BW Legal - Court Claim Help!

Coupon-mad

Template rubbish, they are trying to get you to ring them to settle. Ignore that.

I like the fact, that will be added to your WS in due course, that the sign lists 4 numbered t&cs, fairly clearly set out, and none of them are failure to pay & display...

Also, where is their evidence that the driver didn't claim the advertised 6 hours free using the vaguely referred to 'registration process'? Hmmm, looks very winnable.

Sydney9

Hi Everyone.

The court date has been set for this case. I need to send my Witness statement and all the documents I am going to be relying on by next week.

I have completed my first draft of the WS. But I am not sure how in depth it should be. I have seen threads where people are advised that a WS cannot be a defence. So I just wanted to show you guys my first draft to see if I am on the right track.

Le_Kirk

Post it on this thread for critique. A WS should be the story of what happened on the day and is written in the first person, i.e. "I did this", rather than "the defendant did this". Whilst it should relate to and refer to your defence it cannot, as you say, be a new defence or add new points to it. It should also point to any evidence that you are going to rely on.

Sydney9

This is what I have written so far.


I, ****************** of **************, *********, ***********, **** *** am the defendant in this case. Attached to this statement is my evidence and other information marked AB to which I will refer to.

1.!!!! The facts in this statement come from my personal knowledge. Where they are not within my own knowledge there are true to the best of my information and belief

2.!!!! I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed, or any amount at all and this is my Witness Statement in support of my defence as already filed.

3.!!!! On 15 April 2018, I attended a dance class in Redbridge Leisure Centre in preparation for a Dance Show that was due to take place on 29 April 2018. Please see exhibit AB1. The dance classes usually takes place every Tuesday at the Redbridge Leisure Centre. Please see exhibit AB2.!

4.!!!! The Leisure Centre is made up of two very large building: Norman Booth Building and Jean Brown Indoor Arena. There are over 400 car parking space according to their website. I have used the Leisure Centre for this dance class three times prior to this incident and have my parked my vehicle without paying for any parking. On this particular day, the vehicle was parked for 3 hours for which the cost is merely £1 – A reduced rate for weekends.

5.!!!! The tariff of £1 was not paid because there were no clear indications to suggest that payment must be made. The vehicle was parked in a large area of land and there were no signs directing people to pay nor were there any visible signs to read.

I took the following paragraphs from another thread and amended to reflect my own circumstances because I also recieved a similar letter. But I am not sure if I should be responding to it via the WS. Coupon-Mad did see this letter & pictures they sent. He made the following point: the sign lists 4 numbered t&cs, fairly clearly set out, and none of them are failure to pay & display. I will mention this in the WS but do I need to respond to the other points they have made?

6.!!!! The paragraph numbers stated below (Re#) relate to a letter I received from the Claimants solicitors on the <DATE> shortly after my Defence was submitted. Find attached to this bundle labelled <INITIALS_NO>. It is added that this appears to be more scaremongering by the Claimant's solicitors in an attempt to get me to pay the charge.!

7.!!!! Re#3 – The claimant solicitors state that the signage erected at the car park contained the following terms and conditions: Pay & Permit Parking Online. Please note this land is privately owned and enforcement is in operation 24 hours. It is submitted that it was dark (7pm) at the material time and there were no obvious and well-lit signage from the drivers’ point of view. The signage is situated on the left-hand side of the entrance to the centre and is not easily visible to a driver.

8.!!!! Re#4 -The Claimant's solicitors state that their client has legitimate commercial interest and sufficient standing to issue PCN and bring proceedings in its own name. It is submitted that no copy of the Land Registration has ever been provided in any correspondence from the Claimant or their Solicitors. Therefore, their!statement above still lacks proof.

Le_Kirk

He made the following point

actually: -

She made the following point

Are the !!!! yours or have you copied an old WS from over a year ago when the forum was having some technical difficulties and substituting !!!! for certain punctuation marks?

Sydney9

My sincere apologies, Coupon-Mad if you are reading this.

The paragraphs containing the !!! are taken from another thread. Like I said, I amended the paragraphs to reflect my circumstances. But I was unsure about doing this that is why I decided to message you guys today.

Sydney9

Am I on the right track guys?

Coupon-mad

Show us the next draft without the !!!! and with these bits added:

I like the fact, that will be added to your WS in due course, that the sign lists 4 numbered t&cs, fairly clearly set out, and none of them are failure to pay & display...

Also, where is their evidence that the driver didn't claim the advertised 6 hours free using the vaguely referred to 'registration process'? Hmmm, looks very winnable.

I think you could contend that you believed the dance class was the registration process needed, given you had never had a PCN when parking there before, you had no reason to think the free time would not also relate to your parking on a Saturday for the dance class you were registered for. As such, as a regular user of the site you would never have had cause to seek out hidden new terms on signs that you believed granted you a 6 hour parking licence as a registered dance class attendee.

You also need to remark upon any flaws in their WS and evidence. Look at the aerial photo (if any) is it a true representation of where signs are? Can you show the court pictures that support your case and/or expose the aerial photo isn't a correct representation IN THE SAME LIGHT CONDITIONS?

Sydney9

Thank you Coupon-Mad. I will shortly send the next draft.

I have not yet recieved their WS. I assume that they will wait till the deadline to serve. The deadline to pay the trial fee was last week. I will call the court tomorrow to confirm if this has been done by the appellants.

Sydney9

Here goes my second draft of the WS. Grateful for any comments you may have.


I, ****************** of **************, *********, ***********, **** *** am the defendant in this case. Attached to this statement is my evidence and other information marked AB to which I will refer to.

1. The facts in this statement come from my personal knowledge. Where they are not within my own knowledge there are true to the best of my information and belief

2. I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed, or any amount at all and this is my Witness Statement in support of my defence as already filed.

3. I assert that I am the registered keeper of the vehicle in question in this case. There was no requirement upon me as keeper to respond to what appeared to be junk mail, no adverse inference can be drawn from my lawful decision to ignore the colourful letter, impersonating a parking ticket yet with no basis in law.

4. On 15 April 2018, I attended a dance class in Redbridge Leisure Centre in preparation for a Dance Show that was due to take place on 29 April 2018. Please see exhibit AB1. The dance classes usually take’s place every Tuesday at the Redbridge Leisure Centre. Please see exhibit AB2.

5. The Leisure Centre is made up of two very large building: Norman Booth Building and Jean Brown Indoor Arena. There are over 400 car parking space according to their website. I have used the Leisure Centre for this dance class three times prior to this incident and have my parked my vehicle without paying for any parking. On this particular day, the vehicle was parked for 3 hours for which the cost is merely £1 – A reduced rate for weekends.

6. The tariff of £1 was not paid because there were no clear indications to suggest that payment must be made. The vehicle was parked in a large area of land and there were no signs directing people to pay nor were there any visible signs to read.

7. The paragraph numbers stated below (Re#) relate to a letter I received from the Claimants solicitors on the <DATE> shortly after my Defence was submitted. Find attached to this bundle labelled <INITIALS_NO>. It is added that this appears to be more scaremongering by the Claimant's solicitors in an attempt to get me to pay the charge.

8. Re#3 – The claimant solicitors state that the signage erected at the car park contained the following terms and conditions: Pay & Permit Parking Only. Please note this land is privately owned and enforcement is in operation 24 hours. It is submitted that, at the material time, the car park was significantly was dark and there were no obvious and well-lit signage from the drivers’ point of view. This specific signage the claimant’s refer to is situated on the left-hand side of the entrance to the centre and is not easily visible to a driver.

9. Re#4 -The Claimant's solicitors state that their client has legitimate commercial interest and sufficient standing to issue PCN and bring proceedings in its own name. It is submitted that no copy of the Land Registration has ever been provided in any correspondence from the Claimant or their Solicitors. This was requested at paragraph 16 of my defence. Please see exhibit [], page []. Therefore, their statement above still lacks proof.

10. Re#5 -The Claimant asserts that: “The signs are prominent, and the T&C's are clearly displayed, and that the motorist would have had the opportunity to read and understand them on parking at the car park.”

11. The sign states that members can receive up to 6 hours free parking per visit by completing a registering process. The sign does not define ‘members’ nor does it not provide further details about the registration process. It merely refers people to see the reception for more details. The sign also lists 4 numbered terms and conditions (please see exhibit []) which are clearly set out however none of them are failure to pay & display. Below this are further terms and conditions which are illegible to read unless zoomed in or with very close look.

12. I believed the dance class was the registration process needed, given the fact that, I never had a PCN when parking there before. I had no reason to think the free time would not also relate to my parking on a Sunday for the dance class I were registered for. As a regular user of the site I would never have had cause to seek out hidden new terms on signs that I believed granted me a 6-hour parking licence as a registered dance class attendee.

13. In any case, it should be noted that, I personally have been a driver for nearly 6 years. I have experience driving in London and are aware of the heightened parking restrictions on Private Land. It is not of my character to hastily park my car and risk the chance of being fined £100 if the mere price to park was £1. I would have paid the parking fee of £1 had I known that the cark park had parking rules and had I seen the signs asking me to pay.

14. In light of this, the Court is invited to dismiss the claim and to award my costs of dealing with this claim and attendance at the hearing.


Statement of Truth

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

Signature
Date