Parking Ticket Defense Help

MrGrass77

Hi,

Following receiving a Private Parking Charge I have followed the advice on here and I have now received a County Court Business Centre claim from the Parking company.

I have registered online and completed the AOS but I could not find any templates for cases similar to mine. Could you pleae give me some advice on how best to try and defend my claim or if there is a thread similar to mine to use please point me in the right direction.

The details of the case are as below

on 27/09/18 I needed to pick up an asthma prescription from the pharmacy. There is parking round the back and small number of parking at the front as well as 4 disabled bays.

I had broken a bone in my foot in August so I could drive and walk short distances. I attempted to park at the back of the building but there was no spaces. I then drove to the front where there was no normal spaces but all 4 disabled bays were free

I was not fit enough to park on the street as the pharmacy was about 10 min walk from any free parking so I parked in a disabled bay.

I was in and out the Pharmacy in about 5 mins but a camera had picked up that I had no disable badge.

On 1/10/18 UKCPS sent a Notice to Keeper letter to which I responded as per your templates confirming I was the registered keeper. The parking charge was £100 with an offer to settle for £60.

They have continued to send me debt letters which i have kept but ignored until this week where on 28/05/10 The CCBS letter was sent. They are now claiming £160 plus £25 court fee.

My reluctance to pay is that I was temporally disabled and was in desperate need of my Inhaler for my Asthma and in the absence of any normal parking pays I needed to use one of the disabled bays.

I have obtained from the hospital evidence of my foot being broken in August and the Pharmacy have said they can confirm I did purchase the Asthma prescription on the 27/09/18. I also had my foot X-rayed in Oct18 where they confirmed it was still broken and not fully recovered however I am still trying to get the official proof of this in writing.

I believe my evidence shows I did have a broken foot in Sept19 and that on the day in question I did use the Pharmacy. Do you think this is a valid defense and if so can you please advise how I should represent this in my response.

Thanks,
Matt

KeithP

Is 28th May the Issue Date on your Claim Form? Please confirm.

If so...

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th May, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 1st July 2019 to file your Defence.

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


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

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. 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'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep you under pressure.
   
7. 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.

MrGrass77

Thanks for the reply,yes 28th May is the issue date on the letter and I do intend to get on with it and not leave to last minute. Just a couple of questions if you dont mind

1 Ive read about requesting a SAR from the Claimant. Is this beneficial in my case and at this stage or is there no need?

2 For my defense should I just outline what I have written in the post above or are there some things I shouldnt mention or other things I should as part of my defense statement?

3 At this stage should I be looking to attach and upload evidence or does that come at a later stage? If now should I wait to submit my defense till i have got the proof of the second x-ray?

If I am asking questions I should be understanding from reading the Newbies thread please let me know but I have read through it and done my best to take in as much of the info as possible

Thanks again,
Matt

KeithP

1. Yes, make a Subject Access Request now with the parking company - as described in post #2 of the NEWBIES thread - link in my earlier post. The response may not arrive before your Defence is due, but will probably be more useful at Witness Statement time anyway.

2. Read the many examples of Defences linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread.

3. Evidence comes later - as you will see when you read post #2 of the NEWBIES thread.


Are you spotting the pattern?

Coupon-mad

I was temporally disabled and was in desperate need of my Inhaler for my Asthma

A temporary injury doesn't allow you to park there, but asthma does...! Chronic asthma meets the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010.

a camera had picked up that I had no disable badge.

Not possible. Was it a windscreen PCN?

Get some photos of the signs as UKCPS cases often crash on signage:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2014/07/ukcps-claim-dismissed-judge-rules.html

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2014/07/ukcps-claim-dismissed-judge-rules_14.html

UKCPS are very beatable.

MrGrass77

Thanks and messaged received

Coupon-mad

Was it a windscreen PCN?

MrGrass77

Coupon-mad wrote: »

A temporary injury doesn't allow you to park there, but asthma does...! Chronic asthma meets the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010.


Not possible. Was it a windscreen PCN?

Get some photos of the signs as UKCPS cases often crash on signage:

UKCPS are very beatable.

Thanks for the info. There wasnt a windscreen notice and just checked the first letter and there is a picture of my windscreen (showimg no blue badge) and a close up of my reg.

I presumed it was an automatic camera as i go to the pharmacy and doctors there a lot and ive never seen anyone looking at cars or taking photos.

Someone could have manually taken a photo but does not having a windscreen notice help my case?

I am off down there tomorrow (on foot) so will take some pics of signs and i'll read up and use the examples youve provided

Cheers,
Matt

Coupon-mad

I presumed it was an automatic camera as i go to the pharmacy and doctors there a lot and ive never seen anyone looking at cars or taking photos.

Someone could have manually taken a photo but does not having a windscreen notice help my case?

It will be someone on foot (possibly self ticketing by the shop staff who are too scared to actually issue PCNs and confront people).

You might want to chat with the shop staff and find out who issues the PCNs! See if they will cancel it and ask why their staff are not Equality Act trained and are wrongly told that Blue Badges are the only permitted proof of need?!

It can be argued, as part of the defence, that the person taking the photos was likely a 'self-ticketer' not an employee of the Claimant and was untrained in the Code of Practice and ignorant of the Equality Act 2010 and would have had ample opportunity to place a PCN on the windscreen. They have failed on all counts.

You'd also be saying that someone with chronic asthma desperate for an inhaler is entitled to use these bays on private land, which are not like statutory disabled bays on street. On private land such provision falls under the Equality Act 2010 and that Act defines people with 'protected characteristics' (such as chronic asthma) as being eligible for 'reasonable adjustments' such as the ability to park nearer the pharmacy, and that a Blue Badge is not the ONLY indicator of disability need, and in fact has no legal application on private land. Parking firms abuse the system to pursue people who are perfectly entitled to use private land disability provisions.

MrGrass77

Brilliant thats great advice.There's a few shops who share the car park and I couldnt find the land owner online but I'll go round them tomorrow and ask some questions about the ticketing

Really appreciate the help

Coupon-mad

See what you can find out.

Be clear in your own mind that you are not guilty of any wrongdoing.

You WERE and are 'disabled' under the Equality Act and using the bay properly to fetch medication relating to your medical condition (you do not have to go into detail when chatting about this but do NOT be told that Blue Badges apply as the 'law' be-all-and-end-all on private land).

Maybe someone hates the PPC and one of the Managers will try to cancel it.

AND you can have your phone on 'record' and get proof from the horse's mouth when you politely and chattily ask the self ticketing guilty parties:

''so, are you an employee of the parking firm, trained in the Code of Practice and the Equality Act 2010, GDPR, etc.?''

What would be good evidence is if they say ''no, the parking firm do all that, we just take photos if we see a car with no Blue Badge, so don't blame us...''

Oh, and this time don't park there.

Be careful! Read signs with our eyes...we never get PCNs.