Gladstones - Directions questionnaire - hx parking management and their misleading

Illiterateplonker · 20 October 2017 at 8:44PM

Dear All,

Ref: Parking fine and my illiterate response

My story:
I have been using a local car park for years now on our local seafront, there is 1 main car park and 2 others over at the back. The 1st car park has always had signs up as its to do with a casino and the other 2 (which can only be accessed by going through the first) have never had signs and have always been used for customers with no payment required. (I think separate land owners own them)

Having parked in my normal car park and walking to the venue I walked past a ticket machine that looked fairly new in the other (casino) car park, I read the signs but couldn’t quite work out which car park they related to as they were placed in the casino car park which was managed by another company, however to be on the safe side I brought a ticket just in case. I then entered the building to use the play centre, my parking time elapsed so I went to top up my ticket, I explained this to a worker who had to open the gate to let me out, only to be told if I was a paying customer I didn’t need to pay and the signs related to the casino. So I didn’t pay the top up. I’ve then parked there another 2 times without paying on this understanding.

It wasn’t until I went to see my mum that I picked up letters with parking tickets and realised I had never updated my log book with my new address. I returned to the place I had visited and whereby their employee had told me I could park there if using the facilities only to be told that I had been misinformed and Parking had to be paid regardless. I explained they should make this clear to customers and to ensure all their staff are aware. Since then a sign has been placed in the play centre stating ‘please remember to pay for parking’ Unfortunately because I hadn’t changed my address on my log book by the time I had received the letters my appeal dates had come and gone and I had received one of Gladstone’s solicitors letters stating they had logged the claim with a small claims court and provided me with a number.

I wasn’t aware what I should do and they had successfully scared me so I admitted part liability and put in a defence HOWEVER I took absolute no time in writing it, wrote it in the middle of a night after feeding my newborn daughter and basically came across as an illiterate fool!! Which i have regretted ever since 😩😩

I basically said the above and offered to pay £20 to cover the cost of the 3 times I had parked there without paying but informed that would be my final offer as I believed the signage was strategically placed to mislead people. I had also advised that I had not responded sooner as I had recently given birth (which is true) however it was because I hadn’t seen the letter until it was too late.

So is there anything I can do now? I have taken photos of the car park in which I parked and the signs to prove that the signage is misleading. There is 1 sign in the entire car park that you could easily miss, aside from that there are none. However in the other car park which is seperate and for casino customers only, there are tons dotted all over the place, and 2 others that relate to the second car park (which I used) but have no relevance to the casino (which is where they are placed)

I can provide photos if anybody would like to see.

Can I fight this despite my illiterate rushed response?

I have now received a directions questionare from Gladstone’s stating

‘Please find ensloses a copy of our clients questionnaire, which will be filed with the court upon request’

It also states

‘.... you will note we intend to request a special direction that the case be dealt with on papers only’

I have also when searching found 11 other people that have received parking fines due to the strategically placed and confusing signage so I do not appear to be alone.

I believe my photos of the misleading signage could win my case but is it too late to provide these? Gladstone’s have stayed they do not wish to mediate?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Redx · 20 October 2017 at 9:34PM

post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky thread deals with court cases and also answers the question about the gladrags special directions paperwork too

please read it , carefully

especially the BARGEPOLE post

Illiterateplonker · 20 October 2017 at 10:36PM

Thank you, are you able to advise how I find this information please? Thanks

Redx · 20 October 2017 at 10:38PM

go to the top of this forum

find the second thread down , titled NEWBIES BLAH BLAH

click it , scroll down to the second post (post #2)

read it , and the links

Lamilad · 20 October 2017 at 10:38PM

Illiterateplonker wrote: »

Thank you, are you able to advise how I find this information please? Thanks

Come on, you're not even trying. The NEWBIES thread is unmissable. Nuff said.

Illiterateplonker · 20 October 2017 at 10:44PM

Ha! I found it in the end, I tried a little harder!

Illiterateplonker · 20 October 2017 at 10:45PM

Thank you for the info, finally located it.

Coupon-mad · 20 October 2017 at 11:10PM

OK, good, and if you Google 'Gladstones straightforward papers parking' you will find the hundreds of times forums have discussed that predictable Gladrags template letter of drivel, and what to do next.

Illiterateplonker · 22 October 2017 at 12:57AM

Thank you for all your guidance in finding information. I believe I’m almost ready to fight the case however there is some information that I can not find despite looking through numerous threads.

I initially replied to their ‘first court letter’ and accepted part liability but also filed a defence. (Which as stated above wasn’t the best written but had the same information as my original thread above)

I’m gutted I hadn’t looked into this matter earlier and seen the ‘bargepole’ thread so I could have handled it properly from the get go. Anyway...

When going to court my filed evidence will be a guideline right? So I can enhance it properly using the correct terms and legal requirements and provide evidence?
Gladstone’s have also stated the won’t mediate (fine) however can I still write to them to challenge it or should I just prepare my evidence for court.

Also can I ask for copies of all the paper work as I have misplaced them?

And last but not least I have a letter concerning 2 other tickets (as stated in my original thread as I was lead to believe as a paying customer I was able to use the car park freely) can I fight all 3 together or will it be a case by case basis? (I am able to appeal this one though as time has not yet elapsed)

I apologise if this information is somewhere on these threads but I can’t find it.

Thank you all for taking the time to help me!

System · 22 October 2017 at 6:55AM

Also can I ask for copies of all the paper work as I have misplaced them?

Ask but if they are not supplied within a week, use a Subject Access Request

And last but not least I have a letter concerning 2 other tickets

You might want to write to them and ask these be decided in the same claim as there is no merit in their raising additional claims where the matters to be decide are basically the same.

This is a tactic they use where they issue additional claims as the initial claim progresses - keeping you in the court system for a long time. So you can wait till they issue new claims or short circuit it.

The only downside is that you have made a partial admission which could carry over to any additional tickets they have and they may have more than 2.

Have you checked with the DVLA how many times they have accessed your details. Not every access will have resulted in a visible ticket (see ghost ticketing)

Illiterateplonker · 30 November 2017 at 12:21AM

Evening guys! Me again. So I have now received the ‘particulars’ of my case with Gladstone’s. As stated previously when I initially received the court letter, I got into a bit of a panic and rambled off a bit of a ‘woe’ is me in my defence. Although I did also state the entire situation that arose.

Just to recap... I parked in an area I’ve parked many times to use it’s facilities as normal. My son brought the new ticket machine to my attention, I couldnt make head nor tale of the machine as it’s placed in a car park managed by another company but paid ‘just in case’. Upon using the facilities related to the car park I was told by a member of staff that the signage was nothing to do with the car park I had parked in and as I was using the facilities there was no need to top up. So I didn’t, I then visited another 2 times without paying at all. It only came to light when my mum passed me my post (id forgotten to change my log book address) in this time I also had a baby so didn’t deal with the matter until it was too late and received the basic ‘Gladstone’s court letter’.

Fast forward to present..

I believe I’m right in thinking I can not base my defence on the basis that I was instructed verbally by an employee of their company and that I have to base my defence in legal terms.
Therefore my defence will be based on the strategically placed and confusing signage.
Would this be the best argument just before I type my defence and ask some of you to kindly read and dissect it for me?

My points being:-

1. I have evidence to show that one sign has been placed above eye level and in a tree (although the leaves are now gone, you can see from my picture that it’s placed within tree branches and my ticket is from June and therefore the tree would have been in full bloom resulting in me never seeing this sign. I actually only saw it as I went to take photographs recently for my case)

2. The ticket machine for the car park I parked in, is placed in a car park operated by another parking operator.

3. The signage is light green and white.

4. In the car park I parked there is NO signs to advise parking restrictions apply.

I also had offered to pay £25 to cover the extra 50minutes I stayed and subsequently the following 2 times I parked without paying.

I had also requested copies of all correspondents so that I could write my defence. I ensure I sent this recorded delivery and it has so far been ignored 3 weeks later. (It has been received by Gladstone’s however, and I did request it under the data protection act)

If somebody could just advise if they feel I can continue with my case on the above basis I shall draft my defence.

Thank you all once again for all your help, it is gratefully received.

Ps please excuse my rushed, bad grammar typing. I currently have a fairly new baby demanding my attention.

Gladstones - Directions questionnaire - hx parking management and their misleading

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