HX Car Park Managment - Gladstones - Parking Fine - County Court Claim Form Received

Theopop

16 MIN OVERSTAY - GRACE PERIOD - £240 CHARGE
Hi, I went for a meeting and parked in the HX Car Park next door. I put a ticket on for 1 hour as I'm usually in and out within half an hour. The lady I had to see had just returned from holiday and was running late. My time ran over and I was a little late back.
I received a letter from Gladstone's solicitors saying they had written to me previously at my old address to collect a parking fine of £100 and after a trace they had found my new address. Apparently I had been 16 minutes over and I now owed them £160. I was dealing with some family medical issues at the time, so put the letter to one side meaning to deal with it another day.
I recently went to my Mum's house (my former address) and found a County Court Claim Form to the total of £238.76.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

Redx

if you have a MCOL from Northampton CCBC then I believe its either pay up, IN FULL, or defend it


what is the DATE OF ISSUE on this MCOL form and also what are the POC details


there are several HX court cases on the go on here at the moment, plus post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread has advice too , so read those as well

Theopop

I'm sorry, I was just about to comment that I'm only just seeing there is a thread that I'm advised to read before posting. Will give it a read now.

The issue date is 2nd November 2018.
It states: You must respond within 14 days of the date of service. The date of service is taken as 5 days after the issue date shown.

Particulars of Claim:
The driver of the vehicle breached the terms of parking on the land. The defendant was driving the vehicle and/or is the keeper of the vehicle. The claimant claims £160 for Parking charges/Damages and indemnity costs together with interest of £3.69 pursuant to s69 of the County Courts Act at 8% pa, continuing to Judgment of £0.04 per day.

Amount Claimed: £163.76
Court fee: £25
Legal representatives cost: £50
Total amount: £238.76

KeithP

Theopop wrote: »

The issue date is 2nd November 2018.

With a Claim Issue Date of 2nd November, you have until Wednesday 21st November to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox link from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread.

Having done the AoS, you then have until 4pm on Wednesday 5th December 2018 to file your Defence.

Just under three weeks. Loads of time to produce a very good Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put you under pressure.
   
7. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Redx

the sum being claimed has irrecoverable spurious charges in it


read the thread that BARGEPOLE replied to today, where the example defence has had comments made about those extra charges, use that thread or similar as a basis for your own defence, if you are defending it


bear in mind a typical loss in court is about £175 in total, not £238.76p

The_Deep

£238 is more than the law allows, imo they are trying to defraud you. If they took you to court and won, the most that a judge is likely to award should not exceed £175 - £200,

They know this but try to get more by threatening CCJs, etc, many people believe their threats and pay up. I urge you to complain to their regulatory body, the SRA

please read their Code of Conduct here

http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/handbook/code/content.page

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week, hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. It has even been suggested that some of these companies have links with organised crime.

Watch the video of the Second Reading and committee stage in the House of Commons recently. MPs have a very low opinion of this industry.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-07-19/debates/2b90805c-bff8-4707-8bdc-b0bfae5a7ad5/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill(FirstSitting)

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by in the not too distant future.

Theopop

Ok, I'm not sure what kind of defense I'd have really as I was 15 minutes over it says but I will have a read of the information suggested. Thanks guys

Redx

its defence , no s

read half a dozen recent defences honed by member BARGEPOLE and pick and adapt one of them , that would be a good start


15 minutes usually comes under GRACE PERIODS, look them up in the relevant CoP

Theopop

I stand corrected Redx

Ok guys, I followed the instructions and completed and sent off the AOS.
I was unsure if I was going to do it as I have ADHD and organisation relating to keeping up with paperwork and deadlines is often a struggle for me. I don't want to end up with a ccj but here we go. I will do this. I also have anxiety and the thought of going to court isn't too appealing, but I've read information on the forum and as long as I can form a good defence I am confident with I should be fine, right?

Anyway, I've spent over an hour reading information on other threads. I have looked at the sticky thread. I have advanced searched posts for 'grace period' but I don't seem to be finding anything that fully relates. I would have thought being a little over your parking ticket time would be a pretty common thing. Can anybody think of any specific posts that could help me?

I know you can't write the defence for me and I have been searching, but I'm just feeling very overwhelmed with all the information and don't seem to be fully getting it all.

Will keep searching but if anybody could help I really would appreciate it.

Coupon-mad

Your issue is common and I reckon it's because you are searching the forum wrong. Easily sorted!

I just put in the words:

hx grace period defence true

and found a current defence on a current HX thread...and your task, should you accept it, is to replicate what I just did!

The thing I suspect you are doing wrong is not using ADVANCED search and also not changing the search to SHOW RESULTS AS POSTS.

And maybe your search terms were not as specific as mine (I always include the word 'true' when searching for defence posts, as they all end with that word).

Lolapops

First time using site so didn’t know where to post sorry for jumping on someone else’s! I have a CCJ from parking eye that says it needs to be paid before the weekend or it will be fixed! I Moved house in January and did not update records. Was anpr so no ticket on car. Also I’ve never been to said location so was not even me. Really panicking as have 3 days ! Have printed of different forms to fill out that I’ve seen people write about but competently confused as to what to do please help 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼! Thanks xx