Claim Form Fluttering Ticket at Work Parking Space

Waster

(Birmingham County Court address)

(my name & address)
Dear Sir/Madam,
re. case number XXXXXXX Euro Parking Services Ltd v (my name)
Please send your Defence document to process your claim by 12th June 2019.
Yours sincerely,
(signature)
Mrs (name)
Civil Pre-Allocation Section
ext 0300 XXX XXX

I'll ring first thing in the morning!

KeithP

Whatever it is they're after, it might be prudent to hand deliver it and get a receipt at the time if you can.

Coupon-mad

Sounds like they can't see it as it's not on MCOL, it was emailed (quite rightly). Maybe they usually see squished rubbish defences in the MCOL box or on paper and wonder where CCBC stored the defence.

I'd just ring them and ask if you can forward the CCBC email you sent.

Waster

Will do, the Courts aren't far from my work.

Waster

Good evening, I've received the witness statement from PPC and I'm finalising my own witness statement for Court (as is my work colleague). I hope it emphasises the lack of response and failure to follow due process from the PPC throughout. They have produced a letter which they are saying they sent to me 3 days after my initial appeal, rejecting the appeal. I did not receive this letter. I'd be grateful to hear whether you think this is an adequate witness statement and any advice would be gratefully received as I only have a few days before I need to submit it to the PPC and the Courts.

Thanks in advance.

In the County Court at xx
Claim No. xx
Between
xxxx Parking Ltd (Claimant)
and
xxxxx (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am xx, of xx the Defendant in this matter. I will say as follows:

2. I had a valid permit that allowed me parking in the bays at any time and I attach evidence of this as Exhibit A.

3. On xx I parked my vehicle registration no. xxx in the car park and went to work.

4. Parking attendants fixed a penalty charge notice (PCN) to my car. My colleague saw this from our office window and alerted me to this. We immediately went outside to speak to the parking attendants. The attendants were walking away and I called them back. I found that the permit had fallen from the dashboard. I immediately showed them the permit which I picked from the footwell of the car, but they refused to rescind the PCN. Both attendants had bodycams which they confirmed were working.

5. The PCN stated that the vehicle had been observed from 11:58:02 to 11:58:09

6.I returned to work and, following the directions given on the PCN, I immediately sent in an appeal via the xxx Parking Ltd. website appeals process. I introduce a copy of the appeal as exhibit B. I received no reply and the Claimant has elected to pursue this matter via litigation.

6. I received a ‘Final Reminder’ letter dated xxx stating that the registered keeper was liable for the parking charge and inviting payment of £100 and stating that a Notice to Keeper had previously been served on the registered keeper. I had not received a Notice to Keeper or any other form of correspondence since the issue of the ticket.

7.I emailed xxx Parking Ltd again, explaining the full position and asking them to confirm receipt of my appeal and to show reason and rescind the PCN. I introduce a copy of the email as exhibit C. Again, I received no reply.

8.On xxx I received a 'Letter Before Court Action' in which the charge amount had, without explanation, risen to £160. The letter required full payment or alternatively a full account of the circumstances that led to the charge being imposed.

9.On xxxx I once again wrote to xxx Parking Ltd directing them to a full account of the circumstances of my appeal, reiterating the lack of any response from them in relation to this appeal and requesting an acknowledgement of said appeal. I did not receive a reply.

10.On xxxx I received a ‘Letter Before Claim’ from Gladstones Solicitors on behalf of their client Euro Parking Services Ltd requesting payment of £160 or a reply within 30 days if I believed I had a valid reason for non-payment.

11.On xxxx I emailed xxx Parking Ltd once again. I introduce a copy of the email as exhibit D. The email reiterated again that I had received no response to my appeal containing evidence of my valid reasons for non-payment nor to my numerous subsequent emails.

12. I invite the Court to dismiss this claim in its entirety, and to award my costs of attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.

Statement of Truth

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

Signature
Date

KeithP

Nowhere in that WS do you say why you believe you should not have been issued with the Parking Charge.

Nothing in there about the shortcomings in the Claimants WS?

Nothing in there about the extra charges being claimed?


Several times you write 'xxx Parking Ltd'.

Yet in para 10 you write 'Euro Parking Services Ltd'.

'xxx Parking Ltd' cannot be a contraction of 'Euro Parking Services Ltd'.

Anyway, I suggest you use 'the Claimant' throughout - except in the headings of course.

Coupon-mad

Now you need to add your costs schedule and a Supplementary WS (about the added sixty quid being unrecoverable) like in all the other threads this month at WS stage.

Le_Kirk

4. Parking attendants fixed a penalty charge notice (PCN) to my car.

Is it actually a PENALTY charge notice or a PARKING charge notice? Does it say PENALTY on it?

Waster

Thanks all, I've spent hours over the weekend on this and seem to have got a bit bogged down, however -
For the extra charges being claimed, you suggest a supplementary WS - I'm not sure what form that would take so I've introduced the detail in the main WS and added POFA Schedule 4 as an exhibit?Re. Costs Schedule - over the weekend I was either looking for the wrong thing or in the wrong place because I couldn't get hold of the appropriate info. I'm sure directions on the layout are somewhere very obvious but I was going a bit cross-eyed towards the end - if you could point me the right direction for where to search I would be much obliged!
I've also changed to parking charge notice from penalty charge - thank you!

In the xx County Court
Claim No. xx
Between
Euro Parking Services Ltd (Claimant)
and
xx (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am xx, of xx, the Defendant in this matter. I will say as follows:

2. I had a valid permit that allowed me parking in the bays at any time and I attach evidence of this as Exhibit A.

3. On 16/05/2018 I parked my vehicle registration no. xxin the car park and went to work.

4. Parking attendants fixed a parking charge notice (PCN) to my car. My colleague saw this from our office window and alerted me to this. We immediately went outside to speak to the parking attendants. The attendants were walking away and I called them back. I found that the permit had fallen from the dashboard. I immediately showed them the permit which I picked from the footwell of the car, but they refused to rescind the PCN. Both attendants had bodycams which they confirmed were working.

5.I returned to work and, following the directions given on the PCN, I immediately sent an appeal via the Claimant's website appeals process. I introduce a copy of this appeal as exhibit B. I received no reply and did not receive a letter rejecting the appeal. I made this clear in subsequent correspondence.

6.I provided the Claimant with clear evidence that I acted in good faith and made all reasonable endeavours to comply with the terms and conditions as far as they were understood. This was an opportunity for the Claimant to act reasonably and cancel the charge.

7.Fluttering tickets are routinely accepted as a valid defence to Council Penalty Charge Notices and whilst contractual principles are not applied to such notices, it is indicative of the fact that circumstances out of one’s control, and where the driver is clearly permitted to park, are deemed to be a good reason for those notices to be cancelled.

8. I include the views of Council Adjudicators regarding the well-known issue of ‘flimsy!fluttering tickets’ because the Supreme Court (and the Court of Appeal Judges) in Beavis were happy to draw similarities with Council PCNs: In Claim Number DB05057D the adjudicator said: “...having seen the original ticket I note that it is made of rather thin paper which is likely to be dislodged when a car door is shut. It may be that the Council would argue that it is the driver’s responsibility to ensure that the ticket is on display when the vehicle is left, but on the other hand if it chooses to issue pay and display tickets made of such thin paper it must expect that now and again this type of situation will arise.’ In Claim number HVO5O4OD the adjudicator accepted the appellant’s evidence that she had displayed the ticket on the dash. He said: I am not aware of any signs in the car park suggesting the use of adhesives by motorists when parking their cars.”

9.My appeal was the first in a series of efforts to engage with the claimant, with repeated requests for them to consider the circumstances and respond. The Claimant did not respond, sending only standard letters for payment weeks or months later which did not acknowledge or refer to my appeal.

10. I received a ‘Final Reminder’ letter dated 20/6/2018 stating that the registered keeper was liable for the parking charge and inviting payment of £100 and stating that a Notice to Keeper had previously been served on the registered keeper. I had not received a Notice to Keeper or any other form of correspondence since the issue of the ticket. I emailed the Claimant again, explaining the full position and asking them to confirm receipt of my appeal and to show reason and rescind the PCN. I introduce a copy of the letter and my email as exhibit C. Again, I received no reply.

11.On 22/09/2018 I received a 'Letter Before Court Action' in which the charge amount had, without explanation, risen to £160. The letter required full payment or alternatively a full account of the circumstances that led to the charge being imposed. On 24/09/2018 I once again wrote to the claimant directing them to a full account of the circumstances of my appeal, reiterating the lack of any response from them in relation to this appeal and requesting an acknowledgement of said appeal. I did not receive a reply. I introduce the letter and my email as exhibit D.

12.On 22/12/2018 I received a ‘Letter Before Claim’ from Gladstones Solicitors on behalf of their client, the Claimant, requesting payment of £160 or a reply within 30 days if I believed I had a valid reason for non-payment.

13.On 03/01/2019 I emailed the Claimant once again. The email reiterated that I had received no response to my appeal containing evidence of my valid reasons for non-payment nor to my numerous subsequent emails. I introduce the letter and a copy of my email as exhibit E. I received no reply.

14.In not responding to my correspondence, the Claimant’s pattern of behaviour shows a blatant disregard of pre-court protocol.

15.The Claimant is abusing the court process and has knowingly inflated its claim for an additional sum which it is not entitled to recover.

16.The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 (POFA) (which I introduce as exhibit F) makes it clear that the will of Parliament regarding parking on private land is that the only sum potentially able to be recovered is the sum in any compliant 'Notice to Keeper' (and the ceiling for a 'parking charge', as set by the Trade Bodies and the DVLA, is £100). This also depends upon the Claimant fully complying with the statute, including 'adequate notice' of the parking charge and prescribed documents served in time/with mandatory wording. It is submitted the claimant has failed on all counts and the Claimant is well aware their artificially inflated claim, as pleaded, constitutes double recovery.

17. Many informed County Court Judges have disallowed all added parking firm 'costs' in County courts, such as these cases, struck out in recent months without a hearing, due solely to the pretence of adding 'damages' blatantly made up out of thin air:
(a) In Claim number F0DP163T on 11th July 2019, District Judge Grand sitting at the County Court at Southampton, struck out an overly inflated (over the £100 maximum Trade Body and POFA 2012 ceiling) parking firm claim without a hearing for that reason.
(b) In Claim number F0DP201T on 10th June 2019, District Judge Taylor echoed an earlier General Judgement or Order of DJ Grand, who on 21st February 2019 sitting at the Newport (IOW) County Court, had struck out a parking firm claim. These include a BPA member serial Claimant (Britannia, using BW Legal's robo-claim model) and an IPC member serial Claimant (UKCPM, using Gladstones' robo-claim model) where the abuse is inherent in the business model. The Order was identical in striking out all such claims without a hearing. - The judgement for these three example cases stated:
''IT IS ORDERED THAT The claim is struck out as an abuse of process. The claim contains a substantial charge additional to the parking charge which it is alleged the Defendant contracted to pay. This additional charge is not recoverable under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 nor with reference to the judgment in!ParkingEye v Beavis. It is an abuse of process from the Claimant to issue a knowingly inflated claim for an additional sum which it is not entitled to recover. This order has been made by the court of its own initiative without a hearing pursuant to CPR Rule 3.3(4) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998...''

18. I invite the Court to dismiss this claim in its entirety, and to award my costs of attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.


Statement of Truth

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

Signature

Print:
Date

3383

how did you get on?