Claim Form Stage

notaparkingfan

Hi,

I received several tickets (from UK Car Park Management Limited) for parking my car in my own private space on an estate (this is a gated area and this particular space is linked to my flat by the lease). A few particulars:

• One of the tickets was issued a week after the others so I'm getting two sets of demands with a time delay in-between
• I am not the registered keeper but I own the lease on the spot at which it was parked
• I initially contacted them explaining I was the leaseholder and submitted evidence to the same (permit/lease etc) but received a reply stating that I breached the terms and conditions of parking and thus needed to pay. I don't have a copy of the letter so unsure if I admitted to being the driver/making a mistake.
• I tried going through the POPLA process however my appeals were rejected (the judgement was extremely general and did not rebuke any of the points I made so I can't determine the reason it was rejected)
• I have reviewed my lease and there is no clause that specifically requires me to a display permit to park or allows restrictions on it's use anywhere though it mentions service charges can go towards (among other things) a parking management scheme.
• The management company have said on a web-page you can opt out of using the parking scheme though state it is in place for our benefit

Status of Demands:

• One demand has led to a Claim form being sent (I ignored the Letter Before Claim), I have since filed an Acknowledgement of Service and am due to submit a defence/counterclaim shortly
• The other demand is at the 'Letter before Claim' stage

I believe I can point to my lease having primacy over any agreements made between the management & parking company, and also that it invalidates the supposed contract I entered into by parking in my spot (according to their signs).

I wasn't particularly clued up when I started this so feel I've made a mistakes in my approach so far, I would appreciate if anyone could give me any tips for defending this well.

bargepole

notaparkingfan wrote: »

I believe I can point to my lease having primacy over any agreements made between the management & parking company, and also that it invalidates the supposed contract I entered into by parking in my spot (according to their signs).

This is the key point, and should be the winning one. There are plenty of persuasive precedents from previous cases, which support this line of argument.

I wouldn't bother with any arguments about POFA / keeper liability, you are better off defending this as the driver.

Essentially, your defence is:

1) I have a pre-existing right to park, as per the terms of the lease
2) Your signage is incapable of varying the terms of the lease
3) Now go away and crawl back under the stone from which you emerged.

notaparkingfan

Thanks Bargepole, I've constructed a defense I'm fairly happy with using the template coupon-mad/you created though I'm unsure if clause 5 applies to me. It states:

Further and in the alternative, the signs refer to 'Authorised Vehicles Only/Terms of parking without permission', and suggest that by parking without permission, motorists are contractually agreeing to a parking charge of £100. This is clearly a nonsense, since if there is no permission, there is no offer, and therefore no contract.

In my case the sign has the title 'Parking Conditions. Private Property | Terms & Conditions' (the conditions essentially say a permit must be displayed and you must park between the lines) so I'm not sure if I can use this since it doesn't refer to parking without permission. Can this be easily reworded or best left out?

Finally I have a separate Letter before Claim from Gladstone (for essentially the same thing but at a later date). Is it worth me replying to them since I'm already headed to court with an earlier claim?

KeithP

What is the Date of Issue on your Claim Form?

notaparkingfan

Sorry for the delay, the date is 19 Sep 2018 (planning to submit soon)

One thing that is worrying me is that the defendant name on the documents is a family member (registered keeper) and not myself. I thought I had put my own details on the MoneyClaim portal ('Defendant's name if different from that on the claim form) however it hasn't been corrected.

I've already tried sending an email to them last week though not heard back yet - is this going to be a problem?

KeithP

You cannot change the name of the Defendant.

The person named as the Defendant on the Claim Form is the person that must defend the Claim.

With a Claim Issue Date of 19th September, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 22nd October 2018 to file your Defence.

Getting a bit close now. Don't leave it until 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.

Redx

bear in mind that this must be signed and dated by the person named as the DEFENDANT, nobody else can do this and it is the defendant that may end up in a court room in front of the judge (with or without the helper)

anyone else involved is merely a helper, like a solicitor advising a client, that client id still the defendant and puts forward their own defence

notaparkingfan

Thanks for clearing that up. Regarding Keith's comment about sending the email, I will definitely do this although MCOL has the ability to file the defence through it's portal - should I do this first?

My defence rests on the fact that I was the driver and hold the lease allowing me to park in that bay. Since it is the registered keeper they are going after as the defendant, could I simply rephrase the defence to state at the top:

The driver has identified themselves as [XYZ] and responsible for parking the car in the bay where the alleged breach of contract occurred on dates [ABC]. The driver is fully insured against the vehicle in question and had full permission to operate it during the time the alleged breach of contract occurred.

And from then on keep my defence the same but simply refer to the driver rather than the defendant. For example:

The Particulars refer to the material location as [XYZ]. The DRIVER has, since
[ABC], held legal title under the terms of a lease, to [DEF] at that location which includes
legal title to the private secure parking space designated [XXX] at
which the breach is alleged to have occurred. At some point, the
managing agents contracted with the Claimant company to enforce
parking conditions at the estate.

The DRIVER, at all material times, parked in accordance with
the terms granted by the lease. The erection of the Claimant's
signage, and the purported contractual terms conveyed therein, are
incapable of binding the DRIVER in any way, and their existence
does not constitute a legally valid variation of the terms of the
lease. Accordingly, the DRIVER denies having breached any
contractual terms whether express, implied, or by conduct.

nosferatu1001

DO NOT FILE USING MCOL. EVER

Theres a reason we tell you precisely what to do, and if youd resaerched yoru question first you would have found it out.

No
No
No

The defendant defends. This is a really straightforward concept. The person NAMED AS THE DEFENDANT is defending this.

So
The driver was fully authorised to park by vritue of their lease section N para Y line Z. The driver cannot have entered into any contract with teh claimant and conseuqently there can be no liabiltiy for the Defendant for any alleged breach of contract.