No stopping zone airport claim defence

Farmlady

Hi everyone and thanks for all the great information that is posted on here as it has helped greatly with the issue I am facing so far.

To cut a long story short, I am now at the stage of writing a defence against a claim of £185 (£160 + £25 court fees) for stopping in a no stopping zone at an airport. If possible I would like some guidance as to the the stages of the process you feel I should take or anything more I should do that has not been done already.

I have replied to the claim stating I will be making a defence. I have also made a CPR 31.14 to the PPC.

I have read many posts regarding successful defences against other court claims from PPCs but would be interested to know what points should be covered in a defence of this kind.

Points to note which could be used in a defence:

The registered keeper which all correspondences have been made to was not the driver at the time of the incident and the PPC do not know who the driver is.

The airport in question is governed by Byelaws which clearly cover the no stopping zone which is subject to a £100 penalty. Are the PPC in violation of POFA as the airport is governed by Byelaws, they do not have reasonable cause to access the registered keeper information through the DVLA.
‘The DVLAs KADOE contract is the enabling mechanism for the DVLA to release data to private parking companies. It states that they can only use the data released to seek recovery from the driver, or the keeper if the procedure in Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act is used. Since PoFA cannot be used under byelaws, for contract-based parking tickets, only the driver could be held liable. In such a situation the parking company might still write to the keeper to ask them to nominate the driver, but they cannot infer they have any liability.’

Earlier today I took a drive to the airport and drove through the no stopping zone where this incident occurred, paying particular attention to all of the NO STOPPING signs. The signs have large font which can be read whilst driving along which reads NO STOPPING £100 CHARGE below which is small font of around 1cm in height which can not at all read unless up close out of the car and definitely not whilst the vehicle is in motion and so ‘even if the signage did offer a contract, the font size is too small and the words too many to be safely read while driving. They can therefore only be read while stopped’ and so no contract could have been entered into.

The PPC is claiming £160 when the original claim was £100 adding £60 as debt collection costs. Are these additional costs artificial and do not equate to costs incurred which would then be a case of Abuse of Process?


So this is a far as I have got and would be greatly appreciative of any advice you may have regarding the issue which may help with the completion of my defence against this claim.

Many thanks

Redx

Yes that extra £60 comes under abuse of process

Post the issue date from the claim form below , plus the date the AOS online was done

Read other RHA and LJLA threads from the last 12 months to help you formulate the defence draft and post it below

Email a SAR to the DPO at VCS or whichever PPC it is and attach a copy of the claim form

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

waamo

Which airport was this?

Farmlady

The issue date was 20th January. I have sent a SAR by tracked post to the PPC to ensure it is received, is it advisable to also send one by email?

Thanks

Coupon-mad

Are the PPC in violation of POFA as the airport is governed by Byelaws, they do not have reasonable cause to access the registered keeper information through the DVLA.

No.

Is it VCS? Search the forum for the name of the Airport and copy. We have loads.

Redx

Farmlady wrote: »

The issue date was 20th January. I have sent a SAR by tracked post to the PPC to ensure it is received, is it advisable to also send one by email?

Thanks

Tracked post may not be good enough if they refuse to sign , all you have done is wasted money and could possibly prove non delivery , plus added a delay to any reply too

Email to their DPO for free was the correct and cheapest option and should be done

You were also asked for the date of the AOS as well , ignored by you as was the name of the airport

POFA is not mandatory , nor does it apply at an airport , airports are excluded from pofa

KeithP

Farmlady wrote: »

The issue date was 20th January.

I am going to assume that you filed an Acknowledgment of Service after 25th January. Please confirm. If you filed an AoS before 25th January, that may affect the date by which you must file a Defence.

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th January, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 24th February 2020 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence could be filed via email as suggested here:

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
   
5. No need to do anything on MCOL, but do check it after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defence received". If not, chase the CCBC until it is.

After filing your Defence, there is more to do...

1. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire. Nothing of interest there. Just file it.
   
2. Wait for your own Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then complete it as described by bargepole in his 'what happens when' post linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread.
3. The completed DQ should be returned by email to the CCBC to the same address and in the same way as your Defence was filed earlier.
4. Send a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant - to their address on your Claim Form.

The_Deep

I am now at the stage of writing a defence against a claim of £185 (£160

Have you read this thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal

[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]

Farmlady

Hi just to confirm a couple bits of information I forgot to reply to.

The PPC is VCS
Location of incident was at London Southend Airport.

Thanks for the help so far with this issue, I have a SAR request I am emailing today but would like to know if there are any links to SAR request templates available on here just to ensure my draft is up to standard?

Thanks

Redx

See the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum , post #2

That thread is up to date and recently edited accordingly