County Court Claim from Parking Eye Ltd (Home Bargains)

D_P_Dance

The original application was for two hours free paring, PE have lowered this to !.5 hours. Did they seek approval from the council? Was such approval required?

IMO the signs are far too wordy to form a contract, almost 300 words in the T&C, who reads all that guff before they park in a store car park? They would struggle in court imo. Read this thread

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

Get your MP on board, they are well aware how the scam works and on 18th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these private parking companies. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, and persistent offenders denied access. Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers.

Until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Umkomaas

Did you get a ‘warning letter through the post’ as per 6.3?

Have you contacted the council to check this hasn’t been superseded?

Coupon-mad

Originally Posted by Coupon-mad
2 hours stay, eh?

silverchoice wrote: »

What do you mean ?

Read the document you posted.

First thing I looked at was that the proposed time wasn't 1.5 hours, so when has P/Eye changed it down to that and is it outside the Planning Permission?

silverchoice

Umkomaas wrote: »

Did you get a ‘warning letter through the post’ as per 6.3?

Have you contacted the council to check this hasn’t been superseded?

I’ve just rang the council and they’ve just fobbed me off and said it’s something the planning department don’t deal with.

Does no one on here know if they can change the maximum free parking period without changing the planning permission ?

Umkomaas

silverchoice wrote: »

I’ve just rang the council and they’ve just fobbed me off and said it’s something the planning department don’t deal with.

Does no one on here know if they can change the maximum free parking period without changing the planning permission ?

How else did you expect the council to react to a sticky question raised in a phone call? Did you ask them who does deal with it?

You need to put this in writing. Maybe you should issue a Freedom of Information request, then they can’t fob you off. You might get a very different (and more helpful) response in writing.

You need to ask questions about when the request to change the maximum stay was made, with copies of all correspondence pertaining to the request and responses to it. Who made the request? Ask when the request was granted.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com

Does no one on here know if they can change the maximum free parking period without changing the planning permission ?

Parking companies should be operating within legal and local regulations. You need to find out what those local regulations are - we cannot do that for you.

silverchoice

Umkomaas wrote: »

How else did you expect the council to react to a sticky question raised in a phone call? Did you ask them who does deal with it?

You need to put this in writing. Maybe you should issue a Freedom of Information request, then they can’t fob you off. You might get a very different (and more helpful) response in writing.

You need to ask questions about when the request to change the maximum stay was made, with copies of all correspondence pertaining to the request and responses to it. Who made the request? Ask when the request was granted.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com


Parking companies should be operating within legal and local regulations. You need to find out what those local regulations are - we cannot do that for you.

I've done that but I doubt I will get a reply before I need to submit my defence.

silverchoice

KeithP wrote: »

With a Claim Issue Date of 14th March, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 16th April 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

1. Print your Defence.
2. Sign it and date it.
3. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
4. Send that pdf as an email attachment to [EMAIL="CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk"]CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk[/EMAIL]
5. Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
6. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
7. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put you under pressure.
8. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Can I send evidence as attachments with my claim letter ?

KeithP

silverchoice wrote: »

Can I send evidence as attachments with my claim letter ?

What 'claim letter'?

If you mean can I send evidence with my Defence, then the answer is no.


Evidence is filed later - at Witness Statement time.

Coupon-mad

silverchoice wrote: »

I've done that but I doubt I will get a reply before I need to submit my defence.

No idea why you phoned the Council. That was not what I said and my question was purely rhetorical. I was just musing that no, parking firms CANNOT change the max stay time unless the Council agree, if it was a condition of the planning consent.

Which YOU do not have to know, or prove. They do!

I was simply showing you what to say in defence. You need an eye for detail when you go through a document re a court claim and the 2 hours jumps off the page, so all you needed to do was throw in a comment about it in your defence...

Then you have plenty of time to get the FOI info about the planning consent.

silverchoice

I have written the first draft of my defence. Can anyone please give me advice of how to amend it.


[FONT=&quot]In The County Court [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Claim No: xxxxxxxx[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Between[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]PARKINGEYE Ltd (Claimant)

-and-

xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Defendant)

____________
DEFENCE
____________[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
1. The Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of vehicle registration number xxxxxxxx on the material date. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]2. The facts of the matter are that the Defendant was not a customer of Home Bargains but the sign says for use by customers only. The wording of the signage forbids parking, then there was no offer to park and therefore no contract. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]A trespass has occurred, which means only the landowner can claim, not the parking company (see PCM-UK v Bull et all B4GF26K6 [2016])[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3. [FONT=&quot]T[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]he sign states the maximum stay was one and a half hours. The parking management plan that was submitted with the planning permission for the previous Netto store states the maximum stay was two hours. This has not been amended by further planning applications. The Defendant was parked for two hours and eleven minutes which is within the grace period for parking (two hours plus twenty minutes). [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
4. Accordingly, it is denied that the Defendant breached any of the Claimant's purported contractual terms, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

5. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle, and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would be unable to do so easily. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]6. The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred £60 costs to pursue an alleged £100 debt. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, in Schedule 4, Para 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £100.

7. In summary, the Claimant's particulars disclose no legal basis for the sum claimed, and the Court is invited to dismiss the claim in its entirety.

Statement of Truth:

I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

Name
Signature
Date [/FONT]