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Private parking tickets / PCM / Moorside Legal - Letter Before Claim
« on: Yesterday at 12:07:47 pm »
Hello.
A couple of years ago we received a private parking ticket on our car windscreen from Parking Control Management UK (Ltd). I can provide more details of the circumstances if that’s helpful, but one thing that may be worth noting is that the address / site name on the ticket (and on subsequent correspondence) does not appear to relate to a real place. This ‘invoice’ was for £100 (‘discounted’ to £60 if we paid within 14 days).
Being aware of PCM’s reputation as cowboys, we ignored this private parking charge notice.
We did not receive a Notice to Keeper. The first communication we received from PCM was a ‘Keeper Liability Notice’ a couple of months later, which incorrectly stated that a Notice to Keeper had previously been ‘served’.
We ignored this. It is the only direct communication we have received from PCM.
A couple of months later we received a demand for outstanding payment from Trace Debt Recovery, who claimed to be acting on PCM’s behalf. The amount ‘due’ was now £170.
We ignored this.
It was followed a couple of weeks later by another similar ‘demand’ and then a letter warning us that we were ‘running out of options’ and that our ‘case’ was ‘being considered for escalation to our client’s solicitors’.
We ignored both and we heard nothing further for around 6 months.
A letter from Moorside Legal Services Ltd then arrived informing us that they had been instructed by PCM to recover the ‘outstanding sum of £170’ from us.
We ignored it.
A month or so later a second letter from Moorside Legal arrived warmly advising us that their client wanted ‘to try and resolve the matter amicably and avoid legal proceedings’ so was offering us a generous four-instalment payment plan.
We ignored this.
A little over a year then passed and we have now received a Letter Before Claim from Moorside Legal.
I understand from advice on another very helpful forum that the time has come to stop ignoring the correspondence and that we should respond to this LBC.
I wonder, therefore, if the following response is appropriate? Any advice on what, if anything I should change, would be very gratefully received.
Dear Sirs,
Your ref: XXXXXXX
Claimant: Parking Control Management UK Ltd
I refer to your Letter Before Claim.
I confirm that my address for service for the time being is as follows:
XXXXXXXXX
Please be advised that the alleged ‘debt’ is disputed and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended. Apart from anything else you / your client have failed to correctly adhere to Schedule 4 of POFA 2012.
If you continue to process my data and, in the event of filing a court claim, please also be aware that I will file a Part 20 counterclaim for not less than £500 for damages for distress arising from clear breaches of the DPA 2018 and/or the Protection From Harassment Act 1997.
Yours faithfully,
With thanks in advance.
We have previously sent a complaint to the landowner, but received no response. Is it worth also writing again to them with another complaint?
A couple of years ago we received a private parking ticket on our car windscreen from Parking Control Management UK (Ltd). I can provide more details of the circumstances if that’s helpful, but one thing that may be worth noting is that the address / site name on the ticket (and on subsequent correspondence) does not appear to relate to a real place. This ‘invoice’ was for £100 (‘discounted’ to £60 if we paid within 14 days).
Being aware of PCM’s reputation as cowboys, we ignored this private parking charge notice.
We did not receive a Notice to Keeper. The first communication we received from PCM was a ‘Keeper Liability Notice’ a couple of months later, which incorrectly stated that a Notice to Keeper had previously been ‘served’.
We ignored this. It is the only direct communication we have received from PCM.
A couple of months later we received a demand for outstanding payment from Trace Debt Recovery, who claimed to be acting on PCM’s behalf. The amount ‘due’ was now £170.
We ignored this.
It was followed a couple of weeks later by another similar ‘demand’ and then a letter warning us that we were ‘running out of options’ and that our ‘case’ was ‘being considered for escalation to our client’s solicitors’.
We ignored both and we heard nothing further for around 6 months.
A letter from Moorside Legal Services Ltd then arrived informing us that they had been instructed by PCM to recover the ‘outstanding sum of £170’ from us.
We ignored it.
A month or so later a second letter from Moorside Legal arrived warmly advising us that their client wanted ‘to try and resolve the matter amicably and avoid legal proceedings’ so was offering us a generous four-instalment payment plan.
We ignored this.
A little over a year then passed and we have now received a Letter Before Claim from Moorside Legal.
I understand from advice on another very helpful forum that the time has come to stop ignoring the correspondence and that we should respond to this LBC.
I wonder, therefore, if the following response is appropriate? Any advice on what, if anything I should change, would be very gratefully received.
Dear Sirs,
Your ref: XXXXXXX
Claimant: Parking Control Management UK Ltd
I refer to your Letter Before Claim.
I confirm that my address for service for the time being is as follows:
XXXXXXXXX
Please be advised that the alleged ‘debt’ is disputed and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended. Apart from anything else you / your client have failed to correctly adhere to Schedule 4 of POFA 2012.
If you continue to process my data and, in the event of filing a court claim, please also be aware that I will file a Part 20 counterclaim for not less than £500 for damages for distress arising from clear breaches of the DPA 2018 and/or the Protection From Harassment Act 1997.
Yours faithfully,
With thanks in advance.
We have previously sent a complaint to the landowner, but received no response. Is it worth also writing again to them with another complaint?