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Parking Eye County Court Claim - Defence Urgently Required
hitman126
Posts: 56 Forumite
Hi All,
I recently received a number of County Court claim submitted by Parking Eye for allegedly overstaying in a supermarket
car park, nearly a year ago. Taking heed of some very useful advise from other motorists, this is what I proceeded to do and/or what has transpired since receiving the court claim:
1) I submitted an Acknowledgment of Service to both County Court Claims which gave me until the close of play tomorrow to
present a defence.
2) I contacted the supermarket in question and the management were extremely sympathetic and contacted Parking Eye via email, instructing them to quash each of the claims. As at close of play a couple of days ago, Parking Eye claimed they'd not received any such instructions and some rather unhelpful lady I spoke to even went on to claim that as the matter had now reached the county court, they couldn't cancel the PCN or the County Court Claim.
Following this, I was considering putting together my defence and submitting it asap, but then received a letter from
Parking Eye yesterday effectively saying they were "Without Prejudice..." willing to accept a payment of £40 from myself
to cover their costs incurred for each court claim, the breakdown of which is as follows:
£15 - Cost of issuing court proceedings
£5 - Cost of obtaining the Reg. Keeper Details from the DVLA
£5 - Postage
£15 - Admin costs
In my case, as they've made more than one county court claim against me, the total figure therefore far exceeds £40. Obviously, I would rather not pay any such costs, firstly because I cannot afford it and secondly because I believe it is an attempt by Parking Eye to bully me into admitting to something that I believe I am not guilty of.
3) On receipt of the above letters from P. Eye, I contacted the Northampton County Court and they advised that they had received no update from Parking Eye in relation to the £40 settlement charge towards each claim. The court clerk went on to advise that I go ahead and submit my defence in any case, attaching a copy of the relevant Parking Eye settlement letter to the appropriate claim. More importantly, this should be done before the submission deadline of tomorrow.
4) I am therefore now unsure which of these course of actions may be best to pursue and would appreciate some prompt advise pleased:
A) Should I pursue Parking Eye into cancelling all claims and settlement charges, bearing in mind though the looming deadline?
Should I go ahead and submit my defence to the court along with copies of the settlement letters as advised by the court clerk?
C) Should I choose to go with option B, is there a danger the case could be ruled against me and the original charges reinstated?
D) Should I choose to go with option B, could someone kindly assist me with a sound case to present as my defence please?
5) For the purposes of any defence arguments, I have also been able to obtain and attach pictures of the Parking Eye signage at the car park of the supermarket in question, in case it has any flaws that can be used as a supporting argument.
Would appreciate any help on this. By the way, I have already submitted a similar thread on Pepipoo and still await a definitive
response on this.
I recently received a number of County Court claim submitted by Parking Eye for allegedly overstaying in a supermarket
car park, nearly a year ago. Taking heed of some very useful advise from other motorists, this is what I proceeded to do and/or what has transpired since receiving the court claim:
1) I submitted an Acknowledgment of Service to both County Court Claims which gave me until the close of play tomorrow to
present a defence.
2) I contacted the supermarket in question and the management were extremely sympathetic and contacted Parking Eye via email, instructing them to quash each of the claims. As at close of play a couple of days ago, Parking Eye claimed they'd not received any such instructions and some rather unhelpful lady I spoke to even went on to claim that as the matter had now reached the county court, they couldn't cancel the PCN or the County Court Claim.
Following this, I was considering putting together my defence and submitting it asap, but then received a letter from
Parking Eye yesterday effectively saying they were "Without Prejudice..." willing to accept a payment of £40 from myself
to cover their costs incurred for each court claim, the breakdown of which is as follows:
£15 - Cost of issuing court proceedings
£5 - Cost of obtaining the Reg. Keeper Details from the DVLA
£5 - Postage
£15 - Admin costs
In my case, as they've made more than one county court claim against me, the total figure therefore far exceeds £40. Obviously, I would rather not pay any such costs, firstly because I cannot afford it and secondly because I believe it is an attempt by Parking Eye to bully me into admitting to something that I believe I am not guilty of.
3) On receipt of the above letters from P. Eye, I contacted the Northampton County Court and they advised that they had received no update from Parking Eye in relation to the £40 settlement charge towards each claim. The court clerk went on to advise that I go ahead and submit my defence in any case, attaching a copy of the relevant Parking Eye settlement letter to the appropriate claim. More importantly, this should be done before the submission deadline of tomorrow.
4) I am therefore now unsure which of these course of actions may be best to pursue and would appreciate some prompt advise pleased:
A) Should I pursue Parking Eye into cancelling all claims and settlement charges, bearing in mind though the looming deadline?
Should I go ahead and submit my defence to the court along with copies of the settlement letters as advised by the court clerk?C) Should I choose to go with option B, is there a danger the case could be ruled against me and the original charges reinstated?
D) Should I choose to go with option B, could someone kindly assist me with a sound case to present as my defence please?
5) For the purposes of any defence arguments, I have also been able to obtain and attach pictures of the Parking Eye signage at the car park of the supermarket in question, in case it has any flaws that can be used as a supporting argument.
Would appreciate any help on this. By the way, I have already submitted a similar thread on Pepipoo and still await a definitive
response on this.
0
Comments
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Do you have it in writing from the supermarket that they have quashed the tickets? If not, can you get this?
From my understanding, Parking Eye are working on behalf of the supermarket, therefore, if the supermarket cancel the ticket, Parking Eye have nothing to claim. Someone will be able to clarify.0 -
Try reading any of the hundreds of similar threads on here.
It just takes a few clicks and a bit of time.0 -
Do you have it in writing from the supermarket that they have quashed the tickets? If not, can you get this?
From my understanding, Parking Eye are working on behalf of the supermarket, therefore, if the supermarket cancel the ticket, Parking Eye have nothing to claim. Someone will be able to clarify.
I did request the Supermarket to copy me in on their email instructing Parking Eye to cancel the claims but they failed to do so, although following today's turn of events, I strongly believe this latest action by PE is a direct result of that request by the Supermarket.0 -
Well friends, the good news is I managed to obtain an email from the supermarket, apologising for the inconvenience that those PCNs have caused me as a valued customer and also confirming that they have instructed Parking Eye to cancel all of the PCNs in question.
I now just need to decide whether that email on it's own is all the defence that I need submit, or whether it would be best to use it in conjunction with other defence arguments, such as the ones presented in SchoolRunMum's template which is available from a similar thread.
Any suggestions?0 -
That's surely enough to win the case. PE would have to argue how -they-, not the supermarket, suffered losses as a result of your overstay, and if the Ibbotson case is anything to go by then you'd wonder why they'd bother trying in court.0
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Please don't assume anything. Once court proceedings have started, they continue until one side withdraws. PE are notorious for refusing to cancel a parking charge once court proceedings have started - even when given a direct instruction to do so by the principal - unless the defendant pays them £50 for their costs (this demand is always contained in a 'without prejudice' letter that cannot be produced to the court.)
You must still lodge a defence as if you don't PE can enter judgement in default.
So I suggest that you start your defence with something like:
The Claimant's claims are denied in full.
Firstly the claimant acts as agent in bringing these proceedings on behalf of xxxxxx supermarket (the Principal). By a letter dated xxxx the Principal advised the defendant that the charges have been cancelled (copy letter attached). It is therefore the defendant's case that the claimant has no cause of action against the defendant and accordingly the defendant respectfully requests the court to strike out this claim.
Further and in any event, a skeleton defence is set out below. The defendant confirms that, should the application to strike out fail for any reason, the defendant will immediately provide a fully detailed defence.
(insert here the bullet points of the defence)
This should hold the situation until the loose ends are tied up.
DaisyI'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0
This discussion has been closed.
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