Court Case Tomorrow vs Horizon/Gladstones

chad888

Bit of a long winded process in total now. 4 tickets from 2015, court claim arrived in 2017, February 2017 sent the defence but never reached the court apparently, and judgement made against me. I appealed to have it set aside, the judge removed the ruling and the case went back to the start with me filing a defence. In July we had the date and time given and told witness statements delivered no later than 14 days before the hearing. I recieved the claimants statement and evidence about 4 days AFTER the deadline so had to hash together a generic defence without having any of the claimants evidence to work from.

Tomorrow though in Birmingham County Court I go up against Gladstones and Horizon for the second time.

I went up against them around this time last year, the judge ruled in my favour on 3 parking tickets because they could not provide any evidence as to what the signs were displaying at the time of parking.

This time the evidence contains:

1) The same copied and pasted witness statement but under a different persons name
2) A sign for the car park stating "3 hours parking"
3) A sign for the car park stating "4 hours parking"
4) The front page of the contract (the previous evidence pack had the whole contract) which is between Horizon and a 3rd party agent. (Land owner > Car park management company > Workman LLC agent > Horizon)
5) An overhead view of the car park with "44 signs" marked using paint or some external application
6) A photo of my car with a yellow "slip" on the window and the time 1pm
7) A photo of my car with a yellow "slip" on the window and the time 1pm
8) A photo of my car with a yellow "slip" on the window and the time 1pm
9) An in and out photo of my car at 08 40 and 13:09 - overstay of 9 minutes when factoring in the 20 minute grace period that is in their contract
10) All of the letters demanding payment that was sent
11) 2 photos of random vehicles dated with signs in the background, you can not read the signs but you can see the style they are in show they are the signs they claim in the evidence.


My witness statement is pretty terrible considering the fact i followed the judges rules and delivered it 14 days prior to the hearing, 3 days before i received the claimants evidence and witness statement. And it is very hard to write a defence based on the generic robo claim in the court summons.

I was thinking of focusing my defence on the fact that for 3 of the charges they have no evidence or time of me entering the car park, how long i stayed, whether it was over 4 hours or if the attendant had also considered the 20 minute grace period. The case we went to court with last year had an overstay that was well within that 20 minute grace period, so it isn't beyond them to try and play the system. For the one where they have a photo of my car I am going to try and argue that the 9 minute overstay, in a free car park that does not even require tickets and has no "no return" policy will not receive £100 damages if i stay by 9 minutes and the witness statement claiming that it is a fair charge because it is in line with other companies that provide the same service. Also that the claimant is so far removed from the land owner that they have no rights to make a claim in their own name and then go so far as to claim they are damages or lost earnings when they are doing what they are hired to do in chasing up overstay.


Am i on to anything there or do i need to refocus my defence and what on? I provided case law in my evidence pack and witness statement, about 10 cases where the judge ruled that my last point was correct and the parking company have no legal grounds to make a claim. However in last years case, the judge seemed to mention that (i didnt understand the jargon) that if there is a contract in place and i enter the car park i have to follow that contracts rules no matter who gets damaged, but they didnt prove there was a contract.

System

Costs - though you may be a bit late.

chad888

I will present prelim matters i.e. the other parties right of audience before, this got poopooed last year but try again may aswell.

I will also present my costs after the case, i.e. 14 miles drive/parking and a day of leave £250 in lost wages and £250 to get the case set aside.

Umkomaas

Max cost award for loss of earnings is for half a day - £95.

chad888

Really?! Thats pretty rubbish. Its a 1pm hearing, if i went to work in the morning i would need to leave at 10 30 to get there and the hearing will last until 3 at least giving me an hour to get back to work, say 4pm. 5.5 hours out of work at the least. I mean, is there any point me going in for an hour in the AM and PM?

I miss out on £304 for the day not going in to work.

Umkomaas

Make sure you take wage/salary slips to prove your earnings to the Judge, or you'll likely not even get £95.

chad888

Any suggestions on what defence i should go with? What should be my key points of defence. Or am i going with the right points to start with. My main issue is the evidence is kind of generic evidence and witness statement is run of the mill as I didn't know what I was up against.

It is Gladstones and Horizon so, we all know how bad GS are!

bargepole

chad888 wrote: »

Any suggestions on what defence i should go with?

The hearing is tomorrow. A bit late to be asking that question.

You can only go with whatever is in your defence and witness statement already filed, which you have admitted are 'generic' and 'terrible'.

Better hope you don't get a Judge who recognises these as the usual rubbish 'spray and pray' nonsense found online, and sends you away with a flea in your ear.

nosferatu1001

indeed, this is very late to discusse this.
Best ofluck for tomorrow.

chad888

I didnt use generic that i found online, I used the same arguments i used in the case i won last year as it is the same car park and opponent.

Their evidence pack is exactly the same other than the addition of 2 new photos with dates on (of other peoples cars) that personally I do not know whether it is or isn't this car park. The writing on the sign is a black blur so I can't see the name of the car park etc but I am assuming they are trying to pass it off as evidence that XXX sign was in place on the date of XXX which is where they lost the case last year.

My defence points in the witness statement were: An entrance that has the private land sign on the other side of a 4 lane roundabout exit. There is no "terms" sign then, you get in to the car park and there are 4 signs with the contract terms, all of them facing out over a 3 lane road, so you would need to stand in the road and risk being run over to read what is being displayed.

The car park caters for 700 cars and having 4 signs that are placed in the middle of the car park is very cynical and not making it clear to the driver that they are under contract terms.

Case law (10 examples) dictates that they are in no position to claim and their contract does not state that they can make a claim for land which they are not the owner and not facing any damages or losses from. The claimant is so far removed from the process that they have zero interest in pursuing this other than to add to their profits.

The sign is very different to the Beavis case which is very clear in the rules and charges.

The £120 that they are asking for is clearly a deterrent and not anything more because they were willing to reduce it to £50 if paid within 2 weeks, how does 9 minutes of an overstay represent £50 damages and then incur a further £70 damages if that £50 is not paid?

System

The £120 that they are asking for is clearly a deterrent

As it is supposed to be.

But unless there a "legitimate interest" in pursuing you, the penalty rule is still in play. But it appears this will be a 5 minute job if you attack the evidence.

Point to the other cases and mention "res judicata" to the judge and ask him/her to order that they cease any further claims until such times as they can produce evidence. Add that if they do persist then CPR 27.14 (2) g should be applied.