Pls Help - Court Claim Received / Horizon/Gladstones / Office car park

Tinman45

i have now submitted the DQ and both cases has been passed to my local CC

Below is the Defence i originally submitted (realised i didnt actually post this for feedback after re-working the whole thing - sorry) - can i please get your feedback now to help shape up my Witness statement and form a Skeleton arguement covering the main points you feel are most relevant?

thanks in advance!

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IN THE COUNTY COURT
CLAIM No: XXXXXXX

BETWEEN:

HORIZON PARKING LIMITED (Claimant)
-and-
MR XXX XXX (Defendant)
________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2. The Court is invited to take note that the Claimant has issued two claims, numbers XXXX and XXXX, against the Defendant at or around the same date, and with substantially identical particulars. It is submitted that this constitutes an abuse of process, making the Defendant potentially liable for two instances of issue fees, solicitor costs, and hearing fees, and runs contrary to the overriding objective of CPR 1.1, the disposal of cases justly and at proportionate cost. The Court is invited to consolidate the claims to be determined at a single hearing, and to apply appropriate sanctions against the Claimant.

3. The facts are that the vehicle, registration XXXX XXX, of which the Defendant was the registered keeper, was parked on the material date in a parking area within the XXXX Business park. Neither the parking area nor parking bay was marked or signposted as being allocated to any particular company. The Defendant was a valid visitor and was advised by reception staff to sign-in and not to display any permit to park. The Defendant relied on this advice and under Promissory Estoppel the Claimant should be thus estopped on their claim.

4. The Particulars of Claim state that ‘the Defendant as the driver/keeper of the vehicle’. These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

5. Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

6. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the Claimant's signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them to accept them, contrary to the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The signs which are present, merely state that the parking is for ‘valid staff or visitors’, giving no definition of a ‘valid visitor’, nor indicating where visitors must park or which bays are allocated to whom.

7. The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would be unable to do so easily. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract to which the Defendant is liable.

8. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue ‘Parking Charge Notices’, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

9. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, at Section 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the amount stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £70. The Claimant has included an additional £80 charge out of thin air. No calculation nor explanation for this additional charge has been provided by the Claimant. The Defendant believes this artificial inflation to be an attempt at double recovery and to circumvent the rules in order to take advantage of the small-claims track.

10. It is denied that the Claimant fully complied with their obligations within the British Parking Association Approved Operator Code of Practice 2012 of which they were a member at the time. The Defendant invites the court to review Version 6 (Oct 2015) of the Code - sections 19.4 to 19.6. The Defendant finds the charges of the Claimant both “punitive” and “unreasonable”.

11. The Defendant believes this claim is an example of a ‘Robo-Claim’ for which both the Claimant and the Claimant’s solicitors are notorious. Is it the understanding of the Defendant that this example of vexatious, litigious practise within the private parking industry is well known to Parliament and on 5th March 2019 a Bill was passed to curb the behaviour of these firms. The Defendant wishes to highlight the new Code of Practise to the Court in light of this claim - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

12. In summary, it is the Defendant’s position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

________________________________________
END OF DEFENCE
________________________________________

nosferatu1001

Its your job to write your WS
You reference from teh WS to any exhibits you wish to include that supports your assertions in the WS
You tell the story, starting at the start.

Tinman45

Understood for WS

On the question of my Defence I would still appreciate any feedback from the points

And also whether I need to disregard any weaker points for my Skeleton

Coupon-mad

Defence you submitted looks good, nothing needs dropping at WS stage and I almost never write any skeleton argument.

Le_Kirk

Your WS is written "in support of my defence as already filed" and is a narrative (what happened on the day and subsequently) in the First Person, supporting and backing up your defence and referencing your evidence. For example you might point to the signage being unsuitable and a photograph of the signage as Exhibit Tinman_001 (or whatever your initials actually are).

A skeleton argument is only really necessary if the case is complicated and is an aide memoire for you, compiled as bullet points to help guide you and the judge through your case at the hearing.

Tinman45

Happy New Year to you all. I just wish i didnt have this to deal with coming into a new decade!

Update from me - My 2x separate claims have now been consolidated by the DDJ, and moved to my local County Court - im now on the Witness Statement stage. I have enough time to prepare the WS and get ready.

Just wondering if you can advise on what this needs to look like and re-iterate any advice (its been a few months with Christmas & New Year in between so trying to get my head back into it.)

My main concern is the nature of there having been multiple PCN tickets received over many months at an office where i was a legitimate visitor - however what angle can i take to avoid any Judges wrath on this point, or any advice here please?

What does my WS need to look like and include?

KeithP

Tinman45 wrote: »

What does my WS need to look like and include?

Why not start by looking at the several examples linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread?

Tinman45

yep will do thanks

Redx

Also read the CEC16 thread too

Tinman45

hi all - have read post #2 of NEWBIES and i can’t say i’m any clearer on how “my” WS needs to read.

Reading the WS examples on #2 - some are short and succinct, where others are lengthy, quoting past cases and points of legal stature.

so not sure what i’m doing for mine

am i saying “what happened” but also re-driving my main arguments which i intend to speak to in court? these will be :-

1. I was a genuine business visitor - esstoppal
2. Poor signage
2. No contract was made
3. doubt whether they have rights by landowner to make contracts/charges/ sue
4. Extra £70 charges are plucked from thin air and an abuse of process (can quote CEC16 case)

so - am i going back over these points in the WS?

can you also point me in the direction of any cases against Genuine Visitors on business/office car parks? and their WS

appreciate the help here, i’m spending hours each night now just reading other cases and don’t know what direction i need to go in for mine