LBC from Gladstones, ticket from PCM

kcp_1997

I received a PCN from PCM in mid-September for parking at my partner's flat. I was mid-asking the landlord for a permit to park there, but I got told that the landlord for her specific block of flats had suspended PCM's licence to operate at their block of flats, therefore they weren't able to enforce there. I have made a diagram which is attached below to attempt to outline the situation as best I possibly could - essentially, the red car park was full, as was the unrestricted areas, so I parked as close as I could to it and hoped for the best (which was a mistake, as I failed to notice I was directly under a sign which pretty much outlined that they enforce in these bays).

(go to -- drive.google.com/file/d/1CrQcWgDOgP3TzDvlWimFimbhS6s1KXTm/view?usp=sharing -- for image of parking area)

I then rather bullishly refused to contact them at any stage until a couple of months later, where I elected to call them asking for evidence of me parking against their policies - which they declined, saying that as it's past the appeal stage, I cannot access it via their website. They refused to take an email address from me, or to post it out, saying the case has been passed to the debt collectors and it is now "out of their hands". I don't have a recording of this call, unfortunately.

I then asked the debt collectors (Trace) for evidence when they eventually contacted me in January, to which I received no response.

Fast forward to today where I have received this letter from Gladstone, which has no specific information other than the registration plate of my car and the amount I "owe" them. Due to the lack of information that I have received from them, I was considering adapting a post from the Newbie Thread asking Gladstones for evidence (can't post link as new user)

Any more advice on how I should prepare for the eventual court case that I presume will come my way, even if I have no evidence to go by as of yet?

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, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another 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 lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

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.

System

Which part of the car park did you park. The bit where PCM had their licence revoked or another bit. Did you check if that was under their control too.

kcp_1997

I parked in another bit that PCM still had control over. All of the areas where her landlord had revoked the licence from were full, as was an unrestricted area across the road.

kcp_1997

The letter in response I'm intending to send to Gladstone later this evening is as follows:

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter of a PCN, with your internal reference [x].

When I first received contact from your client, I asked them for details of the basis upon which money was being claimed, including all photographs taken of the vehicle at the relevant time. Extraordinarily, I was told (in blunt terms) by Parking Control Management that no such evidence could be sent to an email address that I was willing to provide, nor would it be sent out by post; and since the appeal window had passed, I would also not be able to retrieve the evidence required via their website, and that I should contact the debt collectors once I receive a letter from them in due course, who also declined my request for evidence.


You have now sent a Letter Before Claim. However, your letter contains insufficient detail of the claim and, again, fails to provide the photographic evidence which I requested as long ago as November 2017. It does not even say what the cause of action is. Nor does it contain any mention of what evidence your client intends to rely on, or enclose copies of such evidence.


This action on the part of your client is a clear breach of its pre-action obligations set out in the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct, with which as solicitors you must surely be familiar (and with which your client, a serial litigator of small claims, must also be familiar). As you (and your client) must know, the Practice Direction binds all potential litigants, whatever the size or type of the claim. Its express purpose is to assist parties in understanding the claim and their respective positions in relation to it, to enable parties to take stock of their positions and to negotiate a settlement, or at least narrow the issues, without incurring the costs of court proceedings or using up valuable court time.


Nobody, including your client, is immune from the requirements and obligations of the Practice Direction. Your client cannot simply refuse to provide the relevant information "until I hear from debt collectors”.

I require your client to comply with its obligations by sending me the following information/documents:

1. an explanation of the cause of action
2. whether they are pursuing me as driver or keeper
3. whether they are relying on the provisions of Schedule 4 of POFA 2012
4. what the details of the claim are (where it is claimed the car was parked, for how long, how the monies being claimed arose and have been calculated, what contractual breach (if any) is being claimed)
5. a copy of the contract with the landowner under which they assert authority to bring the claim
6. a copy of any alleged contract with the driver
7. a plan showing where any signs were displayed
8. details of the signs displayed (size of sign, size of font, height at which displayed)
9. If they have added anything on to the original charge, what that represents and how it has been calculated.

I am clearly entitled to this information under paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c) of the Practice Direction. I also need it in order to comply with my own obligations under paragraph 6(b).

If your client does not provide me with this information then I put you on notice that I will be relying on the cases of Webb Resolutions Ltd v Waller Needham & Green [2012] EWHC 3529 (Ch), Daejan Investments Limited v The Park West Club Limited (Part 20) !!!8211; Buxton Associates [2003] EWHC 2872, Charles Church Developments Ltd v Stent Foundations Limited & Peter Dann Limited [2007] EWHC 855 in asking the court to impose sanctions on your client and to order a stay of the proceedings, pursuant to paragraphs 13 ,15(b) and (c) and 16. I will draw to the court the fact that I have expressly requested this information since as early as November 2017 yet your client has refused to provide it, saying that it will not do so until this matter, effectively, reaches the court.


Until your client has complied with its obligations and provided this information, I am unable to respond properly to the alleged claim and to consider my position in relation to it, and it is entirely premature (and a waste of costs and court time) for your client to issue proceedings. Should your client do so, then I will seek an immediate stay pursuant to paragraph 15(b) of the Practice Direction and an order that this information is provided.

Yours faithfully,

[x]

Coupon-mad

I never thank them:

Thank you for your letter of a PCN,

Always, 'I refer to'

kcp_1997

Coupon-mad wrote: »

I never thank them:

Always, 'I refer to'

Thanking them for adding some inconvenience to my life does sound like a silly course of action - fair point. Any other criticisms? Is adding a return address necessary given 1) the reference number and 2) they'll probably ignore the letter regardless?

KeithP

kcp_1997 wrote: »

Is adding a return address necessary given 1) the reference number and 2) they'll probably ignore the letter regardless?

All letters should always have the sender's address at top right.


That's just letter writing - nothing to do with fighting parking tickets.