Gladstones Parking Fine, help needed

Dewition

Hey guys,

So bit of a saga.

Checked my Equifax report a few days ago to find I had a court decision against me on my credit report.Emailed the local county court and found that it was from Gladstones Solicitors regarding a parking ticket I had received in April 2017.

I hadn't received any correspondence from either the parking company or Gladstones (I had moved house around this time and they were evidently sending mail to my previous address).

The parking ticket was issued to a company vehicle parked in the company car park correctly. (The car park company must have thought we were easy bait as everyone was receiving tickets at the time). This despite the vehicles being parked in there own car park. I handed my ticket into the office and was told not to worry about it.

I've just gotten off the phone with Gladstones and been told they can not give any information to me as the court hearing has already happened and that I should seek legal advice.

So the question is, who should I best contact about this? Should I go directly to the County Court?

I haven't been given a chance to challenge the fine or even pay it as I had no knowledge of it until it showed on my credit report.

Redx

see the £255 set aside details in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread , post #2

also name the parking company on here, so we know who issued it, as it wasnt Gladrags

then drop an SAR bomb on the PPC and Gladrags under the GDPR 2018

dont hang around it starting the set aside now you know about it

Dewition

Sorry if I am being stupid but I've been trying to locate the "NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread , post #2" in the forum and I'm not finding it. Are you able to post the link?

The parking company was UK Car Park Management Ltd.

Redx

its the third thread down from the top of this very forum, with 5 posts in it and the author is coupon mad


you need to learn to navigate this forum, so no links

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 House of Commons recently

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

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

The_Deep

Dewition wrote: »

Sorry if I am being stupid but I've been trying to locate the "NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread , post #2" in the forum and I'm not finding it. Are you able to post the link?

The parking company was UK Car Park Management Ltd.

This could be a potentially very serious matter and you will need to get a handle on it. It could ruin you credit, squash a new house purchase, even prevent you from getting a mobile phone contract.

It will probably take you many hours to understand, but, unless you want to be labelled a bad risk it is something you have to do.

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 House of Commons recently

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

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

Dewition

Thanks The Deep. Yeah, there is a hell of a lot to get through. Thankfully the general consensus from what I've read so far is that it can be sorted out.

Dewition

Ok update and would love to hear some advice.

I entered a defence and counter claim to the County Court.

After doing some further research I didn't take the defence of "I parked my company car in my company car park with permission of the company manager" for the simple reason that no permit was on the vehicle and this is what the parking contract requires.

At the time of the issued car park the company which I was working for had recently taken on new premises and no vehicles had yet to be set up with parking permits. The sneaky wee !!!!!!s at UK Car Parking Ltd sent their goon round at 4am in the morning to issue tickets to all company vehicles when no one was about to tell him to "go away" (less politely).

At the time my company verbally called UK Car Park Ltd and had all these parking tickets cancelled. Unfortunately none of this was done in writing or by e-mail so there is no record. And more unfortunately my ticket was not cancelled as I did not receive the ticket or any future correspondence from UK Car Park Ltd or Gladstones as the mail was being sent to the wrong address.

Instead I issued my defence on the fact that the company I worked with had not entered into any contract with UK Car Park Ltd to police our Car park and were actually doing so without agreement of the tenant of the building. (The Landlord had entered into the agreement but this was not part of the tenancy agreement for the lease of the building).

I found out that the previous Managing Director for the company that held the lease of building before we moved in took UK Car Park Ltd to court for this exact reason (issuing and harassing the tenants who were parking in their own car park).

Here is a copy of what was sent by me to the court:

---

Dear Judge Taylor,

Thank you for your time on the 1st of October in regards to the above judgement.

I wish to forward the following defence and counterclaim in regards to the parking ticket from UK Car Park Management dated 19 April 2017.

The UK Car Park Management was not acting under direction of the company that owned the car park at the time. And had no charter to issue the ticket.
The vehicle was parked with the permission of the company that owned the car park at the time.
The ticket was issued at 4am in the morning in the dead of night and no signage was visible.

1.1. The car park and building tenancy was taken over by [company name] before the offence took place in April 2017 and no agreement was signed by [company name] to give permission to the UK Car Park Management to manage the car parking at the car park. The [company name] administration was not given a chance to issue permits to the legal users of the car park.

Please see affidavit A.

1.2. The previous owners of tenancy agreement for the building and car park at 147-149 London Road also had a run in with the UK Car Park Management and took them to court and won based on the exact same argument . I am enclosing a letter from the Managing Director of the company [previous company name] that states what occured in his case.

Please see affidavit B.

2.1 The car in question AUDI A3, was given express permission to park in the car park by [company name].

Please see affidavit C.

3.1 The ticket was issued at 4:07am, presumably to avoid office staff from [company name] coming to stop the illegal issuing of tickets.
3.2 The contractual signage placed by UK Car Park Management was partially hidden by branches and a dustbin.
3.3 The signage was not lit and, being the dead of the night, was not visible to someone wishing to use the premises.
3.4. The signage was therefore not clearly or prominently displayed. However, with no concession, even if a contract was agreed between [company name] and UK Car Park Management, no contractual agreement was possible with the driver of the vehicle due to the sign not being visible.


The fact of the matter is that I did not receive any correspondence from either UK Car Park Management or Gladstones solicitors regarding the proposed legal action and subsequent CCJ on my file. Moreover the vehicle was parked under authority of the company that owns the car park.

I have been playing catch up to get this situation fixed. The amount of time, money and emotional trauma I have gone through to resolve this is so far out of proportion to the simple fact of parking a vehicle I use for work at the place I work.

I understand that written permission is not a defence that is acceptable to the County Court which is why I am challenging based on the above 3 points. However I want it to be known that the total unreasonable attitude of Gladstones Solicitors and UK Car Park Management in resolving this simple matter is ridiculous.



I wish for this reason the County Court Judgment to be set aside and full legal costs for the claim (including the amount paid by myself to open the set aside) to be paid by the claimant (UK Car Park Ltd).


This is true,

---

The response from Court was to allocate the case to the Small Claims Track.

The response from Gladstone after this was:

We act for the Claimant and have notified the Court of our Client’s intention to proceed with the claim.



Please find attached a copy of our Client’s completed Directions Questionnaire, which will be filed with the court upon their request. You will note we intend to request a special direction that the case be dealt with on the papers and without the need for an oral hearing



This request is sought simply because the matter is in our Client’s opinion relatively straightforward and the costs incurred by both parties for attending an oral hearing would be disproportionate.



You will note our Client has elected not to mediate. Its decision is not meant to be in any way obstructive and is based purely on experience, as mediation has rarely proven beneficial in these types of cases. Notwithstanding this, our Client would be happy to listen to any genuine payment proposals that you wish to put forward.

---

So whats best for me here?

Go ahead with the mediation?
Go ahead with the special direction (Judge to decide based on the written facts)?
Or request something else.

Thanks for all your expertise!