Another one bites the dust - Gladstones and UK CPM

energy1x

Another success story for this forum and it's brilliant members:

Earlier this week I attended court up against Gladstones Solicitors and UK CPM. They were chasing the usual highly inflated over £200 for an original £100 PCN for not displaying the 'correct' permit on a residential site.

On the day, they didn't bother turning up. The hearing lasted barely 10 minutes, the Judge was friendly, very methodical in his manner directly looking at the signage only and summed up almost immediately to say the signage evidence is not sufficient, indeed it was seriously lacking. On that basis, the claim was dismissed. I asked for costs at the end of the hearing which the Judge duly allowed, £95 for my day off work after showing him my payslip and on top my travel costs + parking costs (ironic!).

My message to others on this forum who are at whatever stage of the process is do not let these parasites get to you! NEVER give up, even if I had lost the case I would be satisfied knowing I'd wasted their time, effort and money bringing the case to a court hearing so it's worth it!

Thank you again to all on this forum, it is an invaluable resource and very remarkable in it's knowledge and support to those hindered by these idiot PPCs.

beamerguy

Well done :T:T

Gladstones taking the pi*s out of the court and once again also to UKCPM

Such an incompetent bunch

I mean if you did not turn up you would get a CCJ ... why does the court NOT serve sanction points on these dodgy legals for wasting the courts time

energy1x

I mean if you did not turn up you would get a CCJ ... why does the court NOT serve sanction points on these dodgy legals for wasting the courts time

That was my next question... If I had not turned up either would the Judge have decided in our absence? To be honest I would always attend as it means the cost goes up even more for the PPC! :rotfl:

But would the Judge come to the same conclusion of a defendant (driver/keeper) winning the case or more likely to go the other way?

The_Deep

What about costs for unreasonable behaviour? I would ask the judge for compensation for time spend defending this case, £19 an hour, for claiming for unallowable costs, and not turning up. Surely even the most incompetent judge would agree that such behaviour is unreasonable, and complain like Friar tuck to your MP.

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 become so widespread that MPs agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Hopefully, this will become law by Easter .

Coupon-mad

Well done to you! Which Court and Judge?

:T

beamerguy

energy1x wrote: »

That was my next question... If I had not turned up either would the Judge have decided in our absence? To be honest I would always attend as it means the cost goes up even more for the PPC! :rotfl:

But would the Judge come to the same conclusion of a defendant (driver/keeper) winning the case or more likely to go the other way?

I assume if neither turned up, the case would be dismissed

If you did not turn up, you would receive a default CCJ

In your case Gladstones just wasted the courts time, they should be penalised ..... maybe one day if the legal system wakes up

CB93

Hi all

I just wanted to query something.
I have also received an letter today from the above company stating that I am to pay £160.00 otherwise I will be taken to court.
However this letter and the previous letter before from other companies have always spelt my name wrong. My name is in fact Cole and they have been spelling it Coel.
Would this still stand or would this void the previous letters and the increase.

Kind regard

DoaM

Please edit your post to redact your name. In fact, delete your post entirely and please start your own new thread .. AFTER reading the information in the NEWBIES stick FAQ thread.

Ralph-y

hi, and welcome to the forum ........

there will be plenty for you to read up on ...

go to the newbies thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou

dealing with more that one enquiry per thread only leads to confusion

then visit the start page

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163&order=desc

where you will find the 'new thread button '

Oh ... and using a phone to browse the site can cause problems.. so please try a laptop/PC


other useful info



HOW TO USE THE FORUM SEARCH FUNCTION:

Use the Forum Jump button (one near the top and one near the bottom of this page) to get back to the forum thread list. Just above the threads, on the right, is a heading along a line, next to forum tools, called 'Search this Forum'. Put your key word(s) in and change the default search from 'Show Threads' to 'Show Posts'.


NEWBIES - HOW TO UPLOAD LINKS TO PHOTOS/SCANS TO MSE

To upload a photo/scan link, you first need to host it on a free photo hosting site (like Dropbox, Imurg or Tinypic), copy the URL, paste it here, but change the http to hxxp and we'll do the conversion. Newbies can't directly upload links to photos/scans until they've a few posts under their belt.



Ralph:cool:

henrik777

energy1x wrote: »

That was my next question... If I had not turned up either would the Judge have decided in our absence? To be honest I would always attend as it means the cost goes up even more for the PPC! :rotfl:

But would the Judge come to the same conclusion of a defendant (driver/keeper) winning the case or more likely to go the other way?

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27#27.9


Non-attendance of parties at a final hearing
27.9

(1) If a party who does not attend a final hearing–

(a) has given written notice to the court and the other party at least 7 days before the hearing date that he will not attend;

(b) has served on the other party at least 7 days before the hearing date any other documents which he has filed with the court; and

(c) has, in his written notice, requested the court to decide the claim in his absence and has confirmed his compliance with paragraphs (a) and (b) above,

the court will take into account that party’s statement of case and any other documents he has filed and served when it decides the claim.

(2) If a claimant does not –

(a) attend the hearing; and

(b) give the notice referred to in paragraph (1),

the court may strike out(GL) the claim.

(3) If –

(a) a defendant does not –

(i) attend the hearing; or

(ii) give the notice referred to in paragraph (1); and

(b) the claimant either –

(i) does attend the hearing; or

(ii) gives the notice referred to in paragraph (1),

the court may decide the claim on the basis of the evidence of the claimant alone.

(4) If neither party attends or gives the notice referred to in paragraph (1), the court may strike out the claim and any defence and counterclaim.