EXCEL/BW Claimform - PCN Feb 2015 Car Park in Keighley (West Yorks) off Cavendish Street

[Heaton]

Hi..new to this Forum

 

My wife just received a letter from BW Legal on Saturday,

pretty much the standard £154 1st letter most have received.

 

The background to ours, is my wife couldn't get the machine to take the money

& assumed she had 15 minute grace...she didn't.

 

Got the letter of Excel around the end of Feb last year..

ignored it as many had advised.

 

 

..then upto Sept last year received the normal letters from Rossendale & others, again after doing a lot of reading.

.never responded and just ignored.

 

 

Question is, what to do this time

...15 month after it happened. ?

 

Cheers for any help/advice

[ericsbrother]

as you have ignored so far then you can ignore this.

 

Tell us more about the wheres and whens and we can be more specific.

 

 

Nevr ignore a lba or county court claim form though.

[Heaton]

Its a Excel Car Park in Keighley (West Yorks) off Cavendish Street,

there was some dispute about the fact that they may not have had planning permissions.

..not sure if that matters.

 

 

It was a postal notification to my wife,

I read a lot of these type of forums & knew what to expect letter wise and just ignored it

& thought it had gone away (over 6 month ago).

 

 

Now this lot have appeared with there Standard £154 letter,

so I was wondering what course of action to take & also have they gone further with other people...like court ?

 

No, I realise that if it gets to a 100% threat of court I must do something about it.

[ericsbrother]

ask yourself why it has gone up to £154 as the only way money can be added to a true deb

t is by way of an agreement under the Consumer Credit Act.

 

 

As you didnt sign a credit agreement at the time then this claim must be suspect and treated for what it is,

a begging letter from a bunch of chancers.

 

 

BW are paid to send out scary letters and they add a few quid on for themselves

as they believe that people will often just pay up withour asking any questions if the amount is not excessive.

 

 

Make it more than £200 and people start to dissent.

They cant take you to court and the parking co can only sue for the amount agreed.

 

 

Again, that doesnt stop them trying but they rely on the above tactic

to get people to pay up rather then dispute the claim. J

 

 

udges dont like this behaviour and will award full costs to anyone seeing off a claim based on this confection.

[Heaton]

"Lets hope so" totally agree there. ericsbrother,

 

 

could you please explain to me the exact timelines on receiving the 1st notification through the post.

 

 

Does it have to be within 14 days, or is the 14 days the timescale they have to get your info from DVLA ?

[ericsbrother]

If using anpr they have to issue the NTK within 12 days and they get 2 days for service of the letter

so 14 days after the date of the event to get it on your doormat.

 

If they are slapping a ticket on the car they have to send out the NTK between 29 and 56 days after the date of the event.

 

Any sooner or later and no keeper liability can be formed.

 

so a NTK dated less then 28 days after the event (plus 1 day for postie to make 29) is not a lawful demand

[Heaton]

Thanks for that,

as its been over 14 month since we received the 1st letter.

.I need to check on the exact date.

 

As I or my wife have had absolutely no correspondence with anyone throughout this,

what is your gut feeling on their next step?

[ericsbrother]

well,

if they threaten any further action ask for "strict proof" of their claim by means of sight of the contract with the landowner that allows them to make claims,

 

copy of the planning permission for their signage and other equipment,

 

copy of the NTD, NTK and the proof of postage for the latter

[Heaton]

Ok that's great...is there a generic letter on this site that just needs my info putting on ?

[ericsbrother]

no, just come back here if you get another letter.

 

For the moment save your ink and stamps.

 

Excel often forget who they are and their contracts are signed by another company so they dont have any rights.

 

They will try and claim otherwise but that has been seen through and rejected by a court so they wont want to get bitten twice.

[Heaton]

Just got another on Saturday with new inflated fee.

 

Now headed Letter of Claim and still saying pay to avoid legal action.

 

As with Zipadidoodah, any advice please ?

 

 

H

[ericsbrother]

so you did nothing in the interim that would change what you need to say?

If so, this last letter is a warning prior to making a court claim.

 

They are very busy doing this at the moment so now respond asking for "strict proof" of liability as no keeper liability has been created because of their failure to follow the protocols of the PoFA.

 

In the meanwhile please supply a copy of the contract between the landowner and your client that assigns the right to eneter into contracts with the public and a referenec number for the planning permission for their signage and ticket machines at the site in question.

 

this request is made under CPR 31.2 and the said documents should be sent before any claim is made to the courts or within 14 days, whichever is the sooner.

 

Any claim will be rigourously defended and a full costs application made as the claim is vex.

 

Hopefully that will shut them up and they will go after some other poor sod.

 

If not come back and we will try and advise what to do next.

Edited June 13, 2016 by honeybee13
Paras.

[Heaton]

ericsbrother...many thanks for that. I will draft a response and if its ok put it up on here (covering personal details) to see if it looks as it should.

 

Is there a generic letter already out there ?

 

H

[ericsbrother]

you have your letter in the above post.

There cannot be a generic letter because your circumstances are different to most

 

now post up their latest letter so we can be sure what stage things are at,

 

 

I would rather that they spent their money chasing you than you spending yours saying things you dont need to yet.

[Heaton]

Ok, will do later on this evening...at work at the moment.

 

 

Thanks for the advice

 

 

H

[Heaton]

ericsbrother, attachments as discussed. The latest letter received 11th June 2016, and my take on the letter I should send back. Your comments and advice are most welcome

bwlegal - Letter of Claim_NEW.pdf

Excel - BWL.pdf

[ericsbrother]

It is not a lba under civil procedure rules but you dont defeat a claim just because they arent doing their job properly.

 

 

However, it may be prudent to send them the foff letter just to let them know that you do love them really

and are only ignoring them because they are contemptible.

[Heaton]

Ok,..though I still don't really want to raise my head above the parapet. You think I should reply, and is the letter ok...short but to the point

[ericsbrother]

yes, as said, it creates a paper trail and then ny court action by them can be considered vex if they have ignored your correspondence

[Heaton]

Ok will send it then, does it need to be recorded delivery...or just 2nd class and takes 10 days to arrive like theirs did!

[ericsbrother]

just 2nd class.

 

 

Get proof of posting for fee from PO counter if you wish,

however, the law says it is delivered 2 days after being posted

so even if they say they didnt get it that is their hard luck.

 

 

You have a copy on your computer so they are unlikely to want and make themselves look incompetent in front of others.

[Heaton]

Ok, many thanks for your help....much appreciated.

[Heaton]

Just short of a month later received the attached letter, in a very scruffy handwritten envelope..

 

Thoughts and next step please

Parking Letter_NEW.pdf

[ericsbrother]

Well, they have got the legal precedent wrong and I thus suggest that they are trying to impress you with utter cobblers.

 

They are also wrong about their insistence that "strict liability" has nothing to do with civil claims.

 

No doubt, if you sued then and asked for documents under CPR 31.2 they would say that as well.

 

All just words to frighten you with no actual substance.

 

Ignore

[Heaton]

Thanks for that,

must admit because its been a month I mistakenly thought it was done with.

 

The letter that came was very strange,

in that as I said the envelope had our details hand written in red ink & in very scruffy handwriting.

 

And the letter itself,

the header page was a lot thicker than the 2nd..

.nothing I know but I found it very un-professional.

So safe to ignore then..brilliant