ParkingEye. Letter before county Court

ken979

PART 1

Hello every one, I have received a letter from ParkingEye and thanks to zzLazyDaisy and lots of help, I did really well. I got this letter.

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Dear Sir/Madam,

LETTER BEFORE COUNTY COURT CLAIM

On [Date] we notified you that, as the registered keeper of this vehicle, you had become liable for this Parking Charge Notice (see above reference), which concerned a breach of the terms and conditions at [Location], on [Date].

This was because the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 required for keeper liability had been satisfied. Further to this, we advised you that the amount payable was [£amount] for the Parking Charge Notice and that you were required to make this payment or further action would be taken.

ParkingEye is still not in receipt of this payment. As such, we must inform you that unless payment of [£amount] is made within the next 14 days further action will be taken and court proceedings will be issued, which will incur further costs. These costs will include, but are not limited to £50.00 solicitor's costs and £15.00 court claim issue fee.

Yours faithfully

ParkingEye Legal Department.

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Page.2
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1) Please be aware this Letter Before County Court Claim is fully compliant with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct. We must draw attention to the practice direction at [link to PD] and in particular paragraph 4 concerning the court's powers to impose sanctions for failure to comply with the Practice Direction.

2) It should also be noted that we are unable to use the POPLA service as Alternative Dispute Resolution at this stage. This is because POPLA will only accept an appeal after the motorist has made their appeal ('representations') to the operator who issued the Parking Charge Notice and that the operator has rejected these and issued a POPLA appeal form. You have not made representations to ParkingEye in the timescale required (i.e. 28 days from the date of our initial correspondence). You have been made aware of these timescales in our correspondence, which has stated;

"All appeals and complaints must be put in writing and should be forwarded to one of the addresses below. All appeals must be received within 28 days from the date of our initial correspondence. Please include all information to assist with the appeal. This may include: a store receipt from the day in qquestion; proof of purchases via a bank statement etc. If the appeal is unsuccessful, you will be advised in writing and you will also be provided with details of the Independent Appeals Service (POPLA), their contact details and a unique appeal reference. Please note: The POPLA service is only available for parking events dated from 1st October 2012 and POPLA will not accept an appeal, if you have not appealed to ParkingEye in the first instance."

3) The loss claimed in this Letter Before County Court Claim is in line with guidelines set out by the British Parking Association. ParkingEye have also ensured that their Parking Charge amount is not punitive and set on the basis of a strong commercial justification for charges of this nature.

4) As court proceedings have not begun, and as no defence has been filed, it is impossible for ParkingEye to state exactly what documents will be relied on in court. These could include, but are not limited to; Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, British Parking Association Code of Practice, any defence submitted by you, any reply to defence submitted by us, any document proving ParkingEye's authorisation to operate on site and any signage plan or images of signage from the site in question. These will be provided at this stage and not sooner. Any commercially sensitive documentation will be provided if requested by the court, should this matter reach this stage.

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Once I got the above letter I responded with the letter below.


[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your Letter Before County Court Claim.

First, the alleged debt is disputed and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended.

Secondly, despite the wholly inaccurate statement that the letter is 'fully compliant with the Practice Direction' it is in fact woefully defective and appears to be a deliberate attempt to mislead the recipient.

Please therefore provide a Letter Before Claim which complies with the requirements of Annex A Para 2 of the Practice Direction on Pre-action Conduct:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...action_conduct

I confirm that I shall then seek advice and submit a formal Response within 30 days of receipt, as required by the Practice Direction.

Please ensure that someone does actually read and respond to this letter, providing the specific information relating to the county court claim that your client intends to make against myself as the defendant to the proposed legal proceedings. Please DO NOT send a generic FAQ letter in reply as to do so does not meet the requirements of the Practice Direction and will take this matter no further forward.

Please note, a refusal to comply with the Practice Direction will result in an immediate referral to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for breach of the Principles contained in the SRA Handbook version 8, published on 1st October 2013.

I trust this will not be necessary, and look forward to receiving a fully compliant letter before claim in due course.

Yours faithfully

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[FONT=&quot]more to come. I will upload the next part soon.
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Oli.s

Just posting to monitor for updates. Cheers.

ken979

PART2.

I received a second letter

ken979

PART3

I sent them a reply below:

I am willingly to have this dispute decided by POPLA and I don’t accept that the 28 days applies to Court Proceedings. It is in your best interest to NOT incur additional expenses or losses unnecessarily. I will invite you to reconsider your position and provide a POPLA code as I don’t want to burden the court with this matter, if you are to refuse my invitation to consider POPLA as an appropriate form of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution). I will ask the court to refuse any order to pay your court or solicitor’s cost as under the terms of Practice Direction, this could and should have been dealt with by POPLA even if I lost the case, which is very unlikely.
If you refuse my invitation to use ADR and proceed to court, I will draw the court's attention to your failure to comply with Para 8 of the Practice Direction, concerning ADR. http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct#8.1
The purpose of the practice direction is to resolve this without going to court.
1) It should also be noted that we are unable to use the POPLA service as Alternative Dispute Resolution at this stage.
I don’t accept that the 28 days applies to court proceedings because I wasn’t given a 10 digit Verification code to appeal to POPLA. Nowhere has the British parking association said you can not provide the POPLA code after 28 days. Nowhere on the POPLA website does it state this also.

3) The loss claimed in this Letter Before County Court Claim is in line with guidelines set out by the British Parking Association. ParkingEye have also ensured that their Parking Charge amount is not punitive and set on the basis of a strong commercial justification for charges of this nature.
3. The loss claimed in this Letter Before County Court Claim is in line with guidelines set out by the British Parking Association.
The British Parking Association Code of Practice states that any charge based on breach of contract must be a genuine pre-estimate of loss, and must not exceed a certain amount. It doesn’t mean you could charge me the maximum amount as that does not meet the criteria of 'genuine pre-estimate of loss'

3B. ParkingEye have also ensured that their Parking Charge amount is not punitive and set on the basis of a strong commercial justification for charges of this nature.
The Practice Direction states that you should tell me what your loss is, and how it has been calculated. The statement you made, that the loss is NOT punitive, does not comply with the requirements of the Practice Direction. It is rather like saying "Well Mr Judge, the charge is fair, because I say so". Strangely, the courts work on evidence, proof, and facts. This is all absent from the: Letter Before County Court Claim, you have sent me.

4) As court proceedings have not begun, and as no defence has been filed, it is impossible for ParkingEye to state exactly what documents will be relied on in court.
The Practice Direction states the person taking me to court must provide a list of the documents that you intend to rely on to prove your claim towards me. I have no objection if you produce further documents, once I have seen you defence. The point of the Practice Direction is; you must disclose a list of documents you intent to rely on to prove your claim towards me. You must know what the documents are and I am entitled to be told what those documents are.
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct#B
[FONT=&quot]2. Claimant’s letter before claim[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2.1[/FONT][FONT=&quot] The claimant’s letter should give concise details about the matter. This should enable the defendant to understand and investigate the issues without needing to request further information. The letter should include –[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) the claimant’s full name and address;[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) the basis on which the claim is made (i.e. why the claimant says the defendant is liable);[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It this a contractual charge claim? Damages for trespass claim?[/FONT] Losses for breach of contract?
I am entitled to be given this information and in fact it is impossible for me to respond to the Letter Before County Court Claim without this information as the defence would be different, depending on the type of claim. I must know what claim you are making against me. You should tell me what that claim is under the Practice Direction.
[FONT=&quot] (3) a clear summary of the facts on which the claim is based; [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I need a clear indication of why I got a charge in the first place? Was it over stay? Did I fail to buy a ticket? Was I driving out of the car park?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Was I driving into and out of the car park? Was I checking for tyres? Was I looking for a space? Non of these things are relevant to a parking event as I was not parked during that time and must disregard. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot](4) what the claimant wants from the defendant; and[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](5) if financial loss is claimed, an explanation of how the amount has been calculated.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]How has the charge been calculated? I’m entitled to be given this. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]2.2[/FONT][FONT=&quot] The letter should also –[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) list the essential documents on which the claimant intends to rely;[/FONT]

I am entitled to be given a list of essential documents that the Penalty Parking Charge intends to rely on in it claim against me. You decided to make a claim against me so you MUST know what essential documents you will be producing in evidence against me. I have no objections you will be adding to this list once I have seen the defence. I need the defence before the start of the County Court Claim. This list of documents is required to be provided before the proceedings have even been started. This is UNDER THE PRE- ACTION CONDUCT STEPS, set out by the court.

[FONT=&quot] (2) set out the form of ADR (if any) that the claimant considers the most suitable and invite the defendant to agree to this;[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I like you to consider POPLA and do not agree you’re unable to use it. It seems from your letter you refuse to comply with The Practice Direction. Please consider POPLA[/FONT][FONT=&quot].[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot](3) state the date by which the claimant considers it reasonable for a full response to be provided by the defendant; and[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](4) identify and ask for copies of any relevant documents not in the claimant's possession and which the claimant wishes to see.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I would like to see any copies of any documents that they have identified as being relevant to the case including the first two Parking Charge Notices you have sent me. These are relevant to the case and I have to see these. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2.3[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Unless the defendant is known to be legally represented the letter should –[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) refer the defendant to this Practice Direction and in particular draw attention to paragraph 4 concerning the court's powers to impose sanctions for failure to comply with the Practice Direction; and[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) inform the defendant that ignoring the letter before claim may lead to the claimant starting proceedings and may increase the defendant's liability for costs.[/FONT]
Despite the statement in the Letter Before County Court Claim that it is fully compliant with the Practice Direction, this is not in fact the case, I would like you to provide the missing information so you can prepare a formal Response:

- full details of the contract the Driver is alleged to have entered into, including the full text of any contractual terms and conditions that the Driver has allegedly agreed to
- Evidence that the driver agreed to this contract
- Evidence of the consideration given by the driver
- Clear indication of which contractual terms they believe are "core", and your reasons for it
- Clear indication of which contractual terms were individually negotiated, and evidence.
- A copy of their contract with their principal which they believe confers on them the right to enter into contracts regarding parking on this land, and to pursue charges.
- An itemised breakdown of the losses they allege were incurred by them as a result of the vehicle being parked on the land
- An itemised breakdown of the losses they allege were incurred by their principal as a result the vehicle being parked on the land
- An itemised breakdown of the losses they allege were incurred by the landowner (if different) as a result of the vehicle being parked on the land
- A VAT invoice for the alleged charge

Please give me a proper response, within 14 days, addressing all the above points. Or you might prefer to cancel the charge. Please ensure that someone does actually read and respond to this letter, providing the specific information relating to the county court claim that your client intends to make against myself as the defendant to the proposed legal proceedings. Please DO NOT send a generic FAQ letter in reply as to do so does not meet the requirements of the Practice Direction and will take this matter no further forward.
[FONT=&quot]Yours faithfully[/FONT]

ken979

PART 4:

I got a reply back recently:




We still got more letters to come. Please don't post yet. Thanks

,,

ken979

PART4 CONTINUED:

ken979

Sorry really bad at uploading readable picture. I think I just got the hang of it. Thank you every one.

ken979

PART 4 AGAIN:








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ken979

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