Jump to content


  • Tweets

  • Posts

    • Well barristers would say that in the hope that motorists would go to them for advice -obviously paid advice.  The problem with appealing is at least twofold. 1] there is a real danger that some part of the appeal will point out that the person appealing [the keeper ] is also the driver.  And in a lot of cases the last thing the keeper wants when they are also the driver is that the parking company knows that. It makes it so much easier for them as the majority  of Judges do not accept that the keeper and the driver are the same person for obvious reasons. Often they are not the same person especially when it is a family car where the husband, wife and children are all insured to drive the same car. On top of that  just about every person who has a valid insurance policy is able to drive another person's vehicle. So there are many possibilities and it should be up to the parking company to prove it to some extent.  Most parking company's do not accept appeals under virtually any circumstances. But insist that you carry on and appeal to their so called impartial jury who are often anything but impartial. By turning down that second appeal, many motorists pay up because they don't know enough about PoFA to argue with those decisions which brings us to the second problem. 2] the major parking companies are mostly unscrupulous, lying cheating scrotes. So when you appeal and your reasons look as if they would have merit in Court, they then go about  concocting a Witness Statement to debunk that challenge. We feel that by leaving what we think are the strongest arguments to our Member's Witness Statements, it leaves insufficient time to be thwarted with their lies etc. And when the motorists defence is good enough to win, it should win regardless of when it is first produced.   
    • S13 (2)The creditor may not exercise the right under paragraph 4 to recover from the keeper any unpaid parking charges specified in the notice to keeper if, within the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which that notice was given, the creditor is given— (a)a statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement; (b)a copy of the hire agreement; and (c)a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement. As  Arval has complied with the above they cannot be pursued by EC----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S14 [1]   the creditor may recover those charges (so far as they remain unpaid) from the hirer. (2)The conditions are that— (a)the creditor has within the relevant period given the hirer a notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (5) (a “notice to hirer”), together with a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2) and the notice to keeper; (b)a period of 21 days beginning with the day on which the notice to hirer was given has elapsed;  As ECP did not send copies of the documents to your company and they have given 28 days instead of 21 days they have failed to comply with  the Act so you and your Company are absolved from paying. That is not to say that they won't continue asking to be paid as they do not have the faintest idea how PoFA works. 
    • Euro have got a lot wrong and have failed to comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4.  According to Section 13 after ECP have written to Arval they should then send a NTH to the Hirer  which they have done.This eliminates Arval from any further pursuit by ECP. When they wrote to your company they should have sent copies of everything that they asked Arval for. This is to prove that your company agree what happened on the day of the breach. If ECP then comply with the Act they are allowed to pursue the hirer. If they fail, to comply they cannot make the hirer pay. They can pursue until they are blue in the face but the Hirer is not lawfully required to pay them and if it went to Court ECP would lose. Your company could say who was driving but the only person that can be pursued is the Hirer, there does not appear to be an extension for a driver to be pursued. Even if there was, because ECP have failed miserably to comply with the Act  they still have no chance of winning in Court. Here are the relevant Hire sections from the Act below.
    • Thank-you FTMDave for your feedback. May I take this opportunity to say that after reading numerous threads to which you are a contributor, I have great admiration for you. You really do go above and beyond in your efforts to help other people. The time you put in to help, in particular with witness statements is incredible. I am also impressed by the way in which you will defer to others with more experience should there be a particular point that you are not 100% clear on and return with answers or advice that you have sought. I wish I had the ability to help others as you do. There is another forum expert that I must also thank for his time and patience answering my questions and allowing me to come to a “penny drops” moment on one particular issue. I believe he has helped me immensely to understand and to strengthen my own case. I shall not mention who it is here at the moment just in case he would rather I didn't but I greatly appreciate the time he took working through that issue with me. I spent 20+ years of working in an industry that rules and regulations had to be strictly adhered to, indeed, exams had to be taken in order that one had to become qualified in those rules and regulations in order to carry out the duties of the post. In a way, such things as PoFA 2012 are rules and regulations that are not completely alien to me. It has been very enjoyable for me to learn these regulations and the law surrounding them. I wish I had found this forum years ago. I admit that perhaps I had been too keen to express my opinions given that I am still in the learning process. After a suitable period in this industry I became Qualified to teach the rules and regulations and I always said to those I taught that there is no such thing as a stupid question. If opinions, theories and observations are put forward, discussion can take place and as long as the result is that the student is able to clearly see where they went wrong and got to that moment where the penny drops then that is a valuable learning experience. No matter how experienced one is, there is always something to learn and if I did not know the answer to a question, I would say, I don't know the answer to that question but I will go and find out what the answer is. In any posts I have made, I have stated, “unless I am wrong” or “as far as I can see” awaiting a response telling me what I got wrong, if it was wrong. If I am wrong I am only too happy to admit it and take it as a valuable learning experience. I take the point that perhaps I should not post on other peoples threads and I shall refrain from doing so going forward. 🤐 As alluded to, circumstances can change, FTMDave made the following point that it had been boasted that no Caggers, over two years, who had sent a PPC the wrong registration snotty letter, had even been taken to court, let alone lost a court hearing .... but now they have. I too used the word "seemed" because it is true, we haven't had all the details. After perusing this forum I believe certain advice changed here after the Beavis case, I could be wrong but that is what I seem to remember reading. Could it be that after winning the above case in question, a claimant could refer back to this case and claim that a defendant had not made use of the appeal process, therefore allowing the claimant to win? Again, in this instance only, I do not know what is to be gained by not making an appeal or concealing the identity of the driver, especially if it is later admitted that the defendant was the driver and was the one to input the incorrect VRN in error. So far no one has educated me as to the reason why. But, of course, when making an appeal, it should be worded carefully so that an error in the appeal process cannot be referred back to. I thought long and hard about whether or not to post here but I wanted to bring up this point for discussion. Yes, I admit I have limited knowledge, but does that mean I should have kept silent? After I posted that I moved away from this forum slightly to find other avenues to increase my knowledge. I bought a law book and am now following certain lawyers on Youtube in the hope of arming myself with enough ammunition to use in my own case. In one video titled “7 Reasons You Will LOSE Your Court Case (and how to avoid them)” by Black Belt Barrister I believe he makes my point by saying the following, and I quote: “If you ignore the complaint in the first instance and it does eventually end up in court then it's going to look bad that you didn't co-operate in the first place. The court is not going to look kindly on you simply ignoring the company and not, let's say, availing yourself of any kind of appeal opportunities, particularly if we are talking about parking charge notices and things like that.” This point makes me think that, it is not such a bizarre judgement in the end. Only in the case of having proof of payment and inputting an incorrect VRN .... could it be worthwhile making a carefully worded appeal in the first instance? .... If the appeal fails, depending on the reason, surely this could only help if it went to court? As always, any feedback gratefully received.
    • To which official body does one make a formal complaint about a LPA fixed charge receiver? Does one make a complaint first to the company employing the appointed individuals?    Or can one complain immediately to an official body, such as nara?    I've tried researching but there doesn't seem a very clear route on how to legally hold them to account for wrongful behaviour.  It seems frustratingly complicated because they are considered to be officers of the court and held in high esteem - and the borrower is deemed liable for their actions.  Yet what does the borrower do when disclosure shows clear evidence of wrong-doing? Does anyone have any pointers please?
  • Recommended Topics

  • Our picks

    • If you are buying a used car – you need to read this survival guide.
      • 1 reply
    • Hello,

      On 15/1/24 booked appointment with Big Motoring World (BMW) to view a mini on 17/1/24 at 8pm at their Enfield dealership.  

      Car was dirty and test drive was two circuits of roundabout on entry to the showroom.  Was p/x my car and rushed by sales exec and a manager into buying the mini and a 3yr warranty that night, sale all wrapped up by 10pm.  They strongly advised me taking warranty out on car that age (2017) and confirmed it was honoured at over 500 UK registered garages.

      The next day, 18/1/24 noticed amber engine warning light on dashboard , immediately phoned BMW aftercare team to ask for it to be investigated asap at nearest garage to me. After 15 mins on hold was told only their 5 service centres across the UK can deal with car issues with earliest date for inspection in March ! Said I’m not happy with that given what sales team advised or driving car. Told an amber warning light only advisory so to drive with caution and call back when light goes red.

      I’m not happy to do this, drive the car or with the after care experience (a sign of further stresses to come) so want a refund and to return the car asap.

      Please can you advise what I need to do today to get this done. 
       

      Many thanks 
      • 81 replies
    • Housing Association property flooding. https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/438641-housing-association-property-flooding/&do=findComment&comment=5124299
      • 161 replies
    • We have finally managed to obtain the transcript of this case.

      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.
      This is generally speaking the problem with using PackLink who are domiciled in Spain and very conveniently out of reach of the British justice system.

      Frankly I don't think that is any accident.

      One of the points that the judge made was that the customers contract with the broker specifically refers to the courier – and it is clear that the courier knows that they are acting for a third party. There is no need to name the third party. They just have to be recognisably part of a class of person – such as a sender or a recipient of the parcel.

      Please note that a recent case against UPS failed on exactly the same issue with the judge held that the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 did not apply.

      We will be getting that transcript very soon. We will look at it and we will understand how the judge made such catastrophic mistakes. It was a very poor judgement.
      We will be recommending that people do include this adverse judgement in their bundle so that when they go to county court the judge will see both sides and see the arguments against this adverse judgement.
      Also, we will be to demonstrate to the judge that we are fair-minded and that we don't mind bringing everything to the attention of the judge even if it is against our own interests.
      This is good ethical practice.

      It would be very nice if the parcel delivery companies – including EVRi – practised this kind of thing as well.

       

      OT APPROVED, 365MC637, FAROOQ, EVRi, 12.07.23 (BRENT) - J v4.pdf
        • Like
  • Recommended Topics

British gas switch woes


style="text-align: center;">  

Thread Locked

because no one has posted on it for the last 2510 days.

If you need to add something to this thread then

 

Please click the "Report " link

 

at the bottom of one of the posts.

 

If you want to post a new story then

Please

Start your own new thread

That way you will attract more attention to your story and get more visitors and more help 

 

Thanks

Recommended Posts

Hi folks,

 

looking for any advice/info. Apologies in advance - this is all a bit long winded !!

 

We switched suppliers from BG last year. Supplied meter readings when we did etc.

We were paying BG by monthly direct debit.

We switched November last year and the supplies were swooped around the 18th and 20 th Dec last year. (we were getting gas and electricity from them).

 

Earlier this year I got a mail from BG saying we owed them £430.

Next day another email saying we owe £260. Later that day another saying £589.

 

I contacted them via email/message and asked what was going on and asked if they could explain how we could owe so much when we are paying with a monthly direct debit. When I submitted the query I also supplied more meter readings as the website asked.

First reply gave me dates they stopped supplying gas/electricity and asked me to confirm meter readings. Same email said that they would re-issue a final bill.

 

Replied to this and explained I gave readings when I made the enquiry as requested.

 

Next email apologised for the delay, said a final bill had been issued but that the meter readings didn't match up correctly They also said something about sending the readings to the new supplier.

To be honest it wasnt clear at all what they were saying.

I replied and asked for clarification. (Never got a reply to this)

 

The same day I get a mail from my bank saying I was going to go overdrawn. When I checked it turns out BG were trying to take money using the direct debit setup.

They had already taken 2 payments (around £60 and around £150) and now they were trying to take a further £330.

These were all taken in separate payments.

I contacted the bank and stopped the final £330 one and contacted replied to the BG email again.

 

Couple of days went by and still no replies - so I started another complaint explaining the whole chain of events and suggested they were in breach of the DD guarantee because they had not notified me of the change in payment amount. I further complained that I thought it was out of order for them to let the account get so far out of whack re payments and that they should have advised me sooner and adjusted the monthly payments accordingly.

 

They say they did advise me of the DD amount so because they sent me a bill via email. They also sent me a breakdown of units used and payments made. They also said that this left a further outstanding £36 or so but they would waive this and the account was now at 0.00

This of course didn't take into account the fact that I had stopped the £330 payment. (Which was showing in the payment breakdown)

 

I replied to this and said that their suggestion that I was told about the change in DD amount was not valid since I had no less than 3 bills from them before the monies were taken. I then received another 2 after that. How was I ever going to know which was the "real" bill !?

I've now had a couple of mails telling me they are looking into it and some follow ups saying the person dealing with the case is out of office currently and other such wibble.

Also they have tried to ring me a couple of times but I really don't want to discuss this over the phone with them.

At the same time I also have another dept from BG harassing me (via email AND telephone) because I have cancelled the DD and they say that I owe around £330. Both of these seem to ring when im not in and refuse to speak to my partner !

 

I'm not trying to get out of paying what I owe but at the same time them taking that cash w/o warning has screwed me up a bit. (Though fortunately the bank didn't charge for this).

And i'm less than content with phone calls from 2 different depts. and general poor handling of this whole situation.

 

Anyone offer any advice or anything for all of this ?

 

Thanks in advance

Link to post
Share on other sites

Have you actually registered a formal complaint ? Unless you tell them it is a complaint, it won't be treated as such and would delay you going to the Ombudsman if you wanted to.

 

You really need copies of all bills over say the last 2 years, so you can see what bills were based on actual readings and which were based on estimates. Then you can see how any arrears have built up, because you were making DD payments based on estimates which were below actual usage. Ask BG for copies of statements, using a subject access request if necessary.

 

I don't quite understand why the final bill has been such a mess. Normally when you switch suppliers, you provide readings to both current and new suppliers. Your current suppliers just work out what is owed, compared to the readings estimate or actual on the previous statement. Given the largish amount, it sounds like no actual readings have been done for at least 6 months.

We could do with some help from you.

PLEASE HELP US TO KEEP THIS SITE RUNNING EVERY POUND DONATED WILL HELP US TO KEEP HELPING OTHERS

 

 Have we helped you ...?         Please Donate button to the Consumer Action Group

 

If you want advice on your thread please PM me a link to your thread

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply !

 

i made the complaints via the british gas website. I dont have 2 years worth of blls and I believe its a paperless account.

The DD amount was whatever they said it was going to be though.

 

£589 is a significant discrepancy though. But regardless of that not actually telling me they would try and take it couple with the harassment from their debt collection dept are really only compounding my frustration.

 

I dont know why its all been such a mess either - it all seemed quite straightforward to me - but it turns out not to have been !

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Further to this (a mere 2 months later) BG have finally attempted to explain what happened. Its around 3 pages worth of waffle as far as I can see.

What it doesnt do is explain why it was OK to try and take almost £600 over the course of 3 days without proper notice. (Although it does attempt to explain WHY it was 3 separate payments).

Neither does it explain why the account could need such a significant final balance (That is to say why given they were getting meter readings they didnt increase the monthly DD amount).

At least I dont think it explains this. Its so long winded its untrue. Seems to me that if its taken 2 months for them to figure this all out then I didnt stand a hope of

a. being able to figure out what went on myself

b. know that 3 payments would be taken from my account over the course of 3 consecutive days.

 

Not really sure exactly how to reply now though - as I mentioned it was such a long and drawn out reply its hard work - more than it should be !

Link to post
Share on other sites

can we help..

 

 

scan it up to ONE multipage PDF..

upload

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

This still hasn't been resolved. Last but one mail from BG told me that my complaints had been resolved.

I replied and explained they had not since they still had not acknowledged they have broken the direct debit rules. (IE not given me notice of a change in payment) since the bill amount was different to the amount taken and there were actually 3 payments taken not 1. (As well as the fact that the last mail from them prior to taking these 3 payments was they would contact me with a final bill).

 

I've also asked them to explain why there was such a discrepancy. I provided meter readings when asked so they have have increased the monthly payment amount so there would not be such a deficit. They said this is because they only adjust the figures once per year. I suggested this too was unacceptable.

 

I've never actually disputed the amount - just the way in which it was taken.

 

So I suggested based on the mistakes they have made, and stress and inconvenience they have caused taking such a large payment they should offer some kind of recompense. They have offered me 20% from the outstanding amount. (Which personally I think is a joke considering how long this has all taken).

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 Caggers

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Have we helped you ...?


×
×
  • Create New...