SCS Law Letter before claim for multiple PCNs-over £1000!!

Coupon-mad

I think as the circumstances are similar to the Beavis case, you must steer it right away from the overstay allegations and go heavily on unclear signs, so did you have some pics (or did you grab UKPC's own faded/blurred photos from the website under the PCN number?).

Your second line of attack would be to state you were not served (or don't recall being served) Notice to keeper letters in time, and if they were, then you contend they didn't comply with para 8 of the POFA schedule 4. I think in 2015 the '28 day period from the date after the date given' wasn't properly stated on a UKPC NTK. If it's not complaint and there is no proof of keeper liability, they can't assume you were driving.

You might want to look at the Parking Prankster's case law page and get Excel v Lamoureux and PACE v Lengyel, and read the transcripts and add them to your evidence, as there are some useful points in those Judge's decisions which may sway your Judge.

DiegoFuego

They sent me some pics in the post and I have taken some of my own as well.

I will definitely have a look at those transcripts and add them into my case file.

Are the lines about the NTK letters to be added to my witness statement?

Is my witness statement fine to send as it is or are there any omissions/mistakes?

DiegoFuego

Hi. I have seen some parts of the NTKs are not compliant with POFA 2012. Do I add that to my witness statement?

And is the rest of my witness statement good to go?

Coupon-mad

Yes you should add observations to your WS. Can you re-post the final draft here please?

DiegoFuego

Below is the final (hopefully!) draft of my witness statement:

I, ……………………., am the defendant in this case.

1.The facts in this statement come from my personal knowledge. Where they are not within my own knowledge there are true to the best of my information and belief.


2.I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed, or any amount at all and this is my Witness Statement in support of my defence as already filed.


3. I am the registered keeper of the vehicle in question in this case. However due to the long passage of time since the alleged contraventions, I am unable to recall whether I was the driver.


4. As stated in my defence, the dates in question are unremarkable and I therefore have no recollection of the circumstances surrounding these events.


5. I recall receiving some letters in the post from the claimant and I ignored them as I believed them to be scam letters due to the excessive amounts being claimed. I felt vindicated in that decision when I received no further letters or contact of any kind from the claimant on this matter.


6. I was then surprised to receive a letter before claim from the claimants representatives. I did some research into why I may have received this and it seems the claimant and similar parking companies are submitting masses of court claims for old “parking charges” and are inappropriately using the court system as a form of debt collection.


7. Despite my inexperience, after a lot of research I found the letter they sent to be insufficient. I requested a new Letter before Claim that was complaint with the Practice Direction and offered to settle the claim using Alternative Dispute Resolution.


8. A compliant Letter before Claim was not sent to me and my request for Alternative Dispute resolution was rejected for unsatisfactory reasons.


9. The claimant subsequently sent me a pack of documents that it says it will rely on as evidence. One of the documents is a picture of the sign that it says forms the contract. The sign is mostly a wall of small font text, from which a driver in a vehicle cannot understand and therefore cannot accept the terms of.


10. The sign does not explicitly explain that a driver would be entering into a contract by the specific act of parking and neither does it clearly state who that contract would be with. This is contrary to BPA guidance. The sign submitted also claims that the charge is £90 and yet the claimant has claimed the sign creates a charge for £100. There is no evidence of any contract creating a charge of £100. Regardless, this part of the sign is in very small text and is therefore illegible.


11. Many of the documents submitted were photos of the vehicle in the car park. They show the poor lighting in the area and high placement of the signs. It cannot be expected that a driver can be able to read and accept any terms on the signage.


12. Many of the photos are also of questionable accuracy. Many of the timestamps are illegible and so it cannot be confirmed what time or day they were taken. I am also of the opinion that some of the photos have very similar surroundings despite being claimed to have been taken at different times. Given the history of the claimant for falsifying photo evidence, I do not believe these photos can be relied upon for accuracy.


13. The copies of the letters that the claimant has claimed were sent to me are not compliant with the Protection of Freedom Act 2012 and therefore cannot claim keeper liability. Firstly, the notices to keeper in relation to the parking charges dated “..........” do not identify who the creditor is as required by Paragraph 8(2)(h) of the POFA 2012.

14. Secondly, all of the notices to keeper issued do not state a specific “period of parking” that the as required by Paragraph 8(2)(a). Neither do the notices to keeper repeat the relevant information from the notice to driver as required by Paragraph 8(2)(c).

15. Finally, Paragraph 8(2)(f) requires that any notice to keeper gives 28 days from the day after the day the notice was given for full payment or the details of the driver. All of the notices to keeper issued do state this but they also state that payment must be made within 28 days of the date of the notice, which is conflicting information and not compliant with POFA 2012.


I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.


Signed……………………..



Dated………………………

Coupon-mad

A few suggested changes (as long as what I have added is true) and you need to file some supporting cases as well:

3. I am the registered keeper of the vehicle in question in this case. However due to the long passage of time since the alleged contraventions, I am unable to recall [STRIKE]whether I was the driver.[/STRIKE] who might have been driving. As the dates cover several years, this could have involved different drivers on each occasion, given that the vehicle was insured with more than one named driver.*

7. Despite my inexperience, after a lot of research I found the letter they sent to be insufficient. I requested a new Letter before Claim that was complaint with the Practice Direction and offered to enter into [STRIKE]settle the claim using[/STRIKE] Alternative Dispute Resolution in the form of POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals), which can be progressed simply by any British Parking Association AOS member firm providing a code, one per PCN. POPLA place no time restriction on when a POPLA code can be provided, but BPA parking firms unilaterally refuse to provide one in pre-court exchanges, misleading consumers that it is 'too late'.

9. The claimant subsequently sent me a pack of documents that it says it will rely on as evidence. One of the documents is a picture of the sign that it says forms the contract. The sign is mostly a wall of small font text, from which a driver in a vehicle cannot understand and therefore cannot be deemed to have accepted the terms. [STRIKE]of.[/STRIKE] The dates of the PCNs range from early 2015 and one earlier this year, and in that time it is averred that the signs will have changed, been replaced or updated (to reflect changes in the BPA Code of Practice) and indeed some may have been removed or damaged. There is no evidence that these signs existed throughout the time-span of this claim and it is argued that this operator did not comply with the 'signage' and 'entrance signs' sections of the BPA Code of Practice as it changed between 2015 to date**.

12. Many of the photos are also of questionable accuracy. Many of the timestamps are illegible and so it cannot be confirmed what time or day they were taken. I am also of the opinion that some of the photos have very similar surroundings despite being claimed to have been taken at different times. Given the history of the claimant for falsifying photo evidence in 2015, around the time of the first PCNs in this claim, I do not believe these photos can be relied upon for accuracy.***

* attach as evidence, if you can locate them, insurance certs (covering 2015 until the final date) that show more than one driver. This is to show the court that, on the balance of probabilities, the driver was more likely not to have been the same person every time.


** attach a copy of relevant 'signs' pages from the BPA CoPs version #5 and #6, pick out the best bits to support your case:
http://www.britishparking.co.uk/Code-of-Practice-and-compliance-monitoring


*** attach as evidence, a copy of this Newspaper article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11858473/Parking-firm-UKPC-admits-faking-tickets-to-fine-drivers.html

Also attach as evidence:

- a copy of the Beavis case sign, and add some words to the WS comparing the two:
http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/new-popla-staying-cases-to-consider.html

- a copy of the section of the POPLA Annual Report 2015 about 'Understanding Keeper Liability' and add some words about Henry Greenslade making it clear that a keeper cannot be lawfully presumed to be the driver. Find such posts by searching this board for 'Henry Greenslade presumption'. Find the POPLA 2015 Annual Report by Googling it!

- a copy of Excel v Lamoureux, to support the above (it's in the Parking Prankster's case law pages as a link to the transcript. You want the transcript and you must read it as well).

- a copy of PACE v Lengyel, to support several points of your defence (it's in the Parking Prankster's case law pages).


I love the fact that their signage evidence shows £90, yet they are trying to claim £100. No contract, then.

:cool:

DiegoFuego

Does anyone have the contact email address for Ukpc??

Coupon-mad

appealmoreinfo@ekparkingcontrol.com

...is the only one I know.

But unless you are emailing to rattle their cage and encourage Shirley & co. to drop the baseless claim, you don't need it. You are dealing with SCS Law, their solicitors and that's who gets a copy of everything filed to the court.

DiegoFuego

Thank you.

And SCS Law email is info@scs-law.co.uk? Or do they have a more official one they use?

Coupon-mad

No idea, all you can do is look at their letters to you and quote their 'ref' and the claim number.