Court Claim/BWLegal Please advise

[MayaForrest]

Hi there,
Received Court Claim, I have acknowledged the claim. Issue date 3rd June. Claimant Brittania Parking through BWlegal

31st October 2018 driver parked in a small parking area been frequenting there for 30 years, dark, 10.00pm at night. Entrance sign faces outwards so when turning right into parking area sign is not seen. All signs are on one side of the parking area only. Driver parked facing opposite those signs (signs behind driver) signs not illuminated so were not seen by driver. 20 minute stay only, driver completely unaware of this having parked there freely for 30 years to visit same indian restaurant been visiting for 30 years. No signage seen, inadequate signage for 10.00pm at night in winter.
PCN received. Appeal to Brittania Parking explaining situation, appeal rejected. Appeal then to POPLA long, detailed with photographs showing layout of signage plus how dark it is in October - appeal rejected. POPLA said the photographs were never received so they could not take them as evidence.
Letter before action received - joined this forum previous thread entitled "Letter of Claim received from bwlegal Please advise thankyou!"

took advice especially from CHARITYNJW VIP MEMBER who quoted this from BPA Code of Practice

18.10 Where there is a change in the terms and conditions that materially affects the motorist then you must make these terms and conditions clear on your signage. Where such changes impose liability where none previously existed then you must consider a transition to allow regular visitors to the site to adjust and familiarise themselves with the changes. Best practice would be the installation of additional/temporary signage at the entrance and throughout the site making it clear that new terms and conditions apply. This will ensure such that regular visitors who may be familiar with the previous terms become aware of the new ones.

Responded to letter before action quoting this plus sending all photographs. Told them I am disputing the claim. They replied saying Brittania issued the PCN correctly and they have already rejected my appeal. They said they are happy to negotiate payment with me otherwise they will proceed to court action. Court claim arrived yesterday.

Please could you advise me on formulating my defense. I presume I have til the end of the month to do this?

Many thanks
Maya

[MayaForrest]

Received a claim? Yes/No: Yes
Issue Date: 3rd June 2019
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: Yes
Total Amount Claimed : £300
Claimant’s Name: Brittania Parking Group
Solicitors Firm: BW Legal

[Amethyst]

charitynjw ostell Tagging for you xx

You need to acknowledge the claim within 14 days so make sure you do that so you have the full time available for your defence.

[MayaForrest]

charitynjw ostell Tagging for you xx

You need to acknowledge the claim within 14 days so make sure you do that so you have the full time available for your defence.

Yes, thankyou did that this morning via the money claim website so looking for help with defense.

[MayaForrest]

Can anyone help me here? I feel quite overwhelmed with the filing of the defence as I have never done this before. I feel I have a strong case, (truthfully signage not seen, not adequate, no parking bays, signs on one side of parking area only) found a newspaper clipping today from December last year saying how several of the business owners are very upset about Brittania parking being there and they have had huge loss of business.

Regarding my defence do I send everything in with the claim form where it says write your defence at the end of the 30 days? Photos and witness statement etc or is this just to respond to the points made by the claimant? Do I get a date to go to court at the end of the 30 days? I feel quite lost at this point......

[charitynjw]

Can anyone help me here? I feel quite overwhelmed with the filing of the defence as I have never done this before. I feel I have a strong case, (truthfully signage not seen, not adequate, no parking bays, signs on one side of parking area only) found a newspaper clipping today from December last year saying how several of the business owners are very upset about Brittania parking being there and they have had huge loss of business.

Regarding my defence do I send everything in with the claim form where it says write your defence at the end of the 30 days? Photos and witness statement etc or is this just to respond to the points made by the claimant? Do I get a date to go to court at the end of the 30 days? I feel quite lost at this point......

You state that you have already acknowledged.
Hopefully you ticked the 'defend in full' tick-box, but left the actual defence section (of the acknowledgement) blank?
If so, you have 33 days from the court claim issue date in which to file your defence.
I would suggest delaying doing so until closer to the deadline (but do not miss it!)

Did they (Britannia/their sols) issue you with a pre-action protocol pack (a tick box reply form, income & expenditure form etc.) shortly before issuing the claim? (Usually a month or so before.)

[MayaForrest]

You state that you have already acknowledged.
Hopefully you ticked the 'defend in full' tick-box, but left the actual defence section (of the acknowledgement) blank?
If so, you have 33 days from the court claim issue date in which to file your defence.
I would suggest delaying doing so until closer to the deadline (but do not miss it!)

Did they (Britannia/their sols) issue you with a pre-action protocol pack (a tick box reply form, income & expenditure form etc.) shortly before issuing the claim? (Usually a month or so before.)

Hi and thankyou for replying. It was you who helped me before! I so appreciate it.
Yes, acknowledged and clicked 'defend in full' left defence section blank.

BWLegal sent protocol pack yes which I replied to within timeframe with long letter & photographs asking them to ask their clients to please cease to pursue me for this debt, denied liability, no contract in place, showed layout again of inadequate signage for 10.00pm at night, no parking bays, no signs over other side of parking area so at night cannot be seen, entrance sign twisted so cannot see it if driving in turning right photos to prove etc they replied again with generic letter saying ticket issued correctly and your appeal has already been rejected. They wrote again few days ago saying its not too late to settle out of court and to please ring them to discuss this.

I found an old newspaper article yesterday local paper archive from December 2018 (one month after driver parked in this area) saying many local people had been 'caught out' despite signage. Brittania 'recently' in operation so they did not comply with guidelines for locals when changes occur. 9 businesses in the parade and 7 of them saying business was affected. Also the Indian restaurant manager (which is where driver was that evening) was quoted saying he has proprietary interest in the parking area (though he doesn't own it) and he has been placing a sign in his window saying 'NO parking restrictions for my customers' and said if anyone who was at my establishment gets a ticket from Brittania just ignore it they cannot pursue if you are a genuine customer eating here. He said Brittania was put in place to prevent abuse of the car park (people staying there all day) not genuine customers. The landowner is the owner of the launderette who instructed Brittania. No contact details for him as he received so much abuse from angry customers of the other businesses since this article was in paper giving his name. If you frequent the launderette you simply give your number plate and are exempt from the 20 minute restriction. I realise this is all separate to my case which is about inadequate signage but I do feel I should present all this in my defense as driver was genuine customer for one hour at Indian restaurant and lives locally regular customer, regular parking area user.

In my defence to the court (will wait til closer to deadline as you suggest) do I just cover bullet points that claimant raised in claim? And full defence presented at court? Is this correct? Do you have any more tips regarding my defence with this mattter?

Thankyou so much

[MayaForrest]

I also just found this:-

POFA 2012

Keeper Liability

5. The maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper under keeper liablity is the amount specified on the notice to keeper

6. The creditor does not know both the name and current address of the driver.

Brittania are pursuing me as the registered keeper. Driver has not been disclosed. Their original charge on NTK is £100 yet they have added £60 to this and are now pursuing me for £160 plus court costs. Is the additional £60 therefore not lawful?

[charitynjw]

Info on another thread by MayaForrest
https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...dvise-thankyou

[charitynjw]

I also just found this:-

POFA 2012

Keeper Liability

5. The maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper under keeper liablity is the amount specified on the notice to keeper

6. The creditor does not know both the name and current address of the driver.

Brittania are pursuing me as the registered keeper. Driver has not been disclosed. Their original charge on NTK is £100 yet they have added £60 to this and are now pursuing me for £160 plus court costs. Is the additional £60 therefore not lawful?

Correct.
If their claim is via PoFA, they can't bump up the amount.

[charitynjw]

In your pre-action protocol response, did you request disclosure of evidence?
If yes, what did you ask for?
If not, we'll sort you out a CPR 31.14 request.

[MayaForrest]

In your pre-action protocol response, did you request disclosure of evidence?
If yes, what did you ask for?
If not, we'll sort you out a CPR 31.14 request.

During POPLA appeal I requested strict proof that signs could be seen during the hours of darkness (all I received were close up photos of the signs) I also requested proof of landowner authority (received redacted copy of landowner agreement)
Pre-action protocol response no I did not request anything. I received several close up photos again of the signs.
What should I request for a CPR 31.14? Many thanks for your help.