Court Claim Form - Advice on how best to proceed - interesting situation!

safarmuk

Out of interest can you name (or pm) the name of the MA. Is this in Hertfordshire? For future reference the MA is not telling you the whole truth, I suspect if they had been bothered to they could have cancelled this ticket.

Timothea

For the tort of trespass, I believe that damages must be real and quantified, so there's no point in putting in any figure unless you can justify it. Leave it up to the judge but ask for £250 on the day; you'll probably get £1 nominal damages.

For the DPA claim, there is case-law to support £750 compensation for distress (Halliday -v- Creation Consumer Finance Limited [2013] EWCA). The important point is to describe in clear and reasonable terms why the actions of the PPC caused you distress and what effect that had on you (directly or indirectly). You should also highlight the PPC's aggressive and threatening correspondence, which is clearly intended to scare people into paying up. And bring the evidence to court; judges much prefer documentary proof over hearsay.

Further guidance about the DPA can be found in this thread. Read posts #1 and #13.

Acidmonkey

safarmuk wrote: »

Out of interest can you name (or pm) the name of the MA. Is this in Hertfordshire? For future reference the MA is not telling you the whole truth, I suspect if they had been bothered to they could have cancelled this ticket.

The MA on whole, run a tight ship and are actually the best run MA's i've ever come across. I think whoever I spoke to on the phone had no idea what they were talking about. Nothing to gain by naming them or the area.

Acidmonkey

Coupon-mad wrote: »

I like your thinking, £500 was a mid-line conservative claim sum and yours is much better and we like to see a real fightback on this board. Well done to you. A real statement.

Yes, post it recorded/signed for (get a PO receipt and include it in your costs folder!) with a cheque for the counter-claim fee to the CCBC in Northampton; the document being physically signed and dated under the defence and counterclaim sections.

Or bargepole has told me in the past, you can instead put a covering letter with the defence & counterclaim, giving your phone number for the court to ring you to take the fee payment by card over the phone, which also means you get to hear they've got it.

Great this is fantastic. Have just received a new letter form Gladstones responding to my request for a complaint LBC, and for my address details to be updated - do I need to respond to this? They've dated and sent it after the issue of their County Court Claim.

"Thank you for your correspondence.

Please note your letter dated XXXX was passed onto the relevant party, a we are sure you are aware that the letter did direct you to DRPL and not ourselves.

Our Letter Before Claim includes the date and location of the charge, the PCN, the amount outstanding, the clients name and details that the balance relates to an unpaid parking charge. If there has been any minor deviation from the CPR then it is (or would be) within the tolerances provided herein whereby the Court is require to interpret any provision had regard to the "overriding objective" namely to deal with matters in a just, proportionate and cost-effective way (rules 1.1 and 1.2)

In the even the payment isn't made within 14 days from the date of this letter further legal action may be taken. Payments can be made online at https://www.blahblah.com

Your sincerely,"

My response to their LBC here:

"Dear Sirs

Re: LETTER BEFORE CLAIM dated xxxxxxxx

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of the above letter.

Firstly, the alleged debt is denied, and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended.

It was requested from your client UKCPM on the xxxxxxx by written letter, that all correspondence regarding this matter be sent to my address in the header of this letter. However, this was ignored by your client, resulting in correspondence being sent to an address where I no longer reside.

It was then requested to yourselves (Gladstone’s Solicitors), on the xxxxxx by written letter, that all correspondence regarding this matter be sent to my address in the header of this letter, as the address you have been using is incorrect and I no longer reside there. (Both copies of letters attached herein for your easy reference)

However, you have elected to continuously and cynically ignore these directions and continue to send letters, and your Letter Before Claim to an address where I no longer reside, resulting in my inability to respond to your Letter Before Claim within 14 days. This is a clear cynical attempt to ensnare me, and a direct contravention of the Practice Direction.

You have made reference to the Practice Direction, which I have read and examined as per the advice on your letter. Your letter does not mention that it is compliant with the Practice Direction, which would make sense, as your letter is not complaint with the Practice Direction at all.

It concerns me greatly that a professional legal department staffed by solicitors have been unable to produce a compliant Letter Before Claim. Moreso, that I, an unrepresented person with no legal training or qualifications is having to explain what the Practice Direction requires from you.

Kindly provide an explanation as to how this error in producing a non-complaint Letter Before Claim could have been made.

I am requesting that you send a fully compliant Letter Before Court Claim, so that I can deal with my own obligations under the Practice Direction. Please send this to my correct address which is:

xxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx

Since your Letter Before Claim refers to the Practice Direction, you must already know what is required, and I expect you to comply with your obligations.

I confirm that I shall then seek advice and submit a formal Response within 30 days of receipt, as required by the Practice Direction.

You are reminded of the Court’s powers to apply sanctions for non-compliance with the Practice Direction, and I expect to receive a fully compliant Letter Before Claim within 14 days. If you do not send you a fully compliant Letter Before Claim as requested, I will seek the assistance of the court.

Please ensure that someone actually does read and respond to this letter, providing the specific information relating to the county court claim that your client intends to make against myself as the defendant to the proposed legal proceedings. Please DO NOT send a generic or FAQ letter in reply as to do so does not meet the requirements of the Practice Direction and will take this matter no further forward.

Please note, a refusal to comply with the Practice Direction will result in an immediate referral to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for breach of the Principles contained in the SRA Handbook version 8, published on 1st October 2013.!

I trust this will not be necessary, and look forward to receiving a fully compliant letter before claim in due course.

Yours faithfully

xxxxxxx

The_Deep

Acidmonkey wrote: »

The MA on whole, run a tight ship and are actually the best run MA's i've ever come across. I think whoever I spoke to on the phone had no idea what they were talking about. Nothing to gain by naming them or the area.

I disagree. if the MA can shrug their shoulders with you, they are most likely to do the same with less perspicacious and more vulnerable residents.

They can kill this stone dead if they wish, and you can include them in your counter claim as their actions have impinged on you quiet enjoyment of your property. An possible offence under The Landlord and Tenants Acts.

safarmuk

Out of interest can you name (or pm) the name of the MA. Is this in Hertfordshire? For future reference the MA is not telling you the whole truth, I suspect if they had been bothered to they could have cancelled this ticket.
Originally posted by safarmuk
”The MA on whole, run a tight ship and are actually the best run MA's i've ever come across. I think whoever I spoke to on the phone had no idea what they were talking about. Nothing to gain by naming them or the area

The sole reason for asking is to see if, by any chance, you are on the same estate as another estate I am dealing with that have the same problem.

We know that the MA does have the ability to cancel tickets, in the case above they chose not to because it appears they perhaps didn't want the bother of managing problems like this or didn't think these problems would occur. However this is not the MA's right to make this call, if they contract someone they are responsible for their behaviour, especially if it is not in the benefit of the residents.

We now also have residents and genuine visitors in various states of hassle like this and we are putting it right at source. You should be able to as well and save yourself the hassle of this court proceeding.

The MA might well be running a tight ship in terms of maintaining the communal areas (which is great) but they are not running a tight ship in protecting you and Mrs AcidMonkey from this kind of ridiculous hassle (despite you paying them management fees).

However, respect your decision above and good luck to you.

Acidmonkey

The_Deep wrote: »

I disagree. if the MA can shrug their shoulders with you, they are most likely to do the same with less perspicacious and more vulnerable residents.

They can kill this stone dead if they wish, and you can include them in your counter claim as their actions have impinged on you quiet enjoyment of your property. An possible offence under The Landlord and Tenants Acts.

safarmuk wrote: »

The sole reason for asking is to see if, by any chance, you are on the same estate as another estate I am dealing with that have the same problem.

We know that the MA does have the ability to cancel tickets, in the case above they chose not to because it appears they perhaps didn't want the bother of managing problems like this or didn't think these problems would occur. However this is not the MA's right to make this call, if they contract someone they are responsible for their behaviour, especially if it is not in the benefit of the residents.

We now also have residents and genuine visitors in various states of hassle like this and we are putting it right at source. You should be able to as well and save yourself the hassle of this court proceeding.

The MA might well be running a tight ship in terms of maintaining the communal areas (which is great) but they are not running a tight ship in protecting you and Mrs AcidMonkey from this kind of ridiculous hassle (despite you paying them management fees).

However, respect your decision above and good luck to you.

I've emailed the MA and requested they cancel the ticket, however I have not received any response at all. Must they be written to?

I've got until March 7th to respond to the Court with my defence and Counterclaim. How do I add the MA to the Counterclaim, if they are not in the original claim?

Loadsofchildren123

I'll have a look at the CPR when I get to work. There must be a simple procedure for adding a party to a counterclaim. Have you looked at the rule concerning counterclaims yet, it's probably in there? The court will also probably advise you of the correct procedure if you phone them (although it's hard these days to get to speak to anyone who actually knows anything about the rules).

Loadsofchildren123

To add MA as a party you really need to send them a formal LBC as per the Practice Direction.

In this case because of your time constraints and your previous contact with them, you could justify giving them a short time to respond. Explain in the LBC about the other proceedings and the time limit for filing the defence and counterclaim, explain the claim, produce your core documents etc and say you need a reply by X date otherwise you will have to include them in the counterclaim. Refer to your previous dealings with them and say that they are of course already familiar with the matter.

That will avoid them complaining you haven't complied.

Should put the cat amongst the pidgys.

Loadsofchildren123

On one of these threads recently, or it might have been parking prankster's blog, the OP was so fed up of the PPC trespassing on its land and harassing him with tickets and chaser letters that he did take proceedings and he got £150 for the trespass. This might ring more bells with the regulars.

Is trespass a crime? If it is, then the case law that a claimant cannot profit from his crime applies to this scenario. Every time they set foot on your parking space, and every time they put a ticket on the car, they are committing a trespass and so cannot profit from it.

This is also a form of harassment. I have some experience of the law of harassment and you can really take advantage of it. Under the Protection from Harassment Act all you need are 2 instances for it to be classed as a course of conduct (a criminal offence). If you make a complaint to the police, what happens next is interesting.

The police are obliged by guidance issued by the powers that be to prioritise complaints under the Act. They receive so many complaints that they have formed a way of dealing with low level complaints - they go, without any form of investigation, to see the other party, they tell them a complaint has been made, and inform them what the Act says. They tell them not to do it again, otherwise they could face charges. To evidence the fact that the other party has been told this, they "serve" them with a PIN (Police Information Notice) which simply records the complaint, the law and that it's been brought to their attention.

This procedure is really open to abuse, but that's another story altogether. It's actually hard to believe, but google it and you will see I'm right.

You could, if you were so minded, complain to the police. They will (probably) serve a PIN and you will be able to add this into your defence - it won't make them look good at all. If the police try to fob you off say that this is a form of harassment equal to any other and you want them to act on your complaint.

You may decide that this takes things a step too far, but it is an option open to you.