ParkingEye Warrington central station - Under free 20 minutes

ToddMeems

Evening all,


Just after some advice as I have recevied a County Court claim from ParkingEye.


The event was at



Central Station, Warrington
Arrived: 10:41
Departed: 10:52
Duration: 11 minutes


There are signs outside the car park stating rail users get 20 minutes free parking.
Nowhere does it state you need a ticket to claim the 20 free minute, or not one that I noticed.

I was there to pick up my dad that arrived by train.



I have received 2 PCNs and an LBCC from them, which i ignored, hoping they would go away.



I have read the Newbies post and submitted my acknowledgment of service.



Im after any advice on what to put in my defence. I searched the forum but couldnt find anything similar my case. I must be missing something as it seems I was under the alloted time limit for the parking, so dont know why they even sent me a fine.



Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Coupon-mad

it seems I was under the alloted time limit for the parking, so dont know why they even sent me a fine.

Nor do I - sounds like you have a clear defence.

Use bargepole's short defence example in the NEWBIES thread and add those facts about 20 mins drop off being allowed, as per the signs.

Show us your amended draft first.

What is the issued date of that claim form?

Did you appeal? Or ignored it (wrongly)?

ToddMeems

Thanks for the reply.



Issued date for the claim form is 04 Nov 2019.


No I didnt appeal iv had tickets in the past that ive ignored and it worked.
Only when i seen the county form I knew this was not going away. Should of come to this forum sooner.


Il have a look for the short defence example.


Thanks again

KeithP

ParkingEye and APCOA both run car parks at Warrington Central.

Apparently it is very easy to park in one car park believing one is in the other. This leads to a misunderstanding of the terms.

Searching the forum for Warrington Central will reveal thirty-six posts.
See how others have fared.

Issued date for the claim form is 04 Nov 2019.

With a Claim Issue Date of 4th November, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 9th December 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over three 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. No need to do anything on MCOL, but do check it 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. Just file it.
   
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.

ToddMeems

[FONT=&quot]Hi,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I written a draft of my defence.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Iv used the short defence for unclear signage and added a few bits.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The blue font is the parts iv changed.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Any advice would be greatly appreciated.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: XXXXXXX

BETWEEN:

PARKINGEYE LTD (Claimant)

-and-

XXXXXX (Defendant)

________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration XXXXX, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date in a marked bay allocated to Company ParkingEye Ltd at Central Station, Warrington on XX XXX XXXX, between XXX and XXX.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3. On approach to the car park, signage states 20-minute free stay for rail users. The vehicle made use of the car park for 11 minutes. As this is under 20 minutes, no fee should have been issued.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
4. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant XXXXXX was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle XXXXX. These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

5. Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

6. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the claimant's signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. There is no clear signage explicitly stating the advertised 20-minutes of free use is not inclusive to the claimant’s facilities.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 7. The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would be unable to do so easily. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract.

8. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient prorpietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

9. In summary, it is the Defendant's position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

Name
Signature
Date[/FONT]

Le_Kirk

Looks like a standard defence for this sort of issue.

Fruitcake

From memory, one of these car parks belongs to the station and is therefore a railway asset covered by byelaws. Sadly I believe the Parking Lie run car park is privately owned and byelaws don't apply.

You should check anyway, and also get your own pics of the site and signage in similar light conditions to that of the day in question to show how confusing and inadequate the signage is.

Anyone would think this is done deliberately ...

1505grandad

Para 2 perhaps slightly amend to:-

"The facts are that the vehicle, registration XXXXX, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date in a marked bay in a car park managed by ParkingEye Ltd at Central Station, Warrington on XX XXX XXXX, between XXX and XXX."