parking charge court letter advice

gem1875

Hello,


I am after some advice. I have read much of the newbie threads and I have a few questions.


My parking ticket was received in 2017 from VCS via myparkingcharge. We got the letter in the post and appealed via the instructions on the form using IPC. I then read that this was basically a kangaroo court and all appeals fail at this stage. We ignored the rest of the letters as we had a parking ticket that covers us for the time parked so we thought all was ok.


Fast forward to now and we got out letter before court, I wrote back with the SAR letter requesting the full details and got no reply at all.


We then got the county court letter, its dated 22nd May I logged on and said we would defend on the 4th June.


Having come to sit down to prep my evidence I see that there is now photos online of the car and I cant see the ticket. I do not believe the photos have been online all this time as I don't recall seeing them but is it now not worth fighting if the ticket was not visible in the window?? I assume that's one of the conditions they stipulate. I still have the ticket and all the debt collection letters ect.


But I am a little lost as to what my defence may be now and cant find any examples of similar situations.


Should add I have tried to contact the land owner via my MP but its changed hands a few times so its taken some time, I may have the owner now but its a large company so not sure how successful that will be.


Hope this all makes sense I have just had a baby and all this information is not sinking in as I would like it.

Fruitcake

Are there close up photos of the vehicle windscreen? I don't know about the IPC CoP, but the BPA CoP requires the operative to search the windscreen carefully to se if there is a ticket visible. You state that there was a ticket and the scammers have deliberately taken pics from a distance or certain angles to hide this fact, if you believe this to be the case.

Follow the guide to court written by bargepole in post 2 of the NEWBES.
Later on you will demand to see a contemporaneous copy of the contract as you do not believe the scammers have the authority to operate there.
Get pics of the signs. Look on google maps etcetera to see if you can find any images from the road from around the date in question

Complain to the landowner and your MP about this unregulated scam.

The_Deep

Fast forward to now and we got out letter before court, I wrote back with the SAR letter requesting the full details and got no reply at all.

You have a right to this so kick @rse.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-freedom-of-information/refusing-a-request/

But I am a little lost as to what my defence may be now and cant find any examples of similar situations.

What is the situation?

gem1875

Fruitcake wrote: »

Are there close up photos of the vehicle windscreen? I don't know about the IPC CoP, but the BPA CoP requires the operative to search the windscreen carefully to se if there is a ticket visible. You state that there was a ticket and the scammers have deliberately taken pics from a distance or certain angles to hide this fact, if you believe this to be the case.

Follow the guide to court written by bargepole in post 2 of the NEWBES.
Later on you will demand to see a contemporaneous copy of the contract as you do not believe the scammers have the authority to operate there.
Get pics of the signs. Look on google maps etcetera to see if you can find any images from the road from around the date in question

Complain to the landowner and your MP about this unregulated scam.

The photos are not close up but you can see the windscreen makes me think the ticket may have fallen or slid out of sight, there is one close up of a clip where we keep all parking tickets we have bought. You cant see our ticket, it was a while ago so I cant recall if it was on the floor or down low when we got back to the car.


I have tried the MP to get details of the landowner and its swapped hands several times but I am still working that line at the moment.


I will look at the newbies threat you suggest. The signs in the carpark have all been updated since the time we parked there. There is a photo of the sign there at the time but the flash blocks the T&Cs so I cant see them.


Thanks for the reply.

Redx

Start with the concise defence by member bargepole because it contains all the basics for a defence, regardless

gem1875

The_Deep wrote: »

Fast forward to now and we got out letter before court, I wrote back with the SAR letter requesting the full details and got no reply at all.

You have a right to this so kick @rse.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-freedom-of-information/refusing-a-request/

But I am a little lost as to what my defence may be now and cant find any examples of similar situations.

What is the situation?

I think I mean that I have now seen photos online that don't show any ticket so for whatever reason it wasn't visible in the pictures. I still have the ticket so I assume its either fallen low on the dash or was placed behind an old one so not fully visible I wasn't driving at the time so cant recall what happened when we got back to the car.


I sent the SAR to get the photos as I assumed they must have some evidence to go this far. They have appeared online so I have only seen them today now wondering where I go from here.

nosferatu1001

Is it possible the ticket WAS on display but the photos have been taken from side / low angles so this could nto be seen? Wouldnt be the first time.

The defence is bloody simple
Ticekt purchased
Parking was paid for
Any alleged failure to display, whcih is denied as tickets are normally placed...., is de minimis and there was no justification, commmercial or otherwise, for levying a charge.

If you werent driving and they have nto met POFA requirements, then of course "no keeper liability" is another.

Fruitcake

Request the SAR again, and complain to the ICO that the scammers didn't respond the first time. This assumes you provided proof of (non-photo) ID with the original request such as a copy of the vehicle V5.

What we are saying about the ticket as that it could be sat on any part of the dashboard but the scammers deliberately photographed the car in such a way that the ticket can't be seen.
What do the signs say about displaying a ticket? Does it specifically state a position such as the front windscreen? Even if it does, it could be interpreted that a ticket placed on the dashboard would satisfy that requirement.
Do the signs say the ticket must be visible, or just displayed?

It is quite possible that a person or persons unknown bounced up and down on the car with malice aforethought to deliberately dislodge the ticket. Now who would benefit from such a jolly jape do you think?

KeithP

gem1875 wrote: »

We then got the county court letter, its dated 22nd May I logged on and said we would defend on the 4th June.

I am wondering what that means. Did you defend on 4th June?

It looks like you may have received a County Court Claim Form and it has an Issue Date of 22nd May. Is that right?

Are you also saying that you logged on to MCOL and did the Acknowledgement of Service on 4th June?

I am going to assume my guesses are right. Please confirm.
But as your situation progresses you are going to need to be very clear about what you are writing if you want to win this case - as I'm sure you do.


With a Claim Issue Date of 22nd May, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 24th June 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over a week away. Loads of time to produce a good 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.

gem1875

KeithP wrote: »

I am wondering what that means. Did you defend on 4th June?

It looks like you may have received a County Court Claim Form and it has an Issue Date of 22nd May. Is that right?

Are you also saying that you logged on to MCOL and did the Acknowledgement of Service on 4th June?

I am going to assume my guesses are right. Please confirm.
But as your situation progresses you are going to need to be very clear about what you are writing if you want to win this case - as I'm sure you do.

Yes 4th June was the date I did the acknowledgement of service.


I am going to do the defence tonight. I need to do a bit more reading as like you say I want to win this but at the moment Im not very hopeful.


Thanks for the guidance.

Coupon-mad

We are always hopeful given the 99% win rate here and ability to smash the fake costs even if a person loses (as long as Defendants take out advice on board throughout).

received in 2017 from VCS via myparkingcharge.

Ahem, there's a pre-written defence for tat in the NEWBIES thread.