Claim Form (CEL) | PoC INCLUDED in Claim Form??

[Deleted User]

I am a litigant in person, with no experience of Court procedures. If I do not set out documents in the way that the Claimant may do, I trust the Court will excuse my inexperience.

Can we just remove this guff from the template. It is meaningless. The small claims track is designed for you and the court rules require the courts to allow lattitude to litigants in person (within reason)

Paras 5 and 14 would appear to be duplicative. Henry Greenslade should always be described in his former capacity as Lead Parking Adjudicator for POPLA (2012-2015) rather than merely as a barrister.

denchgang9

Do I need to drive to the site of the incident to take photos of the signage? I'm pretty sure it has changed since the alleged date which was nearly 2 years ago.... Shouldn't the onus be on them to provide evidence of this?

I'd rather not have to travel down to take photos of a different sign to the one being disputed, any guidance on this would be appreciated!

(as I wasn't the driver and am going down the no keeper liability route, I'm not sure if I even require signage evidence as an exhibit in my WS... just checking, as presumably I wouldn't need to defend against the Parking Eye v Beavis case if this is my defence??)

denchgang9

Hi guys, I'm going to submit my WS by hand to the court tomorrow as I'm busy on Friday and I want it off my chest, even though I haven't received CELs WS yet (deadline for us both to submit it by is Monday)

Couple questions, would appreciate if someone could help!

1. the claimant's solicitors are not specified on the court form, presumably this is still Wright Hassall as they sent the previous letters - should I cc them in to my email to CEL with my WS/evidence? I don't want to waste a stamp on these clowns, so am I right in just emailing the WS and attaching the evidence in one email (I have approx 5 Exhibits)

2. When I submit my WS to court, is a ring binder sufficient with a copy of each exhibit labelled neatly etc. Do I need to include my Defence too?

System

1. the claimant's solicitors are not specified on the court form, presumably this is still Wright Hassall as they sent the previous letters - should I cc them in to my email to CEL with my WS/evidence? I don't want to waste a stamp on these clowns, so am I right in just emailing the WS and attaching the evidence in one email (I have approx 5 Exhibits)

The address for service is on the claim form so use that. CEL don't use email so you'll have to post it and get proof of posting.

You should have a copy of your defence with you as the judge may refer to it - and any other documents you have exchanged.

Lastly if you do not see CEL's WS contact them to ask where it is and get proof you asked. You'll be wanting to get costs when they discontinue.

denchgang9

Hi guys, I'm submitting my WS in 4 hours!!

Could someone please tell me if this is good to go or any final changes needed?? Thank you.

I, xxx of xxx am the Defendant in this case, 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, or any amount at all and this is my Witness Statement in support of my defence as already filed.

3. The claimant has no direct contract with the defendant permitting liability to transfer to the keeper in the absence of a driver being identified and there is nothing within the POFA, criminal or civil law that permits anyone to make presumptions as to the driver.

4. The Defendant denies being the driver at the time of the alleged contravention, and therefore puts Civil Enforcement Ltd. to strict proof that any contract can exist between the Claimant and the Defendant.

5. I have no knowledge of the events, or signage terms on the date in question.

6. No Notice to Keeper was received from the Claimant and the Claimant, therefore, has not complied with the relevant statutory requirements under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. In absence of such notices, there can be no cause of action.

7. Evidence of similar cases in which the Claimant has pursued the Registered Keeper being dismissed include:
a. Excel v Mr B., C0DP33Q9 19 December 2016 at Stockport in front of District Judge Dignan. As the driver could not be identified, there couldn!!!8217;t be a contract between the private parking company and any individual.
b. Excel v Ian Lamoureux, C3DP56Q5 at Skipton in front of DJ Skalskyj-Reynolds, who was critical of the claimant!!!8217;s attempts to hold the keeper liable without being able to rely on PoFA. The judge suggested that the only way Mr Lamoureux could be held liable was if he was the driver and Excel could prove he was (which they could not). The judge stated that the claim against Mr Lamoureux was totally misconceived because it had no evidence that he was the driver and it seemed to be relying on some assumption that the registered keeper is the driver because it was not seeking to rely on the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. I enclose the transcript of the judgement in this case (Exhibit 5).
c. VCS v Quayle, C1DP0H0J 4 May 2017 at Liverpool in front of DDJ Gourley. The case was dismissed on the grounds that keeper liability did not apply as the Claimant was not compliant with POFA, and they offered no evidence as to who the driver was (Exhibit 6).

8. I never received the original !!!8220;Parking Charge Notice,!!!8221; allegedly issued on x January 2017, for the incident dated x December 2016.

9. The first correspondence (Exhibit 1) I ever received from the Claimant with respect to this PCN is dated x February 2017, as a !!!8220;final reminder before legal action!!!8221;

10. This notice included an inflated charge of £100 and absolutely no details of the location of the alleged contravention, nor any evidence of the vehicle at the scene, contract in place, or time of parking.

11. I did not respond to the brightly-coloured alarmist Notices sent to me by Civil Enforcement Ltd. because I believed they were spam (this sort of scam had been exposed on Watchdog). Also, as I was not the driver and these were not offences or fines from an Authority like a Council, there was no reason or obligation upon a registered keeper to !!!8216;appeal!!!8217; to what appeared to be junk mail. I have since researched this, hence my knowledge that these are non-POFA PCNs, incapable of holding me liable anyway.

12. The first correspondence from the Claimant providing any detail of the location of the incident dates x March 2017, again with an inflated charge of £140 at this stage.

13. I was never shown the alleged signage contract photos (not one of the !!!8216;PCNs!!!8217; showed the purported signs). As registered keeper, I never saw the !!!8216;contract!!!8217; they are trying to hold me liable for.

14. I sent a letter (see Exhibit 2) via post and e-mail to Civil Enforcement Ltd. to request the initial PCN, allegedly sent to the registered keeper on x January 2017, for reference, to which I received no response.

15. Barrister and parking law expert Henry Greenslade was the Lead Parking Adjudicator for !!!8216;POPLA!!!8217; (!!!8216;Parking on Private Land Appeals!!!8217; independent service offered by the BPA) from 2012 !!!8211; 2015. I adduce as evidence Mr Greenslade!!!8217;s opinion in the POPLA Annual Report 2015 which confirms that there is no presumption in law that a keeper was the driver and that keepers do not have any legal obligation whatsoever, to name drivers to private parking companies. No adverse inference can be drawn from my choice not to respond to what appeared to be spam.
Unlike, for example, a Notice of Intended Prosecution where details of the driver of a vehicle must be supplied when requested by the police, pursuant to Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, a keeper sent a Schedule 4 notice has no legal obligation to name the driver (2015).
I enclose this statement from the POPLA Annual Report 2015 (Exhibit 3).


16. The Claimant!!!8217;s vague !!!8220;Particulars of Claim!!!8221; provide no explanation as to what the alleged breach of the terms + conditions are. They have simply provided a date, times and location with no indication as to whether this is a case of overstaying, lack of a paid and displayed ticket, or any other reason which may have breached the T+Cs which were in place during the date of the incident - a copy of which has never been supplied to me.

17. The claimant has failed to comply with Civil Procedure Rules Practice Direction 16 7.3(1), which state that a copy of the contract or documents constituting the agreement should be attached to or served with the Particulars of Claim (POC). It was not.

18. The Claimant also seeks to recover additional costs from the original amount set out in the POC from £100 to £25x.xx which appears to be an attempt at double recovery and which is specifically disallowed under Section 4 (5) of the POFA (Exhibit 4).

19. Furthermore, CPR 27.14 (2) (a) states that the court may not order a party to pay a sum to another party in respect of that other party!!!8217;s costs, fees and expenses including those relating to an appeal, except the fixed costs attributable to issuing the claim.

20. The Claimant is put to strict proof that these costs were incurred.

21. In order to demonstrate that the driver on this occasion failed to pay & display, the Claimant should have evidenced that, of course. Where are the photos of the dashboard showing no P&D ticket displayed? Failing that, as this is an ANPR site, where are the system records showing no payment made on these days? They have not even supplied lists of the VRNs input by drivers on those days, e.g. showing a mismatched payment, wrong VRN or no entry at all that corresponds with this vehicle.

22. A similarly poorly pleaded and evidenced !!!8216;private parking ticket!!!8217; claim was struck out by District Judge Cross of St Albans County Court on 20/09/16 without a hearing, due to the law firm!!!8217;s template particulars being held to be !!!8216;incoherent!!!8217;, failing to comply with CPR 16.4, and ''providing no facts that could give rise to any apparent claim in law.''

23. The Court is invited to dismiss this Claim, and to allow my wasted costs which will be submitted separately and in a timely manner, depending upon whether a hearing takes place. I firmly believe that to pursue me as registered keeper and to submit such incoherent particulars and lacking !!!8216;evidence!!!8217; is wholly unreasonable and vexatious.

24. Exhibited to this witness statement are the following documents in the attached bundle that I wish to rely on:
1. EXHIBIT 1 !!!8211; Civil Enforcement Ltd. Letter 1 dated x
2. EXHIBIT 2 !!!8211; Screenshot of my e-mail to Civil Enforcement Ltd. requesting the original alleged PCN which was never received.
3. EXHIBIT 3 !!!8211; Excerpt from POPLA (2015) re: Keeper Liability
4. EXHIBIT 4 !!!8211; Schedule 4 Protection of Freedoms Act (POFA 2012)
5. EXHIBIT 5 !!!8211; Excel v Ian Lamoureux, C3DP56Q5
6. EXHIBIT 6 !!!8211; VCS v Quayle, C1DP0H0J

STATEMENT OF TRUTH:
I believe the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.

Coupon-mad

Seems a bit long, and doesn't need you to start any sentence 'the Defendant...' (like in a defence). Should be 'I received this, I then did that'.

I couldn't see you mention that the Claimant hasn't sent a WS, but maybe I missed it?

denchgang9

added i have not received a WS from the claimant and also changed "defendant" language - hopefully this is acceptable, I'm on my way to hand deliver this now.

Ring binder and pretty layout sorted. CEL's copies are unstapled and thrown into an envelope hehehee

cornboy

Do you have a copy of their WS so we can see? I am also in the same boat with CEL and have to hand my WS in by mid july.

Also any update as to if you go to court would really help me.

denchgang9

they didn't send their WS, the deadline is Monday and I'm busy tomorrow so I couldn't wait any longer.

deadline for them to pay court fee is 17th july, I'll update once I've checked with the court if it's been paid. ready to go to war if I have to, however other posts have shown they fail to show up / fail to pay the hearing fee.

I'll be claiming costs either way.

denchgang9

Hi guys, hand-delivered the WS and beautifully presented ringbinder containing my evidence, paginated and highlighted - the judge is going to feel like Christmas came early. (obviously threw CELs copies, unstapled, no page numbers, into an envelope - let's hope they drop it.)

Quick one - I'm going abroad and will be back 2 weeks before the hearing date (which is 2 weeks AFTER they should have paid the hearing fee)

2 questions:

1. Should I return from travels and find they have actually paid the fee and this is going down, does a Skeleton Argument need to be submitted to the court and CEL in advance of the hearing?

2. Is a skeleton argument an absolute requirement (my WS was v comprehensive with legal arguments and evidence of previous cases, along with my Defence from earlier of course)?

Thank you. Close to the finish line now hopefully, not going to get complacent though.