County Court Claim Form Received

Umkomaas

I'd do a 'compare and contrast' on the number of days, as per my example, to show the Judge exactly what was written and what needed to be written, in case they have little detailed knowledge of PoFA, as a cursory glance (as you found) can lead them to think the law is satisfied. It isn't!

kingofsting

Umkomaas wrote: »

I'd do a 'compare and contrast' on the number of days, as per my example, to show the Judge exactly what was written and what needed to be written, in case they have little detailed knowledge of PoFA, as a cursory glance (as you found) can lead them to think the law is satisfied. It isn't!

Brilliant thank you - I'll provide a highlighted copy of the schedule as evidence and make sure I show the Judge...

Is my WS ready now or does it need more work??

IN THE COUNTY COURT AT ****
CLAIM NO: *****
BETWEEN:
PREMIER PARK LIMITED (Claimant)
-and-
** **** **** (Defendant)


WITNESS STATEMENT
1. I am *****, of *******, the Defendant in this matter.

2. I deny every allegation set out in the Particulars of Claim.

3. On 4 August 2014, my wife and I visited Branscombe Beach, and parked our vehicle registration no, **** *** in the car park.

4. Whilst I was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned, there is no evidence of the driver and as this event has been resurrected from five years ago, it is impossible to expect me as the vehicle keeper to recall who might have been driving. It was either myself or my wife but we have visited this site several times and as such, it's only a 50/50 chance and thus, the balance of probabilities is not tipped either way and cannot be held to fall in favour of a Claimant who appears to be making an unlawful presumption about a registered keeper being assumed to be the driver. Without evidence, the Claimant would have to fully comply with the POFA 2012, Schedule 4, including providing prominent signs with 'adequate notice' of the parking charge, which was not even listed among the large font list of tariffs at the machine.

5. I did not hear, or receive anything, for over a year but then started to receive letters from BW Legal, acting on behalf of Premier Park Limited.

6. I did various online searches, at the time, and recall dismissing BW Legal as scammers, particularly as they were demanding such an unreasonably high amount of money. I felt vindicated in my decision to dismiss them as I received no further letters, or contact of any kind, from the Claimant on this matter.

7. I was then surprised to receive a letter before claim from the claimants representatives. I did some research into why I may have received this and it seems the Claimant and similar parking companies are submitting masses of court claims for old “parking charges” and are inappropriately using the court system as a form of debt collection.

8. I submitted a SAR to the Claimant, the results of which have been provided by post. The photographs of the vehicle do not show the driver or any of the signage they speak of, thus nulling any idea of a contract being agreed. Evidence of request for SAR and receipt of documents are attached as exhibits A and B.

9. The initial, Notification to Keeper, letter allegedly sent by the Claimant on 3 September 2014 fails to comply with the requirements of the POFA 2012, Schedule 4. The Claimant fails to: 1. Confirm the specific period of parking to which the notice relates. 2. Inform the keeper of any discount' offered for prompt payments. 3. Provide the full number of days warning the Act demands. 4. Specify the period of parking and describe the charges and circumstances in which they arose. Evidence is attached as Exhibit C with relevant extracts highlighted.

10. The Claimant has failed to appropriately respond to my request of 10 September 2019 in which I requested confirmation of the time our ticket was purchased, evidence of the amount paid, and the amount of parking time paid for, as well as confirming the cost to park for 1 hour. Evidence of this request is attached as Exhibit D.

11. The signage at Branscombe Beach Car Park was also completely inadequate. At the time of the alleged contravention the signage was positioned on a very busy one-way entrance, on a roundabout, making it almost impossible to stop and read. Evidence of the position of the sign is attached as Exhibit E which is a Google Earth aerial photograph of the carpark; the position of the signage is circled in red.

12. The Claimant has added a disingenuous cost of £60 claiming it is for contractual costs pursuant to PCN Terms and Condition. The Claimant should know that to claim in excess of £100 for a parking charge on private land is disallowed under the CPRs, the Beavis case, the POFA and the CRA 2015, and that relief from sanctions should be refused. The Beavis case and POFA are further referenced in the Supplementary Witness Statement below.

I invite the Court to dismiss the claim and to award my costs of attendance at the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14.

I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.

Signature
Date

Umkomaas

On a quick it looks ok to me. But if there's a bit of time left, see if others (more interested/involved in the court process than me) want to contribute.

Good luck.

kingofsting

Thanks very much, I have a little bit of time as my pack needs to be delivered to the court by 18 December...

Coupon-mad

You need to add to the abuse of process blurb in the supplementary WS, that in the past week, ANOTHER case was summarily struck out for adding £60 to a parking charge but this time it was at Warwick Court and the Claimant was...Premier Park!

Search the forum for Warwick, find the person's thread (the title ends with ''thankyou'' to help you narrow it down but I will not do the search for you). Send a private message to the poster of that thread to ask if you can use the Judgment as evidence, and can they end you a copy of DDJ Joseph's Order so you can attach it to your case.

Brilliant timing!

kingofsting

Coupon-mad wrote: »

You need to add to the abuse of process blurb in the supplementary WS, that in the past week, ANOTHER case was summarily struck out for adding £60 to a parking charge but this time it was at Warwick Court and the Claimant was...Premier Park!

Search the forum for Warwick, find the person's thread (the title ends with ''thankyou'' to help you narrow it down but I will not do the search for you). Send a private message to the poster of that thread to ask if you can use the Judgment as evidence, and can they end you a copy of DDJ Joseph's Order so you can attach it to your case.

Brilliant timing!

Amazing - thank you so much!

I've updated my Supplementary WS with the Abuse of Process #14 post information and sent a PM to the Warwick poster in the hope they'll share a copy of DDJ Joseph's order for me to use as evidence.

kingofsting

In my WS I state: "The Claimant should know that to claim in excess of £100 for a parking charge on private land is disallowed under the CPRs, the Beavis case, the POFA and the CRA 2015, and that relief from sanctions should be refused."

Question - Do I need to present CPR, Beavis, POFA and CRA 2015 as exhibits?? Or do I rely on my Supplementary WS for this? (It's Coupon-mad's Abuse of Process Post #14)

Le_Kirk

If you find and read the thread by CEC16, I think Coupon-mad tells you what she took to the hearing. Some of it the judge would have access to and some is law.

kingofsting

Le_Kirk wrote: »

If you find and read the thread by CEC16, I think Coupon-mad tells you what she took to the hearing. Some of it the judge would have access to and some is law.

Thanks, I've got the necessary orders printed but I don't get how to append as evidence. Do I need to refer to them as Exhibits in the Supplementary WS? Or on my WS on the ABuse of Process Section do i state evidence of other Abuse of Process cases are Exhibits G, H & I??

here's my front page first draft:

IN THE COUNTY COURT AT ******
CLAIM NO: ******
BETWEEN:
PREMIER PARK LIMITED (Claimant)
-and-
*******(Defendant)



1. Particulars of Claim (Page 1)
2. Witness Statement (Pages 2-5)
3. Supplementary Witness Statement (Pages 6-10)
Exhibits:-
A. SAR Request (Page 11)
B. SAR Results (Pages 12-20)
C. Initial Notification to Keeper Letter with highlighted issues (Pages 21-25)
D. Request for additional information relating to alleged contravention (Pages **-**)
E. Google Earth aerial photograph of the carpark (Pages **-**)
F. Photographs of the car park entrance and signage (Pages **-**)
G. Court Report 1 – F2QZ4W28 VEHICLE CONTROL SERVICES LIMITED –v- Mr J (Pages **-**)
H. Court Report 2 – E8GF1V7V UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LIMITED –v- ESPLANADE LTD (Pages **-**)
I. Court Report 3 - F0DP806M/F0DP201T BRITANNIA PARKING -v- Mr C and another (Pages **-**)

KeithP

Might not be a good idea to have your full name showing in that post.