Received Claim Form - Need help!!!

Coupon-mad

Watch the debate discussed in k3ssl3r's thread. Honestly the MPs condemning the scam gives you confidence.

DO NOT give up, yes it's scary, everyone feels the same.

I bet Lamilad was nervous the first time he faced Excel at Skipton Court. And thrashed them.

Lamilad

bet Lamilad was nervous the first time he faced Excel!

Very much so.

My confidence came from doing loads of research, reading the NEWBIES thread and other relevant threads over and over again, and making sure I understood every point of my defence/WS.

So I'm a little concerned that you made this comment as it suggests you are not doing your research and probably haven't even read the NEWBIES thread.

made the stupid mistake of thinking that a witness statement and statement of defence were the same thing!

In court the phrase "knowledge is power" has never been more true.

Grap3fruit

Hi All.

I have decided I'm going to go so all wish me luck.

Below is the Witness Statement I have written thus far... would love any feedback. Would it be helpful for me to provide their Witness Statement also?

Also how am I supposed to submit this Witness Statement now that it is late? Is there an email or something that I need to forward it to?




IN THE XXXX County Court CLAIM NO:XX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(CLAIMANT)
- AND !!!8211;

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(DEFENDANT)

---

WITNESS STATEMENT OF XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

---

I, XXXX, XXXX, am the defendant in this matter and will say as follows.
1. The facts in this statement come from my personal knowledge. Where they are not within my own knowledge they are true to the best of my information and belief.

2. I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed. This is my Witness Statement in support of my defence as already filed.

3. I am the registered keeper of the vehicle registration number XXXX XXX. As the date of the offence was XX/XX/2016, it is impossible to say who was driving on that particular day.

Appeal
4. The Claimant has confirmed that an appeal was received however has claimed that no serviceable address or name was put in the online challenge form therefore the Claimant could not respond to the appeal. This is denied. The email screenshot provided by the Claimant clearly shows an email address that was provided, with the words !!!8220;In the event that you wish to contact me or anyone else involved, please do so at the email address provided.!!!8221; The Claimant made no effort to reply to the appeal even though contact information had been given. The original ticket left on the Defendants windshield clearly states !!!8220;All appeals received are responded to.!!!8221;

No Contract/Signage
5. The Claimants Witness Statement also advises !!!8220;The signs on the Land are clear and unambiguous!!!8221;. I dispute this entirely. No contract was entered between the Claimant and he Driver or Registered Keeper, as there are no signs at the entrance of the Land in question. Relevant photographs have been taken from Google Maps, dated April 2017, that clearly show no signs are visible when pulling onto the Land.

6. The Claimants Witness Statement has also stated that the site plan shows sufficient signage. The Claimant has been authorised as the parking enforcement service for the Land since XX/XX/2013. I have provided screenshots from Google Maps showing the journey of the vehicle into the Land. All images from the entrance of the Land are dated on April 2017, and some dates of the images change to 2015 as the images get closer to the parking point. It is denied that there was sufficient signage on the entrance to the Land which means that no contract could have been formed.

7. The Claimant has stated that !!!8220;It is also reasonable to suggest that the Defendant!!!8217;s headlights would have been directly on the sign and in the Defendant!!!8217;s line of sight as they pulled upon the Relevant Land and therefore I do not believe that lighting is an issue.!!!8221; This is wholly denied. There are no signs at the entrance of the Relevant Land, as proven in paragraphs 6 and 7.

8. The Claimant has also stated !!!8220;Further the photographs clearly show that lamp posts evidence that the land was sufficiently lit!!!8221;. This is denied. Where the vehicle in question was parked there was not a sufficient amount of light to be able to see the sign. The images provided by the Claimant shows one lamp post in range of the vehicle. It is denied that this lamp post provided sufficient light to be able to clearly see the sign. Flash photography has been used which shows an unnatural amount of light in the area. This is evidenced by the fact that two number plates from vehicles are reflecting the flash photography and the tail lights of the vehicle in question appear to be on, which again is due to the flash. A more accurate representation of the light behind the vehicle can be seen in another photograph provided by the Claimant, which shows the lack of lighting in the area where the sign is located. It is denied that the Defendant had seen any signs, and they were not !!!8220;clear and unambiguous!!!8221; as claimed by the Claimant.

9. Paragraph 16 of the Claimants Witness Statement refers to a comment made by Lord Justice Roch observed in the Court of Appeal case of Vine v London Borough of Waltham Forrest 2000, in which the following was said;
!!!8220;Once it is established that sufficient and adequate warning notices were in place, a car driver cannot be heard to say they he or she did not see the notice!!!8221;.
It is denied that there was sufficient or adequate warning notices and signs on the Land in question.

10. The site plan is meant to show the locations of all signs on the Land, however the evidence I have taken from Google Maps clearly shows a lack of signage in some areas where the site plan claims a sign is located. Therefore, the Defendant does not believe that the Claimant can rely on the site plan as evidence of sufficient signage.

nosferatu1001

Email your local court, or hand deliver. Email copy must be signed so print sign scan.

Coupon-mad

I have provided screenshots from Google Maps showing the journey of the vehicle into the Land

Where you say things like this, give each piece of evidence a number. Then each piece of numbered evidence goes in the file, in order.

A contents page is good! Try to make it easy for the Judge to see what your defence is.

Take it in person to the Court tomorrow in a ring binder with all your numbered evidence, and of course the WS must be signed & dated and MUST have a statement of truth at the bottom, before your signature/date.

If unsure, just Google 'witness statement' and set it out as per the Court guidance.

Keep yourself a second set of everything printed out, your evidence should include:

- photos if you have them, to show unclear signs
- Schedule 4 of the POFA printed out, you need to look at the sections on what a NTK must say
- a copy of the 2016 car insurance policy (got an email with it on?) if it shows MORE THAN YOU as driver, that is good evidence that the driver can't be assumed to be you
- and Henry Greenslade's words from the POPLA Annual Report 2015, as seen used by other people. And a copy of the BEAVIS sign as a comparison, as a prominent and clear sign, as opposed to in your case:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eYdphoIIDgE/VpbCpfSTaiI/AAAAAAAAE10/5uFjL528DgU/s640/Parking%2Bsign_001.jpg

If you are missing work, put in your evidence file (& email to Gladstones as well) a wage slip and a costs schedule to claim your loss of leave/salary back, and your travel/parking, for attending the hearing, to claim if you win! If you do, DON'T be shocked, ASK for your costs before you go out of the door...

After delivering the court's version in the file, making sure the Usher knows it relates to a hearing this week, and the claim number, Email it all (WS and numbered evidence scans) to Gladstones (email addy on other threads) with the subject line saying: 'urgent - witness statement re claim number xxxxxxx at xxxx County Court'.

Then go to your 'sent items' and print out that email or emails. Put that proof of sending email with attachments, in your file to prove it was sent.

DO NOT apologise for it being late, in the email, nor to the court when you hand deliver the file, just DO IT!

If asked in court at the hearing why it was late, explain you are nineteen years old and unrepresented, and had no clue what to do, not even when you read the court letters, and someone you asked when preparing for the hearing explained what to do.

Say that you did your best, and you do not feel the Claimant has been disadvantaged in any way at all because your evidence and WS adds no new information not already in your defence. And you hope the court will allow for your lack of experience in these matters.

And - are you confident enough to know what to say if the Judge asks who was driving? They probably won't and you do not have to say, but you need to take a deep breath and rehearse a fair answer that just says (if true) I can't be sure, and as evidence you will see I have included the car insurance policy, more than 1 driver used that car in 2016'.

Arrive half an hour early on the day, so you can get some water and calm down, tell yourself it's just a formal meeting, which it is, and if you are nervous, tell the Judge that and they might help talk you through what happens, etc.

Grap3fruit

Hi

Thanks for your reply Coupon mad.

I have followed all of your advice, however after finishing my WS and evidence some 15 minutes ago, I have just checked and the court closes in 20 minutes. Seeing as I have to use public transport to get around town, I couldn't make it in time

I have emailed my WS, evidence and a table of contents to both Gladstones and the Court.

Hopefully the court process this by the hearing date... what happens if my WS is rejected? Do I just have to rely on the defence?

Thanks for all your help

KeithP

I would take a printed copy of your witness statement and enclosures to the court tomorrow morning and say that you emailed it yesterday but out of courtesy here is a hard copy too.

nosferatu1001

As above.
Nothing to panic about.

Ralph-y

good luck !

Ralph:cool:

Coupon-mad

Hope you emailed it to the local court, not the CCBC?

And you MUST file a paper version because too many attachments is too many to expect a court to print - AND THEY WILL NOT. So the Judge will not see your WS and evidence unless you take them a printed out copy tomorrow.

And don't forget that in your file for the hearing, you need printed out paper copies of the sent items of the emails to Gladstones and the court. To prove you DID file and email them, because the rep will say they didn't get them and you need to PROVE you did send them.

Don't forget what I said about explaining why it was filed late, ONLY if asked...be honest.