Claim Form Originating from bwlegal and Britannia parking

avem1

So here comes the long version:

Arrived at Bournemouth Court 30 mins early and after asking security guard where the chambers I had seen listed on the wall (with my name on) were, he then directed me to sit in the wrong place outside one of the main Crown court rooms. Come the hearing time and not many people around I start to ask questions and turns out the civil claims cases all sit in one waiting room down the end of the main building on the 1st floor. Got there 2 mins after scheduled start time, gave my name to receptionist and noticed that someone else had checked in for Britannia.
30 Secs later myself and the solicitors agent (SA) were taken through to judge Chedgy's (JC) chamber.
Judge Chedgy had a very pleasant and warm manner and told the SA, as I had no legal experience she would explain some of the processes to me incl appeals etc

She then went on to say she'd read the statements but hadnt gone in to all the points in detail re the signs and positions, but if and when we come to that she'd look at that at the relevant time.

First of all JC wanted to deal with the identity of proof. She asked the SA if she had seen what was written in my defence and WS and asked what she had to say about the identity of the claimant "Britannia Parking Limited" because she could not see anything which linked it to the paperwork.
The SA went on to say Britannia Parking are tasked with operating the parking at West Quays and that they are authorised by the landowner which is covered in the witness statement [by BWLegal] showing the contract....
At which point the judge interrupted her and said "Take me to a Document which says Britannia Parking Limited"
SA tried again talking about the "contract". JC interrupted again and said she had done a few of these parking claims and expected the SA had too, and this was not the usual agreement she sees.
JC then told SA to look at the document and JC read the names of 'Britannia Parking Services' and its parent company Britannia parking group ltd etc and said she also had the PCN(?) which was sent to me which is also Britannia parking services.
JC Then went on to say that aside from the fact that the contract did not tell her who the landowner was (as redacted) and does not produce office copy entries which often happens in parking group cases, aside from this and bearing in mind it was the SA burden of proof, where is the contract that says Britannia Parking Limited?
SA: "thats the only document I have"
JC then said it seems therefore you fall at the first hurdle as claimant hasnt proved its nexus as has proved it locus (or something like that).
Then asked if SA had been given any direction on this as it was raised in Defendants Defence and WS to which SA replied they hadnt.

JC then said she'd done a beta search and Britannia Parking Limited were listed as a dormant company (as stated by me). This was a “smaller point” as she had not checked exactly the definition of what Dormant meant but she did not think it meant taking litigation proceedings. She couldnt see a Nexus.
Then said this was going to be a very short hearing as she was going to give judgement as the claimant had fallen at the first hurdle.

In Summing up JC said she also had concerns that on the contract it purports to cover the period commencing Feb 2009 but it is dated 2016 and she has no idea who signed it, be it a centre manager, some version of britannia or the landowner, therefore claim is dismissed.

I almost felt gutted that I didnt get my chance to detail the woefully inadequate signage in this car park....the whole reason I didnt buy a ticket in the first place, but hey I'll happily take a win on just my first 2 points re no standing!

JC then moved on to costs. Asked SA if she had a copy of my costs schedule (I'd only given court a copy) and asked if I had a copy I could supply SA which I did.
JC then asked SA what she had to say about principle of costs to which she replied it was a small claims court and claimant hadnt been unreasonable.
JC then asked SA what about the fact that claimant had no Locus. It wasnt about having discretion but about the fact they had no Locus in the first place.
SA kept on saying it was not usual to award costs in small claims court and those on my Schedule of costs are far in excess of the given rights for a lay person of which are £19ph for their preparation costs.
JC then asked me what I thought of my costs schedule to which I did my best to explain why the claimant had been unreasonable.
(Unfortunately I hadnt seen Coupons post re this or that may have given me some more ammo.)
I did point out that the Witness had attempted to claim for costs by quoting the wrong BPA CoP from 2018 and not the correct one from 2016 (Thanks coupon and castle for that one!) so was lying and misleading the court.
I also mentioned how claimant had provided misleading signage evidence in the POPLA case....(should have said in their WS) as JC said the POPLA case did not come in to this. Think I was too pumped up about winning at this point to get the right points out.
I also put the Claimants WS back in the envelope it had been posted to me, to show how the first 2 lines of my address were not visible in the envelope window and thus it had been delivered to a neighbour who had opened it.
The judge acknowledge how this would have invaded my privacy and also mentioned it was a data protection issue which was not this case though.

However, judge awarded my mileage and £1 parking ticket for when I returned to the car park to gather evidence.
She also awarded 1 days holiday of £95 and 10 hours of preparation at £19ph.
All this plus mileage to court etc was £320.

Feel over the moon at winning. This case has given a lot of stress and taken up far too much of my time,
This ridiculous claim, brought by BWLegal was an absolute farce and I implore anyone finding themselves in the same position to take the claimants on.

I had claimed 70 hours work on this case (it was probably more). It might have strengthened my claim for this if I had listed a time sheet with details/dates of my work.

In my WS, para 22b, an admin error on my part wrote the wrong companies house number for Britannia Parking group Limited which should be 08182990.

Anyone else up against Britannia Parking limited might be interested to look on companies house website for 'Britannia parking group limited' accounts (period ending 30 June 2015) where they state on pg 4 that they sold Britannia Parking Limited to a 3rd party in March 2015.

This Forum has been invaluable in helping me win my case. I'd like to thank the following posters for their really helpful contributions and guidance:
KeithP
Redx
beamerguy
nosferatu1001
Umkomaas
MothballsWallets
Iam

I would also like to add an extra special thank you to:

Coupon-Mad
and
Castle

You guys/girls are absolute saints. You spend considerable amounts of your spare time helping so many people like myself on this forum with your legal knowledge and guidance. I owe you all a debt of gratitude.

Coupon-mad

However, judge awarded my mileage and £1 parking ticket for when I returned to the car park to gather evidence. She also awarded 1 days holiday of £95 and 10 hours of preparation at £19ph.

All this plus mileage to court etc was £320.

Feel over the moon at winning. This case has given a lot of stress and taken up far too much of my time,
This ridiculous claim, brought by BWLegal was an absolute farce and I implore anyone finding themselves in the same position to take the claimants on.

Brilliant!

:T

In my WS, para 22b, an admin error on my part wrote the wrong companies house number for Britannia Parking group Limited which should be 08182990.

Thanks for this, we will point people towards this post.

Anyone else up against Britannia Parking limited might be interested to look on companies house website for 'Britannia parking group limited' accounts (period ending 30 June 2015) where they state on pg 4 that they sold Britannia Parking Limited to a 3rd party in March 2015.

Good spot.

Now you mention it, I recall something about this from 2015, when we (maybe wrongly) thought Britannia was in administration or something at one point, and they stopped issuing PCNs for a brief time I think.

All of the above is very useful indeed.

A final request, we know this was DJ Chedgy at Bournemouth court on 15.5.19 but can you give us the CLAIM NUMBER too, so we can refer to your case as Britannia v Mr x in future, to help other people?

avem1

Sure Coupon

My Claim number was E9DP60CX

I havent seen anything to prove/confirm otherwise apart from the slightly less redacted 'contract' that is in the BWLegal pack on mixMZ forum re the same car park:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5932249/2-separate-letters-from-bw-legal-britannia-parking
which names Jones Lang Lasalle as the landowner for this particular car park which is the West Quay retail park.
The link that castle gave me in #75 I believe refers to the car park at West Quay Shopping centre.

Its not clear to anyone who does not know the area but the West Quay shopping centre is the big shopping centre building with John Lewis/Apple store etc and Car park built in to the building, whereas the West Quay retail park (where I parked) is just across the road from this and has the open air car park next door to some shops...inc Mothercare. Its the one that has c@$k all/very poor signs!

Anyone up against one of the versions featuring the name Britannia should check through companies house records as there are numerous instances where 1 or 2 of them are in administration, directors have resigned then rejoined etc so this does need some scrutiny if relating to contracts etc.
Look also at the companies house numbers they use on any paperwork.
Thanks again to the IamEmanresu, Coupon Mad and Castle who brought this to my attention.

Castle

avem1 wrote: »

Anyone else up against Britannia Parking limited might be interested to look on companies house website for 'Britannia parking group limited' accounts (period ending 30 June 2015) where they state on pg 4 that they sold Britannia Parking Limited to a 3rd party in March 2015.

Actually this is a "different" Britannia Parking Ltd which was company number 02389707 and was renamed Car Park 2015 Ltd in March 2015 before being liquidated. On the same day in March 2015 company 3175808, (formerly Air Parking (Free Shuttle) Ltd), was renamed Britannia Parking Ltd.

avem1

Jeez.....They've got more names than Lord Lucan!......Is this normal business practice?

Coupon-mad

Not really, and it was their downfall in your case, and should be, in others until they sort out their claim forms.

didgeridoooo

A very enjoyable read was this! Three cheers for you and for MSE forums!