Parking Eye Claim Form Defence

crusty_uk

Hello all,

I've already checked out the Newby guide at the top of the board advising on what to do but ended up getting a little confused with what to do and decided that it might be easier to start a new thread for some advice

Here's my situation, its probably not unique.

I have recently received a claim form from Northampton county court claiming a total amount of £165 to parking eye.

I've ignored all previous letters from the company which as im now aware, probably wasn't the best idea.

On the day of the alleged parking offence, I was using the cinema carpark and was actually watching a film at the cinema as a paying customer.

I never entered my registration number into the machine as i had never had to do so in the past and i was in a rush to catch the film.

Since receiving the claim form, i have contacted the cinema and ask to have the claim dropped which they have agreed to do. I phoned twice and also emailed.

The email reply i received is as follows.

Hi xxxxx,

I have sent another email to parking eye requesting your parking ticket be cancelled. Once we send over the cancellation request, we do not have any further contact with the company to inform us of your parking tickets progress. All we can do is send over the cancellation request which is what I have just done for you again.

I hope this will settle everything for you.

Kind regards

Lucy

This was over a week ago and I have received no official confirmation that the claim has actually been dropped. I have already extended my allowed time from 14 to 28 days and now only have a few days to submit a defence which is what i'm planning on doing.

In my defence, i have dates, times and ticket reference numbers for the seats which my and a partner purchased for the film at the cinema. Here's is a quick draft of what i was going to submit as a defence,

I am writing regarding a county claim form that was issued on the xxxxxx regarding an alleged parking offence on xxxxx

It is true, that on this day I was parked in the car park but I done so as I was within my rights as a paying customer of the xxxx Cinema. I purchased two tickets on the xxxxxxx to view the new release of the superman man movie, Man of Steel. I also have a ticket reference number of xxxxxx as proof of purchase of two seats in xxxx and G8 for the 18.55 viewing of the film at the cinema.
As I was late arriving at the cinema I did not notice the registration number machine that requires customers to enter the registration number of their vehicles in order to validate their parking. It was also my first time at the cinema since the new ‘Parking Rules’ had been in force and as a result was not familiar with the new procedure of having to enter a number plate into an unfamiliar machine, that I had accidently overlooked, in my hurry to catch the start of the film.
I have not been able to contact the cinema or parking eye earlier as I have received no notice of any potential penalties issued against me.
Since receiving the claim on the xxxxxxx I have contacted movie star cinema, by phone, on two occasions and they have assured me that the claim against me will be dropped as I was a paying customer to the cinema. I have also received an email stating that the claim would be dropped "Email Copied here".

If anyone could help me and possibly advise me on how to structure my defence better i would greatly appreciate it. Or if there is any legislation that could help back me up that would also be great or any amendments anyone could think off.

Or if they could even let me know if my defence is even valid lol.

Thanks for any help in advance. I'm a bit worried about this but i shouldn't have left it so late.

Redx

have you checked this out ?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4864999

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Sorry that defence wont work at all so you need to start again, and scrub all of that.

Download this guide, there is a kindle reader on there if you need it
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parking-Prankster-Guide-Fighting-ParkingEye-ebook/dp/B00HSITXYG

Get reading and working out quickly what you need to do

crusty_uk

So It wouldn't work at all even though I can prove I was in the cinema watching the film as I have the ticket reference number?

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

crusty_uk wrote: »

So It wouldn't work at all even though I can prove I was in the cinema watching the film as I have the ticket reference number?

No your defence wont work

You need to follow my advice and forget what you have previously come up with.

Get the guide, read through it and go from there , its opnly £3.60

SevenTowers

crusty_uk wrote: »

So It wouldn't work at all even though I can prove I was in the cinema watching the film as I have the ticket reference number?

I know, mad, isn't it?

Unfortunately common sense doesn't count for much when it comes to fighting Parking Eye, they will try every trick in the book to get their hands on your money.

As well as what happened on the day you need to include the legal arguments that show up Parking Eye's business model to be a massive sham.

Start with Kirby and Redx's advice to read the Prankster's Guide.

crusty_uk

Okey then, I've bought the guide and had a good read through on the step that i'm at.

I've submitted the skeleton defence as well as my own amendments of what i think is relevant.

i've tried to reiterate the point that i have not caused any loss to the landowner as i was a paying customer and they themselves have agreed this as well.

Also that the i've incurred no loss on the claimant and that they're are *** holes.

...well not the last bit.

Thanks!

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Oh dear, you submitted it?,

That was a bit rushed..... Could you post up what you submitted...... I feel you may have rushed this for absolutely no reason, you should have taken your time to get it right

4consumerrights

It seems this forum is suddenly swamped with NEWBIEs having strange AVATARs (with similar colourings)

However if you submitted a skeleton defence based on Prankster's guide - it may be OK - I just hope you didn't use silly mitigation instead of constructive legal arguments such as Parking Eye are merely agents with no legal standing to pursue charges in their own name, the amount does not reflect a genuine pre-estimate of loss for alleged breach, signage terms not clear or adequate to form a contract with the driver etc....

You could post up a what you submitted though.

Also make active complaints to the retailer/landowner in order to get this charge cancelled. It is never too late to do this so start now.

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Please post up your defence

crusty_uk

Yes, I admit that was probably too hasty but as its drawing so close to the end of my 28 day limit I needed to get something down.

tbh, i've left it as late as this because I was pretty certain that the cinema would get PE to cancel the claim as they assured me they had contacted PE twice.

1. I dispute the entirety of the claim

2. ParkingEye did not send me a letter before claim which was
compliant with practice directions. As a result the parties have
not been able to able to complete the exchange of information
needed for me to file my full defence and have not been able to
complete Alternative Dispute Resolution.

3. I therefore request the claim is stayed until ParkingEye
provide full particulars of claim.

4. Parking cases explore complex areas of law. I estimate that any
hearing will need between a half day to a day to hear all the
issues.

5. ParkingEye never attend court personally, but use an advocate
from LPC Law who offer a fixed fee service for around £250 for a 3
hour hearing (ParkingEye can confirm the exact amount) or more if
the hearing is longer.

6. It is clear therefore, that as legal costs are not normally
reclaimable in the small claims court that ParkingEye have no
sensible financial basis for pursuing this claim as they will make
a loss, whatever the result. Moreover,this case will take a great
deal of the court’s time.

7. I therefore propose we use the industry standard dispute
mechanism which is to use ParkingEye’s appeal service first and
then the independent adjudication service POPLA next. This costs
ParkingEye £27. However, they will be better off financially than
if we carry on to a hearing, whatever the result.

8. POPLA is not normally binding on the motorist. However, I will
agree to be bound by the result of POPLA.

9. ParkingEye are known never to agree to use POPLA unless the
court orders this. In the case of ParkingEye v Mr O, 3JD00791 at
Croydon County Court,Judge Major ordered that
1. Proceedings are stayed [1]
2. Refer the dispute to POPLA in the first instance.

10. The case then proceeded to POPLA [2]

11.A similar order would save costs for all parties and the court

12.In the event the court decides POPLA is not suitable then I
request that the case be stayed for both parties to compete
pre-court actions.

13. I will then file my defence based on the following points

a. ParkingEye are not the landowner, and have not shown they have
the landowner’s permission to take court action in their own name.
They therefore have no standing to bring the case.

c. In the event ParkingEye claim they are charging for breach of
contract I point out that as no parking was allowed at the time
there can be no contract as there was no consideration. The claim
can only be for trespass.

d. In the event ParkingEye claim they are charging for breach of
contract then according to well established case law and also the
British Parking Association code of conduct, which they have
agreed to obey and also which their standard contract with the
landowner states they must comply with then any charge for breach
of contract must be a true pre-estimate of loss. The creditor for
breach of contract, as shown by ParkingEye’s standard contract, is
the landowner. The landowner’s loss in this situation is zero or
negligible. As ParkingEye’s standard contract does not pass on
recovery costs to the landowner then the landowner has made no
loss from recovery costs. In any case, as ParkingEye’s accounts
show they make over 30% profit on charges for breach of contract,
the charge cannot be a true pre-estimate of loss.

e. I submit that no loss has been suffered by the Claimant as a
result of any alleged breaches of contract on my part. Any losses
are due to the landholder, not the Claimant. I further submit that
the loss to the landholder is zero or negligible. The loss to the
landholder has also been discussed and they have agreed that zero
loss has been incurred. The landholder has contacted parking eye
on more than one occasion and requested them to drop the claim as no loss to them has been caused. Parking eye has refused to do so.

It was the under the Pre defence section that I took most of these points. The last part I feel address the fact that PE have no right to make a claim in there name.

I didn't include anything about the signage terms not being clear enough to form a contract however.