County Court Claim

markd150872

Hi All,
I could do with some help in putting together a defence for a parking ticket issued when i was parked in my designated parking spot at work.
The car park is owned by a landlord who has appointed VCS as the parking company, the company i work for has about 30 spaces (not sure what the arrangement is with the landlord but i have enquired and hope for some clarity and will update this if needed).
When i started in the role I was allocated a parking slot (parking slots all have the companies name plate on the wall of the bay), although I wasn't provided a parking permit I was told to display a piece of paper with the companies logo on which i had to get everyday, then display in my window (the reason i wasn't provided a parking permit was due to the landlord not issuing them anymore but again I don't understand why not).
I received approx 25 parking tickets during the past 12 months which have been issued whilst either a pass was displayed in the car or whilst i was in the process of getting my pass (time taken from parking in my spot, walking in to work, getting my daily pass and returning to my car).
I have ignored all of the notifications that have been sent to me (on the advise of a colleague) as I was told they never chase it up anyway and they just try to scare people in to paying them, however I have now received a county court claim form.

I have read the beginners guide that has been kindly added to the forum and have completed the AoS today, the issue date is 27th December 2018 which means i have plenty of time to put a response together.

I have checked the images that they have taken of my car and no pass is displayed.....is this something that i can challenge?

Thanks in advance for any help

Regards
disgruntled parker

Redx

you colleague is an idiot, a moron

is your idiotic colleague helping you to defend this court claim and if not , why not ?
will they pay the judgment for you if it all turns pete tong ? or will there be a deafening silence as they try to hide in the broom cupboard ?

start with the concise defence by member BARGEPOLE, then possibly expand it to state that you had authority to park there (if you are using a driver defence and not POFA2012)

you really need to get your employer to get a grip of the landowner or landlord to find out about these permits issues, because you will need this evidence in court , to prove you had authority to park and its not your fault if you had no valid permit as its up to your employer to provide one for you to display seeing as you were in a signposted company bay at the time

ideally get a WS to this effect , from your employer, plus anything from the landowner who does not want this to go to court

post the full POC and the charges breakdown below as well , but no references or personal info

onlyfoolsandparking

Nobody has been advised to ignore PCN,s since late 2012 and certainly not when you get them off a particularly nasty scammer like VCS.


You will have to defend this claim as you would if anybody took you to court for whatever reason/s. The good news is it can be defended with time and effort on your part.


You should certainly get the landowner involved as I cannot understand why they don't issue permits anymore AND allow VCS goons to issue tickets???


What does your company owner/manager say about you receiving a CCC, if it were me I would be kicking up a big fuss and threatening my own action towards company/landowner in what is certainly displayed as unfair working conditions.


Course that's just me, you have done the right thing by sending AOS, time to get reading all about court claims in the newbies section just in case you get no back up from your company/landowner.


By the way Landowners ALWAYS have the power to jump on these cockroaches who issue PCN,s AND get them cancelled.

markd150872

Thanks for the response Redx, much appreciated.....and yes....i agree with your sentiments about my work colleague!!

I have been made aware that the person at work responsible for this area has requested parking permits from the landlord but we never received any passes as he was in the process of changing the parking company that they use and the landlord has since served notice on VCS which is due to end very soon.

The details of the POC are as follows:

The claimants claim is for the sum of £160 being monies due from the defendant to claimant in respect of a charge notice (CN) for a contravention on xx/07/2018 at XXXXXX car park.
The CN relates to a XXX XXX under the registration XXXXXXX. The terms of the CN allowed the defendant 28 days from the issue Date to pay the CN, but the defendant failed to do so. Despite demand having been made the defended failed to settle their outstanding liability.
The Claimant seeks the recovery of the CN and interest under section 69 of the County Courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% at the same rate up to the date of Judgement or earlier payment.

onlyfoolsandparking

So the landlord is kicking the goons out that is good unfortunately that wont end the grief for you, hopefully the landlord is willing to back you up in the form of a written statement saying just how badly they have been operating. This will be first class info for a Judge to see IF it gets that far and should?? massively go against the goons.


Giving your colleague the benefit of the doubt he may well have made numerous request for permits BUT needs to give/show evidence to prove that, again for the Judge IF it gets that far.


IMO and with my very limited knowledge of Court practice I think your in good shape to give the goons a good kicking in Court but it might take you actually going to Court to get them off your back.


VCS are a very bitter and twisted nasty outfit who might be miffed they have lost the contact at this site and will want to steal as much money as possible before they leave or should I say crawl away and go sniffing for another naïve victim.

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

The_Deep

It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business.

Hopefully that will take place in the near future. The Bill has passed through the HOC without hitch, and goes to the Lords soon. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers. Read this one which I wrote earlier

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. Is has been suggested by an MP that some of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially 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.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Third Reading in late November, and, with a fair wind, will become Law next year.

All three readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 6-7 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.

markd150872

Hi Keith, The issue date is 27th December 2018, the incident occurred on 3rd July.

KeithP

markd150872 wrote: »

The issue date is 27th December 2018.

With a Claim Issue Date of 27th December, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 29th January 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Loads of time to produce a perfect 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.