MCOL Issued

KeithP

Then do that.

Your local County Court will have an email address should you wish to use it.

mand898

Thanks for that, I thought they meant the full defence with photos and case references, witness statement and skeleton etc... I assumed what I had sent to CCBC would have been forwarded to my County court.

Redx

it should have been , so very strange that they do not have a copy

if it definitely says defence, let them have a copy

if you have the court letter with a hearing date and asking for the WS + EXHIBITS, then that is nothing to do with your defence

KeithP

You filed your Defence. You did not file a draft Defence.
You showed us a draft Defence, but one it was tweaked and finalised it was no longer a draft Defence.

A Witness Statement is not a Defence. Photos and evidence are not part of your Defence.

You really need to get up to speed on the terminology used.
If, for example, the judge asks you expand on something in your Defence, you need to know what he/she is talking about.

mand898

I now have a copy of VCS wiitness statement and I have to have my WS into the court by 12/3/19

Le_Kirk

Have you written your Witness Statement yet? Plenty of help available in NEWBIE thread but basically it is the story, in your own words, of what happened, written in the first person and relating to your defence and any evidence you wish to submit.

mand898

I am in the process of writing my WS, will post when complete. Do I need to post a copy of VCS WS to enable yous to see any of my Defence they have refuted?

mand898

In the County Court at XXXX

Claim No. XXXX

Between

VEHICLE CONTROL SERVICES LIMITED (Claimant)

and

MR XXXXXX (Defendant)


WITNESS STATEMENT

I, XXXXX, of XXXXXXXX, will say as follows:

I am the Defendant in this matter. Attached to this statement is a paginated bundle of documents marked DA1 to which I will refer.
Before I describe what happened on the day I parked in xxxx car park, I confirm that the essence of my defence to this claim is that:
1. I have shown by paying for a parking ticket the willingness to pay to park and this is a "de minimis" issue. At best I owe the tariff and not the "penalty" element.

2. The signage and parking meter in the Claimants car park were insufficiently lit to offer a means to correct payment. Whereas in the Council operated car park on the same site, there was lighting supplied to enable me to see the signage and the parking meter.

3. There is also no fence at land ownership boundary to stop travel between 2 areas. A driver who bought a legitimate ticket for Council area of car park but unknowingly ends up parking in the private area of car park can be penalised without knowing it and vice versa. A form of entrapment which it feels like in this case.

4. I believe that due to the statements above I am not liable to pay the amount the Claimant seeks.

On January 12th 2018 at approximately 7.30pm my partner and I entered a car park next to a public house (The Strawberry), in Newcastle city centre. The intention was to park, then go for a meal in a nearby restaurant. The car park is large and has spaces both to the left and right of the entrance road. (See page 1 of bundle DA1 attached). I looked around for a parking meter so I could park as close to it as possible, the only one visible to me in the dark was one on the right hand side of the entrance road, lit by a nearby light with a sign attached saying’Pay Here’ (See page 2 of bundle DA1 attached). I navigated my vehicle around this side of the car park but there were no empty spaces. On exiting the right side of the car park, I noticed a space available behind the Strawberry public house on the other side of the car park entrance road.(See page 3 of DA! Bundle attached) Happy with finding a space I parked in it and we alighted from my vehicle. I looked around to see if there was a nearer parking meter than the one I’d previously seen but there was none evident. I noticed a white sign which I approached to find out the parking charge due for my stay. (See page 4 of bundle DA1 Attached). Establishing charges of £1.50 per hour at all times, I went to the only meter visible to me and paid £3.00 to easily cover my estimated time at the restaurant. I placed the ticket on my dashboard as I know is the procedure in Pay and display car parks. We then went to the restaurant.
On our return to the car park I noticed a note placed under my windscreen wiper which looked like a parking ticket, (yellow with black chevrons around). I said to my partner, ‘it cant be a parking ticket because we’ve paid’. I took the card from under the wiper and read it, it said ‘Document enclosed. This is not a parking charge notice.’ Thinking it was some sort of advertising material I placed it in my door well along with the ticket from my dashboard I’d paid for, rather than discard them as litter, then we set off home.
A week later I was shocked to receive a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) Notice to Keeper (NTK) from Vehicle Control Services (VCS) for £100, stating I had parked without displaying a valid ticket. Remembering the card which had been placed on my dashboard on the evening of the alleged offence was still in my door well, I retrieved it, removed it from the plastic sleeve and read the back of it, which I had been unable to on the night out because it was dark. Apparently it was a parking ticket, even though it said on the front it wasn’t.(See page 5 of DA1 bundle attached) I decided to log on to the website advised on the card and study the evidence against me, it was only then I noticed the ticket I paid for stated it was for Saint James car park operated by Newcastle City Council, and the alleged offence was in Gallowgate car park. (See page 6 of DA1 bundle attached)

I have considered the Code of Practice ("CoP") of the International Parking Community (IPC) of which the Claimant is an accredited member. Part E states :-

PART E
‘If parking enforcement takes place outside of daylight hours you should ensure that signs are illuminated or there is sufficient other lighting. You will need to ensure all signs are readable during the hours of enforcement as they form the legal basis of any charge.’
The Claimant has no lights above either their signs or meters in the car park, the signs are also too high to read the small print in the dark. (See pages 7-8 of DA1 Bundle attached)
Part E states :-
The size of text on a sign will be determined by a number of factors such as the position of it, to whom it is aimed and the information that it needs to convey. Text should be of such a size and in a font that can be easily read by a motorist having regard to the likely position of the motorist in relation to the sign.

Part E also states :-
Signs should , where practicable, be placed at the entrance to a site. Otherwise the signage within the site must be such as to be obvious to the motorist.
There are no signs at change of land ownership or at the entrance to this part of the car park, there is also no barriers to stop travel between the 2 areas. ( See pages 9-10 of DA1 bundle attached) A driver who bought a legitimate ticket for Council area of car park but unknowingly ends up parking in the private area of car park can be penalised without knowing it and vice versa. A form of entrapment which it feels like in this case. IPC CoP Part B 14.1 says "You must not use predatory or misleading tactics to lure drivers into incurring parking charges Such instances will be viewed as a serious instance of non-compliance"


I have considered the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA)

Only 7 days after the alleged incident I received a PCN/NTK from VCS this goes against POFA 6.1
‘When a parking contravention is detected, a landholder may place a ticket on a vehicle or give it to the driver at the time of the contravention. In these circumstances the landholder must wait 28 days after which, if there is no response, he/she may submit a request to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for details of the vehicle's registered keeper. He/she may then write to the registered keeper to seek details of the driver or payment of the parking charge’

POFA also quotes:-
Companies that issue windscreen notices to drivers can only apply for keeper information, if the parking charge remains unpaid, after 28 days. Companies have a further 28 days to contact the keeper. If these timescale are not met, the keeper liability powers do not apply.

Guidance on Section 56 and Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: Recovery of Unpaid Parking Charges quotes as follows in it’s FAQ’s :-
6. What protection does consumer protection legislation provide in relation to parking on private land?
Consumer protection legislation provides protections to consumers in a number of ways, including protections from misleading information and unfair contract terms. For example, where signs for motorists in a car park are misleading, or other misleading information is given (for example tickets which look like local authority tickets), or necessary information is not provided, there may be a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs). Local authority trading standards services (TSS) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can take enforcement action where they consider the regulations have or may have been breached.
If any terms provided by the landholder as part of the parking contract are deemed unfair by a court they cannot be relied upon against a consumer.
Data Protection Act ('DPA') breach
For the reasons set out above, the parking charge which is the subject of these proceedings is invalid. The Claimant therefore had no right to request the keeper’s details from the DVLA and to use them, and has breached the Defendant’s rights under the DPA by doing both. Vidal-Hall v Google Inc [2014] EWHC 13 (QB) is authority that misuse of personal data is a tort.

The Court is invited to dismiss the claim and to award my costs of dealing with this claim and attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.

I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.


Signature of Defendant:
Name:
Date:

mand898

DA1 Bundle hxxp://tinypic.com/a/fkyvq9/3

mand898

Court date May 10th 2019