Ticketed at our own business

Lexnevel

Hello all

We rented a premises for our business with flats above (controlled by the landlord) and had an allocated area at rear for parking. I say area as it was a piece of wasteland with no lighting, marked bays, often overgrown with weeds etc.

We received permits from the landlord and then had to play a game of first come first served as he had handed out more permits than the space would allow cars. It mostly worked ok as the flat tenants were at work while we were parking and when we closed up for the day they would come home and park. There were of course many times when it didn't and the car park itself also had a dangerous walk way around the edge with no fencing and I witnessed a car slipping into it on at least one occasion.

There were occasions when we had tickets for non displaying of permits if they slipped of the dashboard or if we received a ticket in the time it took to park pop into the shop to get a permit. On these occasions we contacted CORPORATE SERVICES (Hereford), explained we had the right to park there in our lease and that we did have permits and they them begrudgingly cancelled the tickets.

However from late 2018 they stopped responding despite us trying to communicate with them. Cut to January 2020 and I have a LETTER BEFORE CLAIM from GLADSTONES SOLICITORS. I had previously received letters from CORPORATE SERVICE, DRP, ZENITH and letters from DRP on GLADSTONES headed paper.

Im thinking now that my approach was wrong but I decided not to acknowledge their invoices or the supposed debt. I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to waste my time going to court now but I'm not sure how to best put in my defence.

When I read the standard defence templates they are worded in such a way to deny who was driving and to question the signage etc. My point is that regardless of displaying the permit correctly or not we did have the right to park there as part of our lease and I want to know how to work this into our defence.

I really hope this paints an adequate picture of the situation and I thank you for you time and help in advance.

Redx

If it's an LBC it's too early for any defence

The newbies FAQ sticky thread post 2 tells you about LBC and SAR etc

The time for any defence is when a court claim pack from the CCBC in Northampton arrives , not before , you don't address the issues in response to an LBC

The_Deep

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.[/FONT][/FONT]

bergkamp

Lexnevel wrote: »

Hello all....


We received permits from the landlord.....

There were occasions when we had tickets for non displaying of permits if they slipped of the dashboard or if we received a ticket in the time it took to park pop into the shop to get a permit.

I really hope this paints an adequate picture of the situation and I thank you for you time and help in advance.

Can you explain this please?

Lexnevel

Hi Bergkamp

We rented the property, received permits from the landlord but had people working on shift patterns so whoever was working that day used the permit rather than taking it home

Lexnevel

Redx thank you for your reply,

i have read through the newbies bit but im sure I've probably missed some bits.

I know that its too early to submit a defence but i want to prepare for it and find the right template to use.

I am not very good with these things and can find them quite daunting so really wanted to be ready for it. I have found templates that people have used for their defences based on the fact that they there has not been appropriated signage or that they have not received a grace period etc but thought that there might be a different angle if i was parking on land that i had a right to use. I don't know whether or not i can include a copy of the lease in my defence or a statement from the landlord?

Redx

Read the 2 defences by member bargepole

Read the basher52 defence written by coupon mad too

Read the winning case threads over the last year , by putting suitable search words into the forum Search box , such as a well known song hit by Queen

AOBTD is a hint to the title

No evidence is submitted with a defence , it's text only , no exhibits at all

Read the what happens and when post by bargepole

In other words , plenty of reading for you

Coupon-mad

I don't know whether or not i can include a copy of the lease in my defence or a statement from the landlord?

Evidence goes with your Witness Statement at a much later stage, however if you are not even at Court stage yet it is a good idea to reply to the LBC with:

- evidence of your right to park, and

- a costs schedule of the hours spent so far on this farce, at £19 per hour and telling them if their client proceeds despite knowing and having evidence of your residential rights that they are interfering with, then you will seek full costs at your full hourly rate and the hours are likely to be double that shown.

Finish by denying any debt but tell them you are seeking debt advice so the case must be put on hold for 30 days, during which you expect them to properly consider your existing grants and easements as residents, and the fact their client is actively interfering with those rights.

(the point of the second thing above is to provide fair warning of costs at the earliest opportunity and throughout the process as I want more people to get full costs this year)!

Castle

Lexnevel wrote: »

Hi Bergkamp

We rented the property, received permits from the landlord but had people working on shift patterns so whoever was working that day used the permit rather than taking it home

Are we talking about more than one vehicle than?