VCS Letter Before Claim - EDIT - I WON!!

nosferatu1001

If you pay them now, you have no leverage to get them to sign a consent order

As above
What threads on set aside by consent have you searched for, and read/ What about the newbies thread? 

Coupon-mad

You know when you ask them to consent to set aside?  That doesn't involve you PAYING them, you know.  How much are they asking for and does it include the £100 court fee, or are thay wanting £250-odd as per the CCJ?

Obviously that's NOT what to do!  You don't pay off the parking firm when you ask for a set aside with consent.    That is not what we mean.

If that's the only basis they will consent on, then you say ''thanks but no thanks, I will submit a set aside to the court for £255 and am most disappointed that you have made no concession at all, knowing that my wife is high-risk for COVID-19 and the reason I couldn't access my post for weeks, was because I was self isolating'' (at another address)? 

You did tell them that background, yes?

JACK24

Thanks @Coupon-mad
No - I didn’t explain the circumstances (didn’t know I needed to)
ill reply stating that no payment will be made until consent is received? 
They’re asking for over £350 (which I believe I’ll have to pay at some point as my main aim now is to remove the CCJ) This doesn’t include the £100 court costs.  

As mentioned I’m new to all this and appreciate the advice but struggling! 

Coupon-mad

You will reply including the circumstances as well, of course...come on, pick up the pieces and put this right.  You are asking them to consent to the set aside and consider the effect of the pandemic lockdown on stressed people like yourself, to avoid bad PR for their company, and the parking industry and their Trade Body during the current crisis, and to reduce the potential costs in play for both parties. 
  
Explain that the reason for the fact you didn't see any post to that address (including the claim form that you only opened last week, to your horror) was that due to the pandemic...blah blah... (you were not at that address/whatever the facts were)... lay it on thick and ask them to reconsider.

End by giving them seven days to reply in the affirmative without expecting you to pay the extortionate sum of the exaggerated CCJ, because if not, you will be filing a contested set aside application anyway, with costs of £255 in play and you will defend the claim and expose the abuse of process of a parking firm trying to charge over £350, which is double recovery.

If they refuse again or fail to reply then you go with an urgent £255 N244 with a decent witness statement, setting out what happened (not with the parking event...with the claim not being defended and why!). 

Show us your draft after reading at last 20 other set aside threads. 
I mean that seriously.  Search the forum, read 20 and you will gain confidence.

They’re asking for over £350 (which I believe I’ll have to pay at some point as my main aim now is to remove the CCJ) 

No you won't. You are completely missing the point!   
You WILL NOT at any point, ever, have to pay £350 for one PCN to a parking firm.  Even if this is for two PCNs the sum is an abuse of process and once the CCJ is set aside you DO NOT pay the stupid scam parking firm, you then defend the meritless claim at a full hearing, and 99% of posters here win. 

Even the odd loser at the full hearing for their case, gets the false costs refused by the courts, and no CCJ because they would then pay whatever the Judge ordered (LESS than £350) an dtheir credit record would remain unblemished.

JACK24

I've had a reply to my heartfelt request for consent to a set aside, which included all the circumstances as advised, but they've rejected it, stating they will only consent if payment is made in full and if payment is not made in full I would need to make a contested set aside application.
I therefore am in the process of finalising my witness statement, having read numerous threads as advised. I would like advice on my draft statement, but am uncomfortable putting in on here for the world to see(and possibly the people I'm appealing against) - is there another way I can have it proof read please? Thanks
  

Le_Kirk

They are going to see it anyway as you have to (serve) send them a copy when you send it (file) to the court.

Coupon-mad

Have a look at the example one I linked in the NEWBIES thread yesterday, done by a poster this week (Mrs someone is her username!).  Shows you how to do it and she managed it from scratch - you can copy.

nosferatu1001

Show it on here, same as everyone does. Many eyes will do you MUCH better than hiding it. 

JACK24

Witness statement below - due to be posted asap once I have received approval from p[eople in the know that are on here.

This is(and probably obvious) the first time I’ve written something like this so feel to constructively suggest improvements,

-  Do I need to include more detail eg – timescales of ALL correspondence with Parking Company and legal firm – eg letters, emails sent & received etc

- Do I have a good chance with these reasons or am I just wasting my time?

- Do I need to supply evidence now, or at a later date – eg. – the parking ticket, evidence of being abroad, evidence of wife’s health conditions etc

Witness statement:

I XXXXXXXXX of xxxxxxxx will say as follows:

INTRODUCTION

I am the Defendant in this matter and the registered keeper of the vehicle in question, a xxxx, registration xxxx. I would like to defend this claim, I deny liability for the entirety of the claim for the following reasons:

The contents of this witness statement are based on my own experiences and matters witnessed and within my knowledge, are true.

It is my position that, under the doctrine of promissory estoppel, the Claimant has no standing, or cause of action, to litigate in this matter

Background

1.       I am aware that the claim is for an unpaid Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). I contend that I am not liable for the parking charge and the grounds for this are laid out below in in further detail, and in summary are: I had a valid ticket for the time/date in question(22nd September 2019) and have forwarded this to the parking company(VCS) – I feel they have ignored this fact whilst pursuing escalating costs.

2.       The intial PCN was not placed on my windscreen, and was posted to myself some weeks later.

3.       I appealed numerous times to the parking company (VCS) regarding the above claim on the and on the 25/11/19 stated that the ticket must have fallen from sight, and that i had found the ticket in the car – this appeal was rejected.

4.       I forwarded a copy of the ticket to VCS on 25/11/19 and appealed for the the PCN to be cancelled – this appeal was rejected.

5.       The amount being requested quickly escalated to £160(December 2019), which I felt was very unfair considering the circumstance and the valid ticket that I had forwarded to VCS, I decided following legal advice, not to pay this increased amount, but to pursue/appeal this through the courts if necessary.

6.       I then requested a Subject Access Request on the 15/1/20 this was received by myself on the 14/2/20 and included a copy of the ticket that I had already forwarded to VCS – thus proving that VCS had received my copy of a valid ticket.

7.       I have recently(16/4/20) become aware of a court judgment against me regarding the above and am  appealing for a set aside to this judgment. I was planning to appeal the above PCN, but was unaware of any court papers or judgments (see reasons below), and I was absolutely horrified when I opened my  mail on the 16th April 2020 to see court papers and a court judgment against me as well as threatening letters from ELMS legal to send a field agent to collect the escalating debt. I immediately contacted the court on the day I became aware of this judgment and also sought legal advice – I immediately wrote to ELMS legal requesting consent for the set aside which was rejected, I then appealed via letter a 2nd time, for consent to a set aside and including the reasons given here, but they have once again refused to consent to this, despite being aware of the reasons given below – this 2nd rejection was received on the 4th May 2020, and I am now applying for a contested set aside as I feel I have no other option and need to clear this judgment.

There are a number of cumulative reasons for not opening my mail(see below) and as mentioned I was not aware of these letters until the 16th April 2020, I then acted immediately and promptly, and have been doing so ever since.

The reasons for not opening my mail are as follows :

1.       My wife is considered to be at a very high risk of catching the coronavirus due to her diabetes, asthma and high BMI. She has been very unwell and struggling with her asthma and we therefore took the decision as a family to protect her (as the consequences of her contracting coronavirus would likely be catastrophic/fatal) and ourselves by removing our children from school early(before the lockdown). As I am a teacher in a large school, and in regular contact with numerous families, pupils and staff, we decided it would be wise for me to  spend time away from the family home whilst I was continuing to attend my place of work. I was therefore not present at home for long periods and therefore unable to open mail.

2.       I am a senior leader at a large local secondary school, and the whole Covid19 situation has been very stressful both in work and at home, I fell behind with routine tasks (eg opening mail) as I was overwhelmed with my workload and the stress of the whole situation.

3.       Due to my wife’s health situation we were advised that opening mail immediately could pose a risk to us and that the virus could be transmitted via paper/mail – we therefore moved all mail to a safe box using gloves and left it for a few weeks before opening it, the bundle of mail built up quite significantly and it took time to work our way through the mail.

4.       I was also out of the country on a work course during March which added to the stress and the falling behind of routine tasks as stated above.

 

Under normal circumstances(pre-covid19) I am confident that this situation wouldn’t have ended up with a County Court Judgment against myself, as I was planning to appeal this via the courts if necessary, I strongly believe that this situation has arisen due to the complexities of these unprecedented times as stated above, and request that the judgment is set aside and if necessary a hearing is issued so that I can defend the initial Parking Charge Notice which I feel is unfair and incorrect.

 

 Abuse of process

I feel that the way that the parking company and the recent legal firm have dealt with this issue is an abuse of process, that the extortionate amounts of money being requested(at present it’s £365 for what was an initial parking charge of £60), this amount is regularly being increased and I still haven’t had confirmation that these rising costs will cease or that field agents will not be attending my home, I feel that this is an abuse of process, and could also be classed as double recovery. I feel that ELMS legal have not taken into consideration my circumstance during these unprecedented times and the unusual situation with Covid19 that is happening worldwide. I am in the process of writing to my MP for clarity and for a change of law regarding this type of behaviour by these companies as I am appalled at the way I’m being treated.

Please see below examples of other similar cases, which were classed as an abuse of process:

-        In Brtiannia v Crosby Southampton Abuse of Process. The claimant Excel Parking LTD and the private parking industry continues to demonstrate significant irregularities in their affairs and parking firms invariably trade in a way that fails to show integrity or a social conscience and disregards consumer law and the public interest, and the Court and my MP will be encouraged to report the conduct of this particular Claimant in my case, to the Secretary of State. IN THE SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY COURT No. F0DP806M F0DP201T Courts of Justice London Road, Southampton Monday, 11 November 2019 Before: DISTRICT JUDGE GRAND B E T W E E N : BRITANNIA PARKING GROUP LTD Claimant - and - (1) Defendants (2) CHRIS CROSBY ((Please see Exhibits the reviews of Excel Parking LTD )

-        In December 2019 in a different Court circuit, Deputy District Judge Joseph sitting at Warwick County Court had clearly heard about the decisions affecting the Isle of White, Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire circuit because he summarily struck out multiple parking ticket claims from various firms all due to the adding of the false £60 costs to £100 parking charge, that already indisputably (in law and case law) includes those costs.

-        The Judge determined that ''it is an abuse of process for the Claimant to issue a knowingly inflated claim for an additional sum which it is not entitled to recover.'' further, in issuing his Orders striking out several £160 parking claims without a hearing, the Judge stated that he had ''considered S71(2) of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for the fairness of the contract terms and determined that the provision of the additional charge breached examples 6, 10 and 14''. 4.(Please see Exhibits )

 

Please could this judgment therefore be set aside for the above reasons and the likely effects of this on my other sources of income (we own a few properties which we let) this judgment would have a significant effect on that business.

 

Regards

XXXXXXX

KeithP

The last sentence should be truncated so that it reads "Please could this judgment therefore be set aside". The rest is superfluous and implying that the Judgment is merely 'inconvenient'. Not a good thing to be pointing out.