Claiming Money for Discontinued Case

chad888

I had a case that dragged on 2 years and cost me a lot of money to fight.

The case was for a parking fine in Asda car park when I had stayed half an hour LESS THAN the allowed time in 3 cases.

Initial papers I posted but didn't get to the court for some reason so default judgement against me, I applied for it to be set aside at a cost of £250 and a day off work (I lost £248 wages for a day). I then had to attend another day at court to fight it which cost another £248 in lost wages, plus the printing and posting costs which were around £10 total. The case was adjourned because it was dragging on (I didn't have an argument at the time that they were entitled to bring a claim against me no matter how long I had been on the land) and then the parking company dropped the case.

I sent a letter and email to the court asking for them to award me the costs and explained in depth how badly the other party had acted including sending witness statements after the deadline, sending bailiffs to collect the debt on the morning of the set aside, doing this whole case despite me being within the allowed time limit.

The court sent a letter back saying that if I was pursuing costs from the other party I need to do it by filing the correct application form. I submitted the N244 form. I then got a response saying that I need to pay another £250 fee for the N244 form.

I am already £750 out of pocket. Do I really have to pay another £250 of my own money to have another day in court for £250 lost wages and potentially lose the argument against a team of lawyers that don't want to pay me anything?

Fruitcake

I don't know the specific answer, but it's possible that you could start your own small claim against the PPC which I think will cost you a £25 filing fee.

The more experienced regulars should be along soon to advise you.

What did the store manager/CEO say when you complained to them?

Have you complained to your MP yet about this unregulated scam?

ShakeItOff

Did you ask for your costs to be awarded as part of your original set aside? Advice here is to send a draft order (6 points), which includes the reimbursement of costs from the claimant.

chad888

I did ask for it, the ddj said that fees will be adjourned to the next case.

It all got taken through the court process again and the DDJ that oversaw THAT hearing said charges adjourned until the next hearing. Next hearing was scrapped after they discontinued the case leaving all the money i paid for set aside and hearings wages up in the air.

The_Deep

IMO such behaviour is unreasonable. You may therefore be entitled to punitive costs under CPR 27.14.(2)(g). Also complain to your MP

The whole industry is a scam, relying on threats of court, and the public's ignorance of the Law, A bill is currently before parliament which will regulate the scammers, many of whom are ex-clampers.

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 Second Reading in the Lords this month, and, with a fair wind, will l become Law later this year..

All five readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 7-8 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.

nosferatu1001

If costs were formally reserved, then they dont disappear; you shoulc have asked for the hearing to have been converted into one dealing with costs.

Coupon-mad

You will either have to pay £255 to accompany a N244.

Or a much smaller fee to file a claim against the parking firm, for, say £1000 for your tangible losses reserved from the hearings, and for harassment and significant distress caused by their misuse of data (if you are saying the PCNs were issued in error from the start, PE should never have got your data).

If the latter, you'd have to send PE a LBC first.

The_Deep

Hang on, can he/she just not write to the judge. Defendants in the SCC should be cut some slack.

Coupon-mad

No, they already tried:

I sent a letter and email to the court asking for them to award me the costs and explained in depth how badly the other party had acted including sending witness statements after the deadline, sending bailiffs to collect the debt on the morning of the set aside, doing this whole case despite me being within the allowed time limit.

The court sent a letter back saying that if I was pursuing costs from the other party I need to do it by filing the correct application form. I submitted the N244 form. I then got a response saying that I need to pay another £250 fee for the N244 form.

It is a farce and a scandal that courts want £255 out of victims at every stage, but only £25 from robo-claimants who ruin people's credit rating with no checks or evidence at all.

chad888

If I were to pay the £250 to accompany the N244, would I be able to claim this back too? All fees were consistently reserved at each hearing until they discontinued the case.

I just want to understand before forking out a further £250 to get this seen by the court whether I will be able to claim for:

Harassment by sending out DCBL bailiffs on the day of the set aside,
Costs for printing, and posting
Lost wages for 2 days in court £500
Set aside fee £250
N244 cost seeking claim £250

onlyfoolsandparking

It looks like you did a pretty decent job getting the parking scammers to discontinue and you should be proud of that, then of course your right to feel angry about how much its cost you to defend yourself.


I don't know enough about Court procedures when it gets to set-aside and counter claim areas, maybe you do have a case to counter claim and maybe (just a suggestion) take your grievance to a decent solicitor (no win-no fee??) who can instigate a claim against parking scum.


It seems on the face of it that you are very much out of pocket and the scum have just walked away, that cannot be right and there must be some redress available to you for that or maybe that's just how the Court claim system works and you just have to walk away too, I don't know but if I were you I would absolutely find out, good luck.