County Court Claim For Private Parking Ticket

ironicallylegal

Hi all,

My mum received a PCN many months ago from Millennium Doors and Events Security Ltd, and having ignored their letters they are now being taken to court for a fine of around £250. The particulars of claim states that as the 'keeper and or driver of the vehicle' she owes th said sum, which includes interest and legal fees.
What is the best way of going about this? My mum is a blue badge holder and I'm thinking whether this could be a line of defence, on the grounds that she should be able to park there/ park for a longer period of time as a 'reasonable adjustment'?

I also want to make sure that Millennium group is a member of BPA or IPC because I can't see their name on either of those lists. If they're not I'm wondering how they obtained our address?

For the record, I've looked at the Newbie thread, and this is all that I see applicable.

fisherjim

Millennium are IPC members, the blue badge has no actual relevance on private land as you should know, except as an indicator to their attendants that a passenger or driver of the car has a disability, and thus can use a disabled bay.

Why was the PCN issued?


Why was no appeal made as advised on here (may look bad in court) and why do you think the usual defences don't apply?



With your current thinking I fear it could end in a bad way!

ironicallylegal

I have made it clear that I am not responsible for the ticket, nor am I responsible for the failure to respond. I don't entirely see what you mean by 'with your current thinking' as I'm merely stating the facts as they are.

In relation to the other defences, they generally speaking seem to be that:

1. The signage was unclear or unlit- from what I've seen of the signs they seem to indicate that the parking space is private and that parking was not permitted. This, I assume is why the PCN was issued in the first place, but by mum no longer has the original letters, and it is not explained in the particulars of claim. It states that the terms of the parking were breached, without explaining what they are. I will be request the PCN and other correspondence to be resent to us.
2. The second usual claim seems to be that the driver has not been identified. Again, I'm unsure if my mum was identified as the driver in earlier correspondence, but she is not stated as the driver per se. She is referred to as 'the driver and/ or is the keeper'. This is a possible ground, but I would need to confirm that previous letters have not identified her as the driver.

I would like a robust defence as possible, and therefore would appreciate helpful guidance on the matter.

ironicallylegal

Please see response below

The_Deep

The law requires that service providers must make reasonable adjustments to cater for the disabled, whether they hold blue badges of not. This will not mean free parking, but it should allow small overstays, parking outside the bay, etc.

If parking was not permitted , then your mother could not enter into a contract to park, no contract, no breach of contract. Read some of these.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=forbidding+signs+parking+&form=EDNTHT&mkt=en-gb&httpsmsn=1&refig=c79ccbb68e50485981cb47df96fde997&PC=ACTS&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=forbidding+signs+pa&sc=0-19&qs=n&sk=&cvid=c79ccbb68e50485981cb47df96fde997

£250 is more than the law allows, even if they won their claim, a judge is unlikely to award them more than £150 as they have not engaged a solicitor and therefore cannot claim legal fees. It is all a scam, complain to your MP

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.

Redx

Millenium is IPC and listed under M for Millenium

I suggest you read other Millenium court case threads, especially where user LOC123 (a practising solicitor) has posted or commented , including her own court case thread

then look at the recent BARGEPOLE CONCISE DEFENCE as well , plus any other defences he has honed

then draft your own defence and post it below for critique, also adding the POC and the DATE OF ISSUE in your reply too

maybe the keeper should send MPS a SAR using GDPR, to get various info and evidence

this is detailed in the recent COUPON_MAD THREAD about GDPR 2018 FIGHTBACK


the BB isnt of use on privcate land, its the EA2010 that protects the BBowner, not the BB itself (read the blue booklet)

Coupon-mad

I would like a robust defence as possible,

We want your Mum to have that too but you do need to see why much of the example defences in the second post there, DO apply.

It's not a fine and her case is defendable and similar to lots of others.

My mum is a blue badge holder and I'm thinking whether this could be a line of defence, on the grounds that she should be able to park there/ park for a longer period of time as a 'reasonable adjustment'?

Depends if the space was somewhere she could park, or was she trepassing?

Tell us about the location and car parking space and sign?

What was the alleged contravention?

Was it a shopping car park and she 'overstayed' (how long over?).

What date was the claim issued (top right)?

What do the Particulars of Claim (POC) say on the left of the claim (EXACT WORDS)?

How much is the stupidly exaggerated total on the right?

Which solicitor? If Gladstones, read some Gladstones Millennium defence threads by searching the forum for those words - advanced search, and change to 'show results as POSTS'.

ironicallylegal

I think we need to revisit the car park and note the exact wording of the signs, as my mum doesn't remember unfortunately. The contravention seems to be 'breaching parking terms', which I need more information on. The date of issue is the 04/10/2018. It is indeed Gladstones that are dealing with the case.
I will come back with an update ASAP and hopefully clarify the situation.

ironicallylegal

Thank you for the point about the lack of offer, I will make sure that the sign said no parking. The claim was made by Gladstones, who are acting for Millennium.

KeithP

ironicallylegal wrote: »

The date of issue is the 04/10/2018.

With a Claim Issue Date of 4th October, you have until Tuesday 23rd October to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox link from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.

Having done the AoS, you then have until 4pm on Tuesday 6th November 2018 to file your Defence.

Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as described here:

1) Print your Defence.
2) Sign it and date it.
3) Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
4) Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
5) Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
6) Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
7) Wait for your Directions Questionnaire and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

System

and having ignored their letters they are now being taken to court for a fine of around £250

Who is "they"? Who is the actual defendant and what are you doing? Defending or helping the defendant?