Newbie - HELP with defence letter

Umkomaas

Oh, jeez, OP - this is getting out of hand. Please do not start a new thread for every question that crosses your mind. Forum etiquette - one case, one thread.

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, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They nearly always lose) and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P.

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

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?

Coupon-mad

parkingissues wrote: »

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?

Yes, you should never talk about the amount being excessive or not related to any loss, because the Beavis case killed that argument re private PCNs.

There is NO differing advice, do NOT use that argument.

Certainly the defence can argue that any added 'debt collection' costs/indemnity charges or 'damages' is fantasy and unrecoverable tosh, and all the usual arguments about signage and landowner authority.

If this is a residential car park you obviously have the template written by Johnersh to use as a base, that's why the examples are in the NEWBIES thread, to give you something to work with, that DOES have legs in court.

We then want you to show us your draft defence, and we will assist further.

As you mention defence we assume you are at court claim stage. Have you done the AOS?

You will need to tell us who the PPC is and what the rip-off is all about and where, and if it is a residential car park, what does the resident's own agreement (lease or tenancy) say about parking, permits etc.?

Was the resident there first, or was the PPC infestation there first (in which case why did they even move there, I wouldn't!!). Not joking, a PPC scumbag would make me walk away from a property.

If it's not a residential site, how the heck did a driver get 14 PCNs?

parkingissues

I got 14 PCNs when I was unloading and offloading. I own a shop at the premises and use a car to do food deliveries.

I haven't done the AOS, I've done MCOL and thats it. I don't know what AOS is.

The Parking Charge says National Parking Management, but the signage says Northamptonshire Parking Management, but the logo seems to be the same.

Here is my defence I have so far, please it would be really appreciated if I could have some help on it.

DEFENCE

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 sign attached by National Parking Management Ltd states that 'vehicles must park fully within a marked parking bay' as parts of the terms and conditions. However there are no parking bays present in the carpark.


6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.


10. 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 March 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.


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

12. 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.


13. 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.

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.

Coupon-mad

parkingissues wrote: »

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?

Arguably yes - if the signs are very prominent with the £100 in large lettering as a clear charge you could not miss, and it makes you an offer of something of value - unless you can show you have primacy of contract in the lease for the business premises at the site.

i.e. if your business lease grants you the unfettered right to use a parking space that the landlord owns, or includes that space as granted solely to you, as a right/part of your demised property, then you may have primacy of contract. As long as the lease isn't vague about your parking rights, it will be key, because you can say you are already granted parking rights and so the PPC has not offered you anything of value, so there is no consideration, no agreed contract possible without consideration, and the PPC is in fact guilty of 'derogation from grant'.

Explained here:

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

Similar to a residential parking location. The lease terms, and clarity of signage, will be key.

parkingissues

The lease that I had at that time did not mention any parking.

The signs are by different companies - one sign at the carpark says Northfield Property Management, another says Northamptonshire Parking Management, the Parking Charge says National Parking Management. I am really confused by all this!!

Do you think I have any standing at all in my defence?

Computersaysno

Advice - frollow the newbies advice posting by CM

parkingissues

Yes, will do sorry. I am just very worried about this charge

Redx

AOS is covered in post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread, please read it , slowly

also find out what AOS is by reading it and reading the forms you received

the AOS can be done ONLINE on the MCOL website

also read the BARGEPOLE timeline of events , until you get the process and timeline in your head

acronyms are explained in that NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread too, so ignore it at your peril

every time you ask something you are likely to be directed to that thread, it is your bible, your reference library, your FAQ answered

and please keep to one thread only , per topic

so if you have a completely different pcn that needs approaching differently , start a new thread, but all these need to be in one single thread only , which is this one

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5805402