Court in Febuary, need advice on evidence pack

Sam1324

Hi Guys

I am going to court at the end of Febuary for a ticket recieved two years ago. Due to some poor advice given to me by someone at my local county court I was under the impression the case was going to be struck out due to the claimant not paying their legal fees. This was incorrect, thus, I am left with only today to file the required documents. I believe I am required to file a witness statement, is there anything else I should file?

I submitted my DEFENSE a few months ago - see below.

I am extremely overwhelmed at work at the moment so am worried I wont have the time to write a proper witness statement. Any advice (or even anyone who wanted to write a draft for me) would be much appreciated.

"
The following defence acknowledges that XXX, residing at XXX, was the driver of the vehicle registered XXX in relation to the claim issued on 27/08/2019 (Claim no. XXX). The defendant, XXX, residing at XXX denies liability for the entirety of the claim on the basis of the following reasons.

As outlined in the Particulars of the Claim, ‘The Defendant incurred the parking charges on XX/06/2017 for breaching Terms and Conditions of parking on the relevant land at XXX.

1) The defendant denies that any contract he is alleged to have entered while parking at ‘XXX’ was broken. The driver of the vehicle was permitted to park on the premises as he was a member of ‘XXX’ and was using their facilities at the time of the alleged breach in contract. ‘XXX’ has stated via email that ‘Visitors at the Castle are welcome to park in the internal roadways for no extra charge’. It has been verified that XXX was a ‘visitor’ via electronic check in data supplied by ‘XXX’. The check-in data states that XXX checked in at 12:35 PM, on 26/06/2017. By the Climbing Centres own admission, the driver was clearly permitted to park on the premises.

Signs around the area also stated that ‘car park authorisation must be obtained from 'XXX’. It has been explicitly confirmed that the driver was a ‘visitor’ to ‘XXX’ at the time of the alleged breach of contract. The driver therefore had authorisation to park on the facilities, because ‘Visitors at the XXX are welcome to park in the internal roadways’.

Thus, the breach of contract outlined in the claim must be considered void.

2) The original PCN was for £XXX, which has now been raised to £XXX plus £50 legal fees and £25 court fees. These additional fees were not specified on the contract that the defendant is alleged to have breached. In addition to this, The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 (POFA) makes it clear that the will of Parliament regarding parking on private land is that the only sum potentially able to be recovered is the sum in any compliant 'Notice to Keeper' (and the ceiling for a 'parking charge', as set by the Trade Bodies and the DVLA, is £100). The claimant clearly is well aware their artificially inflated claim, which constitutes double recovery.

Many informed County Court Judges have disallowed all added parking firm 'costs' in County courts. In Claim number F0DP201T on 10th June 2019, District Judge Taylor echoed an earlier General Judgment or Order of DJ Grand, who on 21st February 2019 sitting at the Newport (IOW) County Court, had struck out a parking firm claim. The ruling stated:

''IT IS ORDERED THAT The claim is struck out as an abuse of process. The claim contains a substantial charge additional to the parking charge which it is alleged the Defendant contracted to pay. This additional charge is not recoverable under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 nor with reference to the judgment in ParkingEye v Beavis. It is an abuse of process from the Claimant to issue a knowingly inflated claim for an additional sum which it is not entitled to recover. This order has been made by the court of its own initiative without a hearing pursuant to CPR Rule 3.3(4) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998...''

Also, according to Ladak v DRC Locums UKEAT/0488/13/LA the claimant can only recover the direct and provable costs of the time spent on preparing the claim in a legal capacity, not any administration cost.

In summary, the costs on the claim are disproportionate and disingenuous. Based on this point alone, the claim should be dismissed in its entirety.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.
"

Le_Kirk

You need to file any evidence that you included in your defence (or will include in your Witness Statement (WS)). Also include a costs schedule. Help for these items can be found in the NEWBIE sticky post # 2. The WS is written as a narrative in the first person and is the story of what happened on the day and subsequently. There are examples of WS in the NEWBIE which you can use as examples of style and format.

The_Deep

Due to some poor advice given to me by someone at my local county court I was under the impression the case was going to be struck out due to the claimant not paying their legal fees

I received similar advice last year. You cannot rely on CC employees. Get everything from them in writing.

beamerguy

who is the parking company and who actioned the claim

Sam1324

Private Parking Solutions LTD, actioned by Rafina Solicitors

Redx

Write the WS , a narrative from your own perspective , not reiterating your defence ( no S in defence)

Add your exhibits using reference numbers like GH01 , GH02 etc into the WS and the exhibits are your evidence , so photos , documents , laws like CRA and POFA etc (or extracts from them)

Add your Costs Schedule as another referenced Exhibit

Add post #14 by coupon mad from the abuse of process thread by beamerguy

Read the thread by CEC16 as well

So it's 3 items per bundle

Witness statement plus exhibits plus costs schedule

One bundle hand delivered to the court , one posted to the claimant by first class post and get a free certificate of posting from the counter , the third is taken with you on the date of the hearing

Sam1324

Can you explicitly explain how to label my exhibits. Why use GH, is this standard or just randomly chosen?

Can I highlight get points on my exhibits?

Thanks!

Redx

Use any numbering you like , I chose it randomly

It's recommended to use your own initials followed by numbers , not rocket science

It's like saying here is Exhibit a , Exhibit b , etc , but the claimant may use the same , causing confusion

So if your name is George Hamilton , use GH01 , followed by GH02 , etc

It's not a difficult concept so I fail to see why you are confused by it

Mention and highlight the exhibit using details and the reference number

In a criminal case , the defendants lawyer may say

My client was not in Manchester when it happened because exhibit GH01 is a CCTV video still of my client in the London Hilton Hotel and GH02 shows a receipt for the bill they signed to pay for their meal

I aver that my client cannot be in both places at the same time on that day


How hard can it be ?

beamerguy

Sam1324 wrote: »

Private Parking Solutions LTD, actioned by Rafina Solicitors

The puzzle is the legal who I have never seen acting for parking cases. This is fast becoming a treacherous business to be in, acting for parking companies

Private Parking Solutions LTD we know

Apart from the £50 legal fee and £25 court fee which is normal, what have they added on to their claim. How much was the charge for ?

Sam1324

The initial fine was for around 115 pounds.

beamerguy

Sam1324 wrote: »

The initial fine was for around 115 pounds.

around ???? no such item.

Again, how much was the charge
What are they adding on apart from the £50 and £25

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