Britannia Parking / BW Legal Claim Form

michelle95

Hi,
I am looking at what to print and include with my witness statement.
Which is the copy of the Beavis case?
https://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/fighting-beavis-argument/
or
https://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/parkingeye-vs-beavis/

michelle95

Also, regarding the grace period. I entered the car park at 11:54am and got a ticket at 11:58am for 1 hour, I then exited the car park at 13:19, 21 minutes late. So in total that is 25 minutes, but you should have a minimum of 10 minutes each side.

I did arrive back at the car, but as there were 3 cars belonging to our party in the car park we were sorting out travel arrangements, saying goodbye etc.

I was not aware that I needed to vacate the space as I thought I'm back at the car. I was on a family holiday at the time and we were about to set off back home which is a 4 hour journey, so was getting ready, i.e. sorting the children, sat nav, drinks and snacks, etc as well. We then queued to exit the carpark.

How do I go about wording this?

Quentin

Cut out all the guff about saying goodbye etc and concentrate on the queues to exit!

michelle95

Here is the first draft of my witness statement:

In the County Court at Worcester, The Shirehall, Foregate Street, Worcester, WR1 1EQ

Claim No.!

Between!

BW Legal (Claimant)

and

Miss XXXXXX (Defendant)


WITNESS STATEMENT


I, XXXXX, of XXXXXXXXX, will say as follows:

I am the Defendant in this matter. Attached to this statement is a paginated bundle of documents marked TH1 to which I will refer.

1. The Claimant asserts that I entered into a contract with it, that I breached that contract and must pay a contractual charge, with further undefined and unexplained additional charges. It claims that I was in the car park for a total of 1 hour and 25 minutes, when only 1 hour was permitted. It is these 25 minutes with which the Claim is concerned.!!

2. Before I describe what happened on the day I parked in the Poole – Quayside (ANPR) car park, I confirm that the essence of my defence to this claim is that:!
a. I did not breach the terms and conditions of parking
b. The Claimant's signage did not make it clear whether the parking period offered included time spent after entering the site via its ANPR cameras looking for a space and parking in it and locating and reading the terms and conditions and deciding to accept them, and time spent when leaving the site via the same cameras exiting the space, driving round the car park's one-way system and then driving out onto a public road. It is trite law that any uncertainty in a contract should be resolved against the person who offered it under the contra preferentem rule;!
c. Even if I did breach the terms, the Claimant is obliged by the compulsory Code of Practice of its own Accredited Trade Association to apply separate grace periods of at least 10 minutes at the start and end of each period of parking to allow for potential delays in finding a space, exiting the car park and to allow time for drivers to find and read the terms and conditions offered.

3. Turning to the day of the parking, on 2nd June 2017, I was in Poole on a family holiday and parked in the Poole – Quayside car park. I read the signs and was aware that there was fee for parking. It was my first visit to this car park and I was not previously familiar with it, or the road layouts outside it or how busy they could be.

4. After driving in past the ANPR cameras at the entrance, it took me a few minutes to find a space and park in it as the car park was quite busy, I remember waiting for a few other cars to manoeuvre in and out of spaces before parking myself. When I got out of the car, I walked over to the closest parking sign to read it and immediately set a timer on my phone to make sure I got back to the car in time. Then I went into Poole town and returned to the car within the one-hour limit. I know that I did so because I remember being back at my car just before my alarm went off and also remember looking at my watch when I got back to the car to check that I was back in time (which I was).!

5. It is my understanding that there are three elements to a contract: offer, acceptance and consideration. I could not possibly have accepted any contract offered by the Claimant at the precise moment I drove through the ANPR cameras, at the start of minute 1 of the 1 hour and 25-minute period, because at that point no offer had been made. An offer must be communicated to an offeree. There was no offer communicated at the entrance to the car park, but only inside it - the Claimant’s signage setting out the terms and conditions were dotted around the site and could not be seen immediately on entry, and I could not read them from my car. It took me 3-4 minutes to drive in, find a space, find a sign, read it and decide to avail myself of the parking. At that point I say an offer was made (insofar as the sign was capable of making an offer), and I accepted it.!!

6. When I returned to my car, the car park was very busy. I know that I reached my car within the 1-hour limit, because my alarm went off after I was back at the car. I did remain parked for a few further minutes when I returned to the car, this was due fastening the children safely in their seats. I then drove off, and at that point I was no longer making use of the car parking facility, but was exiting the car park.!!

7. When arriving back at the car park it appeared to be very busy. As there were 3 cars to our party parked in this car park, we said goodbye and then entered the car. I got the children into the car, making them comfortable for the 4-hour journey back home. Once sorted, I set the satellite navigation and began to leave the car park. It took me a long time to reach the exit of the car park, because I had to drive around its one-way system, stopping along the way to allow other cars to get in / out of spaces. I estimate that it took me around 10 minutes to get to the exit road. I can see from the evidence relied upon by the Claimant that there was a 21-minute period between the one-hour period expiring and me exiting the car park. Some of this, of course, would have been taken up by the minutes it took to get into the car and then the remaining being stuck in traffic to exit the car park.

8. I am not familiar with the car park layouts or how busy the area can be, but I made every reasonable effort to leave the car park within limit. When I reached the exit road, there was a queue to get out onto the one-way system, The Quay.

9. The traffic jams (both the one inside the car park and the one on the public road outside) were beyond my control and I could not have anticipated them. The Claimant, a company which manages the car park, should be aware of these issues and should make reasonable allowances for the foreseeable delays users may experience in exiting the car park.

10. In addition to considering the contractual element of the claim, I have considered the Code of Practice ("CoP") of the British Parking Association ("BPA"), of which the Claimant is an accredited member. A copy of paragraph 13 of the CoP, which relates to grace periods, is at page XXX of TH1. In order to be an accredited member of the BPA, compliance with the CoP is compulsory, and a copy of paragraphs 4.1 and 6 of the CoP is at page XXX of TH1. The significance of being a member of the BPA and subscribing to its CoP is that the Claimant is only entitled to ask the DVLA for the details of a car’s registered keeper if it is a member (so without membership a private parking company would not be able to function without the ability to trace drivers/registered keepers).
11. Paragraph 13 of the CoP clearly states that a grace period is to be applied to parking. The CoP makes clear that such grace periods are to be applied both at the start of any parking period and also at the end of any parking period. The whole point of these grace periods is to allow drivers time to find a parking space and to read the signage prior to commencement of the period of parking, and time to exit the ca rpark once they have finished parking. Grace periods are not defined, but the CoP requires them to be "a minimum of 10 minutes" either side of the actual parking (paragraphs 13.2 and 13.4).!It is worthy of note that the recommendation is a minimum of 10 minutes, not a maximum.

12. There is no explanation for why the Claimant has declined to apply any grace period at all in my case, which is a clear breach of the CoP.

13. In the now infamous parking case of!Cavendish Square Holdings BV v Talal El Makdessi; ParkingEye Limited v!Beavis, the Supreme Court made clear in its judgment that strict compliance with the CoP!is paramount where a Claimant seeks to enforce a private parking charge. Paragraphs 96 and 111 of the judgment stated:
96.!''The BPA Code of Practice is a detailed code of regulation governing signs, charges and enforcement procedures.''
111.!“''And, while the Code of Practice is not a contractual document,!it is in practice binding on the operator!since its existence and observance is a condition of his ability to obtain details of the registered keeper from the DVLA. In assessing the fairness of a term, it cannot be right to ignore!the regulatory framework which determines how and in what circumstances it may be enforced.''!(emphasis added).

14. In this case, the data produced and relied upon by the Claimant shows that the period passing between my car entering and leaving via the ANPR cameras was 25 minutes. Applying the "minimum" 10 minutes either side of the parking, the minimum total grace period I should have been allowed by the Claimant under its own compulsory CoP was 20 minutes. Whilst I accept that following the parking I was on site for around 20 minutes, this was because of the heavy traffic both inside and outside the car park, a matter which was outside of my control. It is worthy of note that the recommended grace period is a minimum of 10 minutes, it is not a maximum. The Claimant should have taken a reasonable and proportionate approach, exercised common sense and applied a greater grace period than the minimum to take into account the bottleneck at the roundabout immediately next to the exit from the car park. The issue the court is being asked to deal with is de minimis and the court's valuable time should not have been taken up with this matter.

15. I have repeatedly drawn these matters to the Claimant's attention, but it has refused to see reason, including applying an appropriate grace period of "a minimum of 10 minutes" before and after parking, which it is actually obliged to do by its compulsory CoP.


The Court is invited to dismiss the claim and to award my costs of dealing with this claim, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.

I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.


Signature of Defendant:
Name:
Date: 1/08/2019

I am just unsure points 6/7 and also not sure what to put for point 14.

1505grandad

A heads up - the claimant is not BW legal

michelle95

1505grandad wrote: »

A heads up - the claimant is not BW legal

Thank you, I was unsure. So its Britannia Parking Group Limited

beamerguy

But you have missed a very important part .....
Abuse of Process ... District Judge tells BWLegal
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

Include the text by coupon-mad
PLEASE READ POST #14 ON THIS THREAD BY COUPON-MAD

It is vital that a judge fully understands about ABUSE OF PROCESS

michelle95

If anyone could help me it would be much appreciated. Ideally I need to send it tomorrow so it arrives before/on the 2 week deadline.
Thank you

Redx

So redraft it with the correct claimant plus add the abuse of process paragraphs about judges Grand and Taylor included

Nobody here will rewrite it, but may comment on your rewrites, once you have included them in

PS some of the points repeat themselves, keep it concise, no repeating points already made and more on the delay at the start prior to paying for parking, which is where the contract starts, plus those delays exiting, not about saying goodbyes and strapping in children etc

It's about prompt payment after reading the signs after queuing at the pdt grace period one and the delays leaving in grace period two which took much longer than 10 minutes in the busy summer period from an unfamiliar car park and roads scenario

Plus the spurious added charges too

KeithP

michelle95 wrote: »

Thank you, I was unsure. So its Britannia Parking Group Limited

How can you be unsure?

The Claimant is named on your County Court Claim Form.