County court claim for parking charge incurred in England, Scottish Driver

fungal

I have received a claim from Northampton County Court from a parking firm that's well known in these forums.

This follows a formal Parking Charge Notice and a Letter Before County Court Claim.

The (exorbitant) parking charge (for being just a couple of minutes over the ticket period) was incurred in England while on holiday from Glasgow, Scotland, where I live. The first I knew about it was a letter through the mail showing photos of our vehicle entering and leaving a car park.

Reading what I've found on this forum and elsewhere, I responded to the letters only to say that I refuted their claims and would enter into no further correspondence.

I have responded to the County Court Claim by entering an Acknowledgment of Service (via moneyclaim.gov.uk), indicating that I intend to contest the jurisdiction of the court.

I could use some guidance in preparing my defence, which I now have 28 days to prepare.

The Defence

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As I see it there are a number of defences available.

JURISDICTION
The simplest defence is on the jurisdiction of the court.

As I live in Scotland, is it the case that English County Courts have no jurisdiction in consumer affairs here and the defence should simply state that I am resident of Scotland and not subject to the court in this matter?

If this is the case then it may be all the defence that is required.

PoFA
Also, I've read the POFA2012 but can't seem to find anything on whether the scope of this Act is UK wide or limited to England. Does anyone know? If this does not apply in Scotland then I wonder if I am subject to it?

NO CONTRACT
While it can be said that I voluntarily entered into a contract for parking at a particular rate per hour, this was the rate advertised on the ticket machine. The additional Parking Charge was not clearly advertised and therefore it can't be said that I willingly entered into a contract to pay this. It would be reasonable to pay the additional period of parking at the same rate in these circumstances. Can anyone point me to a couple of example defences where this is the case?

UNDECLARED CCTV
It was a surprise to see camera shots of our car in the post 4 weeks after being in England. I don't recall seeing any notices that the car park was being monitored by CCTV for the purposes of ripping off customers.

UNLCLEAR SIGNAGE
The parking firm will assert that terms and conditions were displayed. (Though no-one we were with remember them). One argument would be that even if they did exist, they were not equal to the task of communicating to customers. Ts and Cs must be accessible and usable to be fair and enforceable.

I think these are the main strands of it... Any advice would be much appreciated!

Stroma

Can I ask is this Parking Eye? And we had another one like this a couple of months ago, haven't bookmarked it so can't find it

Stroma

POFA does not apply in Scotland at all, so there is no keeper liability. And as there are no county courts in Scotland, where are you supposed to go to defend this? So jurisdiction is something you need to put in, but you need to defend the claim in full rebutting everything. On that can you put up the particulars fof cclaim

Thanks

fungal

Thanks Stroma. Yes it was Parking Eye.

The Particulars read:

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Claim for monies outstanding from the defendant, as registered keeper, in relation to a Parking Charge, issued xx/xx/xxxx, for parking without authority on private land. ParkingEye's automated number plate recognition (ANPR) system, monitoring [xx location xx], captured vehicle [xx registration no xx] entering and leaving the car park, parking without a valid pay and display ticket. The signage, clearly displayed at the entrance to and throughout the car park, states that this is private land, is managed by ParkingEye Ltd, and is a paid parking site, along with other terms and conditions by which those who park on the site agree to be bound. In accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the signage, the Parking Charge became payable. Notice under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 has been given under Sch4, making the keeper liable. This claim us in reference to Parking Charge(s): xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Stroma

Okay I thought it would be Parking Eye as they have done this before, they are abusing the bulk clearance centre by issuing claims with motorists out of area. I bet it doesn't say Scotland in the address section.

You need to defend this full, and mark it out of area as well. I will have another look on this, but you may want to post this on www.pepipoo.com as well, many of the users here post there also, but it will give you the fastest advice by posting on both forums.

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

It would be done in sheriff court. I've no idea about Scottish courts work

Stroma

My understanding on it is that a small claim from the English cannot be heard in Scotland , I think there was a thread about this on cag , it was thrown out because the small claims are not for Scotland . If they have a claim it must be through the Scottish system, it would be like trying a claim through the sherrifs court for something in England

bod1467

To my understanding you are correct. Scotland and England (and Wales) have entirely separate legal systems. Small claims raised in England cannot be filed on residents of scotland via the English courts - they must use the Scottish courts system.

Coupon-mad

Stroma wrote: »

Okay I thought it would be Parking Eye as they have done this before, they are abusing the bulk clearance centre by issuing claims with motorists out of area. I bet it doesn't say Scotland in the address section.

You need to defend this full, and mark it out of area as well. I will have another look on this, but you may want to post this on www.pepipoo.com as well, many of the users here post there also, but it will give you the fastest advice by posting on both forums.

Yep post on pepipoo for advice on how to knock this back on being out of jurisdiction:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

I suspect you'd need to submit a bullet point defence anyway but with the top 2 points being that you are in Scotland, so not within jurisdiction of the English courts, and that registered keeper liability has not been established and POFA2012 doesn't apply in Scotland. Your other defence points could be more than you have so far; there are some links and advice points already given in oldguy67's thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4850888

HTH but see what pepipoo posters say. This may be easier to get quashed on jurisdiction alone than we know about on here.

fungal

Thanks for your help so far Stroma, Bod, Coupon-mad.

I've taken a look at pepipoo.com and will post there as well.

The_Deep

Surely the fact that the deed was done in England means that you can be taken to court in England.