Set aside CCJ sent to old address for own space parking

Coupon-mad

He has not made his mind up; that's a standard Order and noting about your case has been looked at in any detail.  The danger is it might not be DJ Iyer deciding the case.

I do however worry about the inconsistencies and errors I've picked up in the Claimant's witness statement that the judge may not pick up on. There was no sequential evidence exchange and so I've had no chance to comment on any of their witness statement. It's also been said many time on here that, if you do win, you need to ask for and justify your costs, but I won't get an opportunity to do that either albeit I have filed a summary costs assessment. I feel like after all the help on here I could do a good job of rebutting their arguments but I'd like to hope the judge could do this on their own.

Maybe for the above reasons you reply saying no to the case being heard on the papers.

dan0116

Thanks for the advice. I think on balance, after all the time I and the others helping on here have taken to prepare to this stage, I'll push for a face to face hearing regardless of the delay. It seems like that's the only way i can be confident I'll get a fair say, and gives more opportunity for UKPC to slip up or drop the ball.

dan0116

Hi,
I just wanted to update everyone that my hearing was last week and the claim was dismissed, with the judge ordering the claimant to pay me £50 for loss of earnings (it would have been more had I attached payslips to my costs summary which I'll do in future). Thanks again to all of the contributors in this thread, particularly Coupon-mad, Johnersh, Half_way, D_P_Dance, Henrik777.

The hearing was around two hours and roughly summarised below:
- As I've heard happen a number of times on here, the claimant's solicitor claimed they had not received my witness statement (this also happened at my set aside hearing). They said that I should have emailed it but I had email proof from them that stated I should post it as they didn't accept service of documents by email. The judge was not impressed with them, we adjourned for 10 mins and I emailed the witness statement to them
- The main failing of the claimant was that the photos of the signs were illegible so the judge couldn't agree what the terms were that I was supposed to have broken, never mind whether I should have abided by them in the first place
- The claimant tried to argue that, as I usually displayed a permit, i was agreeing to their parking terms, but I simply said that i did it as a courtesy as advised here
- The judge agreed that the claimant "had standing", which I think meant that he agreed they were lawfully providing their service (although not that I needed to abide by their terms) due to having a contract between them and the building's managing agent
- The judge noted that there had not been a any notice given to residents of a change of terms and conditions of the apartment lease. The claimant tried to argue that a catch all clause in the lease meant they could introduce new terms without informing residents but, although the case didn't hinge on it in the end, I think the judge disagreed, pointing to clauses in the lease that referred to Section 196 of the Law and Property Act 1925 regarding "Notices"
- We never really got onto the Abuse of Process stuff around the extra £60, but that further discredited the claim, so it felt like they fell at the first of many hurdles in reality, being that they had no proof that there even was a sign with the terms I was alleged to have broken

Unfortunately me and my girlfriend have some more outstanding PCNs with another parking operator that no doubt will go the same way (hers is already at the claim stage), but the experience with this claim has made me even more determined to fight the claims and have them overturned. 

At many points I thought I should just pay and have done with it but I'm so glad I didn't now. Overall I'm still down as I never had my set aside fee reimbursed but I'm content to know that not a penny of mine made its way to UKPC. The only way to beat this horrible industry is to take the advice on here and defend the claim, and I'd appeal to anyone on here to do that and don't get disheartened. 

Le_Kirk

Well done on the win!  Shame you didn't get your set-aside fee back.  At the set-aside hearing what did the judge say about the fee?  Should it have been paid then or were costs reserved?

Redx

Well done , a loss for UKPC

You should have got the set aside fee back too

Always provide proof of your costs , receipts , wage slips etc

Another one bites the dust !!

Coupon-mad

Well done on your win!  As Le_Kirk says, wasn't the £255 fee 'reserved' pending this recent hearing, in which case you are now owed it too and maybe the Judge overlooked that.

D_P_Dance

- The judge noted that there had not been a any notice given to residents of a change of terms and conditions of the apartment lease.

That cannot be right surely.  Did you not raise primacy of contract? 

I feel that you have dropped the ball here, own space cases should always be defended to the hilt and, very often counter claimed, read this,  and consider misuse of data, interference with property rights,

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/


t

dan0116

Hi all, I've already realised I've missed Le_Kirk and Redx from my list so thanks to you guys too. Unfortunately the judge deemed that the claim had been correctly served at my set aside hearing and so didn't make an order for costs to be paid or reserved. Perhaps I should have argued this more at the time, as surely it's fair to put me back in the position I was at prior to the claim being issued, but I didn't want to push it with the judge when he said no.

D_P_Dance said:

- The judge noted that there had not been a any notice given to residents of a change of terms and conditions of the apartment lease.

That cannot be right surely.  Did you not raise primacy of contract? 

I feel that you have dropped the ball here, own space cases should always be defended to the hilt and, very often counter claimed, read this,  and consider misuse of data, interference with property rights,

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/


t

Yes I did defend on the basis of primacy of contract, which was probably part of the reason I won amongst other things. What I mean is the judge agreed with my argument that no notice had been given to residents by a party to the lease (managing agent) that the terms of the lease had been altered with the addition of the new onerous parking rules. I haven't dropped the ball on that unless I'm missing something?

Is there much chance of success for me if I counterclaim around misuse of data? They requested my data from DVLA 4 times and were provided with it, and ironically didn't serve the court papers to the address the DVLA gave them. If they had I would have received the papers and defended the claim before it became a judgement in default. I didn't receive them as I no longer lived at the address they sent the papers to.

D_P_Dance

A counter claim for misuse of data is not for the lazy, or the overstretched, it will require a lot of reading and an ability to grasp difficult concepts   IMO any PCN which interferes with the resident's legal  or leasehold rights has a good chance.  of sucess.

Coupon-mad

Is there much chance of success for me if I counterclaim around misuse of data? 

Yes if well worded, using the applicable law and also showing actual loss of the £255 set aside fee, as well as distress.
But it's not a counterclaim, it would be a LBC then a claim.