Advice needed - County Court claim, UK Parking Control Ltd

Coupon-mad

venousdata wrote: »

Thanks!

Last thing, is there a possibility of getting a bad judge who doesn’t read your defence/WS like in the above mentioned post?

I’d rather lose via technicality as opposed to the judge not caring enough to read my defence...

The judge has to read it but your job is to take him/her to the right things and lead him/her in the right direction when it's your turn to speak.

venousdata

Hi all, happy new year!

Quick question - I’ve now sent off my DQ and received a letter informing me that the claim has been transferred to my court of choice, which is good. The letter goes on to say I should await my Letter of Allocation.

I am wondering how long this Letter of Allocation will take to arrive and when I should start working on my witness statement(s)/evidence?

KeithP

No-one can tell you when you'll receive a hearing date. It depends on so many things like for example, how busy your local court is.

You should start preparing your Witness Statement and gathering evidence now.

Do not delay taking pictures of signs etc - they may change.

venousdata

Ok thanks I’ll make a start this weekend

I have all the evidence I need as I took pictures and stuff a while ago, but how do I arrange it/declare it etc. Or do I just bring it and refer to it in my witness statement?

Le_Kirk

venousdata wrote: »

I have all the evidence I need as I took pictures and stuff a while ago, but how do I arrange it/declare it etc. Or do I just bring it and refer to it in my witness statement?

Search the forum for posts by User Coupon-mad using the keyword(s) Ring Binder where she explains how to present the WS and the evidence. This is for the court only, you can e-mail (if permitted) to the claimant.

venousdata

thanks for this - i will be sure to adhere to it once i finalise my witness statement.


on that note, i just whipped up a first draft of my witness statement (my partner will be providing one too, but i will leave that until later as she will only provide a supporting statement with her side of the story.


i also have a few questions (5) that i've put below my witness statement.



please see below - any feedback provided will be appreciated!


[FONT=&quot]In the County Court at XXXXXX
Claim No. XXXXXXXX
Between
UK Parking Control Ltd (Claimant)
and
XXXXXXX (Defendant)

---

Witness Statement

---

1. I am [XXXXXX], of [XXXXX], [XXXXX], the Defendant in this matter (formerly XXXXXX).

2. The facts in this statement come from my personal knowledge. Where they are not within my own knowledge, they are true to the best of my information and belief

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

4. I was a tenant of the location where the Parking Charge Notices in question were issued (I have since moved location), and as such I had a right to park in this location at all times. As proof of this, I have been provided with explicit authorisation to park in this location by my landlord and am providing a copy of my tenancy agreement as evidence.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5. The signage at the location contains miniscule text, and not only is completely illegible from within a vehicle (where most drivers would be viewing it from), but is only legible at great strain, even when standing directly in front of it. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have photos of the signage in question as part of my evidence pack, showing the sign from both within a vehicle and standing right in front of it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
6. I was also in possession of an electronic key fob which is required to provide access to the residential car park where the PCNs were issued. Possession of this fob is prima facie evidence that I had permission to park in this location, as a vehicle cannot legitimately access the car park without it.

7. At the time of my taking up residence in this apartment complex, there was no mention made of there being any onerous parking conditions in operation. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]On the occasions when the PCNs were issued, the vehicle has been parked by either myself or another family member, and a parking permit was not displayed due to there not being a requirement to display one, and simply the fact that there is no parking permit in existence for the location, not because I did not have permission to park. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The vehicle was parked in this location on a daily basis, but as can be seen from the dates of the PCNs being claimed for (issued over an extended period), only on rare occasions has the vehicle temporarily stopped outside my designated space to unload the shopping. On all occasions the vehicle was moved to my designated space after unloading the shopping (in under 5 minutes). It is also important to mention that on all occasions, the doors on my vehicle were open, and had been closed in order to stage the photographs that can be seen in the issued PCNs.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
8. I have been provided with permission to park by my landlord, who in turn is entitled to rely upon his primacy of contract within his lease, in order to grant his tenants an unfettered right to park. My contract is with my landlord only; I have no contract with the Claimant, and as such they do not have standing to claim against me for failure to pay their penalties.

9. There are no terms within my Tenancy Agreement requiring me to display or possess a parking permit. I have not agreed to any variation of the tenancy which would make me subject to such penalties.

10. I understand that the scheme operated by UKPC in the residential car park in question was put into place in order to prevent parking by unauthorised persons against the interests of the residents. Therefore, there can be no legitimate interest in penalising residents for parking in this location under the excuse of a scheme where the parking firm is contracted for the benefit of those same residents. Instead of protecting the interests of legitimate lease and tenancy holders, the Claimant operates a predatory operation, often attempting to penalise those very persons whose interests the Claimant is purportedly there to uphold.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
11. Whilst I am the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned, there is no evidence of the driver at the dates these PCNs were issued.

12. More than one family member, who I have no obligation to name to a private parking firm, has access to this vehicle. It remains the burden of the Claimant to prove their case.

13. Whilst I was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned, there is no evidence of the driver and as the events in question were a long time ago, as such it is impossible to expect a keeper to recall who may have been driving.

14. I received various threatening and intimidating letters from Zenith Collections, Debt Recovery Plus, & SCS Law, demanding various amounts of money and threatening legal action against me. I have found this whole process extremely stressful and vexatious and consider the Claimant overly aggressive in pursuit of monies to which they are not entitled.

15. The Defendant is at a serious disadvantage in this case. The case involves a well-funded Claimant who is a serial litigant with unlimited access to the services of qualified legal professionals, and who will be legally represented in this case, against an unrepresented Litigant in Person with no legal knowledge or experience of court process.

16. The Court is invited to dismiss the claim and to award my costs of dealing with this claim and 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 of Defendant:
Name: XXXXXXXX[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Date: XX/XX/XXXX[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Questions:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1. do i need a photo of the keyfob? as i no longer live at the location and do not have the keyfob anymore, this may prove difficult.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. there was a previous parking company before UKPC, this is part of my tenancy agreement but on a seperate page. should i include that page in my evidence?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3. besides [/FONT][FONT=&quot]case transcripts for Pace v Mr N and Link v Parkinson,[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Henry Greenslade's wording from the POPLA Annual Report 2015 'Understanding Keeper Liability, Schedule 4 of PoFA 2012, is there any other cases i should remember to bring as evidence?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4. my witness statement does not quote or refer to any case transcrips as my defence (submitted) already did this. do i need to do it again in my WS?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5. I have countless emails going back and forth between me, my neighbours at the time who also got tickets, the landowners (who deny having a contract with UKPC), the local mayors office etc. as well. would bringing these be worth it? as i'll have to spend some time sifting through them to find relevant emails.
[/FONT]

Coupon-mad

Typo - this is not spelt right (a common mistake):

miniscule

The vehicle was parked in this location on a daily basis, but as can be seen from the dates of the PCNs being claimed for (issued over an extended period), only on rare occasions has the vehicle temporarily stopped outside my designated space to unload the shopping. On all occasions the vehicle was moved to my designated space after unloading the shopping (in under 5 minutes).

wow you have these facts yet appear to have completely missed using and appending as evidence, Jopson v Homeguard, an court appeal transcript that is persuasive on the lower courts and on all fours with your case.

Search the forum for witness statement Jopson flats unworkable is my suggested search term.

1. do i need a photo of the keyfob? as i no longer live at the location and do not have the keyfob anymore, this may prove difficult.

No.

2. there was a previous parking company before UKPC, this is part of my tenancy agreement but on a seperate page. should i include that page in my evidence?

No.

3. besides case transcripts for Pace v Mr N and Link v Parkinson, Henry Greenslade's wording from the POPLA Annual Report 2015 'Understanding Keeper Liability, Schedule 4 of PoFA 2012, is there any other cases i should remember to bring as evidence?

As above - JOPSON was an APPEAL case, so higher level. Also, your WS needs to refer to those cases as a commentary on them, referring to them by evidence number, like you see in the examples in the NEWBIES thread.

4. my witness statement does not quote or refer to any case transcripts as my defence (submitted) already did this. do i need to do it again in my WS?

Yes, and this time you file and serve them as exhibits.

5. I have countless emails going back and forth between me, my neighbours at the time who also got tickets, the landowners (who deny having a contract with UKPC), the local mayors office etc. as well. would bringing these be worth it? as i'll have to spend some time sifting through them to find relevant emails.

You can't just bring them to court you will need to append them to this WS as well, or they will be inadmissible.

Sounds all good stuff for your WS! what do you mean the landowner denies using UKPC?

Finally, you need to file & serve as well:

- a costs schedule (search the forum)

- a supplementary WS about the false added £60 that you appear to have overlooked! That argument is your insurance, your damage limitation to cross out the fake added £60 debt collection rubbish - is this a multi PCN claim, the added £60 must add up to quite a lot of the claim, if so!

Did you read CEC16's thread yet, and the Abuse of Process thread post #14?

venousdata

Thanks for the feedback! I will make the necessary changes:

A section referring to Jolson v Homeguard

Refer to mentioned case transcripts via commentary and evidence number

A costs schedule

A section referring to the £60 added fake charges



Response to your questions:

I mentioned the £60 fake added charges in my initial defence document so didn’t think I’d need to mention them again in my WS, but I will.

I have one email from the landowner denying that they have a contract in place with UKPC and directing me to another company who they claim have the contract with UKPC.
I then had another email where the company the landowners mentioned also deny having a contract in place with UKPC.

Why do I need a supplementary WS for the £60 fake charges? As I have not submitted this WS can I not just add a section about it to my draft?

Finally, yes I did have a section about abuse of process and the £60 fake charges being an attempt at double recovery in my initial statement hence why I thought I didn’t need to speak about it in my WS as well, but I will.

Thanks in advance!

Umkomaas

A section referring to Jolson v Homeguard

Jopson. Al wasn't involved.

The_Deep

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]UKPC are fraudsters, have you read this?[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35253759[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
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