Small claims court letter from Horizon (free parking) car park

Cottom888

Small claims court letter came on xmas eve. Claimant horizon parking, abbeywood retail park filton bristol (shopping center with asda supperstore, 2 restaurants, mcdonalds, next clearance, matalan and other large stores).

Parking on 2 occasions and staying over:

09 december 2015 £120
27 november 2015 £120
Interest £18.67
Court fee £25
Legal cost £50

Total £333.67

The car park is free to stay, also free to leave and come back straight away.

I have registered my acknowledgement on the court site and now have 28 days to put a defence up.

What defence do i use? My parents were taken to court by parking eye back in 2014 or 15 and lost and the argument they used was signs not being clear, equalities act having same time as able bodied people after suffering heart attack. I was told they should have used past court cases that PE and car parks had lost to bolster my case. The defence but by the claimant had featured a few past rulings including that one thay went to the high court? Forgotten name...

I'm working pretty hard at the moment so forgive me if the info is on this board but i really dont have time to search up all these different threads and buy all parking cowboy books and read them etc... what shall i base my arguments on?

Cheers,
Chad :mad:

Cottom888

When i say what can i base my arguments off, i meant could somebody please give me the bones like camera calibrations etc and ill look up those arguments and buff them up

Cheers

Chad x

Coupon-mad

Small claims court letter came on xmas eve.

Nice of them - Gladstones solicitors? How dare they, only real nasties would consider court threats served on Christmas Eve. Pathetic.

The defence but by the claimant had featured a few past rulings including that one they went to the high court? Forgotten name...

The Beavis case. Mr Beavis lost but the signs in that case were very clear and prominent in wording/parking charge. Horizon ones are not as clear/are very wordy - probably with the parking charge buried in small print - so that's always a point of defence.

When i say what can i base my arguments off, i meant could somebody please give me the bones like camera calibrations etc and ill look up those arguments and buff them up

Don't argue about camera calibration or synchronisation!

If this is a Gladstones defence, the best thing to do is to:

1. Read 'Small Claim?' in the NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST' thread. Loads of info and some example defences and it tells you what to do and when.

2. Search the forum for more defences using keywords 'Gladstones roboclaim' or 'Gladstones incoherent' (assuming this claim is via them).

Cottom888

Thankyou for the reply, yes it is gladstone solicitors. Indidnt know this would make a difference, its signed by a j w.ashford though? So not sure about roboclaim.

The car parking in the car park has changed recently with new signs and an electronic board showing the time to leave by for each car as it enters, so i wouldnt be able to check the sign quality.

Coupon-mad

Jamie Ashford is their litigation/debt recovery solicitor.

You won't be sure about robo-claim unless you do the searches I have told you to do!

Cottom888

So i have done some research, and a couple of questions:

1) What is the CPR16.4? Ive looked it up and understand it is the particulars of claim being generic, however the particulars of claim for mine state:
"incurred the parking charge on 9/12/15 and 27/11/15 for breaching the terms of parkng on the land" ... "claimant claims £240 for parking charges / damages and indemnity costs if applicable".
Does this show what i am being charged for, or will i be covering all eventualities of a cut and paste claim that doesnt allow me to defend in an informed way.

2) What is the CPR 31.14 request for documents? I have given my AoS so have until 24th January to provide my defence. Who do i send a request for documents to and which documents? I have no copies of the original threatening letters they sent. Do i still have time to request the documents also?

3) Where can i find any cases that were won against Gladstones in court to use in my defence that is similar to my situation? Generally overstayed the parking time limits while shopping in the retail park, having a family meal etc on 2 occurences. No equality act reasons, just generally overstayed. There is no "no return" period either, so had i moved my car and came back it would be no charge.


The particulars of claim:
The driver of the vehicle registration XXXX XXX (the vehicle) incurred the parking charge(s) on 09/12/2015, 27/11/2015, for breaching the terms of parking on the land at Abbeywood Retail Park - ANPR / Permit / DPC - Abbeywood Retail Park Filton Bristol . BS34 7JL...

The defendant was driving the vehicle and/or is the keeper of the vehicle.

AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS £240 for Parking Charges / Damages and indemnity costs if applicable, together with interest of £18.67 pursuant to s69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at 8% pa, continuint to judgement at 5.26p per day.

Total amount £333.67

Redx

parking pranksters blogs detail various court cases , plus he also has some official transcripts about various cases ( have you looked ? )

also check his court case fightback book (for the kindle etc) too

Coupon-mad

Google 'Gladstones Parking Prankster' and you will find loads of cases won. However you will not win by talking about the overstay or the fact there was no loss caused. The defence isn't really about the overstay because to talk about that takes the case far too close to the Beavis case. As I said earlier, you should steer it more to potential case-winning issues like wordy signs with the parking charge being illegible/hidden in small print:

Mr Beavis lost but the signs in that case were very clear and prominent in wording/parking charge. Horizon ones are not as clear/are very wordy - probably with the parking charge buried in small print - so that's always a point of defence.

And you will find tons of Gladstones defences when you search; none here have gone to a hearing yet but plenty have been stayed/hearing fees apparently not paid. I say that due to the lack of cases going to hearings, many months of after defences were submitted.