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

Bex2079

Hi

Can anyone advise please how I would get hold of relevant cases to include as exhibits such as PE v Beavis? Or the sign in that case.

Thank you

ShakeItOff

You can google the case transcript, but it won't give you the WS evidence and contents as far as I know.

You don't actually need them though.

KeithP

Bex2079 wrote: »

Hi

Can anyone advise please how I would get hold of relevant cases to include as exhibits such as PE v Beavis? Or the sign in that case.

Thank you

You won't need a transcript of the Beavis case - its massive and the judge will be aware of it.

Stick Beavis sign into google and you'll find many images.

[Deleted User]

The supreme Court website has a link, but as it was consolidated (ie heard together with another claim) you need to be aware that only a handful of paragraphs will be directly relevant to the points you want to raise.

Many of the relevant county court cases are linked to from the parking prankster site.

Bex2079

Thank you all, I thought I would be expected to include the transcript as an exhibit. I will google the sign and try to find the relevant point about legitimate interest as advised by coupon-mad.

I’m so confused with the process of writing my witness statement despite advice received on my thread and the guidance in Newbies section I feel like my statement is a load of waffle and not sure I get all the points. I wondered if anyone would be prepared to read my draft and if so how to go about this, would I just add it to my original thread or start a new thread? I’m struggling to use and navigate around the sections being new to MSE. Apologies.

Coupon-mad

No new threads please, eek, no! Add it here but don't copy & paste from WORD.

Use Notepad (covered in far too my threads to repeat the reason why, again).

Bex2079

Thank you, have copied the statement into Notepad so hope it's in the right format for the site. To clarify I feel its jumbled, I know the witness statement should be more my story about what happened but since I cannot amend my defence and am not entirely happy with that particularly based on reply to defence received only 2 days ago (less than a week before my witness statement is due), I feel I've had not option but to mention BPA and IPC as supporting documentation which I wish to rely on, unclear if I refer to both or just 1 of these. Also the support from the hotel only came this week also so needed to put that in. I don't refer to all points raised in my defence statement within the witness statement, is it necessary to do this? Also not sure if appropriate to provide information regarding my personal circumstances at the time but it is on the basis of that that I feel the Hotel took a sympathetic view and decided they would support cancelling the charge. Please advise if not appropriate.

For background I did not receive the initial charge letter then ignored all other correspondence hoping it would go away and following a previous failed POPLA for a different charge didn't see the point of that (I know this was silly of me). I genuinely never thought to contact the Hotel and wish I had done this sooner but I am where I am now.

Here is the draft of my Witness Statement:

IN THE COUNTY COURT AT ST HELENS

CLAIM NUMBER: XXXXXXXX

BETWEEN:

ParkingEye Ltd (Claimant)

Vs

BEX2079 (Defendant)


WITNESS STATEMENT
______________________________________________________________________________


1. I am BEX2079 of XXXXXXXXX, defendant in this matter. I am an unrepresented party with no experience of court procedures. Should I not present my case as professionally as the Claimant’, I trust that the Court will excuse my inexperience and reserve any criticism for the sparse particulars filled by the Claimant. I will say as follows:

2. I am a registered nurse employed within the NHS by XXXXXXXXX. As an organisation we regularly use the Ramada Plaza Wrexham Hotel as a venue for conferences and meetings.

3. On 14th March 2018, I attended a sickness review meeting at the Hotel at the request of my manager. I parked my vehicle registration XXXXXX, in the car park. I had been off work sick since 17th January 2018 following the death of my father. I attach evidence of my sickness as Exhibit A, and evidence of arrangements for the meeting as Exhibit B.

4. I had attended and parked at the Hotel previously on numerous occasions when there had been no requirement to register the vehicle at reception, in order to be entitled free parking. I was unaware of the newly introduced requirements. The British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice 2018 point 18.10 states; “Where there is a change in the terms and conditions that materially affects the motorist then you must make these terms and conditions clear on your signage. Where such changes impose liability where none previously existed then you must consider a transition to allow regular visitors to the site to adjust and familiarise themselves with the changes. Best practice would be the installation of additional/temporary signage at the entrance and throughout the site making it clear that new terms and conditions apply. This will ensure such that regular visitors who may be familiar with the previous terms become aware of the new ones.” The Independent Parking Committee (IPC) Code of Practice 2017 (Exhibit D) states; “Where there is any change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a person visiting the site and which materially affects the motorist you should place additional (temporary) signage at the entrance making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular visitors who may be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking charges. This signage should be in addition to the signage ordinarily required and left in place for an appropriate period.” Since the ANPR system went live in February 2018 and due to having been off work sick, this was my first visit to the site since the change, I do not consider that there has been any transition or that I was afforded the opportunity to adjust and familiarise myself with the change, nor was there any additional signage.

5. Furthermore The British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice 2018 (Exhibit E) point 18.2 states; “Entrance signs play an important part in establishing a parking contract and deterring trespassers. Therefore, as well as the signs you must have telling drivers about the terms and conditions for parking, you must also have a standard form of entrance sign at the entrance to the parking area. Entrance signs must tell drivers that the car park is managed and that there are terms and conditions they must be aware of.” The British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice 2018 also advise that signs must be conspicuous and legible so as easy to see, read and understand, and that signs should be placed so that they are readable by drivers without the need to look away from the road ahead. The single entrance sign to the hotel car park was inconspicuously placed, at a high level and obscured by a tree, therefore not easy to see without taking my eyes off the road, evidence of this is attached as Exhibit F.

6. Having not seen the entrance sign I did not then go looking for additional signs detailing specific terms and conditions. I have since visited the site and found that there are a large number of parking bays without obvious signs in the line of sight, evidence of this is attached as Exhibit G. The specific parking term signage is again placed at a very high level, with the main of the text detailing the terms in a tiny font that is impossible to read, evidence of this is attached as Exhibit H. It is therefore denied that the Claimant’s signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract. It is also believed that the Claimant has breached The British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice 2018 in relation to signage, the signs have been positioned to create ‘entrapment zones’ where signage is not clearly visable.

7. It should be noted that I have completed and returned all required documentation within timeframe since commencement of this claim. I returned my initial defence statement on 8th October 2018 based only on the particulars of the claim. I did not receive the reply to defence until 16th March 2019, this is the first time I have seen the basis of the claim.

8. Having contacted the Hotel General Manager, they were sympathetic to my circumstances and satisfied that I was a Hotel patron, and agreed to email the Claimant to cancel the parking charge, unfortunately the Claimant responded to advise this was not possible as it had already gone to summons stage, the General Manager of the Hotel is continuing to pursue a resolution on my behalf, attached is Exhibit G (Some information redacted). It is therefore apparent that the Claimant has no legitimate interest, thus this case is fully distinguished from ParkingEye V Beavis, as it has no commercial justification. This case is attached as Exhibit H. Based on this the Claimant is also put strictly to proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

9. It should also be noted that no effort has been made by the Claimant to highlight the complaints procedure with the landowner. This omission prevented me from being able to get this charge cancelled by the Hotel, a right that I believe existed as an exemption clause for patrons written into the landowner contract/Hotel user manual, but a material fact which is deliberately withheld from consumers/patrons. If I had been informed at an earlier stage that the Hotel/landowner could deal with such complaints and cancel charges, I would have acted on this in a timelier manner.

10. In my defence statement I had indicated that I would prefer to have resolved this issue using Alternative Dispute Resolution process. On completion of the N180 Directions Questionnaire I selected that I was agreeable to mediation, unfortunately this was arranged to take place on dates that I had advised on the N180 that I would be unavailable, I was out of the country and not able to participate in mediation, I tried to rearrange on my return however this was not possible.

11. It is my position that under the doctrine of promissory estoppels, the Claimant has no standing, or cause of action, to litigate this matter.

12. I respectfully 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. Schedule of costs attached as Exhibit I.

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

Signed
Dated

KeithP

I still don't understand why you are referring to The Independent Parking Committee (IPC) Code of Practice 2017 (Exhibit D) for two reasons:
1) ParkingEye are not members of the IPC.
2) The IPC have not been known as The Independent Parking Committee since 2015 or thereabouts. Since then they have been known as the International Parking Community.

Bex2079

Thanks, that was one of my queries, I will remove the reference to IPC, I’m not familiar with which operators are registered with who.

Le_Kirk

A couple of times you refer to your "Defence Statement"; it is just DEFENCE. You also say: -

unfortunately the Claimant responded to advise this was not possible as it had already gone to summons stage

If this is the word they actually used, you should make sure the judge understands that they were the actual words of the PPC. If, however, you have chosen to use it erroneously, then you need to correct as it is not a summons, it not being a criminal issue but a civil one.