County court letter for excel parking fine - pls help!

sammybibi

Hi, I am new to this forum and been reading endless posts but have found no cases similar to mine. The advice seems to be to start a new thread so I can get help and pointers on the way forward.

I received a letter from Northampton County Court on 28 May and the particulars of claim states: The claim against the defendant is for multiple breeches in respect of 3 parking charge notices issued for parking after the expiration time on a pay and display ticket. The dates of the said offences are between Sept 2013 - Nov 2013. It says they have written to me but I have failed to pay. They claim interest under section 69 of the county court act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from Oct 2013 to May 2014 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement at a daily rate of £0.06.

I am in utter shock as this is the first time I have heard of the said tickets. I have used this car park since May 2012 and have always paid for the maximum which is £3.50 for 3-10 hours. At least once a week I work long hours which can be between 8am to 8pm however, I was never aware I was meant to pay an additional fee after the 10hrs or I would have simply moved my car to the street opposite my office which was free after 6pm. I never received any tickets on my car or in the post. I even made a phone call to Excel in Nov 2013 to report a faulty machine and obtain a code which the lady advised I should display on my dashboard. I gave my name and registration number and she did not inform me of any outstanding fines.

I am very worried about this affecting my credit file but I certainly do not want to pay any fines due to no fault of mine. Any advise will be greatly appreciated and sorry for the long post.

Custard_Pie

sammybibi wrote: »

Hi, I am new to this forum and been reading endless posts but have found no cases similar to mine. The advice seems to be to start a new thread so I can get help and pointers on the way forward.

I received a letter from Northampton County Court on 28 May and the particulars of claim states: The claim against the defendant is for multiple breeches in respect of 3 parking charge notices issued for parking after the expiration time on a pay and display ticket. The dates of the said offences are between Sept 2013 - Nov 2013. It says they have written to me but I have failed to pay. They claim interest under section 69 of the county court act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from Oct 2013 to May 2014 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement at a daily rate of £0.06.

I am in utter shock as this is the first time I have heard of the said tickets. I have used this car park since May 2012 and have always paid for the maximum which is £3.50 for 3-10 hours. At least once a week I work long hours which can be between 8am to 8pm however, I was never aware I was meant to pay an additional fee after the 10hrs or I would have simply moved my car to the street opposite my office which was free after 6pm. I never received any tickets on my car or in the post. I even made a phone call to Excel in Nov 2013 to report a faulty machine and obtain a code which the lady advised I should display on my dashboard. I gave my name and registration number and she did not inform me of any outstanding fines.

I am very worried about this affecting my credit file but I certainly do not want to pay any fines due to no fault of mine. Any advise will be greatly appreciated and sorry for the long post.

It's not a fine or parking ticket. Only the Police or Council appointed Traffic Wardens can issue those. You have received invoices over an alleged breach of contract between the parking company and the driver.

As you are at the court papers stage I will leave it to those more in the know, but don't panic.

Redx

there are dozens of similar cases to yours , although they are all about parking charge notices , not fines , some are excel , most are parking eye , all tend to be smal claims (MCOL) from northampton , so how you missed them is beyond me

first task is stop calling them fines as they are not fines and it wont say the word FINE anywhere on the paperwork

if you check the NEWBIES sticky thread at the top of the forum , there is a complete section on court claims , mainly parking eye , including the parking pranksters books , but apply to ANY court case like this , not just PE , so including excel

so thats your first task here, to read and understand what is happening and why

then you defend the claim

here are some other court claim examples to get you started using the word NORTHAMPTON as a search word

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4986278

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4978725

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4844795

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4978868

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4972883

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4970314

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4969893

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4967127

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4938807

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4953558

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4941171

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4937336

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4945772

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4908490

now , what was it you said about no similar threads about court claims ?

Coupon-mad

Please read the links above and also post #5 of the NEWBIES sticky thread (ONLY post #5 of it).

sammybibi

Thank you all so much for your responses. I have spent all evening reading through the links and other related threads. I have now sent the acknowledgement of service and received a confirmation email.


I now want to start working on my defence but need pointers as to what it should look like. Any templates on what it should look like please?

Coupon-mad

You'll see them when you read the links in post #5 (only post #5) of the NEWBIES thread... as I said!

sammybibi

I did actually read post #5 on the newbies thread and started with the advice link. I have returned the AOS and the next advice was to post details of the case on the pepipoo private parking forum and get help on an initial brief defence statement.


I just thought I needed to make an effort to draw one up myself before more experienced members of the forum will be willing to provide their input and advice. I guess I should just post it on there anyway and see what responses I get. Thanks again

sammybibi

Sorry to have waited this long in posting my defence. In my last trimester of pregnancy and been quite poorly.


I have spent endless hours on google trying to get information on the land ownership of Pennine Centre car park in Halifax as I am not sure if it is being leased by Excel or just being managed by them. I have gone with the assumption that Excel is not the landowner.


My defence does not include a request for the claim to be stayed pending POPLA as the most suitable ADR. Do you advice that I include this?


Below is my draft defence and sorry in advance if it seems lame as I am a novice at this whole process.




Claim Number ............ Excel Parking Services Ltd - vs - Defendant's name



Defence Argument

I am [NAME] of [ADDRESS], [POSTCODE], defendant in this matter and registered keeper of the car in question.

It is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed.

This is my statement of truth and defence which relies mainly on the following points:


a) Lack of Standing by Claimant: The Claimant is not the landowner of the car park, and has no proprietary interest in it. This means that the Claimant, as a matter of law, has no locus standi to litigate in their own name. Any consideration is provided by the landholder, and only they can sue for damages or trespass. The business model run by this agent is similar to case number 3JD00517 ParkingEye v Clarke 19/12/2013 where the Judge said: ''the Claimants are the wrong Claimants.'' Transcript will be provided prior to any hearing.


b) No Loss Suffered by Claimant: Their claim is based on damages for alleged breach of contract. It is a fundamental principle of English Law that a party who suffers damages through breach of contract can only seek through court action to be put back in the same position as they would have been if the breach had not occurred. In order to do so, they must demonstrate their actual, or genuine, pre-estimate of loss. 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.


c) Parking charges of any amount are neither authorised nor automatically accepted by the BPA nor the Office of Fair Trading, which stated to the BPA in 2012 that a 'parking charge is not automatically recoverable simply because it is stated to be a parking charge.' The BPA Code of Practice from 2012 applies and was not followed in full.


d) These charges are penalties, contrary to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the UTCCRs 1999. In Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. Vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914 Lord Dunedin set out the following guidelines:
''(a) It will be held to be penalty if the sum stipulated for is extravagant and unconscionable in amount in comparison with the greatest loss that could conceivably be proved to have followed from the breach. (b) It will be held to be a penalty if the breach consists only in not paying a sum of money, and the sum stipulated is a sum greater than the sum which ought to have been paid.''

This view was confirmed by the Judge in Excel Parking Services v Hetherington-Jakeman, Mansfield,18/03/2008 where this Claimant's misapplication of Vine v Waltham Forest failed to adduce any authority to support their proposition that their charges were reasonable. Indeed the Judge found this Claimant's series of letters pursuing their charges were designed to 'frighten and intimidate' and the charges were predominantly deterrents, being a payment of money in terrorem and therefore amounting to unenforceable penalties. Transcript will be provided for any hearing.


e) No contract with the claimant. Any contract must have offer, acceptance and consideration both ways. There is no consideration from Excel to motorist; the gift of parking is the landowner’s, not Excel’s. Any fees for parking are due to the landowner and not Excel.


f) The driver has used the said car park for two years, daily paying the maximum parking fee allowable.


Conclusion


This concludes my defence. The opinions given are honestly held by me and the facts are a statement of truth. I deny that I am liable to the Claimant for the sums claimed, or any amount at all. I respectfully invite the Court to strike out the claim as being without merit, and with no realistic prospect of success.

Redx

I am no expert at all but I would have thought that POPLA should always be quoted as a suitable ADR in any court case like this - you would be asking the judge to let you use the correct assessors to decide the case (popla) and saving the court time and money , possibly both sides too

plus the same arguments are used at popla

ps:- sorry to hear about your poor health too

The_Deep

You appear to have got hold of it. Basically, what this case is about is greed. You owe them money, not a lot, just a few pounds in fact, but you have ignored their requests for payment.

However, the amount that they want is far in excess of that which is due to them. If they reject Popla send them a with prejudice offer of, say £25 - £50, and see what they say. If they decline it could go against them in court.

Coupon-mad

sammybibi wrote: »

My defence does not include a request for the claim to be stayed pending POPLA as the most suitable ADR. Do you advice that I include this?

Yes, put it in there now and again later, write to the local court as soon as the N180 stage has allocated the claim locally. Here's a poster this has just worked for!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5006337

You may like to compare notes & get moral support with this poster:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5000940

Same stage as you. Do send me a pm later on if you need help but mainly the process is explained in post #5 of the NEWBIES thread and you should be writing a very strong letter of complaint to the Retail Park or landowner (info available for about a fiver from the Land Registry!) as soon as you've got the defence submitted (your first priority).

GET YOUR DEFENCE IN NOW OR YOU WILL LOSE BY DEFAULT IF NOT RECEIVED BY THE COURTS WITHIN 33 DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE COURT PAPERS.