Gladstones Claim Form

pokerish

Hi,

Please let me know if the below is okay now. I will find out who the PPC is when I get home from work this evening. The below clause is the only clause in my tenancy agreement relating to the parking permit. I do not think it is very helpful but it is the only clause the agreement has.

In the County Court at XXXXX
Claim No. XXXXXXXX
Between
xxx (Claimant)
and
xxx (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am xxx, of [Address], [Postcode], the Defendant in this matter. I will say as follows:

2. I was a resident of XXXXX [Address], and attach evidence of tenancy agreement as Exhibit A.

3. On [DATE] I parked my vehicle registration no, XXXXX in the car park.

4. My tenancy agreement granted me a parking permit and my own parking space. Evidence of this is contained in my parking permit in clause 13. Special Conditions:
“The Tenants must use the parking permit supplied when parking in the allocated parking space which belongs to the property to avoid being issued with a parking ticket. Any parking tickets received by the Tenant as a result of not displaying the permits will be the Tenants responsibility to pay.”
This is dated XXXXX and a picture of it is attached as Exhibit B.

5. Upon receipt of a parking charge notice from the Claimant, I supplied them with this evidence, however they have elected to pursue this matter via litigation.

6. My parking ticket was in the windscreen at the time.

7. I invite the Court to dismiss this claim in its entirety, and to award my costs of attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.

Signature
Date

pokerish

Hello

I have received Gladstones witness statement and it is quite a big bundle which includes photos of my car on that day. I am quite worried about whether my witness statement and defence overall is strong enough, 17 days until the court case.

Please could someone help me

thanks

KeithP

Have you not filed your Witness Statement yet?

On 2nd December you told us:

I must submit it by 1st January.

Looks like Coupon-mad was right when she said last July:

You worry me, if you forgot this stage how the heck are you going to keep up at DQ stage, then Witness Statement and evidence stage?

Back to your WS:
I would be inclined to leave out that quote from your tenancy agreement. It does you no favours.

Trouble is, it leaves your WS rather thin.

No mention of signs?

pokerish

Hi,

Sorry I misunderstood. The court case is 30th January so I must submit it by tomorrow essentially.

I haven't mentioned signs because I'm not sure how it would help me.

I am not sure what other points I can include.

Coupon-mad

You MUST mention that the signs are sparse and incapable of forming a contract and enclose evidence with your WS (photos, not close ups).

I am not clear why your very short WS quotes this which seems to be affirming the PCNs, and you haven't explained why you feel it's important:

“The Tenants must use the parking permit supplied when parking in the allocated parking space which belongs to the property to avoid being issued with a parking ticket. Any parking tickets received by the Tenant as a result of not displaying the permits will be the Tenants responsibility to pay.”

pokerish

Hi,

I submitted this yesterday unfortunately.

This is what I submitted:

In the County Court at
Claim No.
Between
Parking and Property Management Limited (Claimant)
and
(Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am xxx, the Defendant in this matter. I am unrepresented, 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.
2. I was a resident of xxx, and attach evidence of my tenancy agreement as Exhibit A.
3. On 14th October 2017 I parked my vehicle with registration number xxx in the car park.
4. My tenancy agreement granted me a parking permit and my own parking space. Evidence of this is contained in Clause 13 which states
“The Tenants must use the parking permit supplied when parking in the allocated parking space which belongs to the property to avoid being issued with a parking ticket.”
This gives absolutely authority to myself to park in the allocated bay given that I have used the parking permit.
5. The parking permit is dated August 2017 and a picture of it is attached as Exhibit B.
6. My parking permit was in the windscreen at the time. It is noted that a tissue had accidentally been placed in the windscreen on top of the parking ticket. However it could still be seen that this was a relevant parking permit. A picture of this is attached as Exhibit C.
7. Upon receipt of a parking charge notice from the Claimant, I supplied them with this evidence, however they have elected to pursue this matter via litigation.
8. I have the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred the stated additional cost and it is put to strict proof that they have actually been incurred. Even if they have been incurred, the Claimant has described £50 as legal representative’s costs. These cannot be recovered in the Small Claims Court regardless of the identity of the driver.
9. I invite the Court to dismiss this claim in its entirety, and to award my costs of attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.

Statement of Truth
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.
Signature
Date


I was unable to take photos of the signs as the property is actually in Coventry whereas I am in London. Should I still include this point in my skeleton argument? I am not planning to submit a skeleton argument, but have one for reference on the court date.

nosferatu1001

Youve had since June to get photos.
I am sure someone would have found them.

You cannot ambush the claimant
Your skeleton is a summary of the arguments that best support your, probolems with their claim, both the legal arguments and the witness statements, in a couple pages at most.

Coupon-mad

OK so you will have to just challenge their evidence at the hearing, then.

pokerish

Hi all,

My court case is on 30th, very nervous! thank you all for your help so far.

I was wondering if someone could have a quick read of the points I'd like to make on the day. I am going to submit a costs schedule tomorrow as well. Would it be okay to email this to the court?

My points are below:

I would like to start by summarising my case. I parked in my own designated parking spot in an underground car park. This car park is fob controlled, and this can even be seen in a photograph on page 43 of the claimants bundle. My parking permit was on the dashboard, but a tissue was accidentally placed on top of it, covering part of the permit. The presence of the Claimant on the land will have supposedly been to prevent parking by uninvited persons, for the benefit of the actual residents. Instead, a predatory operation has been carried out on those very people whose interests the Claimant was purportedly there to uphold. Therefore I have no reason to park there unlawfully. I was instructed by my letting agency not to use the glue on the parking permit, therefore I was only able to place it on the dashboard. The parking permit was always visible and the parking permit didn’t see it, or even chose not to see it.

Defendants Argument

1. Primacy of contract
1.1. As seen in the defendants bundle in point 7 on page 113 of the claimant’s bundle, my landlord has the “the exclusive right to park one private vehicle”.
1.2. In my tenancy agreement, the only reference is “the tenants must use the parking permit supplied when parking in the allocated parking space … to avoid being issued with a parking ticket.”
1.3. I upheld my tenancy agreement by using a parking permit. This can be seen in Exhibit A in the witness statement.
1.4. I have not directly signed a contract with the parking company, and my tenancy agreement does not mention them by name either.

2. Operator signs cannot override existing rights. Parking easements cannot retrospectively and unilaterally be restricted. HHJ Harris QC in Jopson v Homeguard Services Ltd, and Sir Christopher Slade in K-Sultana Saeed v Plustrade Ltd. **not sure of this point too

Rebutting Claimant Evidence and Arguments

3. Re point #15 in the Claimant’s bundle
3.1. I would like to state that part VI is not my lease, as the claimant incorrectly states, as I was merely a tenant. This is my landlord’s lease.
3.2. The paragraph that the claimant is relying on includes a subjective statement where they regard “good estate management” as “enforcing a parking scheme”.
3.3. If this was good estate management, then this parking scheme should be to deter non-residents, or residents without a permit parking in bays. However the claimant has done is contribute to poor estate management by causing undue distress to myself who has the right to park in my allocated space.
3.4. Therefore this point is redundant.

4. Re point #16 in the Claimant’s bundle
4.1. The Claimant relies on Link v Blaney (May 2017) where the Claimant states any landowner’s rights were subject to regulations brought in from time to time and therefore “any tenancy agreement must be subject to it as well”.
4.2. The above does not apply to me because in the Link V Blaney case the DJ Pratt ruled that the Head Lease did contain the right to vary the parking regime at the location because the tenancy agreement in that case had the following wording:
"landlord is entitled from time to time may introduce regulations with regards to the proper management of the location".
4.3. Furthermore, in that case there was a leasehold title - in my case there is not, and I rented my property from the freeholder through a letting agency. The only relevant document in this case is my tenancy.
4.4. My tenancy agreement does not state anything similar to the above and contains no clause permitting any person or body to introduce or subject me to new terms and conditions from time to time or that my tenancy agreement can be varied. My tenancy agreement is listed as exhibit X in my witness statement bundle.
4.5. In Pace v Mr N (2016) it was found that it is not enough to point to a clause in the lease, and it must be proved that the lease was varied and furthermore, varied by the lessor. The operator is not a party to the lease and therefore cannot vary it.

5. Re point #8, #11 and #12 in the Claimant’s bundle
5.1. The claimant refers to the Parking Eye V Beavis (2015) case in which they try to justify that 100.00 was not ‘excessive’ however the charges you are seeking are 160.00 per ticket.
5.2. The claimant has not been able to justify how the sum of £60 is “reasonable” as stated in point #12.
5.3. Point #8 also states that the charge is in the “Company’s legitimate interest”.
5.4. The claimant’s legitimate interest is to restrict parking to “bay corresponding permit holders only at all times in the allocated bays” as can be seen in page 5 of the claimant’s bundle
5.5. One of the key points from the Beavis case was that the charge was necessary to deter overstaying; if they did not issue penalties then the car park would be unfairly used.
5.6. In my case, it is in the claimant’s legitimate interest to charge those parking without a permit as a deterrent from parking in the car park in Regent’s Court.
5.7. I was a resident with a parking permit, and have proved this by providing my tenancy agreement and a permit. Therefore issuing me with a parking charge is NOT in their legitimate interest. Because there is no legitimate interest, this is deemed a penalty.
5.8. Quite clearly the claimant is abusing their power as an agent of the landowner to try and penalise me for parking in my own space.
5.9. Pursuant to my tenancy, I have the right to peaceful enjoyment under common law - this means that I am entitled to enjoy the full benefit of the property free of interference. It protects me against interference by either landlord or persons claiming to be under the landlord, this includes but is not limited to: agents, licensees, employees; tenants or successors. If there is breach of the quiet enjoyment covenant I am entitled to an injunction to restrain the interference and/or seek damages for losses caused by such interference.
5.10. Futhermore, in Jopson v Homeguard (2016) it was found that Parking Eye v Beavis (2015) does not apply to residential parking. The Supreme Court found it was not a genuine pre-estimate of loss in Beavis as there was no direct loss to the parking company. Similarly, it would be difficult to establish commercial justification for charging residents to park in their own parking space.

6. Re part VI in the Claimant’s bundle
6.1. The Claimant has included a land registry between Jo Gibbons (my landlord) and Wilson Bowden Developments Limited.
6.2. Point 7 on page 113 of the claimant’s bundle states “the exclusive right to park one private vehicle”.
6.3. Therefore __ I am stuck on which point I can make

7. Re point #7 in the Claimant’s bundle.
7.1. The claimant relies on the fact that the signage is the contractual document.
7.2. The signs are unclear, and the photographs in the bundle prove this. The photographs are taken from a closer position than from a vehicle, and even then the small print about the fine is difficult to read.
7.3. I dispute the witness’s judgement that the signs, or more specifically the terms and conditions, were highly prominent. In general, prominence can be a subjective affair in which colours, fonts, height, size and ambient light all play a significant role in determining if ‘something’ is prominent.
7.4. A significant proportion of core terms are exceptionally small especially when attempting to read from a moving vehicle (as shown in Claimant’s bundle).
7.5. The overall depiction of a sign being ‘prominent’ is significantly reduced by using a font of small size which makes core terms illegible from a vehicle. Conflicting signage also causes misperception.

8. Re LBC in the Claimant’s bundle
8.1. The LBC is lacking basic required information as well as no explanation regarding the additional £60 or any evidence to support their claim.



Please could you let me know if i should remove some points. as you can see I am mainly challenging their evidence. Any help would be much appreciated.

Should I also upload Gladstone's witness statement if that makes it easier?

pokerish

This is my costs schedule:

DEFENDANT'S SCHEDULE OF COSTS


Ordinary Costs

Loss of earnings/leave, incurred through attendance at Court 30/01/2019 £114.23

Return mileage (8 miles return) from home address to Court £1.80

Parking near Court (estimate) £5.00

Sub-total £121.03 ======


Further costs for Claimant's unreasonable behaviour, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 27.14(2)(g)

Research, preparation and drafting of documents (6 hours at Litigant in Person rate of £19 per hour) £114.00

Postage: £4.22

Sub-total £118.22 ======



£ 239.25 TOTAL COSTS CLAIMED