*URGENT Help* Serving written evidence & witness statement to small claims court against ParkingEye

Bex2079

I’m late in the day reaching out for help and have got to this stage based on advice from the parking pranksters book which now having read the info and threads on here differs slightly.

I completed my AoS and submitted my defence statement in October 2018 thinking I could add to this on the basis that I stated the claimant had not provided enough details in the particulars of the claim for me to file a full defence and specifically that I had not been provided with details of the contract and signage details. I have now received a small claim hearing date of 5th June 2019 with a request to file any written evidence upon which I propose to rely including my own statement if I wish to give evidence by 22nd March 2019. I have contacted the court as the hearing has been allocated for a date when I advised on the N180 that I would be unavailable, they have agreed to rearrange but could not give a clear view if this altered my submission date, the personI spoke to said they thought so but it was ultimately up to the judge. To note also ParkingEye sent their reply to defence which I received 2 days ago.

Essentially I am confused if I can amend my defence now based on the response from ParkingEye, again I asked the court this they said they didn’t see why not but it’s up to the judge. Does anyone know where I stand? I also contacted the hotel where the parking charge occurred and they advised they were sympathetic to my circumstances and had emailed ParkingEye to cancel the charge, however they later contacted me to say ParkingEye had advised to say it could not be cancelled as has gone to summons stage. I wondered if it is worth contacting ParkingEye directly, could they cancel it and is it that they are just choosing not to?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

Redx

yes PE can cancel it at any time, but choose not to at this stage, or so far

no , you cannot normally alter a defence UNLESS the judge directs it, and you should abide by the dates UNLESS told otherwiese (by the judge ?)

it costs £100 I believe to alter a defence

but you can put what you like in your WS and therefore can address what is in the reply to your defence that you just received

at no stage did you receive a "summons" , this is not a criminal case or matter

you received an MCOL form , N1 , a claim for an unpaid invoice to be heard in civil court by a judge , not a summons to appear before magistrates

the devil is in the detail

start your WS and also include exhibits, plus add the WS from the landowner or hotel etc too, I hope you got this in writing ?

BTW , I have no legal training, but believe what I have said is true, and would advise you to err on the side of caution

Bex2079

Thank you for the quick reply and advice. No I never had a summons.

I will just include all detail in the witness statement then, as I briefly referred to signage in the defence statement and now have photo exhibit of the entrance sign obscured by a tree.

Yes I have the email from the hotel and a further email from them telling me to leave it with the, and they would continue to try and resolve for me, I guess I was wondering how to include this as an exhibit having not referenced it in my defence statement, would this be covered by me having said the claimant has no standing to bring a case?

Finally do you think it’s worth trying to contact ParkingEye directly at this stage to advise that the hotel are supportive of the charge being cancelled and to query why they have said this cannot be done and maybe negotiating to reimburse their costs of filing with the court?

Thank you

D_P_Dance

Have you seen this?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading&highlight=

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. It received The Royal Assent today.

Coupon-mad

It received The Royal Assent today.

It's certainly been a long day, The Deep.

Umkomaas

Coupon-mad wrote: »

It's certainly been a long day, The Deep.

No worries, it means that they'll now all be out of business by Easter. Christmas was a little optimistic!:)

D_P_Dance

Water off a duck's back.

Bex2079

Thanks for the link, having been back to inspect the signs at the site they are the exact style as in this link, even in the photos sent to me by PE in reply to defence the text at the bottom is so small it cannot be read.

What are people’s views about contacted PE?

Umkomaas

D_P_Dance wrote: »

Water off a duck's back.

Does that duck live in the 'beautifuk Thames Valley'? Check your location as shown in your personal forum details. Fruitcake has also referred to it.

Coupon-mad

You really should have simply complained to the Hotel when you got the PCN. In all honesty, I have no idea why people don't do this as a first step, without needing a forum to tell them. Obviously you complain to to the landowner if you get a scam PCN from their pathetic parking agent on their land.

You don't let yourself get sued then try complaining too late. This is far too common and so frustrating when these are easy to cancel in most cases.

Bex2079 wrote: »

What are people’s views about contacted PE?

Why would you do that?

Just put together a decent WS and evidence, stating that you have literally only just received a reply to defence two days ago, that for the first time showed you the basis of their claim.

Show with your Hotel evidence, that P/Eye have no 'legitimate interest' to save this charge from falling foul of the penalty rule, and thus, the case is fully distinguished from ParkingEye v Beavis in the Supreme court. You need to get your head around showing the Judge that this case is the opposite of Beavis as it has no commercial justification (assuming you were a patron of the Hotel).

See the examples of WS & evidence in the NEWBIES thread - it is all there.

Bex2079

Thank you, I know I should have complained to the hotel at the time, in all honesty my dad had just died and I was in a bad place and just ignored the whole thing hoping it would go away

I guess I wondered if it was worth contacting PE as have seen a few posts to contact them without prejudice before hearing to try and reach a resolution.

Thanks again fo all the help.