Link Parking residently PCN

lillianjcharlotte

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has helped so far.

I submitted my defence. I've since received my court date and lucky me it falls 2 days before I'm due to get married.:rotfl:
I did put the dates of my wedding down as unavailable on the DQ but hey ho.

I've gone through the newbies thread and have put together the witness statement. It's just a first draft. Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

In the County Court at XXXX

Claim No.: XXXX
Between

XXXXXX

-v-


XXXXXX

I am the Defendant in this matter, XXXX, residing at XXXXXX.
I am unrepresented, with no experience of Court procedures. If I do not set out documents in the way that the Claimant does, I trust the Court will excuse my inexperience.
In this Witness statement, the facts and matters stated are true and within my own knowledge, except where indicated otherwise.

1, I am not the registered keeper of the vehicle concerned and have never claimed to be.

2, On XXXX I was issued with a Notice to Keeper asking for the amount of £100.00. This notice advised I had been named as the driver but that if I was not I should provide them with the details of that person. I am not, nor have I ever been the registered keeper of the vehicle. Exhibit A is a photocopy of the notice to keeper I was issued and Exhibit B is a copy of the Registered Keeper document for the vehicle in question, registration XXXX. This document clearly states the vehicle is registered to XXXX. DVLA records at the time of the charge would have evidenced that I was not the keeper.

3, I am not the driver of the vehicle concerned and have never claimed to be.

4, On XXXX a parking charge was placed on the vehicle in question. This vehicle was parked in parking space XXXX at the land of XXXXX by a friend visiting my apartment. The vehicle was parked in that space with my permission and Exhibit C is a photocopy of the floor plan of the land that shows space XXXX corresponds with my apartment XXX.

The charge was passed to me by my friend so that I could contact the claimant and confirm that the vehicle was parked there with permission and had been registered on their online portal. I called the number on the claimant's parking website and was advised to fill in the online contact form.
It was not advised to me that I was entering into an official appeal process and so I wrote in the form 'I received a parking charge.' Exhibit D and E are two of the many emails I sent advising the claimant's solicitors that I had meant those words in the literal sense of a parking charge being handed to me.
I appreciate that my wording could be misconstrued but, given that I had the rights to that space, I genuinely believed the claimant (who were brought into place to protect resident's spaces) would not uphold a fine against someone using their own parking space.
3, I have no liability as the driver of this vehicle. Exhibit F is a signed witness statement from XXXX confirming that at no point have I ever driven her vehicle.

4, On XXXXX I submitted an IAS appeal following on from the Claimant refusing to drop the parking charge. In this appeal I named the appellant as XXXXX. The appellant was listed as being the driver, keeper and person liable for the charge. On XXXX the claimant responded to that appeal by stating the appellant was the driver and keeper and that they were seeking keeper liability in accordance with PoFA. By accepting Mrs. XXXX as the appellant they accepted that I was not the person liable for the charge. Exhibit G is a screenshot of the appeal page where it states that I am appealing on behalf of the appellant.

5,
a) During the IAS appeal stage the claimant stated they were seeking keeper liability in accordance with PoFA. If this was true then there is no logical reason for court proceedings to be brought against me as I am not the registered keeper and DVLA records would show this. The claimant had no real evidence to show I was the keeper of the vehicle and instead of acknowledging my attempts at advising them of this they merely stated they could not transfer liability in accordance with PoFA without my involvement, as shown in Exhibit H.

b) The claimant advised that they required me to name the driver or keeper and continually threatened me with court proceedings and inflated costs unless I complied. During the IAS appeal stage I named the driver/keeper in full. I have found it incredibly distressing that court proceedings were brought against me even though I have continuously offered evidence to the claimant to confirm that I am not the keeper of this vehicle and that I have never driven it.

I believe the facts stated in the statement are true.


*** It's very minimal because I cut most of what was in my defence. I was told not to get bogged down in details and to just stick with the 'I'm not the driver, I'm not the keeper' defence.

Coupon-mad

Wow, I like that, says it like it is.

given that I had the rights to that space, I genuinely believed the claimant (who were brought into place to protect resident's spaces) would not uphold a fine against someone using their own parking space.

You do need to evidence your right to use the space...lease agreement, map showing it is demised to you?

If you are the actual space owner (leasehold title including the space?) state in your WS that your friend WAS at all times 'authorised' to use your space, but by contrast, you have never authorised the Claimant, and they were in fact trespassing in your demised space. what proof do you have - I am asking this partly to protect your friend from a claim...to try to kick the whole thing into touch in case the PPC was thinking of dumping this baseless claim and starting a claim against the driver instead.

Put these acronyms in full, the first time you use them:

IAS, and PoFA

Get yourself a VERY detailed costs schedule filed as well, try for 4 figures.

After all, you have been inconvenienced and had your time wasted from start to finish, spanning 2017 and 2018 right up until almost the eve of your wedding when your time would be better spent on family/loved ones and any work you do.

Look at the Costs Schedule sassi used, she got £1500. If you don't ask, you don't get, and I would send it with your Witness Statement (and the keeper's WS) and evidence, stating as well that you will seek your costs even if the claimant now discontinues, because they have ripped into your peace of mind and your life, despite you not being liable, and the claimant knows you are not liable and have misused your data to intimidate you for money.

We rarely see such a vexatious and 'wholly unreasonable' case. Show us your costs schedule too.

Umkomaas

3, I am not the driver of the vehicle concerned and have never claimed to be.

'I was not the driver of the vehicle on the material date (nor have I ever been - before or since*)' might be better?

* if true. Adapt if necessary.

lillianjcharlotte

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Wow, I like that, says it like it is.

You do need to evidence your right to use the space...lease agreement, map showing it is demised to you?

If you are the actual space owner (leasehold title including the space?) state in your WS that your friend WAS at all times 'authorised' to use your space, but by contrast, you have never authorised the Claimant, and they were in fact trespassing in your demised space. what proof do you have - I am asking this partly to protect your friend from a claim...to try to kick the whole thing into touch in case the PPC was thinking of dumping this baseless claim and starting a claim against the driver instead.

All I've got is a floor plan showing the flat number and the parking space number highlighted to show they go together and a letter from my landlord at the time to say they gave me a right to park. I was just a tenant at the property and parking was never really discussed. They just said this is your space. Link Parking's involvement was never mentioned in my tenancy or the space itself.
The floor plan is all I have as it's all the landlord said she could give me.

Get yourself a VERY detailed costs schedule filed as well, try for 4 figures.

After all, you have been inconvenienced and had your time wasted from start to finish, spanning 2017 and 2018 right up until almost the eve of your wedding when your time would be better spent on family/loved ones and any work you do.

Look at the Costs Schedule sassi used, she got £1500. If you don't ask, you don't get, and I would send it with your Witness Statement (and the keeper's WS) and evidence, stating as well that you will seek your costs even if the claimant now discontinues, because they have ripped into your peace of mind and your life, despite you not being liable, and the claimant knows you are not liable and have misused your data to intimidate you for money.

We rarely see such a vexatious and 'wholly unreasonable' case. Show us your costs schedule too.

I've done a rough schedule of costs. I've asked for the basics and also wanted to ask for 'compensation' because this genuinely has been a distressing experience. Just wasn't sure how to ask for this.

In the County Court at XXXX

Claim No.: XXXX
Between

XXXXX

-v-


XXXX


DEFENDANT'S SCHEDULE OF COSTS


Ordinary Costs


Loss of earnings/leave, incurred through attendance at Court xxx: £64.10 (full day of earnings lost at £8.10 per hour)

Return mileage from home address to Court: £5.76 (Round trip of 12.8 Miles at .45pence per mile)

Parking near Court: £5.00

Sub-total £82.96


Further costs for Claimant's unreasonable behaviour, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 27.14(2)(g)

Research, preparation and drafting of documents (3 hours at Litigant in Person rate of £19 per hour) £57.00

Stationery, printing, photocopying and postage: £15.00

Compensation requested for distress caused: £1,200 (This is part I'm struggling with because I'm not sure how to word it

Sub-total £1,272.00

Umkomaas

Compensation requested for distress caused: £1,200 (This is part I'm struggling with because I'm not sure how to word it

This might help - from the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2?

Here is a costs schedule, you take this to the hearing and claim your costs for lost wages/leave, your travel, parking(!) etc. if you win:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=72079752#post72079752

You CAN claim loss of leave but some Judges do not know this, so have this up your sleeve in your notes in your 'costs schedule': ''27.14.2(e) a sum not exceeding the amount specified in Practice Direction 27 for any loss of earnings or loss of leave by a party or witness due to attending a hearing or to staying away from home for the purposes of attending a hearing''

If you have such a strong case that the Claim was VEXATIOUS, unreasonable and without merit, see this about claiming punitive costs, written by legally-qualified LoadsofChildren123:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=72639343#post72639343

and

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=73593864#post73593864

Coupon-mad

You can't ask for compensation but you can ask for (effectively) punitive costs 'on the indemnity basis' - see the links shown by Umkomaas above and copy that style. Go for it.

Add to your WS something like this, unless I missed it already there?

Regarding my exclusive right to the parking space - and in order to show the Claimant that they have no cause of action against any party I authorised to park in my space whilst I was the tenant - I provide evidence (Exhibit x). This is a floor plan showing the flat number and the parking space number, highlighted to show they go together.

Further, I produce (Exhibit y), a letter from my landlord at the time to say that she granted me an exclusive right to park at the material time when I was a tenant at the property. Parking was never really discussed apart from my clear understanding that I had an allocated space with a right to park there and to allow my visitors to park there. Link Parking's involvement was never mentioned in my tenancy nor in relation to the space itself and neither my landlord nor I ever accepted any contract with the Claimant, nor authorised the Claimant to trespass, offer contracts, run a parking business, or charge drivers of cars using this privately owned parking space which was not under the remit of the Managing Agent as it was not part of the communal area. The Claimant is put to strict proof and is already aware of a similar case it lost on a comparable argument: Exhibit z (Link v Parkinson, case transcript decision - tenancy grant overrides parking signs*).

*Download it here:

http://www.parking-prankster.com/more-case-law.html

lillianjcharlotte

I think I'll have a detailed read through tonight about how to go about costs.
I had a quick read of LoadsofChildren123 post about it last night and it was really helpful so thank you for that.

I've twigged my witness statement a bit. I included my landlord letter and floorplan information on right to park. I only briefly touched on 'right to park' in my defence as my entire counter arguement was focused on me literally having no connection to that car other than it belongs to a friend.

I also put in my statement the IPC appeal I did. I raised a complaint for harassment as I'm not the driver or keeper. They turned down my complaint on the grounds that Link had said that they are pursuing me as the driver, not the keeper. In the IAS appeal they said they were pursuing the keeper. Not sure if that helps at all but figured it might be worth mentioning as they keep moving the goal posts on what they're coming after me for.

Thanks again for everyones help - I really do appreciate it.

In the County Court at XXXX

Claim No.: XXXX
Between

XXXXXX

-v-


XXXXXX
I xxxxx am the defendant in this case and reside at xxxxxxx.
I am unrepresented, with no experience of Court procedures. If I do not set out documents in the way that the Claimant does, I trust the Court will excuse my inexperience.
In this Witness statement, the facts and matters stated are true and within my own knowledge, except where indicated otherwise.

1, I am not, nor have I ever been, the registered keeper of this vehicle.

2, On XXXX I was issued with a Notice to Keeper asking for the amount of £100.00. This notice advised I had been named as the driver but that if I was not I should provide them with the details of that person. I am not, nor have I ever been the registered keeper of the vehicle. Exhibit A is a photocopy of the notice to keeper I was issued and Exhibit B is a copy of the Registered Keeper document for the vehicle in question, registration XXXX. This document clearly states the vehicle is registered to XXXX. DVLA records at the time of the charge would have evidenced that I was not the keeper.

3, I was not the driver of the vehicle on the material date, nor have I ever been – before or since. Exhibit C is a signed witness statement from XXXX, the registered keeper of the vehicle, stating that I have never driven their vehicle

4, On XXXX a parking charge was placed on the vehicle in question. This vehicle was parked in parking space XXXX at the land of XXXXX by a friend visiting my apartment. The vehicle was parked in that space with my permission and Exhibit C is a photocopy of the floor plan of the land that shows space XXXX corresponds with my apartment XXX. Exhibit D is a copy of the email sent to me by my landlord at the time advised the claimant to take instruction from me as to which vehicles could be parked on this land.
The claimant does not require parking permits to be displayed but that vehicles parking need to be registered on an online portal. This was done as instructed by their signage. The claimant does not provide evidence of registration.

The charge was passed to me by my friend so that I could contact the claimant and confirm that the vehicle was parked there with permission and had been registered on their online portal. I called the number on the claimant's parking website and was advised to fill in the online contact form.
It was not advised to me that I was entering into an official appeal process and so I wrote in the form 'I received a parking charge.' Exhibit E and F are two of the many emails I sent advising the claimant's solicitors that I had meant those words in the literal sense of a parking charge being handed to me.
I appreciate that my wording could be misconstrued but, given that I had the rights to that space (as provided by my landlord in Exhibit D) at the time, I genuinely believed the claimant (who were brought into place to protect resident's spaces) would not uphold a fine against someone using their own parking space.

4, On XXXXX I submitted an IAS appeal followingg on from the Claimant refusing to drop the parking charge. In this appeal I named the appellant as XXXXX. The appellant was listed as being the driver, keeper and person liable for the charge. On XXXX the claimant responded to that appeal by stating the appellant was the driver and keeper and that they were seeking keeper liability in accordance with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 .By accepting. XXXX as the appellant they accepted that I was not the person liable for the charge. Exhibit G is a screenshot of the appeal page where it states that I am appealing on behalf of the appellant.

5,
a) During the Independent Appeal Service appeal stage the claimant stated they were seeking keeper liability in accordance with PoFA. If this were true then there is no logical reason for court proceedings to be brought against me as I am not the registered keeper and DVLA records would show this. The claimant had no real evidence to show I was the keeper of the vehicle and instead of acknowledging my attempts at advising them of this they merely stated they could not transfer liability in accordance with PoFA without my involvement, as shown in Exhibit H.

b) The claimant advised that they required me to name the driver or keeper and continually threatened me with court proceedings and inflated costs unless I complied. During the IAS appeal stage I named the driver/keeper in full. I have found it incredibly distressing that court proceedings were brought against me even though I have continuously offered evidence to the claimant to confirm that I am not the keeper of this vehicle and that I have never driven it.

6, On 09/05/2017 I logged a complaint with the International Parking Community for harassment following numerous debt collection letters being sent to me by the Claimant’s solicitors. Exhibit I is a copy of the complaint. The complaint was dismissed on the grounds that I was identified as the driver and that the claimant was pursuing me as such, an excerpt of this reads

“I can confirm that you are not being pursued as the registered keeper, but as the driver, as it was yourself who appealed, and at no point did you transfer the liability.”

This contradicts the Claimant’s statement during the IAS appeal (Exhibit G) where the claimant advised they were pursuing keeper liability. It was also advised in my complaint dismissal that I had not transferred liability; however, during the IAS appeal I did this by naming the driver/keeper in full (Exhibit G). The full serviceable address of that person was provided at this stage.

7, Throughout the past year I have made numerous attempts at contacting the claimant and their solicitors to try and resolve the issue but was rebuffed each time. Exhibits E, F and H are emails sent to the claimant’s solutions trying to resolve the issue in pre action and Exhibit I is a record of their responses, all of which failed to acknowledge my comments. At no point during my correspondence with the claimant or their representatives were any attempts made to consider the validity of this claim. For the past year I have been threatened with legal action and debt collection letters for a vehicle that I advised them I had no connection with (Exhibit E, F, G and H).

8, Due to the relentless, unjustified and inhumane handling of this claim by the claimant I would look to seek punitive costs for the distress and inconvenience caused.

I believe the facts stated in the statement are true.

Coupon-mad

You need a heading 'WITNESS STATEMENT'.

Due to the relentless, unjustified and inhumane handling of this claim by the claimant I would look to seek punitive costs for the distress and inconvenience caused.

No, use the words 'vexatious and wholly unreasonable' and 'costs on the indemnity basis' (see LOC123's posts & sassi's thread).

I think you are missing a trick if you do not protect your friend more (she might get a claim herself, the PPC will move from you to her). That's why I suggested you need stronger wording about your exclusive right to park, and use Link v Parkinson:

Regarding my exclusive right to the parking space - and in order to show the Claimant that they have no cause of action against any party I authorised to park in my space whilst I was the tenant - I provide evidence (Exhibit x). This is a floor plan showing the flat number and the parking space number, highlighted to show they go together.

Further, I produce (Exhibit y), a letter from my landlord at the time to say that she granted me an exclusive right to park at the material time when I was a tenant at the property. Parking was never really discussed apart from my clear understanding that I had an allocated space with a right to park there and to allow my visitors to park there. Link Parking's involvement was never mentioned in my tenancy nor in relation to the space itself and neither my landlord nor I ever accepted any contract with the Claimant, nor authorised the Claimant to trespass, offer contracts, run a parking business, or charge drivers of cars using this privately owned parking space which was not under the remit of the Managing Agent as it was not part of the communal area. The Claimant is put to strict proof and is already aware of a similar case it lost on a comparable argument: Exhibit z (Link v Parkinson, case transcript decision - tenancy grant overrides parking signs).

lillianjcharlotte

Coupon-mad wrote: »

You need a heading 'WITNESS STATEMENT'.

No, use the words 'vexatious and wholly unreasonable' and 'costs on the indemnity basis' (see LOC123's posts & sassi's thread).

Will do, thank you.

I think you are missing a trick if you do not protect your friend more (she might get a claim herself, the PPC will move from you to her). That's why I suggested you need stronger wording about your exclusive right to park, and use Link v Parkinson:

Am I ok to include that and go into such depth even though it was only touched on in my defence?

Coupon-mad

Well I would, to protect the friend.

There was a UKCPS case a few years ago where the husband defended & named his wife as the driver, so when the PPC couldn't hold him liable in court, they moved on to his wife and sued her. UKCPS lost both times but it's the distress and alarm of it that I would try to spare a friend, kill 2 birds with one stone.

That's why I put:

- and in order to show the Claimant that they have no cause of action against any party I authorised to park in my space whilst I was the tenant -