Parking Charge, IPC Member, inadequate signage

KeithP

I thought you were going to send that five days ago??

behindtheeye

Unfortunately real life got in the way KeithP. I hope it might still be worth doing.

behindtheeye

Perhaps what might be best is if I call the court again tomorrow to see if they have received anything yet (I still haven't certainly). If not I will proceed with the email. If they have, I will just raise it on the day.

behindtheeye

Right, I've called the court and the case has been discontinued so I almost certainly won't have to attend (my case was still listed for hearing but they suggested that it just hasn't been updated so I'll check again later in the week).

I want to apply for costs and generally complain about their behaviour throughout - how am I best doing this now the situation has changed, in the same manner as suggested earlier by Coupon-mad?

I will also follow up with the DVLA from my earlier complaint about DE's dishonesty and the IPC / Gladstones setup in general.

Thanks so much for everyone's help

nosferatu1001

Costs - youd have to ask for th hearing to be converted to a costs hearing, but unless you can convince the court that costs for unreasonable behaviour can be awarded, you currently dont HAVE any costs that can be claimed.

Complaint - MP would be best bet.

behindtheeye

It's extremely frustrating that I have spent hours and hours preparing this and they can just drop the case a few days before the hearing with seemingly little chance of me claiming any costs. They should not be allowed to get away with this behaviour.

I will write to the court and complain and try to claim costs, even if it's a pointless exercise I will feel better for doing it. I will also definitely think about contacting my MP.

Once again, I am really grateful for all the help I received on here. Many thanks!

nosferatu1001

MP is the best bet at reforming the whole industry. as you will know from this forum, there is a private members bill to try to sort this whole sorry mess out. Channel your anger that way - that the govt refuses to legislate on this issue, having been lied to by the BPA in allowing Keeper liability in the first place (they claimed court cases would go DOWN, they went UP massively) and allowing access to Keeper data by parastitical, crooked companies.

That is also the point of small claims track - that costs are minimised to stop you being afraid to take part in the process and just always settle. Unfdorutnatley PPCs have worked out they can make a profit by using courts a sa debt collection system, folding only when they know theyre likely to lose a defended hearing. The court will not care about your complaint. They will see this as the normal function. You will not get a restraint order as your case will either be seen as a one off, or else if they do look at the totality of claims, will see that the PPC likely "wins" most of them - as LIP are often awful at following the fairly straightforward deadlines on forms, so they get a default judgement.

System

there is a private members bill to try to sort this whole sorry mess out.

Sorry to be negative about this, the Bill is unlikely to do this and may just be a way to protect the DVLA's income stream from the GRDP which would restrict the DVLA in giving out data more than 1 year old.

behindtheeye

I have an unexpected but positive update to this...

I sent an email to the court at the end of last year expressing my frustration and trying to make a case that the claimant's behaviour had been unreasonable.

I never heard anything back and eventually dropped it and moved on.

Last week I received a letter from the court saying that they were satisfied that the claimant had behaved unreasonably in their conduct and ordered them to pay £128.50 (the full amount I had claimed for in my Schedule of Costs).

A few days later I received a cheque from Gladstones for the same amount.

Very happy with this outcome and it restored some faith in "the system" for me.

I'm having a Chinese takeaway on them tonight

Thanks once again for everyone's help!

Coupon-mad

Wow, very well done!

Goes to show that you can get costs from some Judges even after a discontinuance.

Can you show us the letter you used, did you keep a copy you can link?