Horizon/Gladstones Court

blondiejj

Hello, I know there are lots of threads on here but I'm really at a loss as to what to do. I wentto a retail park a few miles from where I live. Please note there are 27 shops and restaurants in this retail park. 6 weeks later the owner received a letter saying I'd overstayed and as we hadnt paid they were increasing the charge. This was the first we knew about it. We received no photo evidence and I still dont know how long I allegedly overstayed. Apparently there was a 4 hour limit. We had several more letters all in plain white envelopes (look like junk mail), again we didnt respond. This has gone on for 18 months. Last thursday received papers from Gladstones. They are taking us to court.

I can get pics showing the carpark had only one small sign in it. There is a unit in the carpark (a one of those clothes weigh in places) the sign is in front of that and is in the same colours as the unit pale green and grey. It looks like the sign for the unit's parking space. I truthfully didnt see it.



The car parking area is split into 3 seperate car parks, the one I was in is divided from the main supermarket one by a barrier and a crossing. The supermarket side does have several signs up but they are in a completely different colour. The other carpark is seperated by the main road into the centre and only has 2 signs high on the wall. Ive since found out all 3 are the same car park.



Ive been to CAB this morning and they have advised probably best to pay up as we own our house and if we lose they could attach some judgement to our home. She said we should have appealed straight away and we would have probably had it thrown out. I'm gutted, they want £230 from us. We are so worried about getting CCJs also we live in the North and paperwork is from Northampton. She advised we could end up with more costs if we ask to go to court up here. Any advice greatly received. Should we cut our losses? Thanks

BrownTrout

Your first mistake was going to CAB for a court claim, what utter rubbish they spout with regards to private parking tickets.
Read the newbies thread and follow all the advice on there regarding court claims
the claim also gets transferred to your local court

Ralph-y

"Ive been to CAB this morning and they have advised probably best to pay up as we own our house and if we lose they could attach some judgement to our home."


WHAT :eek:


total@#@#


"She advised we could end up with more costs if we ask to go to court up north"


more #@#@





guide .........

£100 - original parking charge
£25 - court filing fee
£25 - hearing fee, if it gets that far
£7 or £8 interest.
£50 - solicitor costs for preparing case papers (maximum, capped) - where applicable

So not much more than £200 - IF YOU LOSE!

Anything else they try to add will be spurious and must be challenged with the Judge.

IF YOU WIN - none of the above will be payable by you. But you could claim:

£95 capped maximum for loss of earnings/annual leave for half a day (take pay slips for proof)
Travel costs - public transport or mileage x 45p per mile
Parking costs.

If the PPC has been wholly unreasonable in dealing with the court, then costs awarded against them could be considerably more, but the bar is set very high. We would advise nearer the time if we think this is worth you pursuing.

you need to read through post#2 of the newbies thread ..


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou


Ralph:cool:

Fruitcake

Start by editing your post to remove information about who did what. Only ever refer to The Driver and The Keeper, who are two different people. The Keeper has protections in law that The Driver does not.

Do this now before you do anything else!
Parking scammers read this forum.

Next, read the sticky thread for NEWBIES, especially the guide to court in post 2 written by bargepole.

Get pics of the site and signage as soon as possible.

To whom does the letter tell you to pay? Does it give 14 days (a debt collector letter) or 30 days (a real LBC)?

The advice to ignore has not been given here since the law changed. Hopefully the people that gave you that old and out of date advice will be willing to pay towards your costs …

Forget CAB, they know naff all about private parking issues and usually give even worse advice than "the bloke down the pub".

Complain to the manager/CEO of all the places that were visited.

Complain to your MP about this unregulated scam.

Le_Kirk

The court papers come from Northampton CCBC but it is just a clearing house. If it does go to court, you will get to choose your local court. You urgently need to read the NEWBIE sticky post # 2, particularly the bit about completing the AoS and then read some defences.

You only get a CCJ if you go to court, lose and fail to pay within the time scale set by a judge.


ETA and I decided against rubbishing the CAB advice!

Redx

The defendant should Email a SAR to the DPO at Horizon , attaching a copy of the claim form and a copy of the V5C has proof of I D under the GDPR law and obtain all the documents and pictures and data about the defendant and their vehicle

Yes it should have need appealed at the time , the people who said ignore are morons

The defendant will ask for their own local County Court , no problem with that

Nobody is going to Northampton , it's just a government office the paperwork was issued by the CCBC , not by Gladstone's

Read the newbies faq sticky thread near the top of the forum , post #2

Do the AOS online after reading it and doing the SAR

What is the issue date from the top of the claim form ?

blondiejj

Hi Thank you for your replies. Ive took out the info about what I did. So as long as I pay up if I did lose we wouldnt get CCJs? Do you think I have a strong enough argument to fught it? We're so stressed about it all and have to respond by tomorrow. Tool the papers 3 days to get here supposed to have been sent 1st class!! Thanks

KeithP

I'll just repeat Redx's question for the moment:

Redx wrote: »

What is the issue date from the top of the claim form ?

Redx

For now , stop asking questions and start answering them

Post the issue date from the claim form below

blondiejj

sorry, 7/10/19

KeithP

blondiejj wrote: »

sorry, 7/10/19

With a Claim Issue Date of 7th October, you have until Monday 28th October 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 Monday 11th November 2019 to file your Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence could 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.