URGENT HELP REQUIRED: Filing a defence against Excel - specifics not in stickies

OK123

Hi All,

Thank you all for taking the time to post to this forum. I have had a good read through the newbies Stickies and followed the links in that post but can't quite find what I'm looking for. Massive apologies if it already exists, if so please could somebody pass on a link? Sorry, I'm finding myself lost in dozens of threads!

I'll try to summarise:

I received a PCN whilst staying at my (now ex) girlfriend's flat in January 2017. The car park was operated by Excel Parking Services Ltd.

For whatever reason, I had arrived at 3am. I bought a 24 hour ticket. Being tight, I set my alarm for 2.45am, got up and went outside to get a new parking ticket. I arrived at the vehicle to find I had already been issued a PCN for a future time. I remember the ticket being written for 3.15am, however the documentation sent by EPS suggests it was 5.17am. Either way, the ticket was written for the future. I went back upstairs and showed my girlfriend. We opened the PCN and inside was a time hand-written on a piece of paper, we could barely make out what it said. We agreed it was probably a scam and ignored it. I took photos at the time but can't find them anywhere. I'm going to get a company to take a look at my old phone and see what they can salvage from it. HOWEVER I don't think I will have these before the deadline for submitting a defence.

I never received any correspondence from anyone. I then got a CCJ in my absence as I hadn't realised a court case had happened. The first I knew of the CCJ was when a ELMS Legal sent me a letter to inform they were enforcing it. I had to pay £255 to get a hearing to overturn the CCJ, the judge made it very clear he didn't believe what I said but "begrudgingly" had to accept I may have a case and therefore set aside the CCJ to allow me a chance to defend myself. I'm not sure how it's the norm that nothing is sent recorded delivery. It seems very convenient for them.

I can't find any photo evidence of the PCN that I took at the time. The photos sent as their evidence are so blurry it's unbelievable. However in one of the photos you can see the van with two distinctive white blobs (parking tickets) in the windscreen. The attendant then photographed up close the parking ticket that was a couple of days old. There is no up close photograph of the second ticket. My ex girlfriend is happy to come to court to be a witness and state she saw that the ticket was issued for a time in the future.

The photograph taken by the parking attendant has a time stamp of 5.17am but obviously that only takes about 4 seconds to change. I find it strange the photos wouldn't be taken on a phone and inputted into an app, giving it an indisputable time stamp.

At the end of the hearing to set aside the CCJ, I was instructed by the judge that I needed to provide a written defence to the court within 2 weeks. I asked how to send it to the court or whether there was a specific form but he gave me the helpful advice to just "send it to the court". He made it clear he wasn't on my side.

My issue now is that I don't really understand the process, and it was very clear from the CCJ judgement that the judge had not taken my side. I'm not sure why as I was always very polite, I just wasn't a solicitor so probably wasn't defending my case as eloquently as the solicitor that EPS had appointed.

I'm not entirely sure what is officially needed from my defence, whether this needs to take a certain format, who at the court I can email it to, whether I need case law to back up my case or just witness statements etc etc. Some of this is on the stickies but that mostly refers to arguing the case as a point of poor signage or not being able to identify driver rather than a deliberately fraudulent ticket with a witness. Or should I argue both?

Please please please can someone advise on how to precede. I'm absolutely drained by the whole process and it's ruining my relationship with my current girlfriend as she doesn't want me to move in until I have no debt on record so she doesn't have bailiffs turn up at her door. It doesn't help that she is also recently disabled and as such on top of all this I have recently become a carer. The stress is all just getting too much but part of me just can't let them take innocent people's money.

I'd really appreciate any advice you can give. I'm tempted to find a solicitor as at the CCJ hearing ECP had instructed one on their behalf and I feel that might be useful, but I don't have the money really and can't afford to instruct a solicitor and pay the fees if I lose. I'm worried if I have the same judge as before I will have automatically lost and will have to pay the costs of both side and I just can't afford that, it would kill me.

I have until Friday to submit the defence.

Please can somebody help me set out a solid defence?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I can’t seem to find a way of posting photos or I could post the court bundle they sent for the CCJ case.

OK123

On top of this, should I contact Excel stating the following:

- I intend to summon the parking attendant in question to personally attend the court so he can be cross-examined

- I would like to instruct an expert witness to thoroughly examine the piece of equipment used to ensure the time stamp cannot be altered during using

and

- I would like full details of any financial incentives or bonuses their employees receive for placing tickets.

Coupon-mad

OK123 wrote: »

On top of this, should I contact Excel stating the following:

- I intend to summon the parking attendant in question to personally attend the court so he can be cross-examined

Yes but not that you intend to 'summon' them as that requires an application and summons. Say that you expect the Claimant to question their ticketer and show the metadata from the photograph because you know it was altered and timed 2 hours into the future and this is why you treated it as the scam it clearly was. The metadata from the photo will clear this up and is easy for excel to supply, and you want to chance to question the ticketer at the hearing, to explain this discrepancy.

- I would like to instruct an expert witness to thoroughly examine the piece of equipment used to ensure the time stamp cannot be altered during using

Nope, too expensive and not proportionate to the claim. And it CAN be altered and this industry does exactly that; there is form for this from a similar company:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3229165/Is-PROOF-private-parking-firms-scamming-motorists-Drivers-say-timings-photos-doctored-legally-parked-cars-issued-fines.html

and

- I would like full details of any financial incentives or bonuses their employees receive for placing tickets.

No, because they will say there are none as they are not allowed to.

My ex girlfriend is happy to come to court to be a witness and state she saw that the ticket was issued for a time in the future.

Get her to sign & date a Witness Statement herself, take 3 copies and include it with the defence and state that she will attend with you as an honest and independent witness.

Then your defence needs to say all of this too:

I can't find any photo evidence of the PCN that I took at the time. The photos sent as their evidence are so blurry it's unbelievable. However in one of the photos you can see the van with two distinctive white blobs (parking tickets) in the windscreen. The attendant then photographed up close the parking ticket that was a couple of days old. There is no up close photograph of the second ticket.

Simply adapt one of the defences in the NEWBIES thread post #2.