Gladstones County Court Claim Form

CaptainRandomName

Keith, Thank you very much!

Everyone, please see my draft below, which is an slightly edited version of the original events to reflect that I was the driver and not the registered keeper, as it was a courtesy car.

I do somehow need to bring attention to the fact that signage stated "corresponding permit holders only" and not anything about a permit being displayed. Where do I list myself as a witness and mention all the ancillary documentation / evidence i have, such as pictures of the signage or letters written.

Do I include letters written to them stating I had a write to park there as I had a permit and their flagrant disregard of the facts replying with "signage states permits must be displayed?"

I also feel like it's important to make reference to the fact they didn't actually send me any mail leading up to the court claim form, except for debt recovery letters ofc at my old address. The first I knew of court proceedings was a warning text and I had to go through their "data protection officer" to update my address and I still didn't get letters after this, just the final court claim form. If i'm correct they're supposed to send something before the court claim letter?

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: XXXXXX

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

XXXXXX (Defendant)

________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

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

2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration XXXXXX, of which the Defendant was the driver, and a courtesy car, was parked on the material date in a marked bay allocated to Company XXXXXX at XXXXXXX, and the driver had a valid permit to be parked in that bay.

3. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant !!!8220;was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle(s)!!!8221;. These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

4. Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

5. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the claimant's signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. They merely state that vehicles must be parked correctly within their allocated parking bay, giving no definition of the term 'correctly parked', nor indicating which bays are allocated to whom.

6. The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle, and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would be unable to do so easily. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract.

7. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

8. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, at Section 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £100. The claim includes an additional £60, for which no calculation or explanation is given, and which appears to be an attempt at double recovery.

9. In summary, it is the Defendant's position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

KeithP

Shouldn't para 5 perhaps mention something about "signage states permits must be displayed"? Or is it "associated permit holders only"?

In para 3, replace !!!8220; and !!!8221; with quotation marks.

CaptainRandomName

You're probably right I should edit that para for the facts and thanks for pointing out the !!!8220; I assumed it was a reference to some law lol. I've found a more up to date post by locating the original thread. I've update para 7 to reflect the permit assigned to myself as an employee as opposed to the original statement that was focused on the vehicle having a permit, as I was in a courtesy car at the time.

I have a couple of queries now:

1) How do i enter a counter claim for the day of work to attend court, petrol costs, personal time to create a defence and post / draft message and speak to their DPO to change my address. Is this all viable and is it a standardised hourly rate?

2) How do I include myself as a witness and include all of the supporting evidence to be seen in court e.g. pics of signage etc.

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: xxxxxxxxxx

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

xxxxxxxxxxxx (Defendant)

________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

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

2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration XXXXXX, of which the Defendant was the driver, and a courtesy car, was parked on the material date in a marked bay allocated to Company XXXXXX at XXXXXXX, and the driver had a valid permit to be parked in that bay.

3. The Claimant has failed to issue a Letter Before Action, or provided any details of the claim prior to issuing a claim at court. As such, the Claimant has failed to comply with the Practice Direction – Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols, para 6 (a) & (c). (Seems like they did the same to this poor lady)

4. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant “was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle(s)”. These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16, 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

5. Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

6. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the Claimant’s signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. They merely state that vehicles must be parked correctly within their allocated parking bay, giving no definition of the term 'correctly parked'. The signage gave no requirement to display the valid parking permit.

7. The Claimant is put to strict proof that the Driver did not have a valid permit to be parked in that bay.

8. The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle, and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would need to stand directly in front of a dangerous access ramp with poor visibility. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract.

9. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

10. The Notice To Keeper does not specify the period of parking, as required by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, Section 8 (2)(a)&(b) and therefore cannot hold the keeper liable.

11. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, at Section 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £100. The claim includes an additional £60, for which no calculation or explanation is given, and which appears to be an attempt at double recovery.

12. In summary, it is the Defendant's position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to Civil Procedure Rules 3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

Name
Signature
Date

Thank you all again,
Random,

KeithP

CaptainRandomName wrote: »

I have a couple of queries now:

1) How do i enter a counter claim for the day of work to attend court, petrol costs, personal time to create a defence and post / draft message and speak to their DPO to change my address. Is this all viable and is it a standardised hourly rate?

2) How do I include myself as a witness and include all of the supporting evidence to be seen in court e.g. pics of signage etc.

1) You don't enter a counterclaim for your costs. You supply a Costs Schedule to the court (and Claimant) later in the process.

2) Witness statement and evidence comes later.


For both these issues you need to read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread in greater detail than you appear to have done so far.


In fact, before asking any question it is probably a good idea to look in the NEWBIES thread to see if it has already been answered.

CaptainRandomName

Now that I have got through the immediate stress and have a few more days on hand, I shall be sure to go back and read through the Newbies FAQ more thoroughly:)

Thanks,
Random

CaptainRandomName

Hi guys,

Could I please check that my defence statement above seems reasonable? If so I will submit it tomorrow to email address suggested after printing and signing

Thanks,
Random

CaptainRandomName

Hi All,

Me again. I've read up on the thread of what to do and by when after returning your defence statement but I cannot see anything regarding a directions questions such as I have received. I seem to have received either A) a questionnaire directly from Gladstone's and not the court or Gladstone's directions questionnaire copy. I have however not received my own copy of a directions questionnaire, albeit the back page of the thing sent to me by Gladstone's seems to have some spaces to fill out but they've cheekily printed this on the back of their 'request for special direction' statement. I also saw several references to the paperwork for directions questionnaire mentioning a date to which to reply by and a court mentioned, I see neither.


I'd really appreciate any help.


Thanks,

Random.

KeithP

How you deal with this is fully described in post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.

It explains exactly how to deal with Gladstone's 'special directions'.

CaptainRandomName

Sure, thanks Keith, I did see this, however is it normal to have no date in which I must reply by on the form? Do I have to reply using this form and to Northampton again? Or is there a more direct approach like there was when submitting my defence statement? I read somewhere 14 days to reply, but I haven't received a Directions Questionnaire unless it is the last page of the documentation sent to me by Gladstones?

Thanks,
Random

KeithP

You do not have to do anything with a DQ sent to you by the Claimant.

The CCBC will send you a DQ to complete, at which time you will object to G's 'special directions'.

When complete, your DQ should be returned to the CCBC using the same method and email address used for your Defence.

Remember to send a copy to the Claimant - address on Claim Form.