Ticket From VCS Brookshaw Sheffield

Umkomaas

There is a commencement date in the DEFINITIONS section. 11th September 2012.
The contract agreement is for one year.

That's an important one for you.

PoFA compliance is also a strong suit, but you need to know your way around the Act, as you may need to talk the Judge through it all. Be aware that VCS might try their old trick of keeper liability, if that's not possible, assumption that the keeper was the driver on the day. Also watch out for them quoting Elliot v Loake (1983) and or CPS v AJH Films - both irrelevant to your case, but they do try to hoodwink the Judge on these.

RichieBoy56

Regarding the keeper liability issue, my (now) wife will make a statement to confirm that I was not the driver on the day in question. Surely this trumps any of their assumptions?

Redx

it will if you are also stating the same thing in your defence and WS

RichieBoy56

Draft Witness Statement.
I have decided to concentrate on no keeper liability for my defence.
Below is my draft. Your valued comments would be appreciated.

In the County Court at xxxxxx
Claim No. xxxx
Between Vehicle Control Services (Claimant)
and
xxxxxx (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am xxxxx of xxxxxx, the Defendant in this matter. I will say as follows:
2. I am the registered keeper of a xxxxx Registration xxxx.
3. I was not the driver of the vehicle in question when my car attracted a parking charge notice. Three people were insured to drive the car and as such I decided not to inform Vehicle Control Services of who the driver was.
4. I received through the post a Notice to keeper from Vehicle Control Services dated xxxxxx 2017 (Exhibit xx1). Upon studying the Notice to Keeper. I noticed that this does not comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 at Schedule 4, Para 4 subsection (4) (Exhibit xx2) in order to enforce keeper liability. To enforce keeper liability under this section it must have the correct 28 day period stated in the notice. [FONT=Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Arial,Helvetica]"The right under this paragraph may only be exercised after the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the day on which the notice to keeper is given" [/FONT][/FONT]However the notice to keeper in this instance has the wrong 28 day period stated within, and instead states "beginning with the day after the issue date of this notice".


5. It is my position that since a defective notice to keeper has been issued, that does not comply fully with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, then the claimant is unable to rely on keeper liability to enforce its claim and since I was not the driver there is no liability on my part.
6. I invite the Court to dismiss this claim in its entirety, and to award my costs of attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.


Statement of Truth
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.
Signature
Date

Le_Kirk

Does this match up with what you said in your defence? Be careful, there was a post a couple of weeks ago where the case was in court and the defence and witness statement were contradictory and the case was awarded to the claimant.

RichieBoy56

Thanks Le_Kirk.
I did mention POFA in my defence but only as it relates to the sum that can be recovered.

RichieBoy56

Also, VCS didn't mention POFA in their particulars of claim, but have introduced it in their witness statement (along with other items such as Thornton v Shoe Lane, Vine v Waltham Forest). Are they allowed to bring these into their witness statement when they were not included in their particulars of claim?

DoaM

PoC are intended to be brief, to advise the cause of action. By the same token, a Defence is intended to be brief, to outline the topics that will form the defence. In both cases the Witness Statements provide the "meat" on the "bones".

Le_Kirk

RichieBoy56 wrote: »

Thanks Le_Kirk.
I did mention POFA in my defence but only as it relates to the sum that can be recovered.

My point was that if, in your defence you say you were the driver and in your WS you say you were not, that would be contradictory and could lead to trouble in court.

RichieBoy56

Always said that I was not the driver, as I wasn't.