Urgent help please. Small claims court summons from Horizon in scotland

Redx

Bourbon1967 wrote: »

I mistakenly typed ukpc as they were the owners of a car park that was previously used thanks for your help it's really appreciated

so edit it using advanced edit and change it from UKPC to Horizon - for clarity

Coupon-mad

For that amount of money at stake, dare I say it might be worth thinking about getting help to write the defence? I am NOT advertising, just thinking you need a decent defence written and be careful not to say who might have been driving.

Can't say any more as I am connected to a private parking appeal firm (and I don't take pm's any more except from a few known contacts). I am simply looking at the figure involved and the fact there is a lot of paperwork there (nine Notices, nine lots of letters, tons of detail, lots of different dates) you would need to show someone all of it to help you properly. This is beatable - they are unlikely to turn up for a hearing and the keeper isn't liable in Scotland - but it's not very simple to get you to that stage where you can come out the other end smiling, it will take some work and you can't ignore it.


(Rosiedawnie123 this case is nothing like yours, different PPC - H0riz0n, and the law differs in Scotland and this person has actual court papers, you don't, nor will you get them, you are merely at 'debt collector boring letters and some of them have a 'solicitor' letter heading' stage by the sound of it).

Bourbon1967

I went to court today to dispute the claim, expressed RK does not apply in scotland, quoted the UCCR to the judge regarding the £115 they are claiming for each parking ticket when the genuine loss to the landowner is only £12 per ticket. At one point the judge question a £45 added fee per charge which in the statement of claim there was no breakdown of how this figure came about , the solicitor couldn't answer him as he didn't have the statement of claim in front of him and was unaware where it came from also.

The judge asked if I was the sole driver of the car of which I replied I wasn't. It has now been moved to a hearing in a months time. The case after mine was also horizon against another party for parking.

From the information given in my previous thread I believe this is the first time Horizon have taken anyone to court over parking charges in Scotland and also they have never went to court in England or Wales?

Is there any other advice on how to defend the case? Thanks in advance for your help.

AberdeenTyke

Coupon Mad makes me laugh. For years she's been saying "ignore" in Scotland. Now she says don't ignore. Also she doesn't enter into personal correspondence as she's involved with some appeals company. What a load of cobblers. The advice offered on here is a joke, but the emoticons are quite colourful, so every cloud has a silver lining.

System

There is a very good reason why the advice has changed. That is the PPC's as of December started issuing claims and going to court - albeit very unprepared as Bourbon1967 (Paisley?) said.

The reasons we can only guess at but here is my guess.

1. The PPC's have been referred to some of the PF offices in Scotland. Anything going to the PF is criminal.

2. The major case on parking enforcement in Scotland dates back to 1999 (Carmichael v. Black) where clamping was found to be extortion. The basis for the belief that parking enforcement was exortion is based on this passage from that case

The primary argument for the Crown is that private wheel clamping -- that is, the wheel clamping of a vehicle until it is released on payment of a charge which is not done under the authority of a statute -- amounts to extortion and as such is accordingly criminal

The act of sending a threatening letter, for the purpose of getting money, instead of resorting to due form of law in order to its recovery, is the crime... . The crime consists in using the threat to concuss a person into paying a demand which he intends to resist; and the crime, the use of threat for that purpose, is the same, whether the party using the threat thinks his demand good or bad

So my guess is that they have been told to stop sending out threatening letters unless they intend to do something about it.

Fast forward and you can see either the whole PPC industry up there unraveling or they will get a "test case" (there is one this week in Edinburgh) where the law will be clarified as with Beavis.

But as I say, it is only a guess.

BenefitMaster

Aside from which the advice of "ignore" is good as long as you aren't blithely doing so.

If you don't know why "Ignore" is the advice, and why they can't win against a Registered Keeper in Scotland, then Ignore isn't the right advice.

But it's not anyone here's job to hold your hand while you pee. All of the regulars will help those who help themselves - I'm sick of people asking the regulars to do all the work for them, then flouncing off without so much as a thanks afterwards.

Quentin

BenefitMaster wrote: »

I'm sick of people asking the regulars to do all the work for them, then flouncing off without so much as a thanks afterwards.....

You need to get over that sickness. it was always the case.


No-one holds a gun at you to offer your "advice" here.

DoaM

Here we go again.....................

Jim_AFCB

AberdeenTyke wrote: »

Coupon Mad makes me laugh. For years she's been saying "ignore" in Scotland. Now she says don't ignore. Also she doesn't enter into personal correspondence as she's involved with some appeals company. What a load of cobblers. The advice offered on here is a joke, but the emoticons are quite colourful, so every cloud has a silver lining.

The standard advice for Scotland is always "ignore" as keeper liability (POFA) does not apply there. If the PPC doesnt know who the driver is, they have no-one to (legitimately) chase.

However, if the PPC tries court (of which there has been the odd case cropping up of late), then that obviously cannot be ignored or the defendent loses by default - it has to be defended.

Not rocket science.....

BenefitMaster

Quentin wrote: »

You need to get over that sickness. it was always the case.


No-one holds a gun at you to offer your "advice" here.

Irrelevant but true.

However, with fiends like you who needs social workers?