County Court with Smart Parking

beamerguy

emski15 wrote: »

Not sure I've got a cat in hell chance of beating them, feeling like a very small fish in a giant ocean!
I have no evidence to send to the court as my defence and I admitted to being the driver when I appealed. I've read through all the links you guys have shared on other threads, but they all have valid reasons. Mine is purely that I assumed it was free after 6pm, and I thought £50/£85 was ridiculous for a 16 minute stay.

We do not want any of these thoughts on here.

There are superb people on here that are going to help you.
Coupon-mad is an expert, Lamilad came here first very concerned but he ended up winning and helping others to win albiet a different parking company but they ALL carry the same banner --- scammers
Many others will give brilliant advice and help

You are NOT a small fish, you are one person who has now involved themselves in probably the most powerful forum on the net when it comes to private parking. So much so that these vermin hate MSE

Negative thoughts tend to produce negative results and that's not going to be you

Lamilad

I have no evidence to send to the court as my defence and I admitted to being the driver when I appealed

You just haven't read enough threads to give you the confidence to know that this is very winnable.

Not all defences rely on the keeper not being the driver. There's plenty of other things to attack:
* Illegible signage incapable of forming a contract
* No locus standi
* Differences from Beavis case
* CPR failures
* Inadequate PoC
* CoP failures

... To name but a few... Then there's rights of audience and witness non attendance in the unlikely event that this ever got to court.

Mrnick triumphed just 2 days ago in a case where he had admitted being the driver, seeing the signs and overstaying his time.

Stop believing the threatening lies that they're feeding you... That's how they scare people into paying.

So, what scares them and sends them running for the hills with their tale between their legs?.... As Beamerguy says... It's this forum.

emski15

Apologies for the negativity! The thought of going to court is daunting. Only ever got detention once in school, and that was only for leaving my homework on the bus �� I'm a special needs TA, not at all used to anything like this.

Anyway, I'm off work next week as it's half term, and I've got 28 days to submit my defence so I think I'll follow Umkomaas advice and remove the liability parts and see what happens. My concern then though is, what happens in court if they challenge those points and I don't understand them?

emski15

Lamilad wrote: »

You just haven't read enough threads to give you the confidence to know that this is very winnable.

Not all defences rely on the keeper not being the driver. There's plenty of other things to attack:
* Illegible signage incapable of forming a contract
* No locus standi
* Differences from Beavis case
* CPR failures
* Inadequate PoC
* CoP failures

... To name but a few... Then there's rights of audience and witness non attendance in the unlikely event that this ever got to court.

Mrnick triumphed just 2 days ago in a case where he had admitted being the driver, seeing the signs and overstaying his time.

Stop believing the threatening lies that they're feeding you... That's how they scare people into paying.

So, what scares them and sends them running for the hills with their tale between their legs?.... As Beamerguy says... It's this forum.

Not sure what all of those abbreviations mean, but I'm looking into them asap!

Also, the amount is £245, not £225, silly mistype!

beamerguy

emski15 wrote: »

Apologies for the negativity! The thought of going to court is daunting. Only ever got detention once in school, and that was only for leaving my homework on the bus �� I'm a special needs TA, not at all used to anything like this.

Anyway, I'm off work next week as it's half term, and I've got 28 days to submit my defence so I think I'll follow Umkomaas advice and remove the liability parts and see what happens. My concern then though is, what happens in court if they challenge those points and I don't understand them?

What you need to understand is a county court is not a horrible place
Judges don't wear wigs or anything like it, they understand what a layman is (that's you) and nowadays they fully understand what the scammers are about

Take this step by step, you will get all the help you need on here to beat these vermin because that is what they are.

If you had rats in your garden, you would call out someone like Rentokil to exterminate them.
That's what those on this forum do, they are exterminators and that certainly includes Smart Parking

Read this about the brain power that Smart have, it is indeed very minimal ........ I mean hey, they were sacked from every Asda, no doubt due to their scam antics
http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=smart+parking

Umkomaas

The thought of going to court is daunting. Only ever got detention once in school, and that was only for leaving my homework on the bus �� I'm a special needs TA, not at all used to anything like this.

Unlike detention, the small claims court is not about punishment. It is not the Mags Court or the Crown Court. There is no potential sentence at the end of it.

It's an arbitration process to settle an alleged debt with just 3 parties involved - you, a rep of the PPC and a judge (generally in civvies, no wig, no gown). The judge decides after hearing each party's case. There is no shame in losing, just a bill to pay which will more than likely be rather less than the scammers and their sols are currently demanding. You gave a very good chance of winning, where the PPC will be paying you.

Just a few months ago, Lamilad came here with a case to defend, full of self doubt and worries. He got stuck in, learned the ropes, beat the PPC (x3), and now is confidently and expertly advising people here and has even acted as lay rep in a number of cases where he has assisted the defendants in winning their court cases.

If as a TA you have successfully handled your training and can now deal with 30 or so little children, you'll have no problems in dealing with a private parking company. And we'll all help you along the way.

Give it a try.

Coupon-mad

emski15 wrote: »

Apologies for the negativity! The thought of going to court is daunting. Only ever got detention once in school, and that was only for leaving my homework on the bus �� I'm a special needs TA, not at all used to anything like this.

Anyway, I'm off work next week as it's half term, and I've got 28 days to submit my defence so I think I'll follow Umkomaas advice and remove the liability parts and see what happens. My concern then though is, what happens in court if they challenge those points and I don't understand them?

Based on the other cases seen, there will be unlikely to be any court hearing if you defend as keeper. It is as simple as adapting the one used by the other person whose case was just discontinued by Smart - you have found that one, yes? The Smart one?

NO OFFER AND NO IMPLYING WHO WAS DRIVING.

I tend to think these ones are going to be like Civil Enforcement claims, where they run away with their tail between their legs as soon as they see a defendant registered keeper has sussed that they can't be held liable in law. CEL never proceed, and maybe Smart won't either - I am sure they are looking for easy victims, to clean up from people panicking and paying, making offers, or defending and blabbing who parked the damn car...

Stop thinking about a hearing that is not likely to happen. If it goes that far (and we are convinced it will NOT) then you do realise you could always make an offer the day before the hearing or even at your local court, on the steps or in the waiting area, before going in?!).

Have confidence this is not likely to get to a hearing at all.

emski15

Lamilad wrote: »

You just haven't read enough threads to give you the confidence to know that this is very winnable.

Not all defences rely on the keeper not being the driver. There's plenty of other things to attack:
* Illegible signage incapable of forming a contract
* No locus standi
* Differences from Beavis case
* CPR failures
* Inadequate PoC
* CoP failures

... To name but a few... Then there's rights of audience and witness non attendance in the unlikely event that this ever got to court.

I'm researching this now I'm off work, hoping to send off my defence by the end of today. I can't figure out what PoC and CoP are? Can you explain please?

Redx

PoC = Particulars of Claim
CoP = Code of Practice

System

Should I delete this paragraph as I appealed as the driver back in December?

Yes and it seems like the reason you're the chosen one for this exercise.

See if Matalan would help by detailing the contract they had with Smart or if the can't give you the whole contract, the part that allows Smart to take action in their own name on Matalan land.

Worth an ask.

At the same time see if the local council will tell you who paid the Non-Domestic Rates for the car park there in case it is not Matalan land. Takes a week or so for them to reply.