Parking Charge, IPC Member, inadequate signage

KeithP

behindtheeye wrote: »

I will also definitely think about contacting my MP.

Did you get any further with this?

In February this year a Private Members Bill - Parking (Code of Practice) Bill - had it's second reading in the House of Commons.

MPs decided that it is time for change, and unanimously agreed that the Bill should pass to the next stage.

Can you find time to view this video:

Parking (Code of Practice) Bill - second reading - 02 February 2018

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP.

Umkomaas

I'm having a Chinese takeaway on them tonight

I bet they throw in some fortune cookies!

behindtheeye

Below is a copy of the email I sent, Coupon-mad.

KeithP, I did not contact my MP and to be honest I don't think I will now as justice has, at least partially, been served. With that said, if you really think a robustly-worded email detailing my experiences would make a difference then I might consider it.

How much of that video is relevant?

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I email regarding the above claim (now discontinued), where I am the defendant.

I called the Court on both xx and xx November who confirmed that no Witness Statement or Evidence had been received from the Claimant's solicitors, despite the order of the court that said documents should be submitted no later than fourteen days before the hearing (originally scheduled for today, xx December).

When I made a further phone call to the court last week, to check whether any documents had been submitted by the Claimant's solicitors, I was told that the case had been discontinued.

This conduct follows an entirely vexatious and wholly unreasonable claim from start to finish.

I would like to list some of the ways in which the Claimant and their solicitors have behaved unreasonably throughout:

1. The signage upon which the Claimant relies was merely a piece of cardboard attached to a lamppost with a cable-tie. The direction of the sign changed depending of the wind and could frequently not be seen at all. The location in question is a side-road in a business park with no double-yellow lines or other road markings and not identifiable as a car park, particularly in view of the completely inadequate signage.

2. The Claimant claimed to have obtained Registered Keeper details from the DVLA before they had actually done so - a fact that was subsequently confirmed by the DVLA and followed up with a complaint to them.

3. As no evidence had been provided to suggest who was driving the vehicle, the Claimant was pursuing me as Registered Keeper of the vehicle in question yet they failed to comply with the terms of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, so cannot lawfully hold a Registered Keeper liable.

4. The Claimant's solicitors did not send a letter which complied with the pre-action protocol under the Practice Direction, despite a request from me to do so.

5. The particulars of claim were extremely vague and contained a bare minimum of information. This put me at a significant disadvantage as an unrepresented Defendant.

6. The claimed value of £xxx.xx (plus court & legal representative costs) was a completely unsubstantiated and inflated three-figure sum, vaguely and incoherently adduced by the Claimant's solicitors in their claim.

7. Today, which would have been the day of the hearing, I received a copy of the notice of discontinuance from the Claimant's solicitors in the post. Had I not called the court last week I would have made a wasted journey to the court because the letter would have arrived after I left the house and in any case too late to cancel the day off work.

Further details of the above and more detailed legal arguments are available in my Defence and Witness Statement, both of which were submitted within the deadline to the Court and the Claimant's solicitors.

I have attached a Schedule of Costs pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 27.14(2)(g) and hope that you may give them some consideration in view of the substantial amount of disruption this completely baseless claim has caused me, time which would have been far better spent with my family.

Umkomaas

I did not contact my MP and to be honest I don't think I will now as justice has, at least partially, been served. With that said, if you really think a robustly-worded email detailing my experiences would make a difference then I might consider it.

Of course it will - you are 'speaking' to the country's law makers, and the laws around private parking companies are up for serious scrutiny and change (Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill).

Please don't just see your parking charge in isolation and be happy it's off your back - there is a much bigger picture to influence, and it's what forum regulars come here every day to do - as well as helping individuals with their own micro problems.

Please help those who have helped you.