COUNTY COURT CLAIM FORM (UKCPM, Gladstones)

Guys_Dad

What, if anything, do the signs say with reference to Permits on display?

pappa_golf

signs don,t matter a lease trumps signs

Guys_Dad

pappa_golf wrote: »

signs don,t matter a lease trumps signs

Sometimes the wording on the signs can be helpful. If you had read the post preceding mine, you would have read that OP has included

"3. The sign placed on the property by UK CPM states:
“Terms of parking without permission: You do so at your own risk to property and personal injury and you are contractually agreeing to pay a parking charge fee.”

If that was all they said, then he is completely clear as there was no reference to permits in those words.

Equally, not all leases are silent about parking and landowner rights.

Hence my question.

CircusFrog

Guys_Dad wrote: »

"3. The sign placed on the property by UK CPM states:
“Terms of parking without permission: You do so at your own risk to property and personal injury and you are contractually agreeing to pay a parking charge fee.”

If that was all they said, then he is completely clear as there was no reference to permits in those words.
.

Thanks Guys Dad, it does mention permits, my quote was selective about the 'contractual' part of the sign. The sign reads:

"
PARKING RESTRICTIONS

Private property. Enforcement in operation 24hrs. Unauthorised parking may result in your vehicle being issued with a parking charge notice.

The Following restrictions apply:

- A valid UK CPM permit & tax disc must be clearly displayed in the front windscreen at all times / vehicles displaying bay or area allocated permits must park in the corresponding bay or area.

- No parking outside of a designated parking area / parking bay e.g. access roads / yellow lines / paved / hatched or landscaped areas

- If unsure please seek further advice from CPM or refrain from parking.

TERMS OF PARKING WITHOUT PERMISSION

You do so at your own risk and personal injury and you are contractually agreeing to pay a parking charge fee.

THE FOLLOWING FEES APPLY

PARKING CHARGE NOTICE.... £100 Per Day
or the reduced sum of £60 if payment is made within 14 days.

Failure to pay the parking charge within 28 days may result in registered keeper details being requested from DVLA. Unpaid parking charges may be passed to our debt recovery agents, which may incur additional costs.
UK Car Park Management Ltd. PO BOX 3114 Lancing BN15 5BR

pappa_golf

lease trumped , and its £100 , not the made up charges that are not specificly quoted

the debt collection Cos have failed , there fore they do not get paid!

CircusFrog

Yes, that's my thinking. So I'm good to file this defense do you think? It covers those points?

Guys_Dad

Good to go. But do read up Parking Prankster's blogs on recent cases.

CircusFrog

Hi,

A court date was set for late July back in March, and I never heard anything from the claimant regarding any evidence they going to submit, so submitted nothing more than my initial response to the claim.

The Witness Statement amounts to the following:

1) Defendant has not provided evidence of alleged right to park (was planning to send copy of my Lease in response to *this* statement.
2) "In view of the fact that the Defendant claims to be a resident, but hasn't received daily charges, it can be averred that they have displayed a permit on multiple occasions previously. In view of this, they accepted the charge"

Further on, they refer to the sign on the land as 'the sign (i.e. contract)', which I think case law proves a sign cannot trump a lease? And they've also included a "Parking Enforcement Contractual Agreement" between the Property Management Company and UKCPM.


My biggest concerns here are procedural? Have I completely misunderstood the situation, and should've submitted my defense after the change of court *before* receiving any information about the claimants case? The case is a month today, am I still allowed to file a response? Did *they* file too late?


Legally, I think *most* of this boils down to the argument about if their contract with the management company, and subsequent signs, trump my contract in my lease. The only potential gotcha being that 'it can be averred the Defendant has displayed a permit on multiple occasions previously.' - they have no proof of this, of course, but the judge could... ask?

Thanks for any help

Coupon-mad

My biggest concerns here are procedural? Have I completely misunderstood the situation, and should've submitted my defense after the change of court *before* receiving any information about the claimants case? The case is a month today, am I still allowed to file a response? Did *they* file too late?

Read the letter that gave you the court date! Tells you (on page 2?) the date by which the Judge wanted both parties to exchange Witness Statements (WS) and evidence (both sides, yours and theirs). You MUST do this now, even if you are late, and file your documents with the court. You can't just rock up at the hearing with evidence not filed before and with no WS.

Have a look at Tidegu's thread, who has let it get to within a week and it's trying to be rescued. Show us your WS please.

Post #2 of the NEWBIES thread shows several examples, plus skeleton argument, plus a costs schedule (your costs) all of which - except the skeleton, which is optional - must be filed before the hearing, WS first...

CircusFrog

The last letter (on 22nd March) I received, title "Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing)" only includes the following dates:

The Claimant must file and serve by 24 April 2017 an amended claim form verified by a statement of truth which complies with CPR 16 setting out a concise nature of the claim, the facts on which the Claimant relies. If the claim is based on a written argument then a copy must be served and filed.

By 8 May 2017 the Defendant do file and server amended Defence, if so advised

(I didn't, because I was waiting for the Claimant statement above).

Each party shall deliver to every other party and to the court offices copies of all documents (including any experts' report) on which he intends to rely at the hearing no later than 14 days before the hearing.

I've never received a letter with any mention of Witness Statements.

I don't think my WS will differ much from the argument I put forward in my initial response, except attaching the Lease?

That statement is as follows:

i. As a resident of ****, the lease grants me the right to park one private domestic vehicle in any free parking space.

It is asserted that the Lease with **** Management for the property ***** grants me the right to park on ****.

Specifically, the Lease states:
“[The lessor grants the lessee] The right in common with all others entitled thereto from time to time to park one domestic private motor vehicle only on the Estate in any free parking space other than those specifically allocated or to be allocated.

The sign placed on the property by UK CPM states:
“Terms of parking without permission: You do so at your own risk to property and personal injury and you are contractually agreeing to pay a parking charge fee.”

The terms of the Lease on my residence give me permission to park on this private property, therefore I was parking with permission, just not UK CPM’s permission.

It is asserted that signage on the property cannot replace the contract formed by the Lease, as found in CS038 Jopson vs Homeguard [2016] 9GF0A9E. In that case Judge Harris QC ruled:
“ the respondent was not in any position unilaterally to override the right of access which the claimant had bought when she purchased the lease”

In Link Parking Ltd vs J. Parkinson [2016] C7GF50J7, the Judge, referring to a similar case in Pace Recovery v Mr N [2016] C6GF14F0 ruled that:
“…the Judge in that case found that the parking company could not amend the terms of the tenancy agreement to bind a tenant, but rather that it would have to be the other party to the contract, and it seems to me that the same principle applies here.”

Accordingly, I assert that the Claimant has made no attempt to amend the terms of the Lease or to have them amended by the management company, ***** Management.

The case law in this regard is strong: the terms of a tenancy agreement cannot be amended by the displaying of a sign.

Solicitors’ Costs

The claim includes a sum of £50, described as ‘Solicitor’s costs’. The Claimant is known to be a serial litigant, issuing up to 1,000 similar claims on a weekly basis, using the bulk processing service. Given a standard working week, the claimant’s solicitor can spend no more than a few minutes per claim, hardly justifying the £50. Since these are fully automated, no intervention is required by a solicitor, and the Claimant is put to strict proof to show how this cost has been incurred. The Claimant maintains case notes for each person who has accessed the case, and it is suggested this would be sufficient. The Claimant cannot rely on Nossen’s Letter Patent (1969) to justify the charge, as this is part of their everyday routine, and no ‘expert services’ are involved. The £50 is not valid because it is not incurred by the claimant, generating over £1.5 million a year in profit. 

Additionally, as this is already included as part of the costs of the claimant, factored into the £100 parking charge, this is essentially double charging. 

The defendant therefore puts the claimant strictly to proof, by way of timesheets or otherwise, that work was done by the litigant’s expert staff to the value of £50.
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