Help me with POFA compliance

energy1x

Do you recommend making an offer to settle? I have spent a significant amount of time, effort and resources on my defence. I'm in two minds at the moment.

Quentin

It's your choice - how much are you hoping to get back in relation to your time/efforts etc if this goes in front of a Judge?

Coupon-mad

energy1x wrote: »

Do you recommend making an offer to settle? I have spent a significant amount of time, effort and resources on my defence. I'm in two minds at the moment.

I was suggesting an offer to settle at no money - to save you the time and hassle of attending a court hearing, hopefully.

Or if you are so minded, offer to settle if they pay YOU £100, like I suggested in post #41 here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5619113

They won't, but they might then reply to your email and say 'pay us £50' (always a clue they are about the fold completely!). Ignore them after that or say 'see you in court, then' and you might get a discontinuance at 4.55pm the afternoon before...but that leaves you still having to turn up for the hearing as you can't be certain the Court will know, the hearing might remain listed and you CAN then rock up and ask to speak to the Judge anyway and pass over your costs schedule because of your wasted time in having to turn up due to such a late discontinuance jeopardising your position and leaving the hearing listed.

As Quentin says, how much are you hoping to recoup if you are intent on having your day in court? Some Judges refuse ALL costs...

Hence why a drop-hands offer, to end the entire thing, can be worth considering.

You can then get your revenge as a dish served cold, with complaints to Trading Standards and your MP, always encouraged right now, due to the new Bill mentioned here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/73162492#Comment_73162492

Or, stand firm - no drop hands offer at all if you'd much rather see the whites of their eyes at a hearing - and turn up and (first things first) challenge the Rights of Audience of the rep they throw at the case.

KeithP

OP, what happened to this?

energy1x

Reached a court hearing. The notice to keeper found to be non-compliant with POFA.

Umkomaas

energy1x wrote: »

Reached a court hearing. The notice to keeper found to be non-compliant with POFA.

Any chance of a bit more detail please? How did the Judge come to that decision - did you have to argue it, or was he/she very knowledgable about PoFA?

Were any of your other points of defence debated?

Was there a PPC/solicitor rep in attendance - what did they have to say/argue?

Which court? Name of Judge? Were you awarded costs?

All the above information gets added to regulars' knowledge banks and helps us advise others who will inevitably follow your path in the not too distant future.

energy1x

The notice to keeper was found to be defective as the 2 photographs on the notice to keeper were taken at exactly the same time! So under POFA, the notice to keeper did not prove any 'period of parking'.

I have to be honest that although I made the usual POFA arguments such as the amount being claimed not being the same as that at the time (£100) I did not spot this technicality and the judge did a lot of the hard work for me, so thanks to her.

My other defence points were predominantly against the signage, the PPCs authority to be on the site and any agreement they had not having the remit to cover the charges allegations.

There was some kind of rep present, he seemed very junior and kept insisting that the signage be respected and that POFA did not matter! This was given very short attention by the judge who got quite !!!!ed off with it. The rep was shocked by how much work I had done, so thanks to all of you guys as I took a lot of your advice and I wiped the floor with the rep in the end.

Judge awarded me my day off work (£95), plus travel expenses to the court so just shy of £130 cheque came a few weeks later. The rep tried to fight this amount also trying to claim the £95 is 'per day' so therefore only half should be awarded, again, the judge quickly shut them down after double checking the CPR manual they had to hand.

Hope this helps others, I actually found the experience quite good fun and although it was intimidating afterwards I felt so glad to stand up to these bullies.

Umkomaas

Thanks energy1x - that's very comprehensive feedback, appreciate it.

Coupon-mad

energy1x wrote: »

The notice to keeper was found to be defective as the 2 photographs on the notice to keeper were taken at exactly the same time! So under POFA, the notice to keeper did not prove any 'period of parking'.

I have to be honest that although I made the usual POFA arguments such as the amount being claimed not being the same as that at the time (£100) I did not spot this technicality and the judge did a lot of the hard work for me, so thanks to her.

My other defence points were predominantly against the signage, the PPCs authority to be on the site and any agreement they had not having the remit to cover the charges allegations.

There was some kind of rep present, he seemed very junior and kept insisting that the signage be respected and that POFA did not matter! This was given very short attention by the judge who got quite !!!!ed off with it. The rep was shocked by how much work I had done, so thanks to all of you guys as I took a lot of your advice and I wiped the floor with the rep in the end.

Judge awarded me my day off work (£95), plus travel expenses to the court so just shy of £130 cheque came a few weeks later. The rep tried to fight this amount also trying to claim the £95 is 'per day' so therefore only half should be awarded, again, the judge quickly shut them down after double checking the CPR manual they had to hand.

Hope this helps others, I actually found the experience quite good fun and although it was intimidating afterwards I felt so glad to stand up to these bullies.

Glad to read that court report - well done!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST. :T