Newbie - HELP with defence letter

parkingissues

hello, I've read the FAQ thread but need someone to look over my defence letter, it would be much appreciated! I have been charged with over £2000 and don't believe it to be fair

DEFENCE STATEMENT
___________________________________________________________________________


I assert that I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed, or any amount at all, for the following reasons:

1. I am the registered keeper of the vehicle in question.


2. I own a food business at the address where the alleged contraventions occurred, renting the shop at ___. I have been at these premises for two years. For the first year there were no issues with parking in the private carpark as it was incorporated within the lease.

3. I was parking there without knowledge of contravening any parking laws as my landlord stated that I was safe to park there until the lease is renewed.


4. There were no clear signs from NPM during the time of the contravention and these have only been placed since November 2017.

5. I feel I am continued to be a victim of discrimination due to a previous criminal matter that resulted in a hearing held at _____Magistrates Court, where the defendant was an employer of National Parking Management who served me with 14 Penalty Notices. He was charged with harassment and hate crime. During this process he issued me with the notices due to revenge purposes.

6. I was not parked on some of the dates the notices were issued and I was denied seeing any photographical evidence. Upon challenging this, the NPM employee would get aggressive towards me.

7. All other tenants would park in the same carpark. None of them have to date been issued with penalty notices other than myself.

8. I currently pay my landlord £25.00 per month for my parking permit, whilst two garages and two restaurants who use the same carpark are with permits that have been incorporated into their agreements for no extra charge.


I believe the facts stated in this Defence Statement are true.

Coupon-mad

Any defence needs to remove the word 'I' and change it to 'the Defendant'.

And the heading should be DEFENCE (not 'statement').

But, wow, please elucidate!! Tell us MORE about the criminal case:

I feel I am continued to be a victim of discrimination due to a previous criminal matter that resulted in a hearing held at _____Magistrates Court, where the defendant was an employer of National Parking Management who served me with 14 Penalty Notices. He was charged with harassment and hate crime. During this process he issued me with the notices due to revenge purposes.

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences.

Parking Eye, Smart and a smaller company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (who take hundreds of these cases to court, and nearly always lose), who have also been reported to the regulatory authority.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind most of these companies may well be put out of business by Christmas.

parkingissues

Hello, thank you for the feedback, the NPM employee was threatening and vandalised my vehicle. I have added some extra information in my defence about this but don't want to add too much detail online

NPM don't have a contract with me or my landlord, I only lease a business premise at the site. There are no loading/offloading bays either. How could I add this to my statement? Thank you!

parkingissues

DEFENCE
___________________________________________________________________________


I assert that I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed, or any amount at all, for the following reasons:

1. The Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question.

2. The Defendant owns a food business at the address where the alleged contraventions occurred, renting the shop at _______ They have been at these premises for two years. For the first year there were no issues with parking in the private carpark as it was incorporated within the lease.

3. The Defendant was parking there without knowledge of contravening any parking laws as my landlord stated that I was safe to park there until the lease is renewed.


4. There were no clear signs from NPM during the time of the contravention and these have only been placed since November 2017.


5. The Defendant feels that they continue to be victim of discrimination due to a previous criminal matter that resulted in a hearing held at ---- Magistrates Court, where the defendant was an employer of National Parking Management who served the Defendant with 14 Penalty Notices. He was charged with harassment and hate crime. During this process he issued me with the notices due to revenge purposes.

6. The Defendant was not parked on some of the dates the notices were issued and I was denied seeing any photographical evidence. Upon challenging this, the NPM employee would get aggressive towards the Defendant.

7. On a number of occasions, the NPM employee would park in front of the Defendant's car and prevent the Defendant from exiting the carpark in order to issue the Defendant with a fine.

8. The NPM employee regularly vandalised the Defendant's vehicle. The damage was too costly for the Defendant to repair. The vehicle was broken down and left in the space.


9. The Defendant was not the registered keeper of the vehicle in question for the whole period in which penalty notices were issued. From February 2017 to May 2017, the vehicle was given to a homeless person because it was broken down. However, the person did not have an address and used the vehicle as a shelter. For this reason, the Defendant registered the vehicle under their own address until the homeless person was able to register the vehicle.


10. All other tenants would park in the same carpark. None of them have to date been issued with penalty notices other than the Defendant

11. The Defendant currently pays their landlord £25.00 per month for my parking permit, whilst two garages, a warehouse, two shops and three restaurants who use the same carpark are with permits that have been incorporated into their agreements for no extra charge.


12. The carpark is overcrowded and often there is no space to enter or exit the carpark. The carpark is used by a number of other businesses.

13. There are no bay markings in the carpark whatsoever.

14. There are yellow double lines in front of the building. There are no loading bays on the business premise and so any terms imposed by signage positioned by National Parking Management are impractical for all services loading or unloading. An approach such as the Claimants which restricts vehicle makes it difficult for a business to run as food deliveries and unloading other items to the restaurant cannot be done.

Please could I have some suggestions on how to improve, I have to send this off today

parkingissues

Hello,

On the sticky newbies thread it says never to put extortionate charges as part of your defence. I have been issued with 14 PCNs and the total amount is a few thousand pounds. I am currently trying to do a defence statement against this, does anyone have any advice they could offer?

The_Deep

Is this residential? If so, please tell us the specific wording of your lease/AST wrt to parking. Does it mention parking permits, or being charged for non display. Please read this.

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/residential-parking.html

parkingissues

Hello, if a sign says a valid permit must be displayed, am I in a contractual agreement with the private company who gave me the PCN?

Umkomaas

There's another thread running on this, so the OP should copy and paste the query there, then let this parallel thread 'die'.

@OP - forum etiquette - one case one thread, then everything, background, questions and advice is contained in one place.

parkingissues

It is not residential, its a business, I rent a shop from my landlord. It does not mention any parking in my business contract.

bigisi

Please keep all your questions to one thread, asking multiple questions in multiple threads isn't doing anyone any favours.