Parking Eye Court Claim

liseylou

Here it is...


FAO the allocated Judge
Re: CLAIM NUMBER XXXXXXXX

I am the Defendant and the registered keeper of the vehicle relating to this alleged parking invoice and respectfully request that the following be placed before the Judge:

I request that the court considers an Order for the claim to be stayed pending the allowance of both parties to undertake ADR in the form of a 'Parking on Private Land appeal’ (POPLA).

This would follow many similar Court Orders in a number of this Claimant's cases now successfully resolved, e.g. in the order made by District Judge Mayor, Croydon Court, 13/09/13 (Case no. 3JD00719, ParkingEye v Mr O), and by Deputy District Judge Bridger, Southampton Court, 21/01/2014 (Case no. 3JD05448, ParkingEye v Gilmartin) and by Deputy District Judge Buckley, Blackburn County Court, 11/02/2014 (Case no. 3JD10502, ParkingEye v Mrs P).

It is not relevant if this claimant 'feels POPLA is unsuitable' because in the legitimate interests of the consumer and in accordance with the Practice Direction, they should have explored this option more fully and offered it to me far more openly, in pre-court correspondence. The truth of the matter is that POPLA impose no deadline and will allow a British Parking Association (BPA) member to issue a POPLA code at any stage.

A small claim should be a step of last resort and as far as this overactive claimant is concerned, that is far from the case. This claimant has failed to show any justification to refuse the parking industry's bespoke ADR which they merely hide in small print on one early unsolicited letter which impersonates a parking ticket, regarding which the accepted and informed advice for many years was to ignore. ParkingEye are well aware of this and they bank on consumers missing the self-imposed short time limit of appeal/POPLA and despite their assertion otherwise, they do not offer it again in other letters. However, the BPA, which is their Trade Body, are on record this year as being particularly keen for the authorities to recognise POPLA as the most suitable ADR and they actively encourage cases to be referred.

A POPLA decision will almost certainly resolve the case without the need for court, within 90 days of the claimant issuing a POPLA verification code, if the court orders this form of ADR. In the interests of saving the court's time and resolving the matter fairly, I hereby agree to accept the findings of POPLA, even though in the normal course of events their decisions are not binding on a motorist.

Concluding statement of case for this claim to be stayed:

This is not about parking management nor the rights of any landowner - this is a vexatious litigant, and as a final alternative, I invite the court to strike this claim out.

This claimant has no standing or title in the land they ostensibly 'manage' at arm's length with remote cameras and they display an aggressive approach in their prolific forays in the small claims track. I draw the court's attention to this claimant's well-documented disregard for genuine customers of their principal clients, and to the disproportionate, scattergun defence bundle 'weighty tomes' submitted week in, week out, wasting courts time with irrelevant case law, in pursuit of winning some trophy cases, always at a loss.

In a recent case at Aberystwyth in April 2014, this claimant reportedly filed over 700 pages in their bundle about a retail car park where they had recently lost a claim, sending a paid solicitor at further cost, purely to attempt to win a case regarding a free customer car park, where there was no initial or consequential loss to pursue and the 'PCN' sum claimed was £100. Any victory using these methods is a Pyrrhic victory and an abuse of the small claims track.

ParkingEye pay £200-£300 for their lawyers, making at least a £100 loss on the day. They further compound this by ordering transcripts of cases won for £200-£300, since hours of court time is taken up in some cases. This is a cleverly designed and orchestrated campaign to create a climate of intimidation. Using their transcripts and mentioning only the wins and never the losses, they present a one-sided view of the true situation on their website, in their POPLA appeals, and in the documents used in any court cases.

I submit that to proceed to a hearing without attempting the ADR of POPLA first, would be a waste of the court's time and should be avoided.

I believe that the facts stated above are true and any opinion expressed in it is honestly held.

I deny that I am liable to the Claimant for the sums claimed, or any amount at all.

Coupon-mad

POPLA appeal to local court - taken from SchoolRunMum


That's me so I can't argue with it!

45mip19lot

I am very interested in your case Liseylou as it is almost identical to mine......same car park, same scenario (23 minute overstay) & more or less the same time period (August last year).

I have been allocated a local court, and I have hand delivered the letter compiled by Coupon-mad.

I am not too impressed with the local court so far though.......I phoned them up a few days after dropping off the letter, to confirm that they were in receipt of it (it was out of working hours when I posted it and I was not convinced it was the right letter box).

The clerk could not confirm if it was in my file or not and suggested that I send an email as I would get an answer the next day. I did as requested and included a copy of the letter as an attachment. Around 5 days later I received an email stating that they haven't received a letter headed 'hand delivered' !!!

I phoned the court back and eventually someone confirmed that my letter was in fact in the file and it was up to the Judge now. I also told them that I was going on holiday for 3 weeks, so please don't pick a date for the hearing before the 20th June. The reply was, she couldn't say when it would be, but would put a note in my file. For all I know there could be a letter at home telling me the hearing is the day after I get home.

Like you, I have been reading all the info, getting my final defence together, but I have not yet submitted it as I was hoping to get at least 14 days notice.

At least the weather in Thailand is baking hot and the beer is on ice.

I will post on here when I get some news.....good or bad.

Mike

liseylou

45mip19lot wrote: »

I am very interested in your case Liseylou as it is almost identical to mine......same car park, same scenario (23 minute overstay) & more or less the same time period (August last year).

I have been allocated a local court, and I have hand delivered the letter compiled by Coupon-mad.

I am not too impressed with the local court so far though.......I phoned them up a few days after dropping off the letter, to confirm that they were in receipt of it (it was out of working hours when I posted it and I was not convinced it was the right letter box).

The clerk could not confirm if it was in my file or not and suggested that I send an email as I would get an answer the next day. I did as requested and included a copy of the letter as an attachment. Around 5 days later I received an email stating that they haven't received a letter headed 'hand delivered' !!!

I phoned the court back and eventually someone confirmed that my letter was in fact in the file and it was up to the Judge now. I also told them that I was going on holiday for 3 weeks, so please don't pick a date for the hearing before the 20th June. The reply was, she couldn't say when it would be, but would put a note in my file. For all I know there could be a letter at home telling me the hearing is the day after I get home.

Like you, I have been reading all the info, getting my final defence together, but I have not yet submitted it as I was hoping to get at least 14 days notice.

At least the weather in Thailand is baking hot and the beer is on ice.

I will post on here when I get some news.....good or bad.

Mike

Hi Mike,

You will need to start your own thread on this, as other forum members will then be able to assist you further.

However, I am intrigued to know more about the event, as I am certain that PE purposely cause delays in their car parks in order to generate income via PCN's. There would have been hundreds of PCN's issued in this car park alone in August, I am sure!!

I don't suppose you can recall how many machines were working fully? For my driver, the option to pay by card wasn't available and there was no mobile phone reception, so that only left cash, which no-one carries nowadays!!

Bet there is no risk of receiving a PCN in Thailand!!

Regards,

LL

45mip19lot

Hi Liseylou,

Sorry, I didn't make it clear in the last post...I already have my own thread going and Coupon-mad has really helped me (together with several others) but you seemed to be further down the road than me, so that is why I am really interested in your case.

I was not the driver so I cannot help you much there as I was not present at the time.

Since posting this morning, I telephoned the court via Skype and they told me that they have written to me at my home address and basically the letter is too long to recite over the phone, but I have a hearing date on I think she said the 2nd September ( I wasn't listening too intently because I was relieved it was well after I get back) and I need to get certain documents before the court by the 16th July......apparently the court has told me exactly what to provide in the letter.

I will start updating my thread when I get home......if I can be of any assistance to you, just let me know.

Mike

liseylou

Mike - our cases are almost identical!!

August
Tower Road
22 minute overstay
I wasn't driving (which is why I ignored the PCN-as it tells you to)

I've just read your posts and I am also trying to get my hearing transferred to Portsmouth but I am not as far down the line as you as I have only just received the 'notice of proposed allocation to the Small Claims track'.

Shame we can't get our cases heard together.

liseylou

Coupon-mad wrote: »

What does the court info say, do you have a hearing date or have to submit your statement and full defence bundle yet?

Letter from CCBC to confirm case allocated to local court and procedural judge - waiting judge's directions......

I am going to write to the local court as per your reference on Pepipoo but just wanted to know whether your current advice is to still ask for an order pending the outcome of the Cambridge 'test' case

bazster

liseylou wrote: »

Letter from CCBC to confirm case allocated to local court and procedural judge - waiting judge's directions......

I am going to write to the local court as per your reference on Pepipoo but just wanted to know whether your current advice is to still ask for an order pending the outcome of the Cambridge 'test' case

So you are still waiting to hear whether the judge will order this to PoPLA, is that right?

The Cambridge test case has been heard, ParkingEye won. However, one of the defendants has now appealed to the Court of Appeal, so that has a looooong time still to run. You could certainly request a stay pending the outcome of the appeal, especially if PE try to use the Cambridge judgment against you. See the Prankster here:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/arguments-to-use-if-parkingeye-try-and_11.html

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/vcs-and-parkingeye-court-cases.html

45mip19lot

LiseyLou......I have replied to your PM sent to my thread. It looks like our hearings might be on the same day at the same court.
Mike

liseylou

Coupon-mad, I need to send you a PM but your inbox is full. Could you clear some space for me please as I now need to submit a full witness statement and court bundle?

In particular, I refer to Bargepoles guidance under Small Claims & PPCs #2, mentioning the 'standard' paragraphs that you have pre-prepared and that I should contact you for this information.