Vehicle Control Services County Court Claim - Am I stuffed?

tbay07

Thanks for the push in the right direction, I found the relevant posts and managed to put together a witness statement.

Again, any advice or corrections are welcome.

Thanks,





BETWEEN:
Vehicle Control Services LTD (Claimant)

-and-

____ (Defendant)

I, ______ of ________ am the defendant in this case.
1. I deny that I am liable for the amount set out by the claimant and I submit this witness statement in support of my defence.

2. I assert that I was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question in this case, a red corsa with registration ______, and I was the driver at the time the parking tickets were issued. On three separate occasions I parked my car on private premises that are leased to the office I worked for, _____. There is a contract between the landlord and _______ clearly stating the terms of parking. I have included this for your consideration.

3. I have been issued with three fines from Vehicle Control Services, while parking in my allotted space at my previous workplace for ‘breach of contract’. These were issued 19/11/2015, 18/10/2016, 07/11/2016. Each fine was for £100 amounting to £300 in total. I emailed the company directly to appeal the first two charges before the third charge was issued, however I did not receive a response from them, instead I received final reminders to make payment and then a county court claim form.

4. On the days in question I did have a piece of paper noting that I worked for ______ that had been created to make any parking officers aware that I was eligible to park in the allotted spaces. Though I had displayed this, by the time I had arrived back to my car I found the pass was not visible, either it had fallen on the floor or was partly covered by another object, therefore I had been issued with a fine on each of the three occasions.

5. I am asking the court to dismiss the fines and amounts payable to Vehicle Control Services. The key reason is that I deny that I entered into a contract with Vehicle Control Services as contract already stood between employees of ______, which I was at the time, and The landlord; therefore I don’t believe it is feasible to impose another contract with different terms that were not clearly set out.

6. I would also like the court to consider the poor signage prominent at the parking spaces in question. I have included pictures of the signs which clearly shows three different terms of parking, one of which states ‘These 3 bays are reserved for staff and visitors of ______’ without mention of any permits required. Next to this, the Vehicle Control Services sign is very confusing in itself; the picture I have submitted with this statement shows the small print is not readable compared to the other signs.

I believe the facts stated in this statement are true.

KeithP

Time for you to read post #3 again.

Please stop using the word 'fine'.

Have you got a witness statement from your employer... again suggested in post #3?

Back to your witness statement...

Your point 4. could be better worded.
How about:

4. On the days in question I did have a piece of paper noting that I worked for ______ that had been created to make any parking officers aware that I was eligible to park in the allotted spaces. I displayed this. For some reason the parking officer did not see this, so I had been issued with a speculative invoice on each of the three occasions.

Perhaps your point 6 should state why you think 'the Vehicle Control Services sign is very confusing in itself'.

tbay07

Ah, of course, old habits die hard as they say. I've changed all mention of 'fines' to 'invoices' now and rephrased paragraph 4 as you suggested.

I've also changed the wording on paragraph six about the signage:

6. I would also like the court to consider the poor signage prominent at the parking spaces in question. I have included pictures of the signs which clearly shows three different terms of parking, one of which states ‘These 3 bays are reserved for staff and visitors of ______’ without mention of any permits required. Next to this, the Vehicle Control Services sign has very small print and as such, the terms are not clearly visible; the picture I have submitted with this statement shows the small print is not readable compared to the other signs.

I can't get a witness statement as I don't work for the company anymore. It was like pulling teeth trying to get the contract for the parking spaces initially and the landlords go through a letting agency who were very unhelpful when I called up as well. I still have quite a bit of evidence and (with all of your help) I'm hoping I have a compelling argument to take to court.


Thanks again for all of your help so far, I really appreciate you all taking the time

System

How did this go?