HELP - Parking eye -Claim form recieved from County Court

SNAP

Hi,
I am fairly new to this site in respect of the forums but have often used the site itself for help with other things so I am hoping you are kind to me

I received a 'Parking Charge Notice' from Parking Eye back on the 26/10/2013 advising that I had over stayed in one of their car parks on the 19/10/13 on Walker Street in Preston Lancashire.

They gave me the option to appeal on their website which I did.
I heard nothing from them after logging this appeal on their site and assumed that I had been successful (I shall never be this naive again!) and thought nothing more of it.
I have received a claim form on 23rd Jan with 14 days to respond from the service date which was the 22nd Jan.

This is the address on the form:

County Court Bulk Centre
4th Floor St Katharine's House
21-27 St Katharine’s Street
Northampton
NN1 2LH

It is asking that I pay the claimed amount of £155 broken down from £90 for the ‘Parking Charge Notice’ a £15 court fee and a £50 solicitors fee.


I really don’t know what to do now as I have not been given relevant time to prepare myself and I have 9 days till I have submit a response to the court.


Here are the circumstances:
I went into town with a friend and I parked on this car park like I have on many other occasions before, I paid the relevant fees for my parking, when I returned to the car towards the end of the day by myself (around 4pm in October so it was getting darker by that point) I realised that I had over stayed in the car park by mere minutes and attempted to pay the additional £1 for an hour parking.

However when I tried to put the only pound coin I had with me (the only coin at all in my purse) the machine promptly spat it back out of the bottom.


I have a mobile phone however this was switched off as the battery had run out. I attempted to put this pound coin in the machine a few more times and the machine again promptly spat it out each time.

I must note I also went to the extreme of asking a passerby if they had change to switch my pound coin with or change for the £5 note which I had in my purse to no avail, this was a scary prospect as I am a young woman of 25 (24 at the time) with a nervous disposition and due to this I didn’t want to walk back into the city centre by myself due to the fear of being alone as it was getting dark.

I eventually left the site and thought nothing more.
I explained all the above into my appeal to parking eye and as previously mentioned heard nothing after this until I received the Claim Form in the post.


Please can you help me? As I am unsure which step to take as I do not deny that I overstayed but do not feel that £155 (or even £90) is a fair penalty and I did attempt to pay at the time and due to the machine failing was unable to.


Thank You in advance.

spacey2012

use the form details to log in to MCOL and select defend whole claim, this buys you 28 days from 23rd of Jan to start preparing a defence.
Keep your chin up, they have had some right bottom smacking at county court lately.

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parking-Prankster-Guide-Fighting-ParkingEye-ebook/dp/B00HSITXYG

Thats what you need , tells you what you need to etc

Redx

if you appealed on their website and heard nothing more, also complain to s clark at the BPA for starters, as its a breach of the BPA CoP

Lazos

Same carpark as myself. There are some important facts that have been brought to light in my thread regarding this Car Park.

Click my name in Blue, scroll to 'LETTER BEFORE COUNTY COURT CLAIM - Parking Eye' and have a read through the full thread. (I have now BUMPed it for you to find on page 1 of the forum)

In the meantime, I was going to write an update on that thread anyway...Relax. Read all the information in the forum and I will see if I can gather facts, on my thread, to put on here for anyone that may be able to help you (Unfortunetly I'm a newbie myself and wouldn't be able to offer as IN DEPTH aide as others in the forum)

Coupon-mad

kirkbyinfurnesslad wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parking-Prankster-Guide-Fighting-ParkingEye-ebook/dp/B00HSITXYG

Thats what you need , tells you what you need to etc.

This (above) is what you will need but first read Lazos' thread and this below advice I just told someone on pepipoo (i.e. read any/LOTS of pepipoo Court claim threads to learn from what happens):
http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=87234 (post #7 from me as SRM on there)

HTH, happy reading, there are Court wins on there as well as everything already answered umpteen times.

SNAP

Thank you all for your help. I am still not quite sure what I am going to do but at least I know my options a bit better now.

I think I am going to have to contest the whole claim on the basis I was prepared to pay but due to their machinary malfunctioning and them being presumptious that everyone has a mobile phone ( there were no payphone in walking distace either) I was unable to do so, at the time I did everything in my power to try and pay without success, I will throw a few more points that I have picked up from the links you lovely people have provided and hopefully this will be enough.

Again Thank You!:o

Coupon-mad

You will need more help along the way. I hope you didn't miss the advice I was signposting you to on the pepipoo thread, namely '...a strong and knowledgeable defence...also asking for the case to be stayed for POPLA to be undertaken and/or for a preliminary hearing to establish PE's standing.'

I will pm you! Claims can be 'headed off at the pass' if the court plays ball - and it's worth a try when POPLA hasn't been tried yet.

And the main basis of your defence should NOT be the story of what happened, sorry, that's almost a passing addition to throw in only at the end!

4consumerrights

SNAP wrote: »

Thank you all for your help. I am still not quite sure what I am going to do but at least I know my options a bit better now.

I think I am going to have to contest the whole claim on the basis I was prepared to pay but due to their machinary malfunctioning and them being presumptious that everyone has a mobile phone ( there were no payphone in walking distace either) I was unable to do so, at the time I did everything in my power to try and pay without success, I will throw a few more points that I have picked up from the links you lovely people have provided and hopefully this will be enough.

Again Thank You!:o

Please don't make that your main point of defence as it will not win at all. If the ticket machine is faulty - then you could also make a complaint to trading standards.

I'm sure that you have read Lazos thread by now.

read also powerlady's as supplied bullet point defence to work with and there are useful other links to follow by others.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4855543

and parking pranksters website - where you can also download both books (one free- containing legal arguments) and a list of successful court cases to include for your case.

http://parking-prankster.com/court-claim.html

SNAP

Hi Everyone,

I have to say thank you to everyone who has helped so far. You have made me much less terrified of the prospect of this claim against me. I will will keep you all updated on the ongoing defense.

I have now submitted my acknowledgement and am currently creating my defense.

Thank You Again for ALL you help so far!

Coupon-mad

The vast majority of cases never end up in a hearing. And our win rate in court is increasing!