Multiple county court claims?

wotnott

A County Court hearing has now been scheduled for August. I will need to submit to the court the evidence I will rely on during the coming weeks (and depending on other commitments I might need to get this submitted within the next week or ten days).

Any advice on how best to prepare would be appreciated.

This thread is now on its third page so to briefly recap the circumstances as described/discussed prior to this post:

1. I am a leaseholder with a demised parking space.
2. There is a permit parking scheme in place, which existed at the time I purchased the leasehold to my property.
3. The lease does not provide for introduction of parking controls
4. My vehicle was parked on my property without displaying a permit for an extended period while I was overseas.
5. Parking contractor issued four PCNs during this period. They followed up with numerous threats of legal action. Two PCNs were passed to their debt collection agency.
6. I appealed one PCN via IAS. Appeal was not successful. (This did not affect my legal rights, as stated by IAS.)
7. Following unsuccessful appeal and on the day of leaving the country for another extended work trip abroad (when I would not have been in much of a position to engage in correspondence or defend a claim) I paid one PCN. At the time I didn't realise they were separately pursuing others, and expected this to end the matter.
8. Parking contractor continued to pursue one of the other PCNs. Their solicitor issued LBC.
9. In response I issued my own LBC and subsequently made a claim via MCOL for the amount of the PCN and the appeal charge i.e. my direct financial loss as a result of parking contractor's actions.
10. They submitted a defence and counter-claim for the amount of the second PCN they are pursuing, plus costs.
11. I submitted a defence to the counter claim.
12. County court hearing scheduled.

Their position, very briefly, is that they have an agreement with the freeholder which permits them to operate their business in the car park and that I consented to abide by their rules when I bought my property, since the scheme was operational at the time.

My position, similarly briefly, is that I have the right to park on my property as per my lease and this is not conditional on displaying a permit. My lease takes precedence over both the agreement between parking contractor and freeholder, and the presence of their signage in the car park. The freeholder does not have the right to authorise a third party to police my property. Parking contractor is clearly not familiar with the terms of my lease, implying that they have never reviewed it. I believe they have trespassed on my property when issuing PCNs, harassed me by issuing spurious demands and threats of legal action, and obtained my details from DVLA without reasonable cause.

The main document I intend to rely on in court is my lease.

Beyond, that the items I am thinking of include:
1. Email from IAS stating that my legal rights are not affected by their decision
2. Director listing from Companies House to show that IAS/Gladstones have the same directors.
3. Snippets from the relevant legislation RE: trespass and harassment
4. Specification of the circumstances under which information can legitimately be obtained from DVLA

wotnott

I note this, from DVLA:

"Following a review of the procedures for data release the Department for Transport (DfT) introduced stringent safeguards. These included provisions to protect vehicle keepers from misuse of personal information, clear and robust complaint procedures where misuse has been alleged and assurances that those who demonstrate reasonable cause can access data where there is a breach of criminal, civil or contract law. When reasonable cause has been demonstrated, DVLA discloses information on the condition that it will only be used for the requested purpose and the recipient will protect its confidentiality. It is an offence to get information under false pretences or to use it for any purpose other than that originally stated. DVLA will investigate and take appropriate action in instances where companies are alleged to be using DVLA data inappropriately."

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804462/inf266-release-of-information-from-dvlas-registers.pdf

Accordingly, I have just emailed the DVLA to express concern that my personal details where obtained without reasonable cause.

Coupon-mad

Beyond, that the items I am thinking of include:
1. Email from IAS stating that my legal rights are not affected by their decision
2. Director listing from Companies House to show that IAS/Gladstones have the same directors.
3. Snippets from the relevant legislation RE: trespass and harassment
4. Specification of the circumstances under which information can legitimately be obtained from DVLA

I don't see that any of those are relevant.

It all about your lease, and case law like Jopson v Homeguard, PACE v Noor, Link v Parkinson (all in the Parking Prankster's case law transcripts list) and as a secondary point - if the Judge is somehow not with you on the lease/primacy of contract - it's always about the signage.

wotnott

OK, thanks. I was thinking of having some documentation relating to IAS, for instance, in case their solicitor suggests that unsuccessful IAS appeal is significant and I need something in writing to counter that.

But happy not to go that route if it wouldn't be useful/applicable.

So my plan will be to submit lease + relevant case law references.

(Link Parking vs Parkinson (C7GF50J7) seems very relevant to me here.)

Coupon-mad

Jopson is a higher level Appeal though - important to remember that one is persuasive to a first level hearing County Court Judge, whereas the others are just other County court decisions that a Judge can choose to disregard.

Have you got more than one live claim now?

If so (and if the facts/car park are the same) you need to put in a covering letter asking for the claims to be consolidated.

wotnott

Thank you again.

Regarding number of claims, there were originally four PCNs. This case now involves two of them (one I paid and wish to be reimbursed for, and one for which I am being counter-sued).

The reason that one specific PCN out of the remaining three was used in the counter claim was that it had been passed to the third party agent for collection, whereas the other two haven't been. At this point I presume that they will not want to try to enforce those two, in light of the amount of aggravation the first two have caused already.

But yes, this does somewhat come back to the question I raised originally, which was whether claims had to be consolidated before going through the courts. The warning letters, I think it is true to say, were all for individual PCNs, but those did not make it as far as legal action. There is only one legal claim ongoing.
My understanding is that separate legal claims would not be permitted so I have been presuming that the ongoing claim involving two PCNs pretty much limits it to those two.

Coupon-mad

My understanding is that separate legal claims would not be permitted

No-one would stop them and we see lots of cases with multi-claims.

wotnott

It is nearly time for me to submit the documentation I intend to rely on at the hearing. I am not very well-versed in the procedure.

To confirm, presumably I submit the documents with a covering letter. Any need to say anything in the covering letter beyond ' please find enclosed' etc.? Should I recap my case at this point, or would that be redundant?

nosferatu1001

Huh?

Have you failed to re-read the newbies thread, post 2, which is completely clear on the process; you have to submit a witness statement, which tells YOUR side of the story. You said back on the 7th June you only had a week or ten days to do this - so which is it?

You need to be specific here.

wotnott

Thanks for your input. I was not aware of that post in the newbies thread and will read it now.

On 7 June I did not say that I only had a week or ten days to do this. What I actually said was "depending on other commitments I might need to get this submitted within the next week or ten days".

I was planning for the case where I had to be overseas now and therefore would have been obliged to act sooner. That has not in fact proved necessary.

It is not clear to me where I need to be more specific. I realise that I have not stated the date of the hearing or the deadline for submission of supporting evidence, but these do not seem of much relevance to forum members other than myself. My question related merely to procedure.