Help needed after receiving claim form

Mayur82

I require some advice on how to proceed after receiving a claim form from Parking and Property Management Ltd.

I initially received a PCN at my residence for failing to display a valid parking permit. At the time I thought the correct thing to do was to ignore the notice. I then received a reminder some time after which I also ignored. Next a letter came from gladstones solicitors threatening to take me to court. I did my research and responded to them with the following letter:

I have received your Letter Before Claim dated 17th February 2017.

First, the alleged debt is disputed and any court proceedings will be vigorously defended.

Secondly, the letter you have sent is not fully compliant with the Practice Direction Pre Conduct and Protocols.

Please therefore provide a Letter Before Claim, which complies with the requirements of Annex A Para 2 of the Practice Direction on Pre-action Conduct:



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

Please ensure that someone does actually 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 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.

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

I never got a reply from gladstones and then just over a week ago I received a claim form.

I am unsure how to proceed.

Redx

if its a claim form (MCOL) from Northampton, you should read and follow post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky thread

then look for similar threads about GLADSTONES , MCOL and RESIDENTIAL PARKING cases and follow their lead, as some of them are a lot further down this track than you are

beamerguy

Bit confused, so have you received an actual claim from Northampton

As said ... post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky thread

Gladstones is a mickey mouse outfit who at the best of times do not have a clue, so not replying to your letter probably means they do not know what you are talking about ... a judge will

Read up on how these so called solicitors behave in court ...
Gladstones are simply a huge joke

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Gladstones

Will Hurley and John Davies by the way run Gladstones and are the two jokers in the pack

As you will see, Gladstones are completely incompetent

Mayur82

Should the main argument in my defence say how gladstones have not followed the guidelines set out in the practice direction? If so that's basically what I have written in my letter above so can that letter be used as my defence?


Once I have drafted my defence letter can I post it here to get some feedback and advice?

Fruitcake

What does your lease/AST say about parking, or do you own the parking space?

If there is nothing in your contract with the landowner about parking, or parking permits, or having to pay a charge for not displaying a permit, then this will be your main defence if it gets to court.

Have a look here about what judges have said about scammers trying to add on Ts ad Cs to an existing contract.

Quote the court cases in your response, especially the Jopson vs Homeguard case. Also rebut Elliot vs Loake if it is mentioned.

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

You could always respond with your own LBC, modified from this most excellent jobby.

https://www.scribd.com/document/348528763/LBC-v2

Mayur82

Each apartment in my block of flats is allocated one parking bay. At the time of receiving a PCN my gf was parked in our allocated spot and I was parking in an empty bay. I'll have to check details of the lease but I'm fairly certain I was breaking the rules by parking in a bay not allocated to my flat.

Coupon-mad

Mayur82 wrote: »

Should the main argument in my defence say how gladstones have not followed the guidelines set out in the practice direction? If so that's basically what I have written in my letter above so can that letter be used as my defence?

No, that's not your defence, that's merely an aside.

Mayur82

Fruitcake wrote: »

What does your lease/AST say about parking, or do you own the parking space?

If there is nothing in your contract with the landowner about parking, or parking permits, or having to pay a charge for not displaying a permit, then this will be your main defence if it gets to court.

Have a look here about what judges have said about scammers trying to add on Ts ad Cs to an existing contract.

Quote the court cases in your response, especially the Jopson vs Homeguard case. Also rebut Elliot vs Loake if it is mentioned.



You could always respond with your own LBC, modified from this most excellent jobby.



I checked my lease and all it says is that my property has been allocated a specific bay and I have the right to the use and enjoyment of the allocated parking space for the purpose of parking a private motor vehicle. It makes not mention of needing to display a parking permit. The property manager has subcontracted the management of the parking spaces who have then enforced their own rules to display a valid parking permit but this is not included in the lease. But remember I was caught in a parking bay not allocated to my property so I'm not sure where I stand here and what valid points to make in my defence. The deadline is tomorrow so unfortunately I have left this to the very last minute.

Mayur82

So to further breakdown this situation, the particulars of the claim is that the vehicle incurred a parking charge for breaching the terms of parking at the property which in this case was failing to not display a valid parking permit for the specific parking bay. But the lease makes no mention of a requirement to display a permit to park in a parking space.

Can I mention at the time that the parking charge was issued I was displaying a valid parking permit for my allocated space but was occupied by another vehicles so I had no other option but to park in an adjacent parking bay since my parking spot was not available.

Umkomaas

Primacy of contract. Do a forum search on that.

Mayur82

I was given a PCN for not displaying a permit in my own allocated space which came with the flat I purchased. I initially ignored the PCN and then followed the advice on these forums after gladstone's solicitors started to handle things.

I wrote and submitted my defence with my main point to argue being that the conditions in my lease make no mention of having to display a permit. So how can a parking management company come in and start making new rules. Anyway they submitted their witness statement on the very last due date and I now have my small claims court hearing this coming Tuesday the 12th Dec.

What is interesting is that upon careful inspection of their witness statement they have included a map of the whole parking area and highlighted in red which spaces they cover. From that map it clearly shows that the space I was caught in for to displaying a valid permit is was not covered by them at the time.

I feel confident that information in their own witness statement will not allow them to prosecute me.

My question is if they court decide in my favour what exactly can I ask for in terms of compensation. I am looking fo them to pay me a sum of money based on the following:

1. Time I have spent to research and write my defence which did actually take a lot of my time up since I don't have any legal background
2. Distress or stress that the situation has placed on me
3. Obtaining my information from DVLA without any authority
4. time of work to attend the court hearing

and anything else I may be entitled to.

Any help to what I can ask for and amount for compensation would be greatly appreciated.