £200 (including any VAT) that you owe, 5.5% thereafter. Plus they will bill VAT on their fees.

 

The running amount you owe goes up with unpaid visit fees -- so the second fee is bigger because it includes a %age of the unpaid first fee.

£39 for a first visit fee, and £43 for a second visit fee, look to be in line with the caps set by law.

 

However, the bailiff company can only charge you "reasonable" expenses (meaning necessary and actual). If the visit for the second PCN was made at the same time as the first, there is no actual additional cost involved (Throssell v. Leeds City Council), so that is not allowable. If the visit for the second PCN could have been made at the same time as the first, then there was no necessary additional cost involved, so this is again challengeable (though at the moment it does tend to be bailiff standard practice).

 

Visit fees can only be charged if a genuine certificated bailiff has really been round to your property with a genuine intention to levy. If you advise Philips you intend to challenge their fees, they need to be able to substantiate all three of these points, as well as producing a calculation to justify why their claimed cost is so big as to reach the capped maximum set by law.

 

If the claimed visit has been made after the Council had instructed Philips to offer you a payment plan that you would have been ready to pay, then it is not reasonable, because Philips then had instructions not to levy, but to first try to negotiate a payment plan with you.

 

Currently Philips appear to be behaving as if they have already managed to levy you, and are now proceeding to removal stage.

 

You need to be absolutely certain on this point -- is there any possibility that anyone in your house could ever have let anyone from Philips over the threshold - under any pretext? If there's even the possibility that that might have happened, you could be in a much worse position.

 

You must find out what has been claimed to have been going on, and when.

 

Try Philips again. If you get no sense, try Parking again, and demand that *they* talk to Philips themselves to establish what the position is, while you wait on the telephone on hold, because you can't get access to anyone at Philips who will give you a straight answer. Specifically, has there been a levy? And should Philips still be trying to levy you, when the Council has instructed them to talk to you about a payments plan?

 

If you really can't get any sense out of Parking, ask them whether the Council has an "in-house debt management team" or similar you could talk to instead, and also full details of the Council's complaints/customer services team, that you may also be able to talk to by telephone, since this is an emergency.

 

If Philips are threatening to break your door down, you need to get this stopped.

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They have never been inside my property only tried to push their way past my wife.(unprofessional conduct and harrassment).

 

It is not a magistrates fine so they have no power of entry other than peaceful entry.

 

They are doing my head in with their level of comeptence.

 

One more thing can parking charges be included in a DMP?

 

Thanks

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Hi again

 

With reference to bailiffs and DCA's i understand their is case law that states it is the local authority that are ultimately responsible for the companies they instruct behaviour and actions when collecting on accounts.

 

Does anyone know which one this is?

 

Thanks

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It's a basic principle of the law of agency in English law ("vicarious liability"). The debt is still owned by the council, the bailiffs are acting as their agents.

 

If you bring something wrong with their agent to the Council's attention (and, sometimes, even if you don't), and they do nothing to put it right, then you can sue the Council for your loss.

 

Another also practical form of responsibility is that if you make a formal complaint about the Council's agents (head it formal complaint, address it to the compaints unit, copy to the chief executive), they have a duty to investigate it. If the stage 1 response is not satisfactory when it returns after a fortnight, you can escalate it to stage 2, and then stage 3 (Chief Executive level); and if at that stage you still don't get a response you consider satisfactory, you can take it to the Local Government Ombudsman, who have the power if required to make the Council totally re-write its systems.

 

If you're going down this route, you may want to also talk to the CAB or a councillor.

 

That's the theory, anyway. But no doubt there are people here who can also quote cases. And obviously, the more you know, the more power that gives you at every stage of the journey.

 

Thurrock was a nice one recently, where the LA, under impending pressure from the LGO, agreed to refund everybody who'd paid a contractor (Vertex Ltd.) an unlawful fee.

Local Government Ombudsman • Thurrock Council charged illegal fee for council tax payment plan

 

Anybody got any other nice choice examples?

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