parking charge court letter advice

gem1875

So I now have my notice of allocation to the small claims track (hearing) letter. Now to read up on my next steps need to have all the docs in soon.



They have since the last deadline for the court stuff sent all the SAR data stuff we asked for after the 3rd request but not in time for me to use any of it for the defence.

Thanks for the help so far.

gem1875

I am currently putting together all the paperwork and my witness statement to submit by the due date.


Should the witness statements include information from the defence along with my account of the night, it was in 2017 so my recollection isn't great. Can I include additional points that were not in my defence such as it was dark and such a long time ago?


Is there any other advice needed for this stage?


thanks in advance :-)

Coupon-mad

Should the witness statements include information from the defence along with my account of the night, it was in 2017 so my recollection isn't great. Can I include additional points that were not in my defence such as it was dark and such a long time ago?

yes to all of the above, you can expand on the defence and tell the whole story, in the first person, and this is your chance to attach evidence.

Is there any other advice needed for this stage?

We now say to include your COSTS SCHEDULE as well, as this stage, making it well into 3 figures. See examples in the NEWBIES thread post #2.

gem1875

If there was other people in the car do I get witness statements from them as well?


Or is it just for me to reinforce my defence?


thanks

Coupon-mad

You can include other WS but they only add weight if they say something important to corroborate your version AND if that person is prepared to attend court with you.

A WS is only hearsay, if the witness fails to attend a trial.

nosferatu1001

It can however be included as persuasive, and is surely at LEAST as persuasive as the inevitable WS from the PPC where THEIR witness isnt present!

gem1875

So we got the SAR letter stuff from VCS after we had to submit our defence and Im now going through it for the witness statement.


Turns out our enquiries to landlords promoted emails between them and VCS to get it resolved before it went to court and VCS agreed to drop it for an admin fee, but no one bothered to tell us! As a result we missed the deadline to pay the fee and get all this to stop


Not sure how we have got to court when this has apparently happened?

gem1875

Another question if anyone can help, should I have seen any of there evidence to the court and do I get there witness statements? So far I've had nothing from VCS via the court other than documents issued by the court requesting my information.

KeithP

The Claimant will have exactly the same target date for filing their Witness Statement and evidence that you have.

Coupon-mad

gem1875 wrote: »

Another question if anyone can help, should I have seen any of there evidence to the court and do I get there witness statements? So far I've had nothing from VCS via the court other than documents issued by the court requesting my information.

I'm a little bit surprised you are asking that and it makes me concerned that you can't have read enough VCS threads yet, as this is in every one.

And 'what happens when' is explained in a thread called COURT PROCEDURES, by bargepole, linked in the NEWBIES thread, too. It tells you about the exchange of WS and evidence.

I hope you will now be searching the forum (in advance) this week, to read all the other VCS cases where their template WS has been demolished to pieces.

No need for us to see it...you'll see, when you search: VCS witness statement Roch or VCS Kumari.

Turns out our enquiries to landlords promoted emails between them and VCS to get it resolved before it went to court and VCS agreed to drop it for an admin fee, but no one bothered to tell us! As a result we missed the deadline to pay the fee and get all this to stop

Not sure how we have got to court when this has apparently happened?

OK so put them in as evidence (as long as they were not offers headed up WITHOUT PREJUDICE as they can't be produced in evidence). You would be saying here that the Claimant made no attempt to contact you to settle the dispute for a minor admin fee and you were never told they were prepared to drop the case, thus they have failed to pay regard to the pre-action protocol for debt claims and failed to share vital information with the consumer before legal action commenced, meaning that the pursuit of this much higher sum is the pursuit of an unconscionable penalty.

And that the fact the landowner wanted the charge cancelled, shows that there is no 'commercial justification' or 'legitimate interest' excuse to save this parking charge, based on these facts, from being an unrecoverable penalty. As such, the ParkingEye v Beavis case is fully distinguished and the penalty rule (which the Supreme Court held was in play in every parking ticket case) remains firmly engaged.