Claim Form for stopping near a no stopping road

anderg

Hi All,
I've put some time in to my defence. Please could somebody critique this first draft?
Thanks!

Simon Renshaw-Smith (Claimant)

-and-

XXXXX(Defendant)

____________
DEFENCE
____________

1. The Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of vehicle registration number XXXXXXX on the material date. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2. The facts of the matter are that the Defendant was on company business on the material date and was required to make a phone call from within his vehicle at the time of the alleged contract breach. Possessing no functioning hands-free telephone, The Defendant complied with UK law by stopping his vehicle on a driveway away from the road. To this regard, it is denied that the claimant's signage sets out the contract terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. The terms on the Claimant's signage are displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle, and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would be unable to do so easily. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract. It is unlikely that The Defendant would ever be able to read the full terms of the alleged contract when in a moving vehicle, yet stopping next to the contract signage in order to read the information would be taken as a breach of the terms and conditions. Furthermore, the signage does not explicitly make reference to the drive ways away from the road and no guidance is given as to how a motorist should handle exceptions in line with UK law such as when taking telephone calls from a physical handset, for which UK legislation demands that a motorist stop the vehicle.

Given this lack of clarity regarding the terminology used in the signage and whether it covers driveways or merely roads and bus stops within Liverpool International Business Park and given the ambiguity on how a motorist is supposed to stop to comply with UK legislation when using telephone handsets, no contract can be construed from the Claimant's signage, under the contra proferentem principle.

3. Accordingly, it is denied that the Defendant breached any of the Claimant's purported contractual terms, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

4. The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred £60 costs to pursue an alleged £100 debt. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, in Schedule 4, Para 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £100.

6. In summary, the Claimant's particulars disclose no legal basis for the sum claimed, and the Court is invited to dismiss the claim in its entirety.

Statement of Truth:

I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

XXXXXX
Signature
18/12/2018

anderg

If anybody wants to have a peek at the signage from the very same business park, it has been posted by somebody caught by the same scam in this post here: forums.pepipoo.com/lofiversion/index.php/t107542.html

Redx

looks more like a WS to me rather than a defence , compare it to the BARGEPOLE examples

a WS is a story about what happened, which seems to be what the above says , therefore NOT a defence

and it has the name of the owner of the company as claimant, but I would have thought that the ACTUAL claimant was the one named on the signs ? ie:- V.C.S.

KeithP

You would be wise to obliterate you name from post #12 - twice.


And having seen your name I would suggest you change your forum username.

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anderg

Thanks. Name removed, will email about changing the username.

Regarding the WS, if I simply remove the "what happened" bit and focused on the lack of clear signage and ambiguity, would that be sufficient?

I have followed two of the bargepole examples in writing the Defence so far.

Oh, and yes.... will check the Claimant details.

KeithP

As an admitted driver, I do not believe the second sentence of paragraph 4 in your Defence has any relevance.

POFA is all about transferring liability to the keeper and that isn't needed in this case.


I understand your point about having to stop before answering a phone, but the other option was not to answer the phone.
Of course you needed to decide on the spot which was more important - answer the phone or obey the no stopping signs.
To put it bluntly, I don't think you can say that you stopped to answer the phone because you needed to 'comply with UK law'.

Redx

I would focus on what you say and possibly have a brief precis of point 2) that allows you to open that door in the WS

the defence should address the POC and state why the defendant is not liable, preferably by stating legal reasons, as brief as possible, but allowing the WS to expand on them

and I have never seen a defence name SRS as the claimant, as the contracting company with the signage is not him but his company , VCS in this case (he has at least 2 companies, Excel and VCS)

and as KeithP says above, an admitted driver has no reason to use POFA2012, because that only applies to keepers, not drivers, there is nothing in that law of use to a driver, it does not protect drivers


the signs formed the contract (if any contract was formed), so the signs have the charge on them (typically no more than £100)

moochmenswear

Hi, please could you help? Have you decided on your final defence yet? Our case are very similar - please see link: VCS County Court Business Centre!
I need to send off my defence but am not sure which way to play it?

Good luck!

moochmenswear

Hi, how did your case go? I'm in the same situation.