Robin hood airport Doncaster

BON_EON

Thanks for all the help. It's been a while since I've read all of that information. I did know about the bye laws, but clearly blanked it out ����

I just got a bit of 'twitchy bum syndrome'

BON_EON

Please can you have a look at my defence for my MCOL. I have taken a range of other defences that I have read and tailored them to mine.

DEFENCE

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2.1 The claimant failed to comply with the Practice directions of the claim. (Practice Directions 16 7.3(1) and 7C 1.4(3A) refer). They have failed to reply to my letter before claim, requesting further information pertaining to the apparent contravention. This was sent to them on the 28th November 2018. As Keeper I have still not received a reply from them.

2.2 They have also failed to reply to a Subject Access Request (SAR), which they are legally obliged to do. I have complained to the Information Consumers Office (ICO) in relation to this.

2.3 VCS are members of the IPC, but they have failed to uphold their code of practice 3.3: “You must ensure there are appropriate manual checks in place to ensure correct
registration details are used to obtain keeper details from the DVLA”. There were no manual checks in place at the time of the incident.

2.4 Further breaches of the IPC code of practice include Byelaws 9.1. “It is your responsibility to establish whether any land upon which you operate is subject to any Byelaws. Where land is subject to Byelaws you must ensure that your practices are in accordance with them or, alternatively, that you operate a scheme that is not prohibited by them.” The airport Land is subject to bylaws and therefore VCS are in breach of IPC code of practice.

3.1 The defendant has no liability as Keeper of the vehicle; the Private Parking Company has failed to comply with the strict provisions of PoFA 2012 to hold anyone other than the driver liable for the charges. They have not provided images, as requested, of the driver in order for me as Keeper to identify who was driving the vehicle at the time.

3.2 The claimant has referred in their correspondence to using PoFA 2012 to recover the claims of the Parking notice from the Keeper. The apparent contravention took place on Privately Owned airport land. PoFA 2012 DOES NOT apply to airport land, as this land is governed by it’s own bylaws. Therefore there can be no liability to myself as Keeper.

3.3 As Keeper I requested information pertaining to the layout of the land to show which areas are governed by airport bylaws – again this information was not received, again VCS are not complying with the Practice directions of their claim.

4.1 The photographic evidence submitted by VCS are date and time stamped. It shows the vehicle at 13:10:54 from a mobile camera on a car that is a distance away. It then shows a series of images from 13:10:57 to 13:11:27, which is a very blurry image of the vehicle. This is a total of 33 seconds. VCS have issued a ‘Stopping in a Zone where Stopping is prohibited’. However they have not provided any evidence to show that the vehicle was actually stationary and not moving, therefore no contravention has occurred.

4.2 The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract. The sign is also too small to read unless you pullup alongside it and read it. NO CONTARCT can be agreed to without firstly reading it and then making an informed decision as to agree to it or not.

4.3 A driver can’t stop and read a sign properly, which contravenes the IPC code of practice section 15 (Grace Period):

15.1 Drivers should be allowed a sufficient amount of time to park and read any signs so
they may make an informed decision as to whether or not to remain on the site.
15.2 Drivers must be allowed a minimum period of 10 minutes to leave a site after a
pre-paid or permitted period of parking has expired.
15.3 The reference to 10 minutes in 15.2 above shall not apply where the period of pre-paid
or permitted parking does not exceed 1 hour providing that the signage on the site
makes it clear to the motorist, in a prominent font, that no grace period applies on that
land.
The apparent contravention that occurred only gave the driver 33 seconds to be able to read any signs and “make an informed decision as to whether or not to remain on the site”. Again VCS have not adhered to their own Code of Practice.

4.4 I refer to case Vehicle Services Ltd vs Ibbotson (2012) in which it was agreed that a private parking firm was responsible for mitigating any loss. The parking operative had every opportunity to see if the driver had firstly stopped, and if they had they should have then told them to move on, but failed to do so.

5. It is submitted that the Claimant is merely an agent acting ‘on behalf of’ the landowner who would be the only proper claimant. Strict proof is required of a chain of contracts leading from the landowner to this Claimant, to allow them the right to form contracts and to sue in their name

6.1 The Claimant has at no time provided an explanation how the sum has been calculated, the conduct that gave rise to it or how the amount has climbed from £100 to £160. This appears to be an added cost with apparently no qualification and an attempt at double recovery, which the POFA Schedule 4 specifically disallows. The Protection of Freedom Act Para 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper.

6.2 Even if there were a contract, the Claimant is trying to recover additional charges such as legal costs £50.00 and court fees £25.00. The Protection of Freedoms Act (POFA) 2012 does not permit the Claimant to recover a sum greater than the parking charge on the day before a Notice to Keeper was issued. The Claimant cannot recover additional charges. The Defendant also has reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred the stated additional costs and is put to strict proof they actually have occurred.


7. The Court is invited to dismiss this claim in its entirety, due to no cause of action nor prospects of success.

8. The facts and information in this defence are true and the Defendant is not liable for the sum claimed, nor any sum at all.

Coupon-mad

You have the wrong full name of the ICO there, so put that right.

You have lots of 'I' and 'me/my' which are not right in a defence. Should be in the third person: 'The Defendant' did this, and avers that...

They have failed to reply to my letter before claim, requesting further information pertaining to the apparent contravention.

Your ''Letter before Claim''? What?! Did you send a LBC? That has a specific meaning.

BON_EON

Thanks for this. The language of law is a difficult world.

Besides these discrepancies, is the actual content ok??

Coupon-mad

Your numbering is odd. Get rid of 2.1 entirely, and then renumber as 1, 2, 3, etc.

nosferatu1001

Indeed, and realise a defence is often argument: rationale
So you argue why not liable, and then explain if needed

Oh and look up terms. ICO does NOT stand for what you say it does! https://ico.org.uk/

BON_EON

So it's been a while since I last posted.

I have my court date in a month, i know i have some reading up to do, but you learned are amazing with your advice.
What do i have to do next?
A witnessed statement? etc?

Redx

you need to read the court date letter as it tells you what to do and by what date


and to read post #2 of the NEWBIES thread, especially the BARGEPOLE linked posts, which give you your answers, BARGEPOLE is an extremely LEARNED person as regards this topic

BON_EON

I have just received the witness statement from VCS.

Is there a way of uploading it so i can get some advice on counter arguments that they are posing?

I'm also concerned about the information they have put regarding PoFA 2012 - keeper liability. This is what the main argument of my case is, but i'm concerned about what they have put regarding the validity of this.

Redx

try dropbox or imgur or tinypic or some other similar hosting site and add a url in your reply, but redact the personal info first