PCM Ltd county court claim form on a residential estate

Mannimango

Dear members,

I hope you are all well.

A few days ago I received a county court claim form from Gladstone solicitors on behalf of PCM UK Ltd in regard to a series of contraventions (5 in total) dating back to mid to late last year. I would discard the initial ticket and all subsequent reminders and demands went to my permanent home address, which I visit maybe twice a year. My dad, who is 82, would receive these letters and throw them in the bin (we have the same initial). I made a visit back home this weekend and luckily stumbled on the Northampton claim form. I have just sent of the acknowledgment section attached to the claim form, but am currently at the stage of being overwhelmed (by the sheer volume of material on this forum) and of the prospect of going to a local county court to defend my position. Below is a summary of my particular situation, in the hope that some of you generous souls can guide me through this process.

I rent a two bed apartment on a residential estate where there is a painful lack of car parking spaces for any family that has more than one car. My wife has taken the designated car parking space and I patrol the estate looking for off street spaces. Last year there was new development on our estate that was in the process of getting built. I, along with many others, found a convenient spot alongside the wooden partitioning that separated the new development from the local public. There was a period during this time of no signage > UK PCM signage > back to no signage. I assume that I accumulated my parking tickets during the time where there was signage, although I am fairly certain that a portion of those tickets were when there were computer printed signs, laminated and fixed to the wooden boards. Unfortunately, I did not take any photographic evidence to support this, so I cannot back this up. What I can say is that now there are no PCM UK Ltd signs at all around the estate.

Do I have a case to defend my position, and if so, what would you advise including in my defence?

Many thanks

Coupon-mad

Read this to understand the case law & issues:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/residential-parking.html

You will find relevant defences to copy from by searching this board for:

Gladstones Jopson defence

G's claims are so generic that you will see a pattern and realise in fact this stage is mostly a generic first defence ticking the boxes you need to tick, to cover you for later so you can expand on this defence in a Witness Statement a few weeks before the hearing (which is no wigs/criminal hearing situation!). So you really can fairly easily just copy from the examples of the residential car park/Jopson case defences v any Gladstones claim, but show us your final draft to be sure you are happy with it.

Oh, and I assume you have already read 'NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST'? There's a whole section about 'Small Claims?'

Is this claim for one PCN only, for maybe £250? Or several? Are there more in the offing?

Mannimango

Hi Coupon-mad,

I have 5 PCNs (totaling circa 1K) which I have no documentation for, as it was thrown out. Should I write a part 18 request, and if so, is there a generic template I should be using?

I have scrolled through the resident's facebook page on our estate, and it seems like the landowners had instructed the managing agents (to tell UK PCM) to cease all PCNs around the block, until there had been a resolution to the situation. They obviously ignored this!

I have read the parking pranksters thread and will search around the particular case you mentioned.

Coupon-mad

Yes, an example part 18 and advice is on the BMPA website (a charity for which I'm a founder member).

Google search 'BMPA COURT WIZARD' or 'BMPA DEFENCE'.

beamerguy

Muneeb wrote: »

What I can say is that now there are no PCM UK Ltd signs at all around the estate.

Do you know why there are no PCMUK signs now, can you find out

EG: Were they kicked out

Mannimango

Hi beamerguy, yes I can find out for you by asking the FB group. I do not get the letters from the housing group re any changes, as I rent the property I am in.

Thanks Coupon-Mad for the link.

Mannimango

Hi beamerguy, I have sent an email to the regional team manager which owns the housing estate. A letter was sent from him to residents on 20th April, 2016 in which it said, "we have asked (managing agent) to instruct PCM to cease issuing parking tickets until we have established what is needed on the estate moving forward. PCM are not contracted by the XXX Housing however we are hopeful that they will comply with our request as soon as possible." I have requested the original of the letter he sent to the managing agent. I am hoping this might add some weight to my defence? I am sending a part 18 request via post to G's solicitors.

Coupon-mad

Yes that assists your defence to argue that (unlike in the Beavis case) there is no legitimate interest in penalising residents and so no commercial justification for the charge - meaning the claimant has not 'disengaged the penalty rule' which the Supreme Court Judges in Beavis confirmed was undoubtedly in play in a parking charge case.

The unusual legitimate interests in that case alone saved it from being held to be a penalty = otherwise it would have been unrecoverable in law. Not so here; private firms cannot simply punish drivers. Again this was said in the Beavis Supreme Court Judgment. If it were me I would read it online and pick out the quotes that support that argument and distinguish YOUR case from Beavis. That case assists you.

Guys_Dad

Muneeb wrote: »

Hi beamerguy, I have sent an email to the regional team manager which owns the housing estate. A letter was sent from him to residents on 20th April, 2016 in which it said, "we have asked (managing agent) to instruct PCM to cease issuing parking tickets until we have established what is needed on the estate moving forward. PCM are not contracted by the XXX Housing however we are hopeful that they will comply with our request as soon as possible." I have requested the original of the letter he sent to the managing agent. I am hoping this might add some weight to my defence? I am sending a part 18 request via post to G's solicitors.

Who did contract them and if the actual landowners didn't contract them , then does that party have the authority to do so?

What reply did the regional manager get when he wrote to the agents? Can you get a copy?

Mannimango

I believe that the managing agent (Hazelvine) contracted PCM, but currently their presence around the estate has significantly diminished following large complaints from the residents about the flurry of tickets being issued, at around the time I received all of mine. I have requested the correspondence that the regional manager sent, but he is out of the office today. Should get a response tomorrow.

Half_way

Do you have a communal notice board? If multiple residents have been affected it may be good manners to inform as navy people as possible about just what this PPC is/had been up to.