County Court Letter for charges of parking in private land managed by PCM

mark.taylor

Dear All,

I have received a letter from County court for parking of my car in a private land. 8 months back I had received a letter fro Debt Collection Plus (DCP) for payment regarding parking in a private land controlled by Parking Control Management (PCM). The original Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued by PCM was not received by me and I requested DCP to provide me the original PCN for me to take necessary action. I had no response from DCP for 2 months of my letter to them. Suddenly I received a letter from Gladstone Solicitors asking me to pay GBP 150 for the alleged parking offence. I requested Gladstone to provide me the details of the offence claimed so that I can take some action. They refused to send any letter by post and asked me to provide e-mail address for them to send the details. They sent only the photographs and the photo of the notice board present at the alleged parking site by e-mail and provided me with the address of the alleged car park near Sainsbury in west London. No Parking Charge Notice (PCN) has been provided by Gladstone so far. I live far away from the alleged private car park and don't remember going there at the time claimed by Gladstone. Also I noticed that the area is not adequately illuminated and there is no lighting provided on the notice board.

I responded to Gladstone stating that I don't remember visiting the place at the time stated in the picture. I informed them that one of my friend who live in that area could have parked the car there but I am not 100% sure. I also stated in my letter that due to poor lighting in the area (which is clear in the photographs provided by Gladstone) it is possible for driver to miss the notice. Also, there are different notice on the same sign post.

They didn't respond to my e-mail and in return went ahead with the court proceeding with GBP 150+court fees of GBP 50. I am planning to appeal against the charges based on the following.

1) The area is not adequately illuminated (as clearly seen in the picture provided by them). I myself went to the spot and noticed that no light is provided on the sign board and the sign is under a bunch of trees and not visible in the night. I believe that the owner is legally bound to ensure that the sign is visible all the time.
2) There are multiple signs on the same post.
3) The claimant has failed to prove who parked the car in the alleged private car park.
4) They have still not provided me with the original Parking Charge Notice indicating date, time and basis on which they are claiming GBP 150.
5) They haven't provide me with the option to appeal to a third party against the charges.
(Can they claim that PCM had sent me the PCN, to which I say that I haven't received)

I will appreciate your thought on this and will be grateful if you can suggest on how to draft the letter to to the court. I have limited time and will appreciate help on this.

Regards,
Mark

fisherjim

If they have started court proceedings you cannot now appeal against the invoice, you now need to acknowledge the court letters and get up to speed with that course of action quickly.

mark.taylor

Fisherjim,

Thank you very much for the reply. I know I cannot now appeal against the invoice. I am planning to reply to the court notice. Can I defend myself by stating that

1) The area is not adequately illuminated (as clearly seen in the picture provided by them). I myself went to the spot and noticed that no light is provided on the sign board and the sign is under a bunch of trees and not visible in the night. I believe that the owner is legally bound to ensure that the sign is visible all the time.
2) There are multiple signs on the same post.
3) The claimant has failed to prove who allegedly parked the car in private car park and invoke Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to say that the keeper has the liability for the charges if the driver's identity cannot be ascertained.
4) They have still not provided me with the original Parking Charge Notice indicating date, time and basis on which they are claiming GBP 150. No evidence has been provided to show a valid Notice to Driver was given to the driver in accordance with Paragraph 7, Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
5) The claimant has initiated court action without exploring all other possible means to resolve the issue outside court. As I never said that I don't want to pay. I just requested them to cancel the payment based on my assessment of the incident and they initiated the court action without any further communication with me.

Thanks again in anticipation.

Redx

the initial defence gives less away about the full defence and in so doing gives them less meat to get their teeth into and makes them wait for the heavy blow later in the process

so a holding defence contains bullet points for the main defence later

you can see an example of one posted by HO87 this week in the ongoing kayleigh thread about Excel and the Peel centre , where he also details a part 18 request too

mark.taylor

RedX, Thank you very much for the advice. I will look at the posts suggested by you.

Cheers...

Redx

its here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5505546

mark.taylor

I have acknowledged the court notice and filed bullet points in my defence. The court has forwarded my defence points to Gladstone and advised me that the claimant will be in contact with me to try and settle the case outside the court.

Subsequently I received a letter from Gladstone with a filled up Direction Questionnaires proposing the case be dealt with on the papers and without the need for an oral hearing. They claim that the case is straight forward in the opinion of their client but they will consider genuine offer from me to settle the case outside the court.

I intend to refuse the proposal to deal the case on the papers and without the need for an oral hearing in the court. I suppose the court would send a Direction Questionnaires to me to fill up and send it back to court. I will call the county court to clarify the same. I will appreciate any feedback on this from forum members. Thanks a lot in anticipation.

Coupon-mad

That's correct, you will get a DQ and should put a note objecting to the case being heard 'on the papers'.

Everything you are receiving now has already been covered on other threads several times over, all Summer - so do search each time for a keyword from each Gladstone's letter. For example, choosing their word 'straightforward' from their misleading letter, finds this thread:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5513773

Tells you exactly what to do at this stage. There are threads here just waiting for newbies to read them and copy what's already been said, and the search function works really well on here if you choose an unusual word each time for your search. It's far quicker to search and read relevant similar threads, than gambling on getting one of us re-typing something on your own thread that we know has been said a hundred times on the forum.

We will help throughout but do always search first, for similar advice already here.

mark.taylor

I won the case against Gladstone. They didn't turn up in the court and the Judge ruled against them. I put my defence based on inadequate illumination in the car park and the sign which was not inline with the agreement the operator had with the land owner. What I learnt was that they will try to threaten the defendant until the last day, even until the last hour to see whether you are really going to attend the hearing or not. If they have any doubt about their chance of wining the case then they will not turn up. I understand that 90% drivers just pay without going to court. I think all the parking operator and their solicitor are after money and it's the duty of drivers to fight back.

twhitehousescat

and did you ask for costs?

mark.taylor

Yes, got the money.