£860 Private Parking County Claim - Urgent Help!

Jonathon365

Court Report

First Parking Limited versus Mr Jordan A Hall in the County Court at Chester (Using my real details as I assume it's ok to do so now)

07/11/2017

I arrived for the hearing a good 40 minutes before it was scheduled and it was a good 20 minutes before the claimant arrived. I walked in and told the Usher that I would like to raise a preliminary matter with the judge, he said that’s fine and he took my prelim folder from me to pass on to the judge.
I was nervously waiting, trying to work out who the claimant would be and continually refreshing this forum
Two woman then walked in, they looked particularly out of place (I am not just saying this), one of whom had pink hair and the other was dressed slightly more formally, albeit was wearing knee-high boots and a skirt without tights (This was strange due to the awful weather and she stood out from all other women in the room).
I assumed these pair were surely here to defend a claim, as no legal professional would be dressed like that.
I then heard them say they are here for the First Parking case and are representing the claimant. The woman wearing the knee high boots (*rep from now on) said she worked for “the company”.
They both then walked past me and sat in a sitting area by themselves that was about 2 or 3 yards from me.
The rep was smiling and talking more loudly than anyone else in the room, which I found off putting. I caught 1 of every 3 words and heard things like “Internet” and “Quiz him” and this is what started to panick me. I made eye contact with her a couple of times and she seemed to smirk.
I waited and tried to look calm and relaxed, whilst both women continued to chat.

About 10 minutes after the hearing was scheduled, the case was called. I stood up, as did the rep leaving the other woman with pink hair to wait outside. I remain unsure who exactly she was.
The rep walked in the door in front of me, holding the door open and took a seat. we both said good morning to the judge and at this point I relaxed. The whole room wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be and as soon as “Good morning” came from my mouth I felt ready.
The judge straight away said “Jordan I believe you have a preliminary matter to raise with me”
I said yes, I challenge that the claimant here today actually has rights of audience.
He replied immediately, “I’m worried about this as well”.
He asked a few questions to the rep in a single sentence about rights of audience, with the last question being “do you actually know what rights of audience” is.
The rep shook her head, looked startled and said “Rights of audience?” whilst looking at me and scrunching her face. She wasn’t expecting it.
The judge read some legal jargon (I barely even knew what the rights of audience was about) and told her she does not have rights of audience.
He said to her “Goodbye, you’ll have to leave now” literally within 3 minutes of entering the room.
I thought wow Lamilad + Coupon-Mad have literally won this with the last minute advice they gave me the night before re. RoA.
The rep looked confused and said “What, I don’t understand?” “I’m an employee”
The judge asked in what capacity are you an employee.
She replied “An Account Manager for First Parking” (NOTE - This is not the same as an accounts manager as in someone who looks after the figures. In my industry Telecoms it’s a salesperson, I’m unsure what exactly it is for a PPC).
The judge then looked back through his papers and he agreed she did have rights of audience.
Despite this, I felt the judge was annoyed by her. He was surprised she didn’t even know what rights of audience were. This was so far, so good for me and she was definitely rattled.
The judge then moved on and said something that sounded like it was from the directions questionnaire or similar about the requirement for a witness statement to be sent to both parties Court and defendant.
He asked the claimant if she has a WS with her today.
She said yes, it’s this document and you have it. I’ve got the same documents as you.
The judge replied abruptly, this is a defence and not a witness statement.
The claimant then got out all her documents and looked through them all on the table, she was visible shaking and did not look comfortable.
After was must have been about 40-60 seconds of her scrambling with her documents, the judge asked “do you have it or not”
She said “no, i’ve only got what you’ve got”.
The judge was now shaking his head in what looked like disbelief and stated the magic words “I strike the case out”. (@Lamilad not dismissed but strike out).
He then asked me if i have any questions
I asked about costs and told him that I would like to claim a day’s leave, mileage (402 miles Putney - Chester) and parking charges.
He said do I have proof of earnings and I said yes a print out from Oracle. The rep looked surprised I had this.
He asked why I’d travelled from Putney
I told him that I am working in London but my registered address remains the one in Chester (My parents house, I’m renting in London).
He said he will order costs to be made for a day’s leave and parking charges, but not mileage. He said I should of booked a hearing in London and not Chester.
Annoyingly, I didn’t raise the unreasonable behaviour part as completely forgot and was just astounded by everything that had happened. To be honest, this has been hanging over me for over a year and I’m just glad it’s all over.
That was it.

The rep then stood up and quickly walked out, walking straight past me and out the door before I’d even got up.
I quickly followed her to the exit.
She didn’t even go over to the pink haired woman in the waiting room and just continued to walk straight out the door into the entrance hall. The pink hair woman jumped up and almost ran to catch up with her.
All three of us were now in the exit lobby. The two women put their coats on and sensing the rep was trying to get away, I simply said “Better luck next time ey” (couldn’t help myself), the rep then offered a massive smirk, crunched her face and awkwardly chuckled.

Overall, I felt the judge was annoyed with the rep from the off because of the rights of audience thing and he must have read her information pack and realised she had not included the WS beforehand. He was very nice to me and I got the impression I’d get some leeway in any delivery because I’m representing myself. My impression of the claimant as evident throughout was not good, I couldn’t believe what they were wearing (I know this might seem silly but I expected a high degree of professionalism) and the rep in particular was not professional at all.

I cannot thank this forum enough, especially with the last minute advice with the RoA. You are a group of fantastic people and I offer you my most sincere gratitude!

I don’t remember the name of the judge, but if I find out i will edit this post to let you know.

logician

Excellent report Jonathan - very well done :-)

Courtserve had three judges listed for today either

District Judge Newman, Wheeler or Sanderson were hearing cases - do any of those names, ring a bell?

Jonathon365

I'd like to say Newman but cannot be 100% certain

Coupon-mad

Jonathon365 wrote: »

I WON!!

The claimant was rattled by my RoA, the judge said immediately that it worried him and asked her to clarify. She seemed unable and eventually the judge said "goodbye" to her.

She eventually said she was an employee (account manager) of first parking and then judge then agreed.

So we moved on,

Immediately the judge asked for the claimants WS. Turns out they never submitted a WS so there was no evidence.

The judge struck the claim out and I didn't even use any of my arguments.

Thank you so much everyone on this forum

Yay! Another win; you join the other 99% here who succeed with forum advice.

Knew you could do this, VERY well done - you have a story to dine out on now! You took on a company and beat them!

:T

beamerguy

A great report Jordan, do send it to the Parking Prankster

This is so unreal, mini skirt, knee high boots, pink hair,
they sound like stooges from the movie "Pretty Woman"

This would really make a good comedy show on TV

Wonder what the next job they did after the court ???:rotfl:

Jonathon365

Thanks guys!

Can confirm I've sent the report to the parking prankster!

beamerguy

Jonathon365 wrote: »

Thanks guys!

Can confirm I've sent the report to the parking prankster!

Good man, might take a while ... while Alex wipes the tears
from his eyes after laughing so much

Jonathon365

Rachel Baxter is the rep for First Parking

Found her on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdbaxter/

Coupon-mad

“Better luck next time ey” Rachel!

Umkomaas

Loved the report. Great day for you Jordan (and there’s me thinking your name is Jonathon!!) and a good day for the forum.

Certainly a miserable day in Chester for Pinky and Perky (oh, no, that’s someone else - is he still around?).