Advice re blue badge owner

[Deleted User]

Umkomaas said:

HotelUniform74 said:

Umkomaas said:

Both easily available - Google, then go to the shown bailii.org link. 

I have, thank you. 

I have managed to collect all other cases apart from these two, as instead of an RTF link to download for free with the other cases, there is instead a link to purchase the judgment:

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/1970/2.html

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/1956/3.html

Do you know of other places to download? I've found casemine, but again it requires a purchase.

Thanks.

When I click on those links, I get the full judgment for both cases.  I'm baffled. Is it anything to do with your browser?  Try another browser, maybe?

Thanks for the reply

I have tried on chrome and edge and get "Buy ICLR report" in the top left where I otherwise get "download RTF". I can't download either. 

How do you get the full judgment? Maybe I'm not following the correct steps?

Jenni_D

I think you're getting confused ... I also see those BUY links, but I also see the full judgements below those links. Simply print the web page to PDF?

[Deleted User]

Jenni_D said:

I think you're getting confused ... I also see those BUY links, but I also see the full judgements below those links. Simply print the web page to PDF?

Thanks Jenni

I didn't know I could do that. Done now.

[Deleted User]

I'm really struggling to write my counterclaim in the WS part.

Do I copy and paste verbatim from my defence to my WS? It seems a bit unnecessary to duplicate what i've already written?

I've written my chain of events already and I am trying to understand what and how to include from my defence.

I understand that I have to support my claim with case and statute law, but this  is already in my defence. 

Does the judge not read the defence and counterclaim? Was the defence just for the benefit of the claimant?

Thanks

Le_Kirk

Your witness statement for the counterclaim part will be to support and back up your defence, it will not be a repeat of your defence (counterclaim).  Read your defence part by part and then write a statement supporting each part and then provide evidence for that.  Have you not been given names of recent posters who have written counterclaim WSs?
The most recent suggestions have been those written by @ricky_balboa @Nosy and @jhrys

[Deleted User]

Le_Kirk said:

Your witness statement for the counterclaim part will be to support and back up your defence, it will not be a repeat of your defence (counterclaim).  Read your defence part by part and then write a statement supporting each part and then provide evidence for that.  Have you not been given names of recent posters who have written counterclaim WSs?
The most recent suggestions have been those written by @ricky_balboa @Nosy and @jhrys

Hi and thanks for the reply.

I have been given a few name and have the threads saved. I'm not aware of the last one. 

OK, so if i've listed a case, I need to quote from the case in my WS to support my statement?

If I've got statements from a case or from law, I can just copy and paste that across? 

Thanks again.

Coupon-mad

You have to provide the transcripts of the case law that supports your counterclaim.  It is worth it, as you must plead a legal basis for the counterclaim.

In your WS under 'Counterclaim' you could start by saying 'paragraphs xx to xx of my defence/counterclaim dated xx/xx/2021 are repeated' then go to town on the distress and detrimental effect all this has had on you.

Then list the case law as exhibits (not strictly speaking, right for a WS!) OR preferably to curry favour with the Judge, do this instead:

- attach a separate doc that you do not have to sign (as it's not a WS) headed up skeleton argument (with headings/claim number/parties' names) and just list the case law then add a sentence or two in above each one, quoting from the exact paragraphs you say support your cause of action.

- the transcripts must be attached in full, not just linked.  Include VCS v Ferguson which shows such counterclaims DO have a place within the small claims track, when properly pleaded.

- add in Simon Clay v CEL which is another transcript where a person sued a PPC for data abuse under the DPA, in a meritless case where they had no right to pursue him and process/share his data. Search the forum, as that transcript has been provided before!

- read each one to get what they say and how they help your counterclaim.

- your WS can then concentrate on your story, your photos and and your distress. That's a proper WS.  The facts, what happened when and in this case, how you feel and why you counterclaimed.

[Deleted User]

Coupon-mad said:

You have to provide the transcripts of the case law that supports your counterclaim.  It is worth it, as you must plead a legal basis for the counterclaim.

In your WS under 'Counterclaim' you could start by saying 'paragraphs xx to xx of my defence/counterclaim dated xx/xx/2021 are repeated' then go to town on the distress and detrimental effect all this has had on you.

Then list the case law as exhibits (not strictly speaking, right for a WS!) OR preferably to curry favour with the Judge, do this instead:

- attach a separate doc that you do not have to sign (as it's not a WS) headed up skeleton argument (with headings/claim number/parties' names) and just list the case law then add a sentence or two in above each one, quoting from the exact paragraphs you say support your cause of action.

- the transcripts must be attached in full, not just linked.  Include VCS v Ferguson which shows such counterclaims DO have a place within the small claims track, when properly pleaded.

- add in Simon Clay v CEL which is another transcript where a person sued a PPC for data abuse under the DPA, in a meritless case where they had no right to pursue him and process/share his data. Search the forum, as that transcript has been provided before!

- read each one to get what they say and how they help your counterclaim.

- your WS can then concentrate on your story, your photos and and your distress. That's a proper WS.  The facts, what happened when and in this case, how you feel and why you counterclaimed.

Hi. Thanks again so much for your help

Is this a good template for use as a skeleton argument please?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/832540/n163-eng.pdf


Or this template?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/755623/ac014-eng.doc

Coupon-mad

Neither. They look clunky. You don't need a template and one of those is for High Court cases.

It literally is a piece of paper with the same headings as on your WS but no signature nor statement of truth at the bottom.  Then you just write some concise paragraphs like I said already, about each case you are attaching and how it applies, which paras you want the Judge to read.

Here is Clay v CEL, read it and you will see how it applies (as will happen with all the cases you are using):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gjxofh11jpe05sw/1042950_Simon Clay v Civil Enforcement Ltd & Fusion Lifestyle_Judgment Approved.pdf?dl=0

Just don't call anything a 'precedent' because it isn't.

[Deleted User]

IN THE COUNTY COURT AT PLYMOUTH

 

CLAIM No: xxxxxxx

BETWEEN 

 

PREMIER PARKING SOLUTIONS LIMITED
 -and
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 __________

SKELETON ARGUMENT
 __________

Below is listed the case law relied upon and outlined from each are the exact paragraphs I say supports my course of action.

1. ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67

Attention is drawn to paras 98, 100, 193, 198. The parking charge was set at £75 (discounted to £37.50 for prompt payment) then 'admin costs' inflated it to £135. 

2. ParkingEye Ltd v Somerfield Stores Ltd ChD [2011] EWHC 4023(QB)

At paras 419-428, HHJ Hegarty sitting at the High Court (decision ratified by the CoA) found that adding £60 to enhance the sum sought to £135 'would appear to be penal', i.e. unrecoverable.

3. Excel v Wilkinson, Claim No. G4QZ465V, 2/7/20, (Bradford County Court)

In paras 31-42, Jackson DDJ lays why the Claimant’s additional charges were found to be in breach of Section 67 of the Consumer Rights Act (2015). At para 35 Jackson DDJ states: “It is an attempt to gild the lily and to recover what is already provided for by the Supreme Court in what they judged to be a reasonable charge.” Jackson DDJ found the Claimant’s claim to be an Abuse of Process and it was struck out.

4. Spurling v Bradshaw [1956] 1 WLR 461

Denning LJ on page 4 said: “the more unreasonable a clause is, the greater the notice which must be given of it. some clauses I have seen would need to be printed in red ink on the face of the document with a red hand pointing to it before the notice could be held to be sufficient.”

5. National Car Parks Ltd v Revenue And Customs [2019] EWCA Civ 854

Newey LJ affirmed in paras 16 and 18 that the contract was brought into being when the green button was pressed.

6. Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1970] EWCA Civ 2

Both leading authorities confirming that an unseen/hidden clause cannot be incorporated after a contract has been concluded. The Master of the Rolls said, on page 3, “The customer is bound by those terms as long as they are sufficiently brought to his notice before-hand, but not otherwise.”

7. Vine v London Borough of Waltham Forest: CA 5 Apr 2000

At paras 19-20, Roch LJ found it was insufficient that an Appellant had simply had the opportunity to see warning signs but that they must also have read and understood them and only then, by doing so, could they consent to the act of clamping if they parked in contravention to the notices. By extension, it was held, if the fee was exorbitant then consent to its payment could not be implied.

8. VCS v Ferguson, Claim No. G2QZ60G1, 14/5/21 (Portsmouth County Court)

At paras 8-12 and 16-19, DDJ Hayward found the Claimant breached the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in continuing a course of action when they ought to have realised there was no legitimate debt. DDJ Hayward awarded £1500 in damages for distress and showed that counterclaims do have a place within the small claims track.

9. Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 46

Attention is drawn to paras 11-12 and 17-19. Gage LJ referred to section 7 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 where speech and causing alarm and distress are considered elements of harassment. Gage LJ found that as at least two such incidents of harassment occurred, the Defendant’s course of conduct crossed the boundary to oppressive and unacceptable conduct, constituting a breach of section 1 and 2 of the act.

10. Simon Clay v Civil Enforcement Ltd & Fusion Lifestyle, Claim No. D9QZ9E8Q, 31/5/18 (High Wycombe County Court)

Attention is drawn to paras 19-21, 22-23 and 29-30. Jones DJ stated that operators are required to comply with their Trade Association Code of Practice and found that in the absence of documentary proof of landowner’s consent, the Defendant was in breach of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and the Data Protection Act 1998. It was found that inconvenience and distress flowed from that breach and £200 damages were awarded.

11. Harrison v Link Financial Ltd [2011] EWHC B3 (Mercantile)

HHJ Chambers QC concluded at [83]: ''Cumulatively and damningly is what I find to be the way that MBNA and the Defendant went about recovering their debt. [...] It seems to me that such conduct has no proper function in the recovery of consumer debt. Whatever the strength of the suggestion that the courts should only be a last resort, I can see no legitimate comparison between a series of measured warnings which, after full opportunity for response, lead to legal proceedings and what took place. {...there} ...can be no excuse for conduct of which it must be supposed the sole purpose must have been to make the Claimant's life so difficult that he would come to heel. I cannot think that in a society that is otherwise so sensitive of a consumer's position this is conduct that should countenanced.''

12. Vidal-Hall v Google Inc [2015] EWCA 311

In para 77, The Court of Appeal observed that distress damages can be awarded under section 13 DPA without pecuniary loss. Under para 19 damages, it was found that the Claimants and each of them have suffered damage to personal dignity, autonomy and integrity and have been caused anxiety and distress, in respect of which each claims compensation pursuant to section 13 of the DPA.

13. Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police [2002] EWCA Civ 1871

Under para 67 i-iii, The Court of Appeal set out clear guidelines for Courts and Tribunals to apply when they are assessing injury to feelings awards for pure distress concerning the measure of damages for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. It set out a three band scale of damages, known as the Vento bands, which are updated each year for inflation.

14. Blamires v LGO, Case No. 3SP00071, 21/6/17 (Leeds County Court)

Para 7 outlines the significant issues in this case related to the Claimants disability and their protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 and the roles and responsibilities of the Defendant under the EA and the DPA. Geddes DJ awarded damages for failure to make reasonable adjustments, and also other breaches of the EA. The court awarded compensation for injury to feelings of £7,500, and £2,500 in aggravated damages. Damages for breach of the DPA were also awarded.