Britannia parking limited court case

Sarzzz

Hi

my thread is going to be different from probably most others who have posted before.

I have been in a court case with britannia parking, and the britannia parking won against me. I really thought I had a reasonable defence, however using it as a learning opportunity, what should I have done different to have an outcome in my favour?

here is a brief summary of the case

I was issued a ticket in a parking lot of a shopping mall for 'not displaying a ticket' from a few years ago. After a series of initial letter by Britannia , I was sent the letter for being taken to court. I filed an SAR request in order to file a better defence. however the SAR request was not responsed to within a month and was send evidence after a month of the initial request. so in my initial defence I mentioned that an SAR request has not complied with .

subsequent SAR request showed several of the images of the front of the car, however in those images I noted that you can still have the ticket displayed at the passenger side of the dashboard and not captured by the photographs.
so in my witness statement. I provided the evidence of submission of SAR request and receiving a response over a month later (and after the initial defence date) I also took several of the photographs of the car from the similiar angle as the ones provided by Britannia to show that a valid ticket can be on display which is not being shown at those angles. I also admitted that due to several of the members of the family having access to car we cannot ascertain who was the driver of the car. Also of note was one of the images provided by the Britannia showed a 'white patch' over the dashboard which could be a tciket not being shown in other images..

so in court today . the judge had started by asking me whether I have established who was the driver of the car , i stated that as as a family we had a discussion and that we couldn't be sure who was the driver of the car , however as first half an hour of the parking is free, (displaying a ticket) and we very often visit that shopping mall we all always put a ticket on display. the judge asked me why did I not mention this in the witness statement of discussion with the family. I explained that I would not have had any evidence for that. the car was in the photographs parked next to a stock of trolleys and would have limited access to the passenger side of the car. and the parking attendeant had not taken very good images from that side of the car. I went onto say that none of the images confirm that ticket was NOT on display. and similar angle photographs provided by myself confirms that. the judge said that this would entail that the parking attendant had a malicious intention for issuing a ticket and he would have been sacked for this and there is no reason to belief that he would have done that. I explained that one of the images provided by the claimant may well be a ticket on display and in that particular angle is the only time a photograph would capture that. I showed a digital image of that to which the claimant's lawyer said it could be a reflection as it was a sunny day. The judge however initially not sure later said that it is possible that it could be a reflection.

The judge went onto ask me whether I had any other point in my defence. I stated that the in the witness statement the claimant has said that they have not received an SAR request , however this clearly NOT true and they have received a request and not provided the evidence in time. the Judge said that would have not made a difference as my witness statement and defence is based on the fact that the images don't confirm that a ticket was not on display.

In the closing statement the judge said that as other members of the family have had access to car and may not be that vigilant as myself in displaying the ticket. .and from the photographs provided although not very clear, the judge is convinced that a ticket was not on display and authorised the claimant's requested charges. he didn't allow the charges of the claimant;s advocate as he thought although I had fought the case right to the end I had a valid reason that the images provided were not conclusive (however the judge didn't agree to that)

in summary i felt i had a reasonable case on my behalf based on the folllowing points

1. SAR request may not have made a difference , however it did show that the claimant's statement that no request was recieved was NOT true and a company who lies in thier witness statement, how reliable their ticket officers can be.

2. A dashboard in not the same as a windshield , dashboards are normally curvy and may not have a very good view especially from different angles and given that I had demonstrated from the images I have taken and given in my witness statement that a valid ticket can be on display and yet not visible from certain angles.


Its worth mentioning that the advocate representing the claimant was local to court and knew the judges and had represented several of these cases before.

what could I have done differently to have an outcome in my favour. Reflecting on this , this case had taken a long time in preparation especially for myself who is not legally trained. I did initially sought legal advice but was told that since it is a small claims court its not worth of lawyers to get involved in as its not financially feasible.

it does leave you with a sour taste in your mouth after you have spent hours preparing for the case and left with being out of pocket.

I'd appreciate input from experienced people at this forum

many thanks

Coupon-mad

the judge said that this would entail that the parking attendant had a malicious intention for issuing a ticket and he would have been sacked for this and there is no reason to belief that he would have done that.

Wow what a stupid Judge. Which court?

You could apply for leave to appeal this, but it costs you £120 court fee and is only possible if the Judge erred in law or was not entitled to come to the factual conclusion he did.

If you are saying that the evidence simply was not conclusive nor even arguable, and that there was as a matter of clear FACT, a part of the dashboard not shown in the photos, then you may want to press on for a Circuit Judge and another hearing specifically about the Judge's error in assuming that 'the attendant would have been sacked if he'd done that' (quite the opposite, with this scam industry, this is their bread & butter).

The_Deep

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten of these tickets are scams so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra work.

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]

Sarzzz

Here are the images supplied by the claimant


[]://imgur.com/a/K3evaR8

Sarzzz

here is the link of the images supplied by myself. all the images were supported by videos showing that ticket was in place, just not visible from the angle of the photographs

[]://imgur.com/a/epvs4x6

Le_Kirk

Your link made live: -
https://imgur.com/a/K3evaR8

Sarzzz

just add http instead of [] as the system doesn't allow me to add urls yet

Sarzzz

it was a court in southampton. I just feel paying further court charges may not be the best option here. what if I end with a similar judge who just makes things more complicated. it just appeared to me he seemed to be favouring more the britannia parking rather than any of my evidence. I don't know why

Coupon-mad

I think those images are quite clear of the dash and can see why the Judge decided there was no permit.

As it was Soton we assume the Judge didn't allow them to add the fake £60, at least?

I thought all Soton ones were being stayed at the moment, pending the 11th November appeal by BW Legal in a Britannia case.

Was it DJ Taylor or DJ Grand, or who?