Court and claim defence procedure

ojey

Hi guy, hope someone can help me with a parking ticket matter that has escalated to court.

Brief chronology of event:
I have received a parking ticket from ES Parking Enforcement LTD in May 2016, I ignored the first letter...Received a second letter...I decided to appeal it then (although it was probably late for appeal, but I have argued to the parking enforcement company that I didnt receive any letters before the second one). I send the appeal by recorded delivery and have proof being signed for.
I ve received no more correspondence from them until I received a court claim form from County Court Business Centre. I filled in the defence form disagreeing and disputing the claim.

A few days later, I received an email from the solicitors acting on behalf of ES parking Enforcement (Gladstones) saying that will go ahead with the claim and provided me with a copy of their directions questionnaire, stating that they will not go with mediation.

What should I do? I'm thinking to send them a letter saying that they never sent a Letter Before Claim which complies with the requirements of Annex A Para 2 of the Practice Direction on Pre-action Conduct, and that they utilise a form of ADR before starting court proceedings, and I want to go through POPLA. {This a letter that I found in this forum in another thread}

What do you guys think would be the appropriate procedure?

Thanks,
Ojey

Redx

E S Parking are IPC members so no chance of popla and never was if it was after feb 2015

ES Parking Enforcement Ltd

10/02/2015

www.espel.uk

as for the court claim, its already started so too late to be dealing with LBC stuff, although it could form a part of your defence if mentioned in your opening salvo

presumably you have written a holding defence ? (skeleton defence ?)

any further submissions you make have to be based on the original holding defence , where you expand the legal arguments

you cannot just introduce new things as you go along

try reading the parking pranksters court guide, it should help you

but without knowing what you wrote in your holding defence, or the circumstances surrounding the original invoice or your subsequent letter of appeal , nobody can really help you

ps:- anything to do with the BPA or POPLA is irrelevant, they are not BPA members

ojey

Thanks for your reply.

I have sent the claim form to the court. arguing the fact that I appealed but the PPC never replied to my appeal! I also claimed that I have evidence as photos showing no visible signage from the position where I parked and that the fee requested was out of proportion to the damage that I might, if any, have caused.

In the appeal I stated all the above with extra points about signage and that no clear reason for which the ticket was issued, and that the ticket does not include any BPA and AOS logos.

I also claimed that I wasnt given any period with reduced fee payment as I claimed not having received the first letter.

I want to reply to the solicitors acting on PPC's behalf showing intent to settke the case before court and to use that as evidence if it does get to court. I thought going through POPLA was one way! But is they are not a BPA member, then shouldnt that be on my favour?

What do you think I should do next?

Thanks,

Redx

I have no experience of court and very few here do , its not legal beagles , sorry to say (plus read my signature too)

your PPC uses the IPC and the IAS so no not using POPLA wont help you at all, forget about POPLA as its a BPA service and is distracting you from the real issues here. In my reply I opened it with this fact, that they are IPC members and have been since early 2015

this also negates your argument about the NTK not having BPA or AOS logos, because it would have had IPC logos and used the IAS (if offered, which is only if the appeal goes in promptly)

moving forward, you can only expand any points you put in your holding defence , like signage etc, so the more legal arguments you put into that holding defence and possibly your initial appeal, the better

I will link you to 2 posts by HO87 that showed what a skeleton holding defence should query, plus a part 18 as well , make of them what you will but its the correct starter in these matters, plus I dont think you have read parking pranksters court guide yet either, despite me mentioning it !!

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

posts #39 and #40

you are past those stages however, as you are at the directions stage

ps:- the not a gpeol argument cannot hold up due to Beavis losing last year (Nov 2015 for the judgment) , so it seems you did not research that point very well

the legal arguments should have included the following

NO LOCUS STANDII
POOR and INADEQUATE SIGNAGE
NTK flaws
not following POFA2012
a counter argument to the BEAVIS case (where its a penalty, or a forbidding contract)

and maybe other issues too

ojey

Hi guys,

So after the solicitors acting on behalf of the PPC sent me there directions questionnaire, I replied with an email indicating that I would be fighting the claim and that they should go through an appropriate ARD entity, and of course my defence that they havent replied to my appeal. I told them, by doing this, that I am trying to settle the case without court to save the court's time. I also offered to settle the case for a reduced fee. They havent replied to this yet.

Meanwhile I received the directions questionnaire from court which I should complete and return to court and the claimant.

My questions:
Should I request for the mediation service (The claimant didnt ask for it)?
Should I agree to the claimant special service request of having the case decided on documents evidence only? Should I ask for a hearing to try discourage them to go with the case?

Thanks
Ojey

Coupon-mad

Should I request for the mediation service (The claimant didnt ask for it)?

We advise NO, but if you are determined to try to 'settle' it then you could try but you are likely to find yourself bullied, even by the court mediator, who (according to those who have tried) will think you owe the money and to pay! This is covered in the NEWBIES sticky thread, as explained to this poster just now:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/71219871#Comment_71219871

Read Bargepole's advice by finding the link I mention there. I never link such posts for newbies because it will help you to be able to hop around the forum for research later on, at the stage before the hearing when you have to submit your witness statement and prepare your court bundle with evidence.

Should I agree to the claimant special service request of having the case decided on documents evidence only? Should I ask for a hearing to try discourage them to go with the case?

See Gan's response here, NO you do NOT agree:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=107003

Gladstones always try that trick.

You really are better having a hearing if your defence was strong...show us exactly what your defence on the court forms, said in full (NOT your earlier appeal). I am concerned because you did not show us the defence before you rushed to send it off. You can't add new points now.

ojey

Thanks for your reply. Your help is much appreciated.

Should I start a new thread in Pepipoo site or just reply here with details of my case (which most of it is already detailed above)?
Although I did file a defence on the claim/defence form, I didnt not keep a copy (stupid of me), I remember vaguely what I did put, but there was no statement of truth from myself.
Do I need to prepare under defence and send it to court or what should I do from here?

I guess first thing is to complete the DQ and send it back to court and the claimant? requesting for a hearing and NOT with special directions! Also No mediation required.

I dont know if I can get any help in writing a proper defence (if possible after the statement in the defence form)?

THANK YOU

Coupon-mad

I remember vaguely what I did put,

What did you put, more or less?

Did you criticise the signs at all, giving you something to run with? Sounds like you told them in your earlier appeal, who the driver was so I am concerned exactly what defence you are going to be able to expand upon? We will assist but you can't add new defence points now. You can only later expand on what you put in the box.

So what did you put?

ojey

What I DID put:
- I appealed but they didnt reply to me. I have proof of my appeal being received (recorded delivery)
- There was no clear signage, and that I send them all that in the appeal with photographic proof!
- The fine was too high, for the possible damage caused to them.

What I am NOT SURE I included in the defence form:
- Size of signs and clarity (but I did mention this in my appeal to the PPC).
- Didnt get a chance to pay a reduced fee (because I didnt receive the first letter, again this is mentioned in the appeal).

Thanks

Coupon-mad

OK then if this goes further (and it probably will) you can only run with unclear signage (you can say quite a lot about that) and the fact you appealed and got no reply and were not offered the next stage of independent appeal.

ojey

Is there anywhere I can find a template of something similar?

And when/how do I use it? Do I need to send another letter of defence to court or just prepare something for the hearing?
And do I HAVE to attend the hearing?

Also I did send a letter (email) to the claimant (gldstnes), requesting for independent appeal and offered to settle the case for a reduced fee, and asking to settle the case without court and that I will be using that letter as evidence.

Thanks,