My Defence / VCS Simon Renshaw-Smith

Coupon-mad

the Defendant is a company

Oh yes...and they've admitted they are not using the POFA...yet later, they say:

the defendant has failed to settle their outstanding liability.

Seeing as a company can't be 'the driver' and the driver was an individual with a disability who was not on company business in any agency capacity and needed a reasonable adjustment of time (in this case, taking an unproven/alleged 4 minutes more than the hitherto unknown 'grace period') what liability would that be, then?!

I'd be tempted to write to DJ Hassall signing off as Director of the company Defendant, and thank him for the Order, and say you feel the Company does not need to add any more to the defence, given the fact that:

- the Claimant has admitted they are not able to rely upon the POFA, and
- the company cannot have been the individual disabled driver in question, and
- the company will evidence that the driver was not acting in any agency capacity, and
- the company will evidence that the driver had 'protected characteristics' and enjoyed the protection under statute, of the rights & remedies in the Equality Act 2010, and
- a disabled driver is entitled to a reasonable adjustment of any inflexible fixed policy, including arbitrary time limits/grace periods applied to the able bodied population.
- there is no lawful justification for indirect discrimination and a failure to make a reasonable adjustment of time for the disabled population at large, and the Claimant cannot be heard to say they did not know about the individual's condition or need for more time, because that is not a lawful justification in a case of indirect discrimination.

All of which was pleaded in the first defence and the Claimant has failed to respond to it.

The Claimant's new statement in response to the Order is a commonly trotted-out VCS template, which has failed to add any level of detail that will hold the company liable for a penalty. The Beavis case cannot apply, not least because the driver could rely upon overriding primary statutory disability rights and a penalty in this case would be held to be a case of indirect discrimination against the disabled population at large, given even the slightest scrutiny by a competent court.

Send a copy to the Claimant as well, of course, as you must.

leftandfred

The protected person was the passenger, not the driver. Also the protected person is not of an age to be able to drive ?

Thank you again for so much help

Coupon-mad

OK, adjust it to say child passenger. The driver was the disabled child's carer.

Both carers and disabled passengers enjoy the rights I have outlined.

leftandfred

Finally found time to write the letter tonight, ill post it this week has to be in before 29th.
I will keep you all updated as and when things transpire.

Thank you again coupon-mad for all your help with this

leftandfred

Just Another Update.

The Judge has made another order that states Upon consideration of the court file,
The order is that the matter be transferred to Stockport.

It gives no reasons why. Maybe stockport have a judge that is more experienced in the Equality Act.

A few months ago stockport transfered it to Manchester.
Who Knows.
Will keep you all informed as things happen

Thankyou

leftandfred

Hi Guys and Gals,

Here is an update but it may be that i now have a problem.

The last letter i received from the courts was dated 4th march 2019 it was yet another
Notice of Transfer of Proceedings as a result of an order on 25th Feb stating that the claim has now been transferred back to the county court at Manchester.

I have never heard anything since until this week when i received a package from VCS containing their very long witness statement (reads like a new particulars of claim) and their evidence.

It states that the claimant will address the Defence by way of subheadings:
Law of Agency

They are relying on
CPS v AJH films
ParkingEye v Beavis

Now my problem, they write in the letter to the court "in regards to the forthcoming hearing"
So they must have received a hearing date but i have not.

I phoned Manchester court today and explained all this to them, they informed me that the hearing date is set for 10 am 5th November.
I also then realised that because i never received the hearing date i have not sent my Witness Statement to the court or VCS.
I explained this over the phone to the lady at the court, she asked me to put all this down in an e mail and send it to them (which i have done) so she can put notes on the system that the judge has access to.

She also said it would be best if i can still turn up for the hearing and to bring a witness statement with me. I have managed to re-arrange my working day on the 5th so i shall go.
I am about to do a Witness statement tonight, if i post it on here can you kind people check it for me and advise if it is ok.
Obviously i am now worried that the judge would find in favour of VCS as i have not provided the witness statement within the correct time frame.

Thank you

Umkomaas

Manchester Court has become a PPC graveyard, especially if it’s DJ Iyer’s court. But that shouldn’t instil any complacency, you must still go through the required processes.

You can post your WS draft, but it’s the weekend, and by its nature the WS is a personal statement of what happened, which you will know far better than a very tiny number of regulars who actually get involved in the minutiae of court pleadings and submissions.

You might need to take a leap of faith in your own work if there’s no response.

Redx

get it done , plus your Exhibits , plus your costs schedule asap , tonight


email it to VCS and to the court if possible , adding a note to the court that you never received the court order with the hearing date and apologise for late delivery etc


get it dropped in on monday morning as a bundle , take 3 bundles with you on the 5th as well, one for the claimant , one for yourself and one for the judge, with the covering apology note about the lack of a hearing date


if VCS served theirs late on you , its a 2 edged sword

beamerguy

They are relying on
CPS v AJH films
ParkingEye v Beavis

What is the matter with VCS ..... they have a very short memory ?

When they used BWLegal, they were being zapped in court over
CPS v AJH films
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72775365#Comment_72775365

And ParkingEye v Beavis ???? They fail to understand about this case especially when they add a fake £60 ?
VCS are very stupid because the Supreme court ruled ...
198. ''...The charge has to be and is set at a level which enables the managers to recover the costs of operating the scheme...''

All in all, this sounds like another spanking for VCS by the court

Make sure you have your costs schedule for the judge

Umkomaas

They are relying on
CPS v AJH films

If they’re relying on that, then the following (case CS049) blows it out of the water. And it was their sister company Excel who suffered the catastrophic loss in this context.

http://www.parking-prankster.com/more-case-law.html