VCS - False Claim

Coupon-mad

on that basis, and recognising that the ticket may not have been fully completed, I guess it would be an own goal and I may as well concede and pay up.

Eh? How the heck does anyone ever come to that wrong conclusion here?! Who cares whether this was the case?

required (and valid) temporary permit from a registered tenant to the private land was displayed in the windscreen, although it may not have had the start/end times written on it.

That's NOT a reason to concede and pay TWICE (yes TWICE) the sum a Judge would order you to pay if you carry on and are among the rare 1% who lose here!

Why would anyone pay close to £300 to avoid a 1% chance of paying £150 or a 99% chance of paying NOTHING when you win?

So please answer this:

I seem to recall an 'amended defence' should start with your first defence with the bits you don't want struck through, and new paragraphs added.

So, what did your initial defence say exactly, word for word?

Octavian771

I am working and travelling overseas at the moment so I do apologise for not responding sooner.

I felt concede, since if the ticket was in the car then that likely infers 'recognition' that some 'contract' exists, but if the details on the ticket are not filled in this could imply a breach. I haven't paid yet, I had rather expected them to lose interest.

The ONLY 'defence' I have submitted was on the Response Pak which I had to get scanned and emailed to me, it just said the following (which probably came from an example here at the time):

Dear VCS Limited,

I am in receipt of your court claim XYZ and I feel I must ask you to comply with the civil procedure rules and rectify the procedural improprieties.

Your claim fails to adhere to the rules and is unclear and deficient.
CPR 16
Contents of the claim form
16.2
(1) The claim form must –
(a) contain a concise statement of the nature of the claim

Contents of the particulars of claim
16.4
(1) Particulars of claim must include –
(a) a concise statement of the facts on which the claimant relies;

Practice direction 16
Other matters to be included in the particulars of claim

7.5 Where a claim is based upon an agreement by conduct, the particulars of claim must specify the conduct relied on and state by whom, when and where the acts constituting the conduct were done.
You do not specify whether your claim is against the driver or the keeper, nor do you state what term was breached, it does not say how the damages you seek are calculated and your particulars of claim do not have a copy of the contract with them.

I would ask that you present a properly pleaded coherent case by return.
y/s
me

The above was from December last year and I have NOT submitted any further 'defence' since. Guidance on the DQ completion was taken from here and sent to the CC/Claimant in January.

Coupon-mad

I felt concede, since if the ticket was in the car then that likely infers 'recognition' that some 'contract' exists, but if the details on the ticket are not filled in this could imply a breach.

But that doesn't mean the signs were clear about any obligation that attracts £100 penalty.

I haven't paid yet, I had rather expected them to lose interest.

They are at court stage and you've not really defended the claim so they will take this to a hearing.

You would be mad to pay twice the sum you'd pay if you went to a hearing and lost (and most people win). At least your defence had this:

Where a claim is based upon an agreement by conduct, the particulars of claim must specify the conduct relied on and state by whom, when and where the acts constituting the conduct were done.
You do not specify whether your claim is against the driver or the keeper, nor do you state what term was breached, it does not say how the damages you seek are calculated and your particulars of claim do not have a copy of the contract with them.

I told you how to word your amended defence in post #7. Show us your draft asap!

Octavian771

So something like this.....


IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: xxxxxxxxxx

BETWEEN:

VEHICLE CONTROL SERVICES LTD (Claimant)

-and-

xxxxxxxxxxxx (Defendant)

________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration XXXX, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date in a location allocated to Tenants of XXX at XXXX Court, and had a valid permit to be parked in that bay and as such, the Defendant asserts that:

• they categorically dispute the claim that a valid ticket/temp permit was not displayed, and
• the Claimant has provided no photographic evidence of the front windscreen/lack of permit
• the Defendant is able to provide a photograph of the front of the car, showing a valid permit in the windscreen

3. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant “was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle(s)”. These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

4. Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

5. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the claimant's signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. They merely state that vehicles must be parked correctly within their allocated parking bay, giving no definition of the term 'correctly parked', nor indicating which bays are allocated to whom.

6. 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.

7. The Claimant is put to strict 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.

8. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, at Section 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. The claim includes an additional £60, for which no calculation or explanation is given, and which appears to be an attempt at double recovery.

9. In summary, it is the Defendant's position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

Name
Signature
Date

Coupon-mad

Much better. That'll do for this stage.

As it is an amended defence, you should repeat the old defence first with strikes through it (you could put 'my original defence is amended and this is struck through' then show it with lines all through it).

Then a heading 'Amended Defence' with the new one and ending with your signature and date. Submit that to the court who ordered it and keep proof (a certificate of service). DO NOT email it to the court.

DO NOT send it late - are you in time?

Keep a full copy for yourself. Email a copy to VCS (or BW Legal if they filed the claim).

Octavian771

Hi there, I thought I had replied to you at the beginning of May Coupon-Mad to say thanks and that I was in time, but message doesn't seem to be there. Apologies, but sentiment remains.

As an update, as of today 05.06.19 , I now have a date for the hearing at the end of July, thankfully not on holiday until the day after! The claimant has to submit the court fee 'or file a properly completed application...for help with fees' by the beginning of July or else it will be struck out. Presume if this is the case I will be informed. I don't have any specific costs of my own really, but I guess I wouldn't need to raise any claim for such until the hearing.

So for now I guess I just sit tight and wait it out. No doubt if this all goes ahead I will need a folder full of defence evidence! But grateful for any input if I should be doing anything between now and the end of July (e.g. contacting VCS and encouraging them to give it up....!). Cheers, O.

The_Deep

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. 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, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but 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.

Coupon-mad

Presume if this is the case I will be informed

No. Assume they will pay the fee and crack on with preparing your WS an evidence.

grateful for any input if I should be doing anything between now and the end of July

As above - WS and evidence (the court letter tells you the deadline for that).

Octavian771

I have drafted my WS as follows, using guidance on a simple format from a post on the Newbies thread.
In essence I am saying, I was parked there and I did have a permit for my temporary stay.

Any glaring oversights?

In the County Court at XXXXX
Claim No. XXXXXXXX

between

ABC (Claimant)

and

XYZ (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am XYZ, of The House, The Road, The Town, the Defendant in this matter. I will say as follows:
2. I am a bona fide visitor to the premises at XXX, for the purposes of carrying out business activities. The occupier is a tenant to the landowner of XXXX, and I enclose details of that company and their address as Exhibit A.
3. On the XYZ 2018, I visited the property, and parked my vehicle registration no, XXXX in the parking area advised and was provided with a tenants temporary day permit, included as Exhibit B.
4. I was informed by the tenant of the above named property, that visitors with cars are permitted to park on the street at XYZ with the relevant permit, as provided by the tenant, displayed in the windscreen of the vehicle for the duration of the stay. This is further evidenced from the signage, a photograph of which is included as Exhibit C.
5. In accordance with instructions from the business visited, the temporary permit was displayed in the windscreen of the vehicle for the duration of stay (no more than two hours). Photographic evidence of this is included as Exhibit D.
6. Upon receipt of a parking charge notice from the Claimant, I ignored the notice as being an error and then subsequently challenged the claim as being vexatious and false due to the points raised above, however they have elected to pursue this matter via litigation.
7. It is my position that, under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, the Claimant has no standing, or cause of action, to litigate in this matter.
   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: _______________________________

Octavian771

I have now received the VCS witness statement - appears to be a standard template - and am in the process of submitting mine. The WS from CVS states that I didn't display a permit in my windscreen which is simply untrue. Their photos show it.