Letter Before Claim Received Unsure If Should Defend

Chao123

Update: Witness statement complete, its due tomorrow so will send via email in the morning, I've included it below.
Found the gem about contractual costs while doing research on the forums to write the witness statement and that should be a huge help winning. 

 

IN THE COUNTY COURT BUSINESS CENTRE

CLAIM No: 

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

XXXXX  (Defendant)

 

_________________________

Witness Statement

_________________________

 

1.

I am the Defendant XXXXX DOB XXXXX, of XXX, London, XXX. I will say as follows:

2.

On Saturday XXXXX my wife and I travelled to Hawkinge to visit one of her friends Carly XXX. We arrived at Carly’s house around 5pm, parked in the resident car park in front the house. We were given a visitor permit by Carly and she instructed us to leave it in our car. I put the visitors permit in the car on the dashboard.

3.

At roughly 8pm I drove the car to a nearby shop then returned and parked in the same spot. I did not check on the visitor’s permit.

4.

My wife and I spent the night at Carly’s house and did not check the car again until the following morning at which point we found a parking ticket. We checked the visitor permit and it seemed to have fallen onto the gear stick but was still clearly visible from several angles outside the vehicle. Picture1 / Picture2 / Picture3 / Picture4 / Picture5.  

5.

As the parking ticket time of issue was 23:17 we assumed the ticket officer did not see the permit. We therefore took several pictures of the view location of the parking ticket from outside the car and resolved to appeal the ticket. My wife also took pictures of the signage around the car park as she noted some signs, most notably the sign upon entrance, were damaged or on the floor. Picture6 / Picture7

 

 

6.

I appealed directly to the claimant which was rejected then with the Independent Appeals Service, which was also rejected both, on the basis of the permit not being in the correct position. When I wrote to Gladstone Solicitors after the Claimant signalled their intention to prosecute me they also responded with “our Client doesn’t dispute that you did not have a permit, however the permit was not on full display therefore invalid”. In these correspondences they provided me pictures of the signage which they believe formed a contract which I had breached. However there was both inadequate signage on entry to the car park, Picture6/Picture7 (the only reason I knew to put the visitors permit in the car was because my wife’s friend said so and she did not mention a location)  and the signage they communicated features ambiguous language, which the positioning of the permit when we returned to the car satisfies.

7.

The purpose of a parking management company is to protect residents and ensure they and their guests can park close to their house. On principle alone the Claimant should not have pursued this claim as I was a guest with a permit regardless of the positioning or if their attendant did not see the permit, they should have dismissed the charge on receipt of my appeal. However, they have persisted with the charge and even added further costs.

8.

This case is clearly an attempt by the Claimant and their solicitor to abuse the process of the court system to force me to pay exorbitant costs which they have no right to. I have included in my evidence a transcript and judgement from Britannia v Crosby 2019 in which the District Judge ruled that the £60 charge for “contractual costs” which was added on top of the £100 penalty charge was unlawful and falls foul of the decision of Beavis vs Parking Eye. The inclusion of such a charge, which the Claimant has applied in this case, shows a clear intend to gain the maximum from court proceedings in the many cases where default judgements are given for this sort of contravention and is a valid reason to dismiss the case outright.

9.

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

Thanks for all the help so far

Umkomaas

Found the gem about contractual costs while doing research on the forums to write the witness statement and that should be a huge help winning. 

I don't know whether you have used the latest detail on this - please use this if you haven't. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6107909/britannia-parking-v-crosby-southampton-judgment-attach-to-defences-or-witness-statements#latest

Witness statement complete, its due tomorrow so will send via email in the morning

Forum advice is to hand-deliver to the court and send by post to the Claimant's solicitors (unless they have explicitly agreed to service of documents by email). 

D_P_Dance

WRT costs, judges can, but rarely do, award costs for unreasonable behaviour.   If they decide that the PPC's  behaviour is so unreasonable as to qualify, they can award £19 an hour for the time the PPC was caused the D to waste.  

If you think that you deserve such costs you need to prepare a very well argued case. 

Chao123

Hi All,
Gladstones called me today and said their client would like a "drop hands" settlement which I understand means they will drop the case and both parties agree not to pursue costs. I asked them for this offer in writing and they sent the following:

Without Prejudice Save as to Costs

 

Dear Mr XXX,

 

Our client is willing to try and settle this matter without the need to attend Court and the further costs that would be associated with having to attend. 

  

We appreciate you are a litigant in person and may not therefore be as familiar with Court procedure. However Our Client proposes a 'drop hands' settlement, whereby both parties  walk away, bearing their own costs in the matter. In essence, our Client will end its proceedings against you if you confirm in writing you will not persue our client for costs.

 

If you need to discuss further please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Jack

Litigation Assistant 

Gladstones Solicitors Limited
The Terrace
High Legh Park Golf Club
Warrington Road
High Legh
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 6AA

I plan on responding with:

Dear Jack,

I will accept your client's offer of a "drop hands" settlement. Please take this correspondence as a confirmation I will not pursue your client for costs incurred in preparing my defence for this case.

Kind Regards,
XXX XXX

So a positive outcome I think, no costs paid out but no risk of losing the case, although i was fairly sure I would have won if it had gone to a hearing. 

A quick note before i send this over, is there anything in here that can bite my in the behind? This offer is what i think and they can't come after me again later?

Thanks for all the help

nosferatu1001

It is absolutely final, yes
If they litigate again in the future you CAN then show that letter to court as it is absolutely essential. 

Chao123

Okay brilliant. 
Sending the email through now, win for these forums and again a big thank you to everyone who posted here, you were all a big help.
   

Coupon-mad

You won!  Well done - ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

So many Gladstones cases being discontinued this year...