UKPC/SCS County Court Claim - Help urgently requested

Focus19

Many thanks, Coupon-mad. Understood re. counter claiming.

I have added text to show that the landlord was in possession of his lease for several years before UKPC came on site.

Now going to undertake the PDF emailing process. I will keep the forum informed of developments.

nosferatu1001

Keep referring back to post 2 of newbies
You must do this
It talkes you through the ENTIRE process.

Focus19

BUMP FOR UPDATE AND URGENT REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL HELP

Following on from previous posts on this thread, many thanks to those who helped. The Defence was filed in the necessary way, and I have followed the process as required to where we are now, which is that the Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track letter has been received, and the court date set in the local court.

As those who have read this thread will be aware, the defendant in this case is my elderly mother, and she received the NoA letter and informed me of the court date. Unfortunately, she didn’t also inform me of the need to submit documents and witness statements 14 days prior to the court case, and having been away I only found out about this yesterday when I had a chance to look at the letter. The court case date is Monday 8 July, which means the WS and supporting documents will need to be received by the court and claimant by this Monday, 24 June.

I’ve managed to clear today to work on pulling together what is needed, but have a number of questions I’d be very grateful if the experts on this forum could help with.

As the court date is a Monday, does this mean the necessary documents need to be received by the Monday two weeks prior, or are they supposed to be received by the Sunday 23 June?

Do all documents still need to be mailed as hard copies, or can they be sent by email as PDFs? My current plan is to write up the Witness Statement and pull together the necessary supporting documents today. If I need to send hard copies, I will be able to post them tomorrow morning so they will be there by Monday morning. If I can submit the documents via email, I will do that on Sunday, so again the court and claimant will have them by Monday morning.

The NoA letter required the Claimant to pay a court fee by 10 June. We’ve heard nothing further on this. Should I call the court to find out if it’s been paid? Is there anywhere online I can find this out?

The NoA letter required both parties to send copies of the evidence they intend to rely on to the court and each other by the 14 days prior deadline, but we have received nothing as yet from SCS. Obviously the deadline isn’t quite up yet, but I would have thought they would have been on top of this as it’s their actual job. Does anyone have any information about how SCS are behaving on this score currently? Are they timely in sending their evidence or not? Are they bothering at all? (They did supply copies of PCNs, signage, contract with the Managing Agent when my mother asked for them after receipt of the Letter Before Claim - would they think this is sufficient or do they need to supply it all again in a proper court bundle?)

I have been reading the information on the Newbies Thread, and the supporting links to try and work out what needs to be included in the Witness Statement as opposed to the Skeleton Defence. As far as I can tell, the Witness Statement and supporting documentation is what needs to be supplied by Monday, with the Defence not needing to be supplied to the court and the Claimant until a few days beforehand (particularly as we haven’t received the Claimant’s evidence as yet to know what to defend). Is that correct? The NoA mentions only witness statements - I understand this is normal.

I am about to start work on the Witness Statement, using examples from this forum.

My research so far indicates I should also provide the following as supporting documentation:

Copy of the Parking Permit
Copy of the Tenancy Agreement
Copy of Schedule 4 of the POFA
A copy of Henry Greenslade's wording from the POPLA Annual Report 2015 'Understanding Keeper Liability'.
The case transcripts that support our argument. We are arguing that this is a case of residential parking where the tenant had already implicitly been granted the right to park. Would be most grateful if the forum experts could advise on the current most relevant cases to provide as support for this argument.

Is the above correct and/or sufficient?

Many thanks in advance.

Coupon-mad

she didn’t also inform me of the need to submit documents and witness statements 14 days prior to the court case, and having been away I only found out about this yesterday when I had a chance to look at the letter. The court case date is Monday 8 July, which means the WS and supporting documents will need to be received by the court and claimant by this Monday, 24 June.

Plenty of time compared to some here!

As the court date is a Monday, does this mean the necessary documents need to be received by the Monday two weeks prior, or are they supposed to be received by the Sunday 23 June?

Monday.

Take a ring binder file in person, or post it on Monday 1st class (it will be expensive due to weight) and it'll get there Tuesday and no-one will object, especially as we advise you EMAIL the version for the Claimants, and that can be done on Monday - in time to them!

Tell Mum to look out for the other side's WS letter and not to panic that it's a thick wadge of papers. It might arrive tomorrow, giving you time to demolish it in your Mum's WS, given the fact that what looks like a complicated bespoke reply from them, is a template blown apart on here loads of times before (search for one word, like a surname from case law they'll cite, and all will be revealed as having been done before!).

The case transcripts that support our argument. We are arguing that this is a case of residential parking where the tenant had already implicitly been granted the right to park. Would be most grateful if the forum experts could advise on the current most relevant cases to provide as support for this argument.

PACE v Noor and Link v Parkinson, from the Parking Prankster's case law pages.

Maybe also, depending on the facts:

Saeed v Plustrade, and Kettel v Bloomfold, which have transcripts found on Google.

Quentin

Please refer to #13

All your questions on court proceedings and the process you should follow is set out there with links to walkthroughs of what to do and when

Whether or not the claimant obeys the court deadlines is irrelevant

Proceed to ensure you don't miss any deadlines

Focus19

Many thanks, Coupon-mad. Very helpful.

Quentin, as per my post, I have been looking again at the Newbies Thread and reading all the links. I am doing my best to look at all the relevant information supplied by this forum. Where I'm asking questions it's because I need additional information I can't find or additional clarification. I'm aiming to comply with all court deadlines, as now clarified by Coupon-mad.

Focus19

I have now drafted a Witness Statement for the forum’s review, and would greatly appreciate feedback/suggestions etc. I also have a number of questions I’m posting below, and again would greatly appreciate your thoughts on those.

I’ve drafted the WS keeping in mind the guidance provided here that this is to be as far as possible a statement of facts, not where we are supposed to submit our legal arguments. With regard to the packet of information to be provided by the Claimant, my mother has advised that she received this in the post yesterday (Saturday), and as it was received after the Saturday post had gone, she’s not going to be able to post it to me until tomorrow (Monday). As I live 3 hours drive away, and it would therefore take me 6 hours to pick it up, I’ll have to wait for her to mail it to me, so that I can put together the ‘Skeleton Defence’ this week. I understand it’s perfectly okay to submit that up to a few days beforehand to the court and Claimant - can anyone confirm that for me as still the case?


Draft Witness Statement:

In the County Court at XXXXX
Claim No. XXXXXXXX
Between
UK Parking Control Ltd (Claimant)
and
XXXXXX (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am XXXXX, of [Address], [Postcode], the Defendant in this matter.

2. The facts in this statement come from my personal knowledge. Where they are not within my own knowledge they are true to the best of my information and belief

3. I deny every allegation set out in the Particulars of Claim.

4. I am a tenant of the location where the Parking Charge Notices in question were issued, and as such I have a right to park in this location at all times. As proof of this, I have been provided with a parking permit for this location by my landlord, and am providing a copy of this permit as evidence.

5. I am also in possession of an electronic key fob which is required to provide access to the residential car park where the PCNs were issued. Possession of this fob is prima facie evidence that I have permission to park in this location, as a vehicle cannot legitimately access the car park without it.

6. At the time of my taking up residence in this apartment complex, there was no mention made of there being any onerous parking conditions in operation. On the occasions when the PCNs were issued, the vehicle has been parked by either myself or another family member, and the parking permit was not displayed due to simple oversight, not because I did not have permission to park. I park in this location on a daily basis, but as can be seen from the dates of the PCNs being claimed for (issued over an extended period), only occasionally do I or other permitted drivers forget to display the parking permit. However, I would note that the permit is displayed not because I do not have proper permission to park, but to avoid the kind of difficulties and harassment created by the Claimant when said permit is not displayed, sometimes for even a short time.

7. I have been provided with permission to park by my landlord, who in turn is entitled to rely upon his primacy of contract within his lease, in order to grant his tenants an unfettered right to park. My contract is with my landlord only; I have no contract with the Claimant, and as such they do not have standing to claim against me for failure to pay their penalties.

8. There are no terms within my Tenancy Agreement requiring me to display a parking permit, or to pay penalties to third parties, such as the Claimant, for non-display of same. I have not agreed to any variation of the tenancy which would make me subject to such penalties.

9. I understand that the scheme operated by UKPC in the residential car park in question was put into place in order to prevent parking in this city centre location by unauthorised persons against the interests of the residents. Therefore there can be no legitimate interest in penalising residents for parking in this location under the excuse of a scheme where the parking firm is contracted for the benefit of those same residents. Instead of protecting the interests of legitimate lease and tenancy holders, the Claimant operates a predatory operation, often attempting to penalise those very persons whose interests the Claimant is purportedly there to uphold.

10. Whilst I am the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned, there is no evidence of the driver.

11. More than one family member, who I have no obligation to name to a private parking firm, has access to this vehicle. It remains the burden of the Claimant to prove their case.

12. Whilst I was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned, there is no evidence of the driver and as the events in question were a number of years ago, as such it is impossible to expect a keeper to recall who may have been driving.

13. I received various threatening and intimidating letters from Zenith Collections, Debt Recovery Plus, & SCS Law, demanding various amounts of money and threatening legal action against me. I have found this whole process extremely stressful and vexatious, and consider the Claimant overly aggressive in pursuit of monies to which they are not entitled.

14. The Defendant is at a serious disadvantage in this case. The case involves a well-funded Claimant who is a serial litigant with unlimited access to the services of qualified legal professionals, and who will be legally represented in this case, against an unrepresented Litigant in Person with no legal knowledge or experience of court process.

15. The Court is invited to dismiss the claim and to award my costs of dealing with this claim and attendance at the hearing, 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: XXXXXXX
Date:


With regard to the documents to be submitted along with the WS, I have a copy (PDF) of the parking permit.

Should I also provide a photo of the key fob or is the statement in the WS that my mother has one sufficient?

I presume I should also forward a copy of the lease (although this only refers to parking in one short paragraph, where it says vehicles must be roadworthy - it’s silent on the issue otherwise) - thoughts?

I have the case transcripts for Pace v Mr N and Link v Parkinson, and will provide those.

I haven’t referred to either of these cases in the WS - although they were both referred to in my original Defence - so do I need to do so?

I will include a copy of Schedule 4 of the POFA, as that seems to be advised here. Please advise if that’s incorrect.

I have seen forum advice that I should also include a copy of Henry Greenslade's wording from the POPLA Annual Report 2015 'Understanding Keeper Liability' if defending as keeper, but having read it, I’m missing how that would be relevant in this case, so am not planning to include it. Could anyone who thinks I should please advise.

Any advice regarding changes that should be made to my draft WS? Any advice as to additional supporting documentation I should include to meet the 14 day deadline?

Many thanks in advance.

Le_Kirk

You should label your exhibits/evidence with a reference so it will be easier for you and the judge to find in your bundle of documents. You don't do a skeleton defence (you should already have submitted a defence), hopefully you mean a skeleton argument and yes it can be submitted a couple of days before, however it is not compulsory and is there to help you/the judge through the complications of the case - if it is complicated.

Focus19

Thanks. Will do re. labelling.

If skeleton argument is the correct term, then yes. My Defence was already submitted at the appropriate time, as per the older posts on this thread. What I assume I need to do once I've received the document packet from SCS is put together any additional arguments required to counter theirs.

I'll request additional feedback as to what I need to do on this front once I have the packet. At this point I'm just anxious to ensure that the Witness Statement I've drafted and additional documents I've listed above are correct/sufficient.

Focus19

Monday morning bump to request feedback on post #18. I have to submit this today, so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.