ES Court Claim - defence drafted

KeithP

Tagsnags wrote: »

My only other question is, if the Evidence has to be submitted to the Courts in a binder (none-digitally), how am I going to provide my Video Evidence?

It must be sent on a 'durable medium' to both the Claimant and the Court.

A 'durable medium' is something that once sent cannot be altered by the sender.

In the case of video, that means you are effectively limited to either a CD/DVD, or memory stick/card.

A video file as an attachment to an email is another example of a 'durable medium', but you might need the explicit agreement of the court and the claimant to accept evidence that way.

A link to a Dropbox file, a Youtube file, or indeed a link to anywhere, is not acceptable as you could alter that file after the link has been sent.

You also need to consider how you are going to show the video at the hearing. Take a laptop or tablet with you that is capable of playing the chosen durable medium.

Tagsnags

Le_Kirk & KeithP, thank you very much

Tagsnags

I have not received the WS from the claimant yet. Is this likely to arrive before 4pm tomorrow? I don't know if I should send them my WS if they have failed to send me theirs.

Also, I am a little shaky on the first appeal I sent to ES 3 years ago. I have a copy on my computer that I am not 100% is the actual version I posted (not great I know).

I wanted to see the claimants (Gladstones) WS to see if they have a copy of this appeal just to validate the version I have. I did submit a SAR before my defence was drawn up but they just provided a contact history record and not the actual contents of any appeals. Will Gladstones have a comprehensive list of all correspondence I have sent to them, such as appeals, in their WS evidence?

KeithP

Do not miss your deadline for filing your Witness Statement and evidence. Also include your Costs Schedule.

Remember to send a copy of everything to the Claimant too.

Coupon-mad

Will Gladstones have a comprehensive list of all correspondence I have sent to them, such as appeals,

Not yet, they have nothing much and never bother until close to a hearing.

in their WS evidence?

If they file and serve one at all, then yes...but of course if it arrives late you will be able to object to the entire WS being admissible, at the hearing!

Le_Kirk

Coupon-mad wrote: »

If they file and serve one at all, then yes...but of course if it arrives late you will be able to object to the entire WS being admissible, at the hearing!

Which is why you must NOT miss the deadline for filing and serving your own WS.

Tagsnags

Update on this: my court date is next week so I am brushing up on my defence, WS, the court day process etc. I did not end up receiving a WS from Gladstones although I did send mine to them. I have received correspondence from them previously so they have my correct address. Maybe they'll claim they sent it to me at the hearing.

Tagsnags

Attended at county court today and the ES representative known as 'Brian' turned up just in time. We spoke initially about the case. I sensed that he was slightly unprepared only having some knowledge of my specific case. I could see he was looking at my WS on his laptop so it wasn't as though he was going in entirely blind. He also referenced the car park in particular and fluttering ticket cases and the key sticking points that usually come up. Although he only had limited knowledge of my case he seemed very familiar with the fluttering ticket cases in general and the points he would argue to the judge. He'd clearly been doing this for a long time and I was just one of many defendants he'd met regarding parking tickets. It seemed he would focus on the point surrounding the 'clearly displayed' ticket on the dashboard and the fact that in this case this was not adhered to (as the ticket was face-down). I argued on this point and several other points and we even discussed the Will Hurley and John Davies conflict of interests regarding GS and the IPC (IAS). He didn't see any obvious conflict of interest with this, despite knowing the detail of Will Hurley of GS setting up the IPC and IAS, which I found amusing. I was aware during our discussion that I wasn't obliged to discuss the case before going into the courtroom, so I kept my cards fairly close to my chest. However he summed up his position by suggesting we settle and we can strike the case out. I obviously knew this meant he felt he would likely lose the case but I also knew if I didn't agree to these terms he would defend the elements of the case that I was slightly shaky on and there was still no guarantee I would win. A couple of things that I knew weakened my position going into the hearing was that 1) my printer was running out of ink on the night before the deadline to submit my WS so the photo evidence was sketchy at best! 2) the memory-stick I had in the ring-binder sleeve was loose. This is all newbie mistakes I know. I have learnt so much from this whole process if nothing else.

I felt on balance, I should agree to the settlement so we reached a settlement figure of £65. In the courtroom it was all done and dusted within 5-10 mins. In hindsight I still have conflicting feelings. I discovered that the memory-stick did not in fact not make it to the courtroom and must have fell out so that would have weakened my argument regarding signage somewhat and been a little embarrassing. On the other hand. it would have been nice to argue it out and win where I would have got more costs awarded. £65 is not a lot given the time I have invested on this but paying some £200 if I lost would have been considerable. Which is what swayed me in taking the offer. All-in-all ES loses out and they have to foot the bill each step of the way. I'm just slightly frustrated I didn't take them to the cleaners!

Cheers for all your support to all you guys who dedicate so much of your free time to helping newbies like me. I'll be monitoring the industry closely and I feel so much more prepared when myself or my family/friends receive a parking charge in the future..