Court Defence Gemini Parking Solutions

notsoquick

Hello all,

Some background to my situation.

Father was physically attacked, driver dropped him off to A&E but parked in the drop off bay. Driver came back to find windscreen ticket. Reason on ticket: Overstayer.

Using this forum and others i have successfully won at POPLA appeal stage in 11 seperate private parking ticket cases for various parking sites. I even successfully challenged a local authority after my vehicle was caught parked on a double yellow by a CCTV car. Owing to this I became overly cocky and decided to send an appeal to Gemini Parking Solutions, as the Registered Keeper, stating:
"In reference to Parking Charge Notice Ref xxx
I do not wish to pay your fake parking charge because i do not like you".

Well that backfired quickly as the PPC did not send me a rejection of my appeal. I contacted them after 56 days as had only received the auto response stating "we have received your appeal". The PPC state that I did not make an appeal and that an appeal is a "formal request that a legal/official decision would be changed".

I then requested they reject my appeal and send me my POPLA code. They refused to do this and proceeded to let Gladstones take over. I asked Gladstones to cease and desist and to query with their client why they have not allowed my right of appeal to be heard by POPLA.

So now I have received the County Court Claim Form with Issue Date of 10/12/18. AOS was served on 20/12/18. Using the calculator i have up until 12/01/19 to file my defence.

I have read the newbies thread and typed the following as my defence:

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: xxxxx

BETWEEN:

GEMINI PARKING SOLUTIONS LONDON LIMITED (Claimant)

-and-

xxxx (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 ‘land’ which forms the basis of the current claim consists of a relatively small number of poorly and confusingly marked 'Emergency and Drop Off' parking spaces located near the Accident & Emergency entrance. Given this lack of clarity regarding what is considered 'Drop Off' and what is considered 'Emergency' 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 Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient interest in the land or that there are specific terms in its contract to bring an action on its own behalf. As a third party agent, the Claimant may not pursue any charge, unless specifically authorised by the principal. The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant does not have the authority to issue charges on this land in their own name, and that they have no right to bring any action regarding this claim.

5. 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.

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.

Name
Signature
Date

Any remarks, aside from laughing at my cockyness/stupidity would be greatly appreciated.

KeithP

notsoquick wrote: »

So now I have received the County Court Claim Form with Issue Date of 10/12/18. AOS was served on 20/12/18. Using the calculator i have up until 12/01/19 to file my defence.

As 12th January is a Saturday, you have a a couple of days more than you think.

With a Claim Issue Date of 10th December, and the Acknowledgement of Service done in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 14th January 2019 to file your Defence.

Please 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.

Coupon-mad

Using this forum and others i have successfully won at POPLA appeal stage in 11 seperate private parking ticket cases for various parking sites. I even successfully challenged a local authority after my vehicle was caught parked on a double yellow by a CCTV car. Owing to this I became overly cocky and decided to send an appeal to Gemini Parking Solutions, as the Registered Keeper, stating:
"In reference to Parking Charge Notice Ref xxx
I do not wish to pay your fake parking charge because i do not like you".

I applaud that! Made me laugh, and good for you to beat PPCs so often.

The only thing you did wrong was not complaining to Steve Clark at the BPA when you were not given a POPLA code. No PPC can acknowledge an appeal then pretend it wasn't a disputed charge after all.

Clearly you disputed it and should have been provided with POPLA, even if the PPC took umbrage against your 'wording'!

Also, you could have complained to PALS as it's a Hospital A&E and emergencies happen.

Your defence looks to have the main points, but in your case I would add that the Defendant appealed but was never provided with access to POPLA to independently appeal, contrary to the BPA CoP. Thus, if the Judge (once the claim is allocated locally) is not minded to move to strike out this meritless claim, you ask that an Order be made of the court's own volition using their case management powers, to require the parties to undertake POPLA as the bespoke ADR for parking cases, to avoid burdening the court with a case where a parking firm has failed to follow due process.

Then repeat that little paragraph at every stage (DQ, then again at WS stage, and eventually a Judge will look at it to issue Directions, and may well order POPLA instead. It's been done more than once.

notsoquick

Ok thanks i'll add the section regarding the refusal to accept my appeal as that is the core element of why it has even got this far.

I'll edit it later tonight thanks.

notsoquick

Just an update. Court case was in February 2020. I won the case based on lack of evidence. Gemini Parking only provided two pictures which were less than 15 minutes apart. I think they were only 1 minute apart. Bare in mind they sent a defence pack of circa 60 pages. 

Just posting to say what most people advise, which is to fight these PPC. You can win even in court!

Thank you to the previous contributors and the Newbies Thread was invaluable.

Le_Kirk

Well done and thanks for reporting back, so many posters don't.

Ralph-y

well done ....

any more details?

judge name? court name? did any one turn up ?

Ralph