Received BW Legal Letter re. Excel Parking PCN from 2011

[sunwheel]

Hi.

 

I have received the, seemingly standard, BW Legal £154 letter relating to a ticket received in November 2011.

 

This "car park" was a piece of unused land just outside the centre of Sheffield

which, as far as I was aware was owned by a Chinese restaurant adjacent to the land.

 

My band was playing a gig at a pub also adjacent to the land and, as we had done many times before, we left my car on the land as we played the gig.

 

At the end of the evening we came out to find an excel PCN slapped on the windscreen.

 

We then discovered that there was a little car park sign and a meter on the other side of the piece of land, next to the road, not near an entrance.

 

The land has now been built on and is no longer a car park.

 

I received numerous letters and ignored each of them.

Annoyingly, I don't think I kept any of them.

 

The advice on here seems to be to ignore the BW letter so I'll do that and let you know when the next one arrives.

 

If this isn't the correct course of action be massively grateful if someone could let me know!

 

Cheers!

[Oddfellow]

They can't come after you as the driver, as they (presumably) don't know who that was, and they can't come after you as the keeper, as it pre-dates the law (Protection of Freedoms Act 2012) that allows them to do so.

If they can't prove who it was, they can't sue you. But if they take it to court (probably many steps down the line), if you don't defend it they could end up with a default judgment no matter what the circumstances of the case.

 

 

Others will advise on exactly what you should do, and at what stage.

[dx100uk]

Pers I'd be sending the one line denial letter

 

Dx

[ericsbrother]

yep, a response will let them know you arent ignorant of their behaviour.

 

Read the other posts but something on the lines of

 

no contract has ever been formed between myself as the keeper of the vehicle reg xx00yyy and your client so no monies can ever be due to them in this respect.

 

If you dont respond they will think that by slapping you with a N1 claim you will then wet yourself and send them a cheque for whatever amount they ask for to avoid court.

 

It is a percentages game for them,

very few will get as far as a court hearing

so having a paper trail that shows you have told them what is what will mean that if they do try their luck you can get a full costs recovery order for their unreasonableness

[sunwheel]

Thanks guys.

 

I'll get that sent tomorrow.

[sunwheel]

Hiya.

 

Received this response this morning:

 

"we note your statement that no contract has been entered into: our client's response to your statement is detailed below.

 

"When parking on private land a motorist freely enters into an agreement to abide by the conditions of parking i return for permission to park. It is the motorist's responsibility to ensure that he or she abides by any clearly displayed conditions of parking.

 

"The terms and conditions of the car park require a valid pay and display ticket or permit to be displayed, or the motorist would face liability for a parking charge.

 

"You state that no contract has been entered into by you as registered keeper of the vehicle. As details of the driver have not been forthcoming to suggest otherwise, our client, in the absence of the driver's details, reasonably presumes you were the driver and we refer you to the case of Elliott v Loake [1982]"

 

It then goes on to detail the "contravention" and suggests a payment within 7 days or they will "take our clients instruction to initiate County Court proceedings against you for recovery of the balance".

 

Interesting that all references to the car park and its signs are in the present tense - as if they don't realise the car park no longer exists.

 

Now, is this one to ignore or should I respond again? Thanks again for any advice!

[dx100uk]

everyone that sent a denial letter

has gotten a reply in the last few days

if you go look at other bw threads here

 

 

safe to let it run

no need to reply.

 

 

dx

[sunwheel]

Ooh. This is new.

 

Today I received a pack of photographs of my car and the car park, accompanied by a letter saying that, if I don't contact them within seven days, they may seek their clients instructions which may result in further legal action and costs blah blah.

 

Ignore?

[dx100uk]

you sent the denial letter

if/if not they goto court is potluck

 

 

just don't ignore a claimform

[ericsbrother]

MAY.

Even if they do, what are they going to do about it?

They cant claim you are liable as keeper and they know they are on to a hiding to nothing.

 

You cant be expected to name a driver after 6 months for local authority charging purposes so 5 years later is a hopeless wish.

 

However, the lawyers dont suffer the loss,

the client (and to an extent you as well) picks up the tab.

 

I really doubt that Excel will want to throw good money at this,

they know the chances of winning a defended claim are zero,

it is just a hope that you may pay up and then all their effort hasnt been wasted.

[sunwheel]

As I suspected but thanks a million for taking the time to put my mind at rest.

 

It does seem a bit desperate to be sending a pack of photographs at this late stage!