Defence - first attempt

Coupon-mad

(How should documents be labelled?)

Just numbered with an exhibit number that matches you referring to it.

In your WS every paragraph must be numbered.

If your WS/evidence is not quite due yet, wait to see if theirs arrives first then use your WS to tear into their template drivel (see examples of this in the threads by Lop5, albeit theirs was from VCS so a different template WS but the same sort of tired arguments and flimsy evidence to expose!).

Not sure how you think promissory estoppel (a broken promise) applies?

It is my position that, under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, the Claimant has no standing, or cause of action, to litigate in this matter.

kenny68

Thank you Coupon-mad, this is really helpful.

I have seen some of examples of their WS on here so I will have another look through in case I do not received their WS soon, It is due this week. I intend to hand deliver to the court and email copies to the claimant.

kenny68

Hi everyone, just to let you know I won in court yesterday!

Le_Kirk

Well done, let us have a court report when you have time and have stopped walking about four feet off the ground!

Coupon-mad

kenny68 wrote: »

Hi everyone, just to let you know I won in court yesterday!

FAB - tell us more, in your own style, as a 'court report' of how it went:

Who turned up for the other side?

Which parking firm was it about?

Which court?

Which Judge?

What was said?

What won it for you?

Did you claim your costs too at the end?

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

kenny68

I will type this up and post it soon! Thanks everyone

Redx

please post your defence as well, suitably redacted to remove personal info or details we do not need to know, like reference numbers , pcn numbers and VRM details


other people could benefit from your posts and take heart from your win


well done


ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

kenny68

Hi everyone,

Here is some more information about my court experience.

The claimant was Britannia Parking and BW Legal had pursued it.

My witness statement included photos of the entrance route by car, where my car was parked and my exit route by foot out of the car park. This clearly showed there were no signs stating terms and conditions, there were however signs with car park opening times. I received the claimants MASSIVE witness statement the evening before the deadline for submission so I was able to defend myself against some of the claims. They had included lots of images of signage in the car park.My main defence against these images was that they were undated (the fine was from 2 years ago and no proof of where they were located). I emailed a copy to BW and hand delivered to the court.

I was asked to arrive at court for 10am and I got there at 9.30am. There was a representative waiting who was agency staff and did not work for BW legal. She was very nice. We had a chat and she went through their claim, I went through my main defence. BW legal had not provided her with my witness statement but she managed to get it before the case. My witness statement was pretty much the same as my defence apart from was written int he first person, had images of the location and had my costs attached. The rep asked if I had any costs and I told her what these were - she said she would have to ask them to be capped at £90 under some legal thing and I said that is fine.

I waited until 2.20pm to go into the court.

The first thing the Judge pointed out that the witness from BW legals witness statement was not present. She did not seem happy about it.

The judge then went on to say that as the claimant was claiming they had sufficient signage and they had brought it to court, then they needed to prove that they had. The judge pointed out that she was expecting to see a plan of the car park highlighting where the signs were located - they had not provided this.

The judge talked through my witness statement and images of my journey through the car park, on one image I had circled where a pay by phone sign had been but was not there anymore.

The rep pointed out an image of a sign on the entrance to the car park. The judge asked if I had read this to which I replied no, she asked why, to which I replied that I was concentrating on driving into the car park.

Overall I was in there about 40 minutes (felt like 10).

Winning points:
The witness had not stated in their pack that any of the images were in the car park 2 years ago.
The signs had changed in the past 2 years - as proven by my image of the missing sign.
No evidence of where any of there signs were located.
Any responsible driver would be concentrating on driving and not reading terms and conditions
Where there was clearly time to read the t&c's on exiting the car park by foot they had stuck signs with car park times on and not clear signage.
Overall - no proof of sufficient signage.

I was awarded my costs for a day off work, travel and parking. Hurray! A long 2 year battle but deffos worth it! These companies are scammers.

Good luck to anyone else who is up against them - hang on in there. I will post my full defence and witness statement now the case is over.

Coupon-mad

Well done to you - that made for great reading!

Castle

kenny68 wrote: »

Here is some more information about my court experience.

The claimant was Britannia Parking and BW Legal had pursued it.

Britannia Parking Ltd or Britannia Parking Group Ltd?