UKPC Bullying - PCN / SCS Law Stage

RastaFox

Any guides how to write a valid witness statement? Thanks.

Umkomaas

RastaFox wrote: »

Any guides how to write a valid witness statement? Thanks.

NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2, towards the bottom of the post.

Coupon-mad

RastaFox wrote: »

Any guides how to write a valid witness statement? Thanks.

You are not at WS stage. You are at AOS (using the password on MCOL) then 'urgently working on your defence' stage.

RastaFox

Do I contest jurisdiction?

DoaM

Have you read the court guide summary yet? (You've already been directed to it). It seems not as the questions you're asking are all answered therein.

Coupon-mad

RastaFox wrote: »

Do I contest jurisdiction?

You appear to be asking all the questions already covered in the links in post #2 of the NEWBIES thread, so we won't be answering until you ask stuff not covered already. We cannot afford this unnecessary time repeating what is here already, it stops us helping people who've made the effort and need defence help.

Even if you were struggling to read the links in the NEWBIES thread post #2, you could have searched the forum for the word 'jurisdiction' quicker than typing the above question, and had the answer in seconds!

RastaFox

Sorry, I will try to hold off the unnecessary questions.

I am struggling to word the fact that the attendant has threatened to beat me up and has filed false complaints to the head office of my company. The blood just starts boiling when I try and type it and I'm afraid it might come out more of a statement of an injured sheep than a defendant in court.

RastaFox

16. That the UKPC parking attendant No. ………. which is responsible for issuing all or most of the purported Parking charges is abusing his position to issue fraudulent Parking charge notices and has explicitly expressed his anger towards the driver.

17. That the mentioned parking attendant has threatened the driver with physical violence on 03/03/2017.

18. That the mentioned parking attendant does not adhere to his own company’s parking rules by parking his personal vehicle in an occupied resident parking bay without displaying a resident parking permit.

any good?

System

I am struggling to word the fact that the attendant has threatened to beat me up and has filed false complaints to the head office of my company. The blood just starts boiling when I try and type it and I'm afraid it might come out more of a statement of an injured sheep than a defendant in court.

How does that relate to the issue of multiple tickets. Did he threaten you if you didn't park in an unauthorised space. Were his threats the reason you picked up so many. If not, then it is not relevant.

RastaFox

OK, so far the defence goes like this:

IN THE COUNTY COURT
Claim No.: ………….

Between

UK PARKING CONTROL LTD
(Claimant)

-and-


……………………..
(Defendant)

_____________________________________________________________________

DEFENCE
_____________________________________________________________________

Introduction

1. I am ……………. , the defendant in this matter. My address for service is …………………….

2. This is my statement of truth and my defence.

3. As an unrepresented litigant-in-person I seek the Court’s permission to amend and supplement this defence as may be required upon disclosure of the claimant’s case.

4. For the avoidance of doubt on the relevant dates I was the registered keeper of a ………………., registered number ……………. .

5. I is believed that it will be a matter of common ground that the purported debt arose as the result of the issue of parking charge notices in relation to an alleged breach of the terms and conditions by the driver of the above vehicle when it was parked at ……………….. between ……… and ……….

Purported Basis of Claim

6. Further based upon the scant and deficient details contained in the Particulars of Claim and correspondence, it appears to be the claimant’s case that :

a. There was a contract formed by the defendant and the claimant on the dates of alleged breaches of contract.

b. There was an agreement to pay a sums or parking charges.

c. That there were Terms and Conditions prominently displayed around the site.

d. That in addition to the Parking charge there was an agreement to pay additional and unspecified additional sums.

e. The claimant company fully complied with their obligations within the terms of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

f. The claimant company fully complied with their obligations within the British Parking Association Code of Practice of which they were member at the time.

g. Further that the defendant has not paid the alleged debt.


Rebuttal of Claim

7. It is denied that:

a. A contract was formed

b. There was an agreement to pay a parking charge

c. That there were Terms and Conditions prominently displayed around the site.

d. That in addition to the Parking charge there was and agreement to pay additional and unspecified sums.

e. The claimant company fully complied with their obligations within the terms of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

f. The claimant company fully complied with their obligations within the British Parking Association Code of Practice of which they were member at the time.

g. That I am liable for the purported debt.

8. It is further denied that I owe any debt to the claimant or that any debt is in fact owed or that any debt exists or could have ever existed or has ever existed. That in any event the claimant has failed to comply with the requirements of the Civil Procedure Rules and that their claim is both unfounded and vexatious.
9. The claimant is put to the strictest proof of their assertions.


My Defence

10. My defence will rely principally upon the following points:

11. That the signs erected on site are incapable of forming the basis of a contract and indeed make it clear that that is not the case. Further it is trite law that a term that is forbidding cannot also constitute an offer. It is therefore denied that any contract was formed or was capable of being formed.

12. Should the claimant rely on the case of ParkingEye v Beavis, I wish to point out that there is a test of good faith.

Para 205: “The requirement of good faith in this context is one of fair and open dealing. Openness requires that the terms should be expressed fully, clearly and legibly, containing no concealed pitfalls or traps. Appropriate prominence should be given to terms which might operate disadvantageously to the customer.”

13. Underlining that is Section 18.3 of the BPA Code of Practice which gives clear instructions as to the placing, visibility and clarity of any signs that are used to form contracts. It says:

18.3 You must place signs containing the specific parking terms throughout the site, so that drivers are given the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle. Keep a record of where all the signs are. Signs must be conspicuous and legible, and written in intelligible language, so that they are easy to see, read and understand.

14. The defendant refutes that there were clear and visible signs, with Terms that formed the basis of a contact and which met the specifications above.

15. Section 7 of the British Parking Association Code of Practice outlines to operators some of the common law principles of operating on someone else's land as a licensee. One such item is written authority - a written contract - to be there. It defines the elements of this written authority as follows:

7.1 If you do not own the land on which you are carrying out parking management, you must have the written authorisation of the landowner (or their appointed agent) before you can start operating on the land in question. The authorisation must give you the authority to carry out all the aspects of the management and enforcement of the site that you are responsible for.

In particular, it must say that the landowner requires you to keep to the Code of Practice and that either you have the authority to pursue outstanding parking charges, through the courts if necessary or that you have the authority to pursue outstanding parking charges and, with their permission, through the courts if necessary.

7.2 If the operator wishes to take legal action on any outstanding parking charges, they must ensure that they have the written authority of the landowner (or their appointed agent) prior to legal action being taken.

7.3 The written authorisation must also set out:

a) the definition of the land on which you may operate so that the boundaries of the land can be clearly defined.

b) any conditions or restrictions on parking control and enforcement operations, including any restrictions on hours of operation.

c) any conditions or restrictions on the types of vehicles that may, or may not, be subject to parking control and enforcement

d) who has the responsibility for putting up and maintaining signs.

e) the definition of the services provided by each party to the agreement


16. That the UKPC parking attendant No. ………. which is responsible for issuing all or most of the purported Parking charges is abusing his position to issue fraudulent Parking charge notices and has explicitly expressed his anger towards the driver.

17. That the mentioned parking attendant has threatened the driver with physical violence on 03/03/2017.

18. That the mentioned parking attendant does not adhere to his own company’s parking rules by parking his personal vehicle in an occupied resident parking bay without displaying a resident parking permit.

19. That several Parking charges have been issued without any reason or evidence to support the implied reasons.

As I understand there can be no additions to the defence points, but what about point 3 in here?

Bassically, some of the PCNs issued for parking in an unused resident bay (signs quite far away)

Some for parking in a loading bay, while the driver WAS loading/unloading the vehicle (the sign says 20min allowed for loading but the time signatures suggest that the pictures were taken in a span of 30-50s)

There is one for parking in the same loading bay saying that the car was not parked within the marked lines and their pictures show that the car was paked perfectly within the lines.

And some for parking in a prohibited zone where it is ussually packed with cars and the sign is about 20m away from the zone. (Acts as sort of a farming zone for the attendant)

And for the threats basically he is issuing tickets to the driver occationally, just to mess with him, often the tickets (some are not in this case) are false or fraud like the loading bay example. He threated to smash the drivers head into his workplace window after he tried to take a picture of his car parked in an occupied resident bays (he does this every day), without displaying a resident bay permit.

I am trying to expose the parking attendand that he is abusive and does what he feels like doing, and therefore I am left with a court case now (I know, I know its my own fault), but doesn't this account for anything? The driver is forced to change his job as he cannot take the stress of parking at his workplace anymore.

Furthermore he has filed a false complaint about the driver to the head office of his company, which when confronted about, he denied, and I am in possesion of audio recording of the confrontation. I also have the recording of when the attendant was confronted about the threats and was recorded making up facts and threatening some more about how he will deal with the driver himself and that he shall not mess with people he doesn't know.

As a student, the driver was prohibited of achieving his best work, due to all the stress and time wasting induced by this case.

Anything I should include or exclude out of this? Your replies are much appreciated guys