Too late to appeal ?

Constantgardener

Hello Coupon-mad,


Would this be OK:




Dear Sir/ Madam,


I am writing in response to your letter (your reference:DB/BSG0012) dated 24th January 2014.


I am disappointed that you do not seem to have understood my defence and respectfully suggest that you read it again, paying closer attention to the content therein.


I requested that the claimant provide a copy of an actual site agreement/ contract with the landowner/ occupier. Specifically, to comply with the code of practice, the contract needs to specifically grant BSG the right to pursue parking charges in the courts in their own name as creditor.




Rule 31.14 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 states that I am entitled to have sight of a document which is referred to within a Statement of Case. And as such I require sight of the documentation requested in the defence, as mentioned above. On receipt of this long awaited evidence I will endeavour to get a copy of the lease but would suggest that your client can simply obtain it from their client, the management company, since they claim to be acting on their behalf as agent.

Please can you also explain what locus standi your client has because I will also be relying upon recent Parking Charge Notice Claims which have failed including ParkingEye v Clarke from this week (Barrow-in-Furness Court – Case#:3JD00517).


In summary Judge Buckley stated the following:


“So in all these circumstances I am not satisfied that these Claimants are the correct claimants because they have not been able to show to this Court any financial loss, and the economic justification argument really goes to the quantification of that loss. The Claimants have shown that, if they are entitled to pursue it, they are pursuing a claim for their own profit as opposed to quantifying a breach and loss which has caused them as opposed to those who operate the shop and own the land. So in these circumstances I dismiss the claim.”

This claim was very similar to that made by your client and, whilst not creating a legal precedent, is certainly a persuasive argument in support of part of my defence, even if your client can prove a valid contract exists between us, which they have so far failed to do. There have been several other similar judgements recently, which I shall use to further support this and other areas of my defence.


I am confident that I can present a robust defence and believe that your client would be ill advised to proceed further.






Yours Sincerely,

Coupon-mad

Yes I think that's a good response. Start putting your evidence in an organised file in case it does go to a hearing. Get transcripts of the other recent wins from the Parking Prankster's site.

Constantgardener

Thanks again Coupon-mad, will do.

Constantgardener

I haver now received a Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track and a Small Claims Directions Questionnaire (form N180). Should I agree to the case being referred to the Small Claims Mediation Service ?


Should I consider engaging a Solicitor to defend me if this continues to court ? I think I need to notify the court, if I do intend to, in my N180 response.


Can I claim for the cost of a Solicitor if the case is found in my favour ?


The N180 form asks whether I intend to use an expert witness, would a Solicitor count as an expert witness ?

4consumerrights

Have they supplied the contract yet? It didn't surprise me that Gladstones were involved.


ConstantGardner - have not read whole thread again - but was this parking charge originally appealed using POPLA? The small claims mediation service - do they mean the telephone service or ADR? I would suggest that this goes to the industry Alternative Dispute Resolution to mitigate losses incurred by both parties and use POPLA. You don't really want to deal with this using the telephone system - as you will be up against Gladstones and you will be probably unprepared. Far better either for POPLA settlement or a hearing.

You can claim for your own legal costs but these are also capped and obviously you need to win the case. To be honest, you don't really need a solicitor to defend your case a small claims - plenty of help here and maybe a Pepipoo rep or someone here could appear as a lay rep for you. Should you win your case - you will be able to claim your costs which are capped at £90 per day.

Constantgardener

No the contract has not been provided yet.


I did not appeal using POPLA, unfortunately I listened to out dated advice. They are proposing the telephone based Small Claims Mediation Service.


If someone is prepared to appear as a lay rep, I think I need to notify the court of this now via the N180 form, or would they not be considered an Expert Witness ?


Thanks for your advice.

Coupon-mad

Lay rep, but only if someone is coming along. You DO NOT engage a solicitor; not needed & pointless (a waste of money you cannot reclaim).

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Constantgardener wrote: »

No the contract has not been provided yet.


I did not appeal using POPLA, unfortunately I listened to out dated advice. They are proposing the telephone based Small Claims Mediation Service.


If someone is prepared to appear as a lay rep, I think I need to notify the court of this now via the N180 form, or would they not be considered an Expert Witness ?


Thanks for your advice.

Where in the Country are you?
You can opt for the mediation service, but remember your starting base is zero, you have nothing to really loose, most people think its a waste of time
No you dont need to notifty them now of any intention to bring a lay lep along.

Constantgardener

I am near Portsmouth, so have requested that the hearing is there.

Coupon-mad

No need to tick for mediation as you don't want to be hussled into feeling you have to pay anything. I suspect this PPC will drop the case but if you get an actual court date please pm me or kirkbyinfurnesslad as we do know someone in the South who might be able to come with you (not definite).