VCS Defence draft

KeithP

Anyone can write a Witness Statement, but if that witness does not attend the hearing it is easy for the Claimant to get the court to dismiss that WS as hearsay.

It would be best if the defendant's neighbour can attend the hearing. It adds more weight to their Witness Statement.

That question on the DQ relates to the number of witnesses that will be attending and it helps the court allow time for all the witnesses to be heard.

0range

Could anyone point me in the direction of the transcript for this case please? I've searched high and low for it with no success.

C7GF81FK in 2017, District Judge Britton at Aldershot & Farnham UKCPM v Niven

Coupon-mad

No, AFAIK now, we've never had it. Sorry that my reply in #19 misled you on that.

You need to show us your Witness Statement and evidence (and COSTS SCHEDULE) before you submit it, as presumably you have your court hearing date and have seen the directions on the back about when to file & serve these.

Before you do anything, read CEC16's thread and BlueNine's thread to learn how to set out the arguments, and separately object to the fake added £60 costs. Read them carefully as there is a Southampton and a Caernarfon application haring for you to learn about (and the former introduced something you need to use too, and the latter was about VCS so they KNOW they cannot recover £160!).

0range

No, AFAIK now, we've never had it. Sorry that my reply in #19 misled you on that.

Ah I see, I've looked for on the web but can't find it. Where can I get a copy, any ideas?

You need to show us your Witness Statement and evidence (and COSTS SCHEDULE) before you submit it, as presumably you have your court hearing date and have seen the directions on the back about when to file & serve these.

Will do, just finalising it now, wanted to wait till my partners hearing - which was Friday and he won! The judge said his leasehold trumped any contract VCS had with the property management company.
However I am not on the lease but have been a resident for 8 years+ and I was parked in a visitor spot (which residents can use with the correct permit and has been confirmed by email with the property manager that this is fine to do), not sure how to word this in my witness statement and evidence, or if because i am not listed on the lease if this will go against me?
(PCN at the same time for expired permit (by 23 mins), in the same resident car park, except he was parked in the specific parking spot linked on lease)

I'll make sure I read those thread and make sure its in my documents I send.

Coupon-mad

Where can I get a copy, any ideas?

Court cases are not all transcripted - hardly any are, and only if a person who was a party to the case, pays for one. Maybe it doesn't exist as a transcript.

However I am not on the lease but have been a resident for 8 years+ and I was parked in a visitor spot (which residents can use with the correct permit and has been confirmed by email with the property manager that this is fine to do), not sure how to word this in my witness statement and evidence, or if because i am not listed on the lease if this will go against me?

It won't go against you - just word it as you just did to us, and put that email in evidence.

0range

Quick question, I am aiming to deliver the witness statement, any supporting evidence and cost schedule to the court in person, but is it acceptable for me to email this to VCS or do I need to post it?

Coupon-mad

I would do both, with the posted version 2nd class...

Le_Kirk

Coupon-mad wrote: »

I would do both, with the posted version 2nd class...

..... with a FREE certificate of posting.

0range

Here is my draft Witness Statement, I will be hand delivering this to court on Friday , along with a Supplementary Witness statement and cost schedule as advised by Coupon-mad, which I will post straight after this. Any refinement or additions please do let me know.

Do I need to send exactly the same to the Claimant?
I'll be doing this via email and 2nd class post!

I will also be taking with me a copy of the Lease, should I document that as an exhibit anywhere in the statement?
is there anything else I have missed to include in the evidence?






In the County Court at XXXXXX
Claim No. XXXXXX
Between
Vehicle Control Services Limited (Claimant)
and
XXXXXXXX (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement for XXXXXXXX

---

Enclosed herewith are key statements in support of my defence against the imposed parking notice charge dated 31.05.2015


Key points in defence


1. I am the Defendant and at the time of the claim, was the registered keep of the vehicle XXXXXX detailed in the Claimants particulars

2. I deny that the Claimant is entitles to relief in the sun claimed, or at all.

3. The Claimant asserts that I was in breach of the contract, breaching the terms and conditions set on private land, and is seeking payment of £185. Which I believe is an abuse of process.

4. I have been a resident at XXXXXX since 2011, the site of said breach of contract and am authorised to park there.

Considerations for the repudiation of the Claim

5. I have been a resident for over 8 years, my partner XXXXXXXX is the Leaseholder to the property of XXXXXXX. I have parked vehicles for which I have been the registered keeper, within the designated visitor parking bays at the development since residing there, displaying a valid parking permit at all times.

6. The claimant - VCS, is under the employment of the RESIDENT LED DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT COMPANY (XXXXXXXXX) to which my partner XXXXXX is one of the Directors, and the Leaseholder of property XXXXXXX where alleged breach occurred. We as residents, contribute to the claimant a yearly service charge for the services of management to the car parking areas, to which I believe I have rightful access to and permission to park a vehicle.

7. Detailed on the SAR (Exhibit A) and letters from various recovery agents (Exhibit it details Location as ‘XXXXXXXX (OLD PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY)’. OLD PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY are no longer and were not at the time, the property management company responsible for the complex, nor are/were they the land owner.

8. It is understood by RESIDENT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY - the property management company, that residents and visitors are allowed to use visitors spots to park in, on a first come first served basis, as long as they display the correct permit for this space. This practice has been going on for as long as I (since 2011) and my partner – XXXXXX the Leaseholder, have resided at the property. One of those residents who used the visitors spaces whilst residing at the development was in fact the very person responsible for the contract with VCS, the Director and Property Manager of RESIDENT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY XXXXXXXX.

9. During email conversations with the Property Manager XXXXXXX about this PCN and a ‘This is not a parking charge’ card which a VCS officer left on my windscreen 20/03/2017 13.59PM, (which VCS clearly made in error as by their own photographic evidence obtained in the SAR (Exhibit A), it can be seen that my vehicle is parked in the correct bay with the correct permit). XXXXXXX reply can be seen in Exhibit C where:-

9.1. XXXXXXX writes firstly in the email dated 22 Mar 2017 14:58 ‘I wasn't aware that was an 'offence' and that's what I always did and never got a ticket.’

9.2. Then on 23 Mar 2017 13:43 XXXXXXX wrote ‘I wasn't aware they were issuing tickets for people using Visitors spaces.’

9.3. Then most recently XXXXXXX writes on 19 November at 17:33 ‘In regards to the visitors spaces my understanding is that these are just on a first come first serve basis. Residents can use them if they are available and they display the correct permit.’

10. The claimant is seeking compensation for an alleged breach of their contractual obligations by displaying an expired parking permit attributed to my vehicle at the time – dated 31st May 2015 – whereby the permit was observed as being expired 23 minutes past midnight (the time of expiry). I made an SAR request and received details of the PCN (exhibit A)

11. No loss came to the Claimant or their clients, this I am sure of as I, as a resident am a member of THE RESIDENT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY. No residents missed out on being able to park their vehicle in car park, as there is never any issues with finding a free spot in this zone.

12. It was witnessed that the claimant had issued numerous ‘Parking Charge Notice’ penalties simultaneously to vehicles within the private parking zone at the time or immediately succeeding the expiration of the parking permits, including to my partner and Leaseholder, XXXXXXXX. Yet on the PCN seen in exhibit S, it details “all other vehicles had 2016 permits in”, which is not a truthful statement made and signed by the Patrol Officer, XXXXXX.

13. On Friday 15th November 2019, at The County Court in Bradford VCS vs XXXXXXXX. The District Judge Jackson ruled against VCS and in the favour of XXXXXX - my partner and the Leaseholder of XXXXXXXX. The claim of charges were for a PCN issued at the same time, for the same reasons, in the same car park as the PCN issued to my vehicle, at my residence (Exhibit C provides prove of my residence through council tax bills dating back to 2011)

14. As noted in my Defence, there is a large body of previously heard parking ticket cases which establishes these facts and protects the rights enjoyed by tenants and leaseholder residents.
In Link Parking Ltd v Parkinson [2016] C7GF50J7, the Judge, referring to a similar case in In Pace Recovery v Noor [2016] C6GF14F0 [2016] ruled that: “…the Judge in that case found that the parking company could not amend the terms of the tenancy agreement to bind a tenant, but rather that it would have to be the other party to the contract.''

15. As a resident I have a right to use and enjoyment of the development, and as such the claimant has interfered with this.

15.1. In the case Jopson v Homeguard [2016] B9GF0A9E, where the ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 case was fully distinguished and it was held that a parking company could not override a resident's rights and easements just by putting some signs up and issuing unsolicited permits, as if display of same suddenly formed part of the estate residents' lawful obligations.

15.2. There is signage, however to states “IF” a permit is required. According to the lease, as my partner the Leaseholder gives me permission to park within the complex then I do not need a permission from VCS, and their signs are not applicable.

16. In accordance with the property lease – there is no mention of the necessity for the tenant/leaseholder of the property to present a permit to park a vehicle in the designated parking zone, parking space belonging to the apartment, or visitor parking spaces, only that the Fourth Schedule (Regulations) Clause 23 relates only to the non-permitted parking of commercial vehicles or any towable wheeled vehicle

17. I wish to challenge the ‘Parking Charge Notice’ on the grounds of being a long term resident, to have it considered and to challenge the alleged unnecessary malicious attempts of the Claimant to penalise me relating to a parking permit that had expired and had been promptly acted against with no ‘leniency period’.

18. The ‘leniency period’ being referred to here is as such. Owing to a plethora of complaints from long-standing residents concerning PCN’s issued for failure to display a valid parking permit for one reason or another – an arrangement has been agreed between the development resident company and the Parking Company to allow a 2 week leniency period allowing the resident to replace an expired parking permit with a valid permit. Emails between the Property Manager and the Claimant can be seen in Exhibit D where the Property Manager makes reference to said leniency period.

19. I wish to challenge the PCN, the additional interest and court fees that have been added to the cost of the original alleged penalty, due to the claimant showing an abuse of process. Please refer to my Supplementary Witness Statement, where I provide more detail, with recent cases such as

19.1. at para 10.1. In the Caernarfon Court in Case number FTQZ4W28 (Vehicle Control Services Ltd v Davies) on 4th September 2019, District Judge Jones-Evans stated:” the claim is struck out and declared to be wholly without merit and an abuse of process.''

19.2. at para 10.3.2. in case F0DP201T at Southampton Court, 10th June 2019 District Judge Taylor ordered that ‘’The claim is struck out as an abuse of process.’’
"The claim contains a substantial charge additional to the parking charge which it is alleged the defendant contracted to pay. This additional charge is not recoverable under the protection of freedoms act 2012, Schedule 4 not with reference to the judgement in parking eye v Beavis. It is an abuse of process from the claimant to issue a knowingly inflated claim for an additional sum which it is not entitled to recover. This order has been made by the court of its own initiative without a hearing pursuant to CPR Rule 3.3(4) of the civil procedure rules 1998 "

20. In summary, I the Defendant believes that the Claimant has no right to enforce a PCN as no such permit requirements are detailed in the leasehold agreement, also that the Claimant demonstrates an abuse of process. The Judge is invited to strike out the Claim on these grounds. I the Defendant, would also like to claim expenses in defending this claim set out in the Schedule of Costs.


STATEMENT OF TRUTH

I believe the contents of this witness statement to be true



Date: XXXXXXX


Signed





XXXXXXXX

0range

Here is my Schedule of Costs




In the County Court at Leeds
Claim No. XXXXXXXX
Between
Vehicle Control Services Limited (Claimant)
and
XXXXXXXX (Defendant)

DEFENDANT'S SCHEDULE OF COSTS


Ordinary Costs


Loss of earnings/leave, incurred through attendance at Court xx/xx/2019 £75.00
]is this the max amount allowed? Not sure if I can claim anything as I am self employed (although I have had to turn down work I have no proof of it)?

Return mileage from home address to Court (e.g. 20 miles x £0.45) £9.00

Parking near Court £5.00

Sub-total £89.00 ======


Further costs for Claimant's unreasonable behaviour, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 27.14(2)(g)

Research, preparation and drafting of documents (3 hours at Litigant in Person rate of £19 per hour) £57.00

Stationery, printing, photocopying and postage: £15.00

Sub-total £72.00 ======



£ 161.00 TOTAL COSTS CLAIMED