Parking Awareness Service (PAS) PCN

johjames

KeithP said:

johjames said:

I've just received the N180 form pertaining to this case. I haven't been able to find a recent post confirming whether it's it still acceptable to submit this form via email to the CCBC at CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk. I'd be very grateful for confirmation as to whether this is still agreeable please, or if I should submit as a hard copy? Same question of course for for the copy to be submitted to info@dcblegal.co.uk!  

Go back to that list you were following when you filed your Defence.

Item 6 on that list is...

6. After filing your Defence, there is more to do.

Items 7, 8, 9 and 10 on that list now deserve your attention.

 

Thanks KeithP that's helpful. I've followed steps 7-10, however Step 10 states 'Send a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant - to their address on your Claim Form,' but I've read conflicting information advising that it's best to send the N180 to the claimant via email. I've therefore sent it via email, but if anyone can advise whether I should also send a hard copy, that would be very much appreciated. Thanks again.

Le_Kirk

johjames said:

KeithP said:

johjames said:

I've just received the N180 form pertaining to this case. I haven't been able to find a recent post confirming whether it's it still acceptable to submit this form via email to the CCBC at CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk. I'd be very grateful for confirmation as to whether this is still agreeable please, or if I should submit as a hard copy? Same question of course for for the copy to be submitted to info@dcblegal.co.uk!  

Go back to that list you were following when you filed your Defence.
Item 6 on that list is...

6. After filing your Defence, there is more to do.

Items 7, 8, 9 and 10 on that list now deserve your attention.

Thanks KeithP that's helpful. I've followed steps 7-10, however Step 10 states 'Send a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant - to their address on your Claim Form,' but I've read conflicting information advising that it's best to send the N180 to the claimant via email. I've therefore sent it via email, but if anyone can advise whether I should also send a hard copy, that would be very much appreciated. Thanks again.

E-mail is fine if you have an e-mail address for the claimant.  No need to send by post as well but if you like belt and braces, no harm.

johjames

Le_Kirk said:

johjames said:

KeithP said:

johjames said:

I've just received the N180 form pertaining to this case. I haven't been able to find a recent post confirming whether it's it still acceptable to submit this form via email to the CCBC at CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk. I'd be very grateful for confirmation as to whether this is still agreeable please, or if I should submit as a hard copy? Same question of course for for the copy to be submitted to info@dcblegal.co.uk!  

Go back to that list you were following when you filed your Defence.
Item 6 on that list is...

6. After filing your Defence, there is more to do.

Items 7, 8, 9 and 10 on that list now deserve your attention.

Thanks KeithP that's helpful. I've followed steps 7-10, however Step 10 states 'Send a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant - to their address on your Claim Form,' but I've read conflicting information advising that it's best to send the N180 to the claimant via email. I've therefore sent it via email, but if anyone can advise whether I should also send a hard copy, that would be very much appreciated. Thanks again.

E-mail is fine if you have an e-mail address for the claimant.  No need to send by post as well but if you like belt and braces, no harm.

Thanks Le_Kirk, I've received email confirmation of receipt from the court and Claimant's solicitors, so I'll leave it at that. Thanks again for confirming.

Redx

sigh !! not another person ignoring the 12 point numbered list , despite all the extra advice and information provided along with that template ( smash and grab, grab and go , grab the template and ignore the rest , lol    )

johjames

Redx said:

sigh !! not another person ignoring the 12 point numbered list , despite all the extra advice and information provided along with that template ( smash and grab, grab and go , grab the template and ignore the rest , lol    )

I'd hate for you to think that this is what I've done here Redx, because it's simply not true. I've always done my best to search the forums and to follow the advice given and I haven't intentionally ignored anything, this was just a point which I missed when I searched, a genuine human error. I'm very grateful for the advice you and others have provided.

johjames

I've prepared my Witness Statement which is below and I would welcome any comments and critique please.
This has all taken so much time and effort, I can certainly appreciate why these private parking companies are able to survive, but fight the good fight I will.
The bullet points are numbered in the version I will use, but for some reason they didn't copy here in a sequential fashion and so I changed them to bullets for ease of reference.

I, Dr. X, a medical doctor, of xx xxxx Road, xxxx xxx xxx will state as follows:

Introduction:

• I am the Defendant in this case and I make this statement in support of an order that the Court find in favour of the Defendant. 

• My defence is repeated.

• On xx/xx/xxxx, I was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle in question, a xxxx xxxx, vehicle registration number XXX XXX. I will be defending this claim as the registered keeper of the vehicle only.

• The vehicle in question, on the day the two alleged parking charges to which the Claimant’s claim relates, was covered by comprehensive insurance [EVIDENCE/1], allowing myself, my wife and any other persons to drive the vehicle, the latter subject to having their own insurance cover. 

• The facts in this statement are within my own knowledge save where I state otherwise. Where I refer to facts that are not within my own knowledge I will give the source of my knowledge of those facts.  

• The evidence referred to in this statement contains documents to which the defence pertains. 

• There is also produced and shown to me a paginated bundle of evidence documents marked “EVIDENCE” to which I also refer in this statement. References to EVIDENCE shall be in the form [EVIDENCE/page number].

Sequence of Events:

• In x Month of x Year, I received two Parking Charge Notices (PCN)/Notice to Keeper (NTK) from Parking Awareness Services (PAS), dated xx/xx/xxxx [EVIDENCE/2-4], addressed to me as the registered keeper of vehicle, registration XXX XXX. It was not possible to determine the full and correct address to which these two PCN/NTK’s referred, due to issues with the start of the address seemingly having been typed over.

• These two PCN/NTK’s were alleged to have occurred on the xx/xx/xxxx.

• On the xx/xx/xxxx I had not driven the vehicle in question, nor had I left the local area immediate to my home address, xx xxxx Road, xxxx xxx xxx. I had spent the day at my home and in the immediate local environs and I had not travelled anywhere, as a driver or passenger, other than on foot.

• The address to which these two PCN/NTK’s relate is approximately xx miles, according to Google Maps [EVIDENCE/5] away from my home address and it is a location to which I did not travel to on xx/xx/xxxx, nor have I ever travelled to this location on any other date, via any mode of transport, including on foot, or as a vehicle driver or passenger.

• Having received these two PCN/NTK’s from PAS, on xx/xx/xxxx, I submitted appeals for both [EVIDENCE/6-9] via the appeals portal on PAS’s website. I made these appeals because I had not been the driver of the vehicle and PAS had not submitted their NTK’s in compliance with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) statute, which they were bound to do in order to hold me, as keeper of the vehicle in question, liable for these two PCN/NTK’s. I referenced in my appeals the elements of POFA, which I also quoted, that PAS had breached and I explained that they had therefore forfeited their statutory right to hold me as the keeper of the vehicle, liable for these PCN/NTK’s.

• In these two appeals, I also described that PAS’s communications were a source of alarm to me and I requested that they cease and desist all contact with me, given that they had not complied with POFA and therefore I could not be held liable for these PCN/NTK’s. PAS however did not cease and desist from communicating with me.

• I subsequently received two letters from PAS, dated xx/xx/xxxx [EVIDENCE/10-17], in which they informed me that having considered my appeal, they were unable to cancel the PCN.

• On xx/xx/xxxx, I received an email [EVIDENCE/18-19] from PAS, acknowledging that they did not meet the requirements of POFA and informing me that they were ‘not holding you [Dr. X] liable as the keeper, we are holding you liable as the presumed driver as such as such we can continue enforcement unless you can provide evidence showing otherwise – the name and address of the actual drive if you believe you were not being adequate (sic).’

• I responded to this email on xx/xx/xxxx  [EVIDENCE/20-21], informing PAS that their NTK was not compliant with POFA; that I had no obligation to name the driver, that there is no presumption in criminal or civil law of a vehicle driver (despite their claim to the contrary); and that ‘The Claimant [PAS] is aware that Keeper liability cannot be enforced due to their POFA 2012 breach and as the driver cannot be established and was not the Defendant, it is therefore logical that any further communications which the Claimant, or any third parties nominated by them, choose to have with the Defendant may be breaching the DPA and may be considered harassment, given the undue distress caused to the Defendant as the Registered Keeper.’ ‘The Defendant believes that this matter is wholly unmeritorious. The Claimant has no evidential basis to pursue a civil action against the registered keeper. If this matter proceeds to litigation, the Defendant will seek his costs of defending the claim pursuant to CPR Part 27(14)(g) to include the costs of pre action correspondence on an hourly rate basis, where the Claimant knew or ought to have known that litigation would be unsuccessful.’

• PAS however chose to ignore the apparent fact that they had forfeited their right in law to pursue me as the keeper and that they had no right, in law, to presume that I was the driver. I therefore continued to be aggressively bombarded with, as can be seen from the evidence which amounts to 125 pages of these documents, demands for payment from PAS, along with the debt collection agencies and legal firms whom they had instructed, via both email and post, from xx/xx/xxxx onwards [EVIDENCE/22-147], demanding payment for these two PCN/NTK’s, along with additional ‘debt recovery charge(s).’ 

• These communications were all a source of alarm and distress to me [EVIDENCE/148-149]. They made me feel harassed, given their relentless and threatening nature and this caused me to lose sleep and to feel anxious and stressed. This was because these aggressive demands for monies were, as I had explained to PAS in my above mentioned appeals, fundamentally flawed in law. I had informed them, as described above, that they were therefore pursuing me unfairly and without justification, for monies that, as the registered keeper, given their choice not to abide by POFA, I did not owe.

• I received a response from the DVLA [EVIDENCE/150-151], dated xx/xx/xxxx, in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request I had submitted to them. PAS had informed me that their NTK’s had not complied with POFA because the DVLA had been undertaking an audit on them. In this response, the DVLA informed me that such an audit would not be expected to delay a private parking company’s processing of parking charges.

• I sought clarification from the DVLA via a further FoI request, asking whether any such audit had been undertaken on PAS, as they had alleged, by the DVLA, over the period xx/xx/xxxx (the date for which the two PCN/NTK’s pertained), to the xx/xx/xxxx (the date on the two PCN/NTK’s). I received a response from the DVLA dated xx/xx/xxxx [EVIDENCE/152-153], in which, the DVLA confirmed that they had not undertaken any audits on PAS over this period. It is therefore a matter of record that PAS’s statement that the reason for their PCN/NTK’s being non-POFA compliant was due to a DVLA audit, was in fact a flagrant deception.  

• I have had to spend a significant amount of time dealing with PAS and their unreasonably issued PCN/NTK’s [EVIDENCE/154]. This was despite the fact that PAS were aware of the statute that they had breached [EVIDENCE/6-9] that meant that they do not have lawful grounds to pursue me as the keeper, nor do they have any lawful right to presume that I was the driver or to demand that I should disclose who the driver was, because of their choice not to abide by POFA, which would have afforded them these rights. PAS deliberately misleading me [EVIDENCE/152-153] further reinforces the evidence of their unreasonableness.

• My hourly rate is £x and the hours that I was unable to work and when I therefore lost the ability to earn an income is described in [EVIDENCE/154] and amounts to xx hours. CPR 27.14(2)(g) allows the court to use its discretion to summarily assess further costs and order the same to be paid by a party who has behaved unreasonably and I would therefore ask the Court to award the Defendant costs under CPR 27.14(2)(g), to the sum of £x.

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

Dr. X

xx/xx/xxxx

KeithP

Every paragraph needs a sequential number.

Your statement of Truth needs to be much more embracing - as seen on every other Witness Statement -
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.  I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

In your seventh bullet point (not easy to find without numbers, is it?  ) it starts...
There is also produced and shown to me a paginated bundle...
Do you mean 'shown by me'?

Suggest you annotate your exhibits with your initials followed by a sequential number. So your first exhibit might be JJ-01, for example. Your EVIDENCE numbers seem rather complicated.

Coupon-mad

Every paragraph and every page must be numbered.

There is a part fairly near the top, talking about evidence 'shown to me'.  I think it is better to say 'exhibited by me' (because this is your evidence you are showing to the Judge/court, nothing that was shown to you).

This bit doesn't read quite right:

"I am the Defendant in this case and I make this statement in support of an order that the Court find in favour of the Defendant."

You should also exhibit:

Excel v Smith (appeal) which confirms that a keeper cannot be held liable outwith the POFA.  It's easy to find that transcript in the Parking Prankster's blog 'case law' pages.

- the POPLA Annual Report 2015 and quote parking expert barrister Henry Greenslade where he sets out the legal position about keeper liability and that there is no lawful presumption outwith the POFA, that a keeper was the driver on private land, and nor is there any legal obligation to name the driver. Parliament rejected that draconian option in the Impact Assessment for the POFA section 56 and schedule 4.

You are also missing all the other usual arguments seen in a WS, including:

- no evidence seen, of any clear signage that the driver was 'bound to have seen' due to its clear positioning, prominence and legibility;

- no evidence seen that this area was within a site where the Claimant had the authority of the landowner to issue PCNs.  The DVLA KADOE licence requires a parking firm to have the written authority of the landowner before enforcement commences. Here, there's nothing to even pinpoint the location properly, let alone where the car was in relation to signs nor that this space was part of an authorised enforcement map/area;

- the usual recent stuff about the DLUHC Code of Practice.

See thread with the most recent WS by @aphex007 which has ALL of the above and the right Statement of Truth, as well as Excel v Wilkinson that we always include as an exhibit.

johjames

Coupon-mad said:

Every paragraph and every page must be numbered.

There is a part fairly near the top, talking about evidence 'shown to me'.  I think it is better to say 'exhibited by me' (because this is your evidence you are showing to the Judge/court, nothing that was shown to you).

This bit doesn't read quite right:

"I am the Defendant in this case and I make this statement in support of an order that the Court find in favour of the Defendant."

You should also exhibit:

Excel v Smith (appeal) which confirms that a keeper cannot be held liable outwith the POFA.  It's easy to find that transcript in the Parking Prankster's blog 'case law' pages.

- the POPLA Annual Report 2015 and quote parking expert barrister Henry Greenslade where he sets out the legal position about keeper liability and that there is no lawful presumption outwith the POFA, that a keeper was the driver on private land, and nor is there any legal obligation to name the driver. Parliament rejected that draconian option in the Impact Assessment for the POFA section 56 and schedule 4.

You are also missing all the other usual arguments seen in a WS, including:

- no evidence seen, of any clear signage that the driver was 'bound to have seen' due to its clear positioning, prominence and legibility;

- no evidence seen that this area was within a site where the Claimant had the authority of the landowner to issue PCNs.  The DVLA KADOE licence requires a parking firm to have the written authority of the landowner before enforcement commences. Here, there's nothing to even pinpoint the location properly, let alone where the car was in relation to signs nor that this space was part of an authorised enforcement map/area;

- the usual recent stuff about the DLUHC Code of Practice.

See thread with the most recent WS by @aphex007 which has ALL of the above and the right Statement of Truth, as well as Excel v Wilkinson that we always include as an exhibit.

Thank you Coupon-Mad, I have numbered every paragraph and page, for some reason all the numbers became '1', rather than being sequential when I copied my WS into the thread. Thank you for the advice about the two parts to amend.  I have Excel vs Lamoureux and the Popla Annual Report in my bundle, I'll add Excel v Smith, thank you. Should I reference these in my WS as well, because I have already referenced them in my Defence? In relation to the signage, I have never in my life been to this car park and so I have absolutely no idea what the signage there is like. Thank you again, I'll amend and repost.

johjames

KeithP said:

Every paragraph needs a sequential number.

Your statement of Truth needs to be much more embracing - as seen on every other Witness Statement -
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.  I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

In your seventh bullet point (not easy to find without numbers, is it?  ) it starts...
There is also produced and shown to me a paginated bundle...
Do you mean 'shown by me'?

Suggest you annotate your exhibits with your initials followed by a sequential number. So your first exhibit might be JJ-01, for example. Your EVIDENCE numbers seem rather complicated.

Thanks KeithP, the actual version does have a sequential numbering, but for some reason they all became '1's' when I pasted my WS here. I will amend my statement of proof and the evidence numbers, to simplify the latter. Thanks also for noticing the 'shown to me' error, I'll amend. Thank you!