Court summons for residential parking - Over £1000!

Jobe12

You're absolutely right, on the principle alone it is worth fighting this! Thanks for letting me know about the 30 days to pay.


I didn't think I was legally required to display the permit, I'll try and push the managing agents again.

The_Deep

Have you brought this to the attention of your landlord? If so what has he/she said? It is his /her rights also that the PPC is attempting to compromise. If so minded he is in a position to make life difficult for the MA.

Jobe12

Unfortunately the property was fully managed by the estate agents, due to this I never had any contact with the landlord during the tenancy.

Coupon-mad

I didn't think I was legally required to display the permit, I'll try and push the managing agents again.

It's not about saying you were not 'legally' required (because it's not about any offence in law). It is about the fact that your contract did not incorporate any such relevant obligation and nor did it warn you about the terms of signs forming part of your tenancy agreement, nor did your tenancy agreement mention £100 parking charges. so when you signed on the dotted line, none of this trash was in your contract.

Your contract prevails and the rights of way and/or easements that you already enjoyed as a tenant, gave you primacy of contract that can't be onerously varied, to your detriment. In short, neither the Managing Agent nor the PPC can disregard your rights or unilaterally vary your contract/add charges that didn't exist.

Jobe12

Thanks for the advice.


I have gone over all of the above material and have looked in to numerous articles on the parking pranksters website relating to residential parking.


I have created the first draft of my defence. I have formatted it as Times New Roman ft 12 with double spacing and have saved the document as a PDF.


The defence focuses on the point of the tenancy agreement trumping any new signs that are meant to be "contracts"


The POPLA appeal that was won for a friends ticket on the same spot was 16 pages long and covered many points, this is much smaller and only covers one main point. Is this as expected?


Am I right in thinking that the next step is to email this to the county court rather than posting it or using the website? Do I need to attach transcripts of the cases I'm quoting or any additional documents?


I have included it below, would anyone mind reviewing it and providing some advice please? Thank you so much!

DEFENCE
IN THE COUNTY COURT
CLAIM No: XXX
BETWEEN:
UK PARKING CONTROL LTD (Claimant)
-AND-
XXX (Defendant)

• It is admitted that the defendant, Mr XXX, residing XXX is the registered keeper of the vehicle.
• It is denied that any 'parking charges or indemnity costs' (whatever they might be) are owed and any debt is denied in its entirety.
• It is denied that the Claimant has authority to bring this claim. The proper Claimant (if any debt exists, which is denied) would be the landowner.
• I had parked in the communal areas allocated for parking and in the allocated spot for the property I was renting at the time. My lease imposes no parking conditions and a permit is displayed purely for the convenience of the claimant's operative. I deny that the Claimant has any authority over the property.
• Extract from the tenancy agreement relating to parking: “To park private vehicle(s) only at the Property/Premises. 
To park in the space allocated to the Property/Premises, if the Tenant is allocated a car parking space. 
To park in the garage or the driveway to the Property/Premises if applicable. 
To keep any garage, driveway, or parking space free of oil and to pay for the removal and cleaning of any spillage caused by a vehicle of the Tenant, his family, contractors or visitors. 
To remove all vehicles belonging to the Tenant, his family or visitors at the end of the Tenancy. Not to park any vehicle at the Property/Premises that is not in road worthy condition and fully taxed.” I will include a copy of the tenancy agreement in any hearings.
• The tenancy agreement prevails and gives me primacy of contract that can’t be onerously varied to my detriment. The tenancy agreement has no mention of a parking charge and therefore cannot be unilaterally varied by UKPC to add charges that don’t exist.
• The Defendant believes that his personal details have been obtained unlawfully by the Claimant and asks that the Court does not to assist the Claimant to benefit from a wrongdoing. (Ex turpi causa non oritur action).
• The presence of the Claimant on the land will have supposedly been to prevent parking by uninvited persons, for the benefit of the actual leaseholders. Instead, a predatory operation has been carried out on those very people whose interests the Claimant was purportedly there to uphold.
• There can be no ‘legitimate interest’ in penalising residents for using parking spaces, under the excuse of a scheme where ostensibly and as far as the landowner is concerned, the parking firm is contracted for the benefit of the residents. It is unconscionable, contrary to the requirement of good faith and ‘out of all proportion to any legitimate interest’ to fine residents or their visitors for using the parking spaces provided.
• The question regarding terms in a lease was tested recently at Oxford County Court, JOPSON v HOME GUARD SERVICES, Appeal case number B9GF0A9E on 29/9/2016. The hearing was settled to the favour of JOPSON. I will include the transcript of that case at any hearing.
• The question regarding residential parking was tested recently at Croydon County Court, MR N. V PACE RECOVERY, Claim no. C6GF14F0 on 16/9/2016. The hearing was settled to the favour of MR N. I will include the transcript of that case at any hearing.
• To quote district judge Coonan in the case of MR N. V PACE RECOVERY – “I have before me a tenancy agreement which gives Mr N. the right to park on the estate and it does not say “on condition that you display a permit.” It does not say that, so he has that right. What PACE RECOVERY is seeking to do is, unilaterally outside the contract, restrict that right to only when a permit is displayed.” This is highly relevant to my case.
• The question regarding residential parking was tested recently at Gloucester County Court, MS R. V UKPC, Claim no. C4HW0G3N on 8/3/2017. The hearing was settled to the favour of MS R.
• In MS P. V LINK PARKING, Claim no. C7GF50J7. It was also found that the parking company could not override the tenant's right to park by requiring a permit to park.
• The defendant denies the claim in its entirety voiding any liability to the claimant for all amounts claimed due to the aforementioned reasons. It is submitted that the conduct of the Claimant is wholly unreasonable and vexatious.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence Statement are true.

Lamilad

Am I right in thinking that the next step is to email this to the county court rather than posting it or using the website?

Yes. Email the pdf. Don't submit via MCOL as it will become an ugly pile of words, you'll lose all your formatting. Court email is:
[EMAIL="ccbcaq@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk"]ccbcaq@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

Copy yourself in to ensure its sent ok. Ring the court to confirm receipt.

Do I need to attach transcripts of the cases I'm quoting or any additional documents?

No, all evidence - transcripts, photos etc are submitted with your witness statement a couple of weeks before the hearing.

Coupon-mad

The POPLA appeal that was won for a friends ticket on the same spot was 16 pages long and covered many points, this is much smaller and only covers one main point. Is this as expected?

Yes. The only things I would add is a couple of safety net 'even if' defence points:

- Even if the court is minded to overlook the persuasive Jopson v Home Guard Appeal decided by Charles Harris QC, a Senior Circuit Judge, along with the very similar County court decisions that tenancy rights cannot be disregarded (transcripts for which I will adduce in evidence) it is contended that the permits when issued, included nothing about £100 charge.

- Even if the court is minded to believe there could be a contract formed from signage which could override the rights and easements already afforded to residents, I contend that these signs are in pale, sporadically placed high on walls and in very small print, with terms that were never drawn to the attention of residents. I was never obligated to read the signs because residents believed that they were directed at trespassers and I was completely unaware of the existence of any £100 'parking charge'.



And add a point saying:

- The facts of this case and status of the Defendant as a resident with pre-existing rights means that my case can be fully distinguished from the facts in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, which involved a 'complex' set of facts and a commercial justification in ensuring turnover of spaces in a retail park, as well as very brief and clear signs with the parking charge in the largest lettering.

Jobe12

Hi all,

I'm hoping I can get some more advice as the court date is approaching (~3 weeks away)

Please let me know if I need to make a new thread instead.

I have read posts from users who have won at court as reccomended in the "NEWBIES" thread.

In the letter from the court it states "Each party shall deliver to every other party and to the court office copies of all documents (including any experts' report) on which he intends to rely at the hearing no later than 14 days before the hearing"

I assume I need to include a transcript of all of the above cases that I mentioned in my defence. The only other doucments that I can think to include would be the tenancy agreement and the images of the poor signage. Do I need to include anything else?

I also recieved a letter from the prosecuters lawyers asking for a copy of my tenancy agreement as they noticed that I mentioned in the defence that it doesn't impose any parking restrictions. They would like to see this as it "will enable our client to confirm your assertions and make an informed decision in relation to this claim"

The lawyers have an email address included in the letter, am I fine to send the required doucments to their email and the court's email or does it need to be posted?

Thanks again for all of your help, I would be absolutely lost without it.

waamo

Please let me know if I need to make a new thread instead.

If you do that you will annoy a lot of people who will want to see what advice you've had and what you've done.

I assume I need to include a transcript of all of the above cases that I mentioned in my defence. The only other doucments that I can think to include would be the tenancy agreement and the images of the poor signage. Do I need to include anything else?

As long as it is clear why they are included and not just random attachments then I can't think of anything else you need to add.

The lawyers have an email address included in the letter, am I fine to send the required doucments to their email and the court's email or does it need to be posted?

Email should be fine.

Coupon-mad

You need to refer back to post #2 of the NEWBIES thread which has several links about Witness Statement stage, where you are at, with some good examples. Show us your WS, it's a simple statement of facts plus your evidence (not a re-hash of the defence).

Start getting your ducks in a row this weekend. Spend time on it, a 4 figure sum is at stake!

You can also (not mandatory) prepare a skeleton argument to file before the hearing and use as a crib sheet to follow your defence arguments blow by blow, and in that, you can note any issues from their WS that you wish to raise at the hearing.

And also before the hearing, file a Costs Schedule to reclaim your costs when you win! All these things are covered in post #2 of the NEWBIES thread, along with a final tip about how to challenge Rights of Audience, as these legal firms (SCS Law?) often send a legal rep who is not 'exempt' and you can challenge their right to speak and get them kicked out.

Search the forum and Google as well, for 'Rights of Audience BMPA' to find some solid advice.