County Court Parking Eye :(

NtG

Fight it....but get into a different mindset first. Nobody committed an 'offence', somebody allegedly overstayed a period of time in a car park, that's all. Driving without insurance or at 120mph on the M6 are 'offences'.

You can certainly take this on, just don't let the paperwork scare you. Take your time, read it when it comes and then wait a while. Next day re-read it and it'll be much less daunting. Same goes for your replies, don't just write it out and post it off, write it and leave it a day, then go back and see what you can change and improve, because you'll find things that will make you glad you waited.

Don't let them put on you, they want you to feel intimidated, someone sees you as a way of filling up the large fuel tank of their shiny new BMW, don't let them use your hard earned money to do that.

Coupon-mad

ugy101 wrote: »

Ok, So i have been reading through many threads, and I don't feel confident enough to go to court as i am not clued up on all the legal side. I understand i have to make up a case, and the only defence i have is that i couldn't of been driving as i was out of the country (passport will confirm this)

So will i just need this for my argument, or is there anything i need to do?

Where do i submit my evidence/case?

I do apologise but everything seems confusing jumping from one thread to another, and especially not understanding majority of the things said

No, you don't ''make up a case''.

But if you can't cope, we know that ParkingEye will probably settle for £60 if you email them an offer (start at £30 and tell them you were not the driver, they might well come back and suggest £60...):

enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk

If you don't try that, then you need to re-read the NEWBIES thread advice or get someone less stressed to calmly red it and follow it with you.

ugy101

Ok an update, I have been to the retail park where the ticket was issues, I went to the manager of matalan in the retail park, she took my ticket and said she would get it cancelled for me, so looking good. What is the next step now, as i should get a letter from parkingeye stating this, but as already read on the forums, i will still need to go to court, and apparently parking eye will try to get a £50 charge for me.

Thanks for all the time and advice guys, you guys are great

Umkomaas

You need to carry on with developing your defence, because, if Matalan can't get a cancellation, not defending means you automatically lose and you then have to pay all of PE's costs as per their Partics of Claim.

Hopefully you will get a letter of confirmation of cancellation from PE - they're efficient at sending these - but don't rely on it until you know for sure.

Coupon-mad

ugy101 wrote: »

Ok an update, I have been to the retail park where the ticket was issues, I went to the manager of matalan in the retail park, she took my ticket and said she would get it cancelled for me, so looking good. What is the next step now, as i should get a letter from parkingeye stating this, but as already read on the forums, i will still need to go to court, and apparently parking eye will try to get a £50 charge for me.

Thanks for all the time and advice guys, you guys are great

She will not be able to cancel it, as it is past court claim stage. It is to late for her to do this, the best you will get is an offer to settle at £60.

I hope you didn't hand over your original PCN and kept no copy?

You still need to defend the claim. It has not gone away.

ugy101

Coupon-mad wrote: »

She will not be able to cancel it, as it is past court claim stage. It is to late for her to do this, the best you will get is an offer to settle at £60.

I hope you didn't hand over your original PCN and kept no copy?

You still need to defend the claim. It has not gone away.

Ah, ok, just seen your reply, I thought they can still cancel the ticket, i'm pretty sure i saw a thread where the claim went to court and they still got the icket cancelled, is this not the case then?

If so, it seems like i'm stuffed

If someone was to guide me as to what ground i should be appealing, I would be defending as the keeper, driver not been declared

I have proof i couldn't have been driving as i was abroad, and i couldn't of replied to the letters for the same reason.

Where do i submit the appeal, is it by logging into money claim?

Coupon-mad

You need to read post #2 of the NEWBIES thread, which answers every question you just asked.

You are NOT stuffed.

A retailer could (in theory) insist that PE cancel after court stage but in practice, PE have spent money on the court claim so we know from other cases they will likely refuse to cancel unless they get a wedge of money (usually £60). I'm just telling you what is likely to happen because we have hardly ever seen a retailer able to do anything about a court claim, it was too late to ask; people should complain at the time when the PCN was received (astonishing more people don't, it isn't something to take lying down & ignore, this should have been handled as a complaint to the retailer as soon as you came back from abroad, well before court stage).

But I repeat, you are not stuffed. Read the NEWBIES thread post #2 and defend.

I have proof i couldn't have been driving as i was abroad,

Only useful if the PCN was a non-POFA one (again, an example is in the NEWBIES thread, specific to PE, in a link in post #3 - not #2 - as it's usually an argument used at POPLA stage). NOT useful if this is a PE PCN that alleged keeper liability after day 29.

ugy101

Thanks for the reply, I have used a defence from someone else and ammended, can you have a brief look through and advise further please, If i am going to post this off i need this done today:

Claim Number: ********

I am ****** defendant in this matter and deny liability for the entirety of the claim

A parking offence took place on the 24/02/2017 using my vehicle with the registration number: **** ***

At this time, I was not driving the vehicle as I was out of the country and have my passports and tickets to prove this.

I have been unable to respond to the letters sent by Parking Eye as I was out of the country from the 1st December until the 6th of April.

I don't know who the driver was at the time as many people have access to my car.

Not having been in court before I responded to the court summons online saying I would defend my case. It was not cost effective to employ a solicitor in this case so I have had to arrange this defence myself, please excuse me if I fail to use the correct legal terms.

I deny the claim for the following reasons:

(1) I was the registered keeper of the vehicle but I was not the driver at the time. Parking Eye has provided no proof that I was the driver.

(2) I have no idea at this stage whether I am being pursued under the protection of freedoms act for this debt or whether this is for civil trespass.

(3) The Protection of Freedoms Act does not permit the Claimant to recover a sum greater than the parking charge on the day before a Notice to Keeper was issued. The Claimant cannot recover additional charges. The Defendant also has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred the stated additional costs and it is put to strict proof that they have actually been incurred. Even if they have been incurred, the Claimant has described them as "legal expenses". These cannot be recovered in the Small Claims Court regardless of the identity of the driver.

(4) From the initial letter from Parking Eye They may be bringing this to court under the assumption that I was the driver using Elliott v Loake [1982]. In this instance, the court decided that there was irrefutable forensic evidence of the driver's identity and made no such presumption. It is for the claimant to prove their case, not the defendant. I have already shown I was not the driver. If this is the case and the protection of freedoms does not apply in this case then they can only pursue the driver not the registered keeper.
From the internet I found this extract in relation to lead Popla appeals Officer. Henry Greenslade (barrister, parking law expert and POPLA Lead Adjudicator in 2015 “There is no ‘reasonable presumption’ in law that the registered keeper of a vehicle is the driver, advises Mr Henry Greenslade QC. “Operators should never suggest anything of the sort,” he says. Further, a failure by the recipient of a notice issued under Schedule 4 to name the driver, does not of itself mean that the recipient has accepted that they were the driver at the material time. Unlike, for example, a Notice of Intended Prosecution where details of the driver of a vehicle must be supplied when requested by the police, pursuant to Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, a keeper sent a Schedule 4 notice has no legal obligation to name the driver.”

(5) I have not at any stage been supplied with any means of appealing this ticket as only the driver can appeal as I was not the driver therefore I cannot appeal. But it is clear from research that the car park in question does not have compliant signs and Parking Eye fail to provide compliant notices to keeper.

(6) The signs fail the test of 'large lettering' and prominence, as established in!ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis. The obscure signs are in very small print and the terms are not readable to drivers.

(7) As no appeal has been available and my situation with being abroad at the time of the incident didn't help with responding to any correspondence, I would like to ask the court to use it's discretion and request the claimant to issue a POPLA code.

(8) I agree to be bound by any POPLA decision


(9) I have never been supplied with any confirmation from Parking Eye or their agents that they actually own or occupy the land in question which would allow them issue penalty tickets. So I have no idea if this is just a speculative invoice. They should supply a contract with the lawful occupier of the land being produced by the claimant, or a chain of contracts showing authorisation stemming from the lawful occupier of the land, I have the reasonable belief that they do not have the authority to issue charges on this land in their own name and that they have no locus stand to bring this case.


DEFENDANT DECLARATION I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. Signed by the Defendant

waamo

If you defend the claim, even badly, you get offered mediation as standard by the court. If you don't feel confident enough to negotiate yourself the court will help you.

You can continue negotiating right till you walk into a hearing so it's worth attempting some sort of defence.

As you weren't able to appeal it might also be worth asking the court to refer it to POPLA in your defence.

ugy101

waamo wrote: »

As you weren't able to appeal it might also be worth asking the court to refer it to POPLA in your defence.

Should i put this into the defence statement?