VCS/BW ANPR PCNclaimform - St Andrews Retail park - statute barred

[MikeebEos]

HI All,

 

I wondered if anyone can help me.

 

I recently received a small claims court summons from BW Legal for a parking charge for £100 dated 07/12/2012. The sum they now claim has risen to £273.

 

I did not know anything about this and have never received a parking ticket or any correspondence whatsoever.

 

In the particulars of the claim, they refer to the PCN dated 07/12/2012 and the issue date of the claim form was 28/12/2018

 

I obviously thought this was a statute barred debt as 6 years have passed and filed a defence to that effect. I have now received a letter this morning stating that they are continuing with the claim?

 

Please can someone let me know why a Legal firm would continue with a claim that is "Statute Barred" am I missing something or do they know something i dont? Why would they waste their time, my time and the courts time chasing something that they have no right or legal recourse to do so

 

Any help or advice would be very welcome

 

Cheers

[renegadeimp]

Simple. Go to mcol. Ack the claim form then submit the statute barred defence you can find on here.

 

They're doing the usual trick of hoping y don't know what to do and let the claim form progress. If they don't think it's statute barred then your defence forces them to prove it or discontinue.

 

Remember. These are rent a sols. They thrive on misleading people and bad business practices.

[MikeebEos]

HI Renegadimp,

 

Thanks for the fast response.

 

I have logged onto MCOL and filed a defence - this is what I submitted...

 

1 The Claimant's claim was issued on 28/12/2018

 

2 The Claimant contends that the Claimant's claim so issued is a claim in contract and is statute barred pursuant to the provisions of section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980. If, which is denied, the claimant contends that the Defendant is in breach of the alleged contract, in excess of 6 years have elapsed since the date on which any cause of action for breach accrued for the benefit of the Claimant.

 

3 The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £273 or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.

 

I BELIEVE THAT THE CONTENTS OF THIS DEFENCE ARE TRUE.

 

Signed:

 

Dated:

 

 

They have seen my defence filed at court and that is why I am confused as to why I received a letter this morning saying they are continuing with the claim. Why would they do that if they know they wont win???

[renegadeimp]

Ignore it. Just stick to the court timeframes. If they're going to continue then you'll get a letter off the court in the post when they file their paperwork.

 

Let them dig a hole for themselves. Meanwhile do your homework and be 100% sure of the sb claim.

 

99% of people buckle when sols get involved as they think they're the same kind of sols that perform complex legal cases. These aren't anywhere near the same. Once you realise that then the worry is over

[AndyOrch]

Thread title amended and moved to the appropriate forum..please continue to post here to your thread.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[fkofilee]

Remember. These are rent a sols. They thrive on misleading people and bad business practices.

 

I can personally atest to this... This is the right advice here...

You may need to do a Witness Statement at somepoint and you will recieve a Directions Question Sheet. Once you get each let us know.

 

Imp is right, They are a Solis who dont really take time to assess the claim properly and do bulk litigation.

Let it play out.

[dx100uk]

the bw letter is auogenerated means nothing.

who is the CLAIMANT.

 

unless they discontinue before hand

you must still attend any court hearing

though I suspect they'll just let it get stayed.

[AndyOrch]

Could you please complete the following then we have all the details of the debt and court claim in order to offer further advice.

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?465231-Received-a-Court-Claim-From-A-Private-parking-Speculative-invoice-How-To-Deal-With-It-HERE***Updated-Aug-2016***

 

Andy

[lookinforinfo]

I am not sure when a speculative invoice become s a debt but am pretty sure it would have been some time after the issue date of the first notice.

Assuming it was not a windscreen ticket, the Notice to Keeper had up to 14 days to arrive and then you would have had about a month in which to pay. Does it become a debt after that date? I don't know but might account for BW carrying on with the case.

 

I think it safer to work on the notion that it was not statute barred on the 7th and work hard to come up with another reason why you don't owe

anything which I am pretty sure can be done.

You could check with the DVLA and see what address they had for you at that time and when they received a demand for your address around that time from the parking company. I doubt that they will tell you what car park was involved but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

Once you know the car park you can check with the local council and see if they had planning permission to erect their Notices and ANPR cameras under Town and Country advertisements regulations. Without PP their Notices are illegal and incapable of offering a contract with the motorist.

You do need copies of all correspondence from the parking company to see if their Notices complied with POFA as it only came into force in October 2012.

Please complete the form that Andyorch asked for asap since time is running out and it would be a pity if you had to pay for something when you had a perfectly good defence. [And as I said, I don't think statute barred is a defence].

[dx100uk]

no its statute barred, it doesn't have to and no such thing as become a 'debt' for it to goto court.

the claim will say unpaid parking charge.

[MikeebEos]

Hi Andyorch

 

Here are the details as requested......

 

 

Name of the Claimant: Vehicle Control Services Ltd

claimants Solicitors: BW Legal

 

Date of issue – 28/12/2018 l

 

Particulars of Claim:

1.The Claimants claim is for the sum of £100 being the monies due from the Defendant to the Claimant in respect of a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued on 07/12/2012 (issue date) at 16:26:32 at St Andrews Retail park Anpr Vcs scheme std (60-100). The PCN relates to under registration [removed]

 

2.the terms of the PCN allowed the defendant 28 days from the issue date to pay the PCN but the defendant failed to do so.

Despite demand having being made, the defendant has failed to settle their outstanding liability.

 

3.The claim also includes statutory interest pursuant to section 69 of the county courts act 1984 at a rate of 8% per annum a daily rate of 0.02 from 07/12/2012 to 24/12/2018 being an amount of £44.18 The Claimant also claims £54 contractual costs pursuant to PCN terms & conditions

 

What is the value of the claim?

PCN £100

interest £44.18

Contractual costs £54

Court fee

Legal reps fee £50

Total = £273.18

 

Has the claim been issued by the Private parking Company or was the PCN assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim - Vehicle Control Services. I have never heard of them or received any letters from them. As far as I am aware - it has all been through BW legal

 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? No

Edited January 26, 2019 by dx100uk
remove reg no/format

[Ethel Street]

The vehicle registration number you quote in your post, was it ever your vehicle? Did you own it at the date of the alleged PCN, 7/12/2012? When did you stop owning it?

[MikeebEos]

The vehicle quoted was once mine, but I do not ever recall going to St Andrews retail park on said date. The vehicle went for scrap in 2013

[dx100uk]

thread retitled for clarity.

reg number removed for anonymity

[lookinforinfo]

no its statute barred, it doesn't have to and no such thing as become a 'debt' for it to goto court.

the claim will say unpaid parking charge.

 

Well I hope you are right but I thought that the the timing for a simple contract to be Statute Barred starts with the cause for action. I would not have thought that that would be the date of the alleged infringement - even before the motorist knows that a problem has occurred.

Much more likely that it would be some time in the future when demands have been made, reminders sent out and the next step is to threaten Court which could possibly be the cause of action.

 

Other things to think about is what is VCS' policy on Data Protection-how long before they should delete motorists data. And around that time

Excel and VCS were doing double acts in carparks and losing every time when challenged in Court. Was this one of those car parks?

[dx100uk]

no look at all the PPC claimform threads here

its the date of the 'offence' for want of a different word.

[ericsbrother]

the date that is important is the date of the event so it is SB. It is the date for the CAUSE FOR ACTION. same would apply if you fell down a drain, the date you did that is what counts, not the date you got out og hospital and wrote to the council for the first time.

also why ahve you left t so late to seek clarification on this as you have a limited tiem to acknowledge the service of the claim and then to put in your outline defence.

 

The defence you have drafted above should be tidied up to reflect the simple statement of SB and then puit in any case it is denied the defendant ever entered into a contract with the claimant to give acuase for action.

 

You can go back to mcol to tweak this if you are quick enough

Anyways if i the relevant date was the date of servicer of the nTK they are still too late.