Claim Form - UK Car Park Management/Gladstone

Coupon-mad

Please email the SRA a quick complaint, showing them your WS from Gladstones with the facsimile Jack Chapman signature, and point out any errors, like if they've copied & pasted  WS and left you showing as 'him' and 'her' in various places, or other mistakes a true witness would not make.

Do this this week - it is important as you might make a difference to the SRA decision!  Copy of the format from other 2019 pre-Xmas complaints that show what to put in the headings, and who to email, and what to say.

Your main points for prep for your hearing, will be the WS arrived and was posted provably late, and you've made a SRA complaint about the false facsimile signatures used by Gladstones, and you are not even sure that Jack Chapman exists and this is currently being investigated as part of a group complaint the SRA have flagged to come back on, this month.  Then the added £60, and your facts about the signs, landowner authority et al.

richiew2k

Great thanks,
In prep for the court hearing do I need to send anything to the court or the claimant prior?
I see in other threads, Skeleton Arguments, do I have a deadline to send these or just take them with me on the day?

richiew2k

Hi All
I have had a good read through the witness statment from gladstones. 

They seem to have tried to argument all of our points and also put case laws to counter each of them so im not too sure how to go about the skeleton argument without risking loosing the case? 
Shall i upload so you can all have a look? 
After readin their witness statement I am not confident the judge would rule in my favour 

nosferatu1001

Skeleton is not required and frankly, in SCCT should be a simple bullet point list. No need to file anything. Its an aide memoir for you 
Are you really sure thyve countered them? They use completely tangential cases and often misinterpret them to suit their own ends. Almost certainly theyve been coveredd TO DEATH on here - have you checked? 
Have you looked through for the obvious copuy and pastes? The massive numbers of assumptions?

beamerguy

richiew2k said:

Hi All
I have had a good read through the witness statment from gladstones. 

They seem to have tried to argument all of our points and also put case laws to counter each of them so im not too sure how to go about the skeleton argument without risking loosing the case? 
Shall i upload so you can all have a look? 
After readin their witness statement I am not confident the judge would rule in my favour 

It is normal for them to use other cases to define their case.   BUT .... you have the most up to date cases which actually involves Gladstones being spanked by the courts ....... use them

Gladstones told by Judge .... added £60 NOT LAWFUL
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76692888#Comment_76692888"nofollow" href="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76756261#Comment_76756261" title="Link: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76756261#Comment_76756261">https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76756261#Comment_76756261"nofollow" href="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76533511#Comment_76533511" title="Link: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76533511#Comment_76533511">https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76533511#Comment_76533511

richiew2k

Coupon-mad said:

Please email the SRA a quick complaint, showing them your WS from Gladstones with the facsimile Jack Chapman signature, and point out any errors, like if they've copied & pasted  WS and left you showing as 'him' and 'her' in various places, or other mistakes a true witness would not make.

Do this this week - it is important as you might make a difference to the SRA decision!  Copy of the format from other 2019 pre-Xmas complaints that show what to put in the headings, and who to email, and what to say.

Your main points for prep for your hearing, will be the WS arrived and was posted provably late, and you;ve made a SRA complaint about the false facsimile signatures used by Gladstones, and you are not even sure that Jack Chapman exists and this is currently being investigated as part of a group complaint the SRA have flagged to come back on, this month.  Then the added £0, and your facts about the signs, landowner authority et al.

Hi
I cant find any references in the ws which state he, she, his or her

richiew2k

Here is the witness statement from Jack Chapman, scanned -WITNESS STATEMENT OF Jack Chapman

 

l, Jack Chapman, OF Ground Floor, 19 New Road, BNI II-JF WILL SAY AS FOLLOWS:

1. I am the Employee of the Claimant Company ('my Company') and I am duly authorised to

make this statement on its behalf. The facts and matters set out in this statement are

within my own knowledge unless otherwise stated and I believe them to be true. Where I

refer to information supplied by others, the source of the information is identified; facts

and matters derived from other sources are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

 

2. Exhibited to this Witness Statement at 'GSLI' are the following documents which my

Company wishes to rely upon;

i) The Agreement authorising my Company to manage parking on the relevant land

(as described therein and hereinafter referred to as 'the Relevant Land');

ii) The Sign ('the Contract');

iii) The Site Plan;

iv) Notices;

v) Photographs of the incident.

 

3. The Defendant is liable for a parking charge relating to the parking of a vehicle on the

Relevant Land in a manner so as to incur the same pursuant to the Contract (i.e. the

Sign). Set out in the Schedule below are details of the parking charge;

 

Location

4. My Company provides bespoke parking operator services to the private sector. The

services that we provide cover the management, enforcement and maintenance of

privately owned or managed car parks and the enforcement of vehicles parked on private

land.

5. My Company is a member of an accredited trade association, the Intemational Parking

Community ('the IPC') and conforms to the strict code of practice for Private Parking

Operators which that association imposes on its members. In addition, in accordance

with data protection and security my Company are approved to apply the DVLA

electronic link.

6. My Company became instructed to manage the Relevant Land on 30 November 2017.

The Contract

7. My Company relies on the case of ParkingEye v Beavis 2015. In that case, it was

accepted as an established principle that a valid contract can be made by an offer in the

form of the terms and conditions set out on the sign and accepted by the driver's actions

as prescribed therein.

8. The Court may conclude that the Relevant Land is managed as follows; the Claimant

grants a contractual license to all; this license allows anyone permission io be on the Relevant Land. This is inferred by the nature of the land and the lack of any general

prohibition of entry on the signage. In this regard, the Defendant (as were all the

motorists) was offered to comply with the normal conditions (as clear on the sign), or park

otheMise than in accordance with the normal conditions and incur a EIOO charge. The

acceptance was at the point the Defendant decided to park, having read the sign, and his

consideration was the promise to pay €100 for the privilege of parking outside the normal

conditions. The Claimant's consideration is the provision of parking services.

9. The signage at the site is clearly visible and the information on the signage informs the

driver of the parking conditions at the location. Signage is prominent throughout the

parking area. Signage location, size, content and font has been audited and approved by

the IPC. It is the driver's responsibility, to check for signage, check the legality and obtain

any authorisation for parking before leaving their vehicle. The signage on site is the

contractual document.

 

10.My Company's sign conveyed the following relevant contractual license for use of the

Relevant Land to the Defendant:

"PA Y & DISPLAY ... Have you paid and displayed? Vehicles must display a valid PA Y &

DISPLAY TICKET or VALID PERMIT in the front windscreen at all times and park wholly

within a marked bay. No HGV's, Caravans, Motorhomes or Trailers. If unsure please

seek further advice from CPM or refrain from parking"

 

11. The photographic evidence exhibited to this Witness Statement shows the Defendant's

vehicle of registration mark LDII CFV (the 'Vehicle') parked on the Relevant Land whilst

failing to display either a valid pay and display ticket or a valid permit. Owing to the

driver's performance of parking in breach of the contractual license for use of the

Relevant Land, therefore accepting my Companys charge pursuant to the signs.

 

The Defence

12. To assist the Court, my Company has below responded to the points raised in the

Defendant's Defence in turn and used subheadings to structure my Company's

submissions in respect thereof.

 

Third party aqreement

13. The Defendant suggests an agreement exists between the driver and their employer

which allows the Defendant to park on the Relevant Land, however my Company notes

the Defendant has failed to substantiate this position. My Company confirms an

exemption list does not exist for the Relevant Land and that if a motorist were to be

granted authorisation to park without paying the applicable tariff, this would be shown by

way of a valid permit being present in that vehicle's windscreen pursuant to the signs.

Even if the driver was a person who may make use of and display a permit, ultimately on

the material date, a permit was not displayed and therefore the driver accepted my

Company's charge for parking.

 

14. My Company further submits that owing to the signs changing on the Relevant Land, the

driver either was, or ought to have been aware the management scheme had changed.

My Companys signs invite motorists who are unsure of the terms to make contact with it

should they not understand whether the license is applicable to them. This avenue was

not explored by the driver on the date in question.

 

No contract as no consideration

15.Whilst the Defendant avers the contract formed between my Company and the driver

does not contain consideration, my Company relies upon the Judgment of the appeal of

Vehicle Control Services Ltd and Nick Idle and Vehicle Control Services and Damen Ward (the VCS case'), where Judge Saffman found at paragraph 55 the following;

 

. it seems to me to be equally clear that there is consideration. The consideration is the

license to use these private roads, In the same way as the consideration in Beavis was

the licence to park the car. I note that in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court it was

not in doubt that there was a contract between ParklngEye and Mr Beavis."

 

16. It is my Company's view the consideration was the license to park the vehicle on the land my Company had been instructed to manage on behalf of the landowner. The right or

ability for the driver to park flowed from the landowner and not the driver's employer;

therefore, the value offered by my Company was the continued use of the right previously

enjoyed. Therefore, the driver was required to display a permit or else accept my

Company's charge and therefore, as in the VCS and Beavis Case, a contract was

correctly formed between the driver and my Company.

 

17.As a result of the above, my Company denies the Defendant's assertion it does not have

a legitimate interest. My Companys legitimate interest is to manage the car park in

accordance with its contract with its client — i.e. to issue parking charges to those

vehicles failing to display either a valid permit or pay and display ticket.

 

No authority to enforce charqes

18.As the contract is between my Company and the Defendant, my Company does have the

authority to enforce parking charges. However, both VCS v HM Revenue & Customs

(2013) and Parking Eye v Beavis (CA 2015) made it clear that a contracting party need

not show they have a right to do what they have promised in the performance of a

contract, nor is (in the case of a parking operator) the agreement between Operator and

Landowner of any relevance. In any event, and without concession, the Agreement

exhibited to this Witness Statement evidences my Company's authorisation to operate I

manage the Relevant Land on behalf of the Landowner.

 

19.Lord Justice Lewison commented in VCS v HM Revenue & Customs (2013) EWCA Civ

186

"The Upper Tribunal's reasoning on this part of the caso was that sinco VCS did not have

the right under its contract with the car park owner to grant a licence to park, it could not

have contracted with the motorist to grant such a right. In my judgment there is a serious

flaw in this reasoning.

The flaw in the reasoning is that it confuses the making of a contract with the power to

perform it. There is no legal impediment to my contracting to sell you Buckingham

Palace. If (inevitably) I fail to honour my contract then I can be sued for damages. On the

stock market it is commonplace for traders to sell short; in other words to sell shares that

they do not own in the hope of buying them later at a lower price. In order to perform the

contract the trader will have to acquire the required number of shares after the contract of

sale is made. Moreover, in some cases a contracting party may not only be able to

contract to confer rights over property that he does not own, but may also be able to

perform the contract without acquiring any such right. Thus in Bruton v London and

Quadrant Housing Trust [200011 AC 406 a housing trust with no interest in land was held

richiew2k

to have validly granted a tenancy of the land to a residential occupier. The tenancy would

not have been binding on the landowner, but bound the two contracting parties in

precisely the same way as It would have done If the grantor had had an interest in the

land. Thus In my Judgment the Upper Tribunal were wrong to reverse the decision of the FTT on the question whether VCS had the power to enter Into a contract. Having the power to enter into a contract does not, of course, mean that VCS necessarily did enter into a

contract with the motorist to permit parklng

 

Particulars of Claim

20. The Defendant avers my Company's Particulars of Claim are deficient, however despite

this my Company notes the Defendant has been able to produce a substantive Defence.

In this regard, my Company believes the Defendant has not suffered any prejudice.

 

21.My Company would like to draw to the Court's attention the Irish case of Allied Irish

Banks Plc v Pierce (2015) as a persuasive authority in that the Court found that a

deficiency in the Particulars of Claim would not bring the case to an end and the Court

would consider all of the correspondence exchanged in working out the nature of the

claim.

 

22. Notwithstanding the above, the Claim is issued via the County Court Business Centre

which is a procedure specifically provided for in the Civil Procedure Rules. This only

allows the Claimant to insert brief details of the Claim. In any event, my Company

confirms that the Particulars of Claim contained sufficient information for the Defendant to

be aware of what the claim relates to; namely:-

The date of the charges;

The amount outstanding;

That is relates to parking charges; and

That it is debt.

 

23. Further, prior to proceedings being issued the Defendant was sent notices in accordance

with the Act and a Letter Before Claim. As such. the Defendant would have been aware

of the charges which are the subject of this claim.

 

24.Notwithstanding the above, I refer to paragraph 5.2A of Practice Direction 7E which

states that:

"the requirement in paragraph 7.3 of Practice Direction 16 for documents to be attached

to the particulars of contract claims does not apply to claims started using an online claim

fom"

 

Sums added to the charqe

 

25. My Company denies the assertion it is seeking more than EIOO for the parking charge.

 

26.My Company seeks its legal costs which are recoverable pursuant to CPR 27 and CPR

45. In this regard, my Company relies upon CPR 27.14 (2)(a)(i) and CPR 27.14 (c).

 

27.My Company confirms where it seeks recovery of legal costs, it relies on CPR 45.2 (1)

(a) and (b), as these rules allow for the appropriate fixed costs on commencement of a

claim for the recovery of money or goods in accordance with Table 1 to be sought. As

E50 is identified as a recoverable sum within Table I as a recoverable sum and therefore

does not require substantiation; as it is provided for in the CPR.

28. My Company's Court fees in respect of this matter are 225 on Issuance of the Claim and

E25 for the hearing fee. These costs are therefore recoverable pursuant to CPR 27.14

(c).

 

29. My Company is further able to seek recovery of interest of the Claim amount at a rate of

8% pursuant to S.69 of the County Courts Act 1984 or at such a rate as the Court deems

suitable.

 

The Current Debt

30. In view of the Defendant not paying the charge within the 28 days allowed they are in

breach of the contract. Breach of contract entitles the innocent party to damages as of

right in addition to the parking charge incurred.

31.My Company is an Accredited Operator of the International Parking Community (IPC)

who prescribes a maximum charge of RI 00. The Code of Practice states:

"Parking charges must not exceed EIOO unless agreed in advance with the IPC. Where

there is a prospect of additional charges, reference should be made to this where

appropriate on the signage and/ or other documentation.

Where a parking charge becomes overdue a reasonable sum may be added. This sum

must not exceed E60 (inclusive of VAT where applicable) unless Court Proceedings have

been initiated. "

 

32. In view of the Defendant not paying the charge within the initial 28 days allowed or the

further 28 days allowed after the Notice to Keeper has been sent, the parking charge has

become overdue and a reasonable sum of E60 has been added.

33. The Sign states the prescribed charge for failing to comply with the terms is EIOO,

however it also specifies "Non-payment will result in additional charges which will be added to the value of the charge and for which the driver will be liable on an Indemnity

basis". Further. the Letter Before Claim also made it clear the debt may increase in

respect of costs and interest if a claim had to be issued. Due to the Defendant not paying

the charge the matter was passed to my Company's legal representatives, Gladstones

Solicitors Ltd, who were instructed to commence legal proceedings. The potential

additional costs mentioned above are now sought.

 

34. The debt has, as a result of this referral risen as my Company's staff have spent time and

material in facilitating the recovery of this debt. This time could have been better spent on

other elements of my Company's business. My Company believes the costs associated

with such time spent were incurred naturally as a direct result of the Defendant's breach

and as such asks that this element of the claim be awarded as a damage. The costs

claimed are a pre-determined and nominal contribution to the actual losses. Altematively,

my Company does have a right to costs pursuant to the sign (i.e. the contract).

Coupon-mad

But it's the same as all the other Jack Chapman and Gladstones WS on every Gladstones thread.

You will know that, if you did the search and copied the SRA complaint that we are desperate for you to email.  The threads showing how to word the SRA complaint, all show their 'Jack Chapman' WS already, or quote from it.  We don't need to see it again.

Why are you reading it like it's for the first time and thinking they've countered your points?  We're telling you to read Jack Chapman signature threads from before Xmas, so that you would have seen that WS before.

richiew2k

Apologies Maybe I am just getting a little nervous moving towards the case date. I know I have read other examples and everyone wins but I think as its myself its getting more daunting. 

I am going to get the SRA email off tomorrow