Berkeley Precinct Sheffield, VCS court forms submitted

dixie101

Hi

I've spent the last few days reading the useful advice on these parking forums about Private Parking Companies.

I fell victim to the notorious Vehicle Control Services in 2015 in the Berkeley Precinct car park in Sheffield. The short story is that I overstayed by no more than 15 minutes. Whilst the car park was free it was not clear from the signage that this was the time limit.

I received the first threatening letter and went on foot to the car park to check the signage that was pointed away from the area that I was parked and was not visible from standing inside the car park at the time of parking. The signage was also in very small print and unclear. I made the mistake of not taking photographs of it at the time.

I found lots of information about VCS online (4 years ago) stating that private parking companies could be ignored, that their demands were not fines but simply invoices with no legal standing. That is what I did, as I believed they were scammers and in contacting them I would be engaging in further escalation.

I moved address and didn't hear from them for several years. They somehow found my details at my new address.

Last week I received a Money Claims Online court form from them trying to claim £185 from the County Court Business Centre, Northampton. I checked at the court and this appears to be a real document, which I am going to defend. I am currently within the 14 days time to lodge my plans to defend.

There's some great information on here about how to defend and I'm going through that all right now and can post the full defence once completed.

The main honest points of my defence is:

- The signs were not facing into the car park at the time of parking and therefore misleading. The small print was not legible unless you were very close to the sign. Problem is, I didn't take any photos of this at the time and the car park appears to have changed and there is more signage now.
I am also struggling to find Bargepole's post on unclear signage. Any links in the right direction would be greatly appreciated, but I fear this will be a poor point due to my lack of evidence all these many years later.

- On all the correspondence photos of the front and rear of the car I owned at the time are included. None of which show any photos of the driver. The driver is not visible. There were other legal drivers of the car.

- The 'fine not fitting the crime' argument i.e. £185 for a 15 minute over stay appears to have been a defence which was a contributory factor in the case of Rachael Finn at the same car park in 2014. hxxp://notomob.co.uk/discussions/index.php?topic=3731.0
This defence appears to be now regarded as an out of date term to argue from some other threads I read.

- I am also exploring who the land owner is and whether VCS have the right to extort money from people using the land in this way, which is another defence that has been successful in some cases.

Either way, win or lose I intend to defend it and hopefully cost this despicable company time and precious money in doing so. It's a matter of principle.

I would be grateful of any suggestions. These are honestly the reasons for my overstay but I fear will not cut it in court.

Many thanks in advance.

KeithP

Hi and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

dixie101

Hi Keith, thanks for a quick reply. The issue date is 27th June. I received it 28th June.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 27th June, you have until Tuesday 16th July to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 30th July 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but please 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.

BrownTrout

You need to attack the £60 alleged debt recovery costs to

dixie101

Thanks Keith for information and the link to the N180 form. I've read about filing that in. I know that mediation will not be a good option and refusal of that on my part wouldn't be used against me. I am about to serve the AoS today.

dixie101

Hi BrownTrout,

Thanks for the suggestion. Go after the alleged debt collectors fees on the basis of them being unable to demonstrate an actual loss to themselves in the 15 minutes over stay?

adam5816

Please do not use that argument after the Parking Eye v Beavis case.

You will argue against the debt collector fees on the ground that it is ABUSE OF PROCESS. Read the following :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

nosferatu1001

They never incurred ANY such fees. Theyre lying.
THATS what you go after them for.

dixie101

Thank you Adam, that has given me some clarity and also provided the information from Bargepole that was referenced in other people's posts that I couldn't find.

dixie101

Thank you for clarifying Nosferatou.