Horizon/Gladstones claim - court this week

victorian12

I have just banged out a witness statement. It might be the best of a bad job given the circumstances. If anyone can add any quick comments I would be grateful. I am not sure whether to include the last points about the Claim being sent to the wrong address.

Witness Statement

 

1. I am x, the Defendant in this matter. I will say as follows:

 

2. On 04/01/2019 I parked my vehicle (x) at the Water Gardens Shopping Centre in Harlow, Essex, CM20 1AN. I received a parking voucher from the ASDA store. I attempted to pay for parking at the pay station before leaving but the queue was extremely long and I did not want to wait in the rain with my 9-month old baby. I was surprised that I could only see two pay stations which seemed completely inadequate to serve such a large car park in a busy retail area. I was relieved to notice an option to pay online after parking (see exhibit A). Therefore I legitimately left the car park without paying.

 

3. On returning home I attempted to pay for parking via www.parkonomy.com as instructed on the sign (exhibit A).  I attempted to use the aforementioned parking voucher from ASDA but was unable to input details on the website. I attempted to phone parkonomy for help but there was no telephone number listed. The only contact details provided by parkonomy was their online contact form so I completed this form to request information on how to use the free parking voucher. I did not receive a reply.

 

4. On 10/01/2019 I returned to the car park and again received a parking voucher from ASDA but again was unable to use the voucher on the parkonomy website.

 

5. I was unsure how to proceed at this point so I attempted to pay for both parking sessions without using the voucher but there is no option to pay retrospectively on the parkonomy website. I contacted parkonomy again via their online contact form to request information on how to pay but again received no reply.

 

6. The sign (exhibit A) provides no indication of the terms and conditions for use of the online payment option. Further, there is no information provided on how to use the parking voucher for online payments.

 

7. Therefore, It is denied that the Claimant’s signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them.

 

7. I did not receive the ‘Letter Before Claim’ from the Claimant since I had moved to a new address in September 2020. I received a further communication from the Claimant in December 2020 stating that they were aware I was living at a new address. I, therefore, expected all communications to be directed to the new address. I was very surprised to receive the Court Claim, by chance, from an ex-neighbour at my old address only days before the response deadline.

 

8. Note that the letter from Claimant stating that they were aware of my new address was not included in either the Subject Access Request documents I requested from the Claimant, or in the Claimant’s Witness Statement provided to the Court. It seems that the Claimant made a deliberate attempt to conceal this communication.

 

9. I invite the Court to dismiss this claim in its entirety, and to award my costs of attendance at

the hearing, such as are allowable pursuant to CPR 27.14, please see DH/05

 

Statement of Truth

 

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for

contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false

statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

 

 

Signature

 

 

 

 

25th August 2020

Fruitcake

If you have time, show us the scammers WS in its entirety including the contract. Only redact your own personal information.
There might just be time for the regulars to comment on something before you have to fire yours off. If not, send the one above then fire a Supplementary Witness Statement with any comments the regulars have made.

Do include the comments about the docs being sent to the wrong address whent hey already knew your current address for service. This is probably a breach of the CPR although I'm not sure what part. 

victorian12

Here is the sign: 

Fruitcake

No mention of contractual costs on the sign. (Well there are, but the amounts aren't specified and the writing is too small to read.)
A judge recently said that reasonable extra costs could be added but only if the amounts were stated on the signs. Unfortunately I can't find the thread where that was mentioned.
No information on how to validate a voucher or what to do if the parkonomy website is down. The fact that you were unable to validate the voucher or pay post parking within 24 hors is a frustration of contract caused by their systems not being fit for purpose.

"Keeper details will be requested for the recovery of the notice" 
What on earth does that mean: they are going to issue a NTK then want their bit of paper back?

victorian12

Here is their WS:

nosferatu1001

Remember you also need to email it to the claimant. You must do so. No choice
You have 51 minutes to have done so or you are another day late. 

victorian12

How about bullets 7 and 9 on my WS, take out or leave in?

Fruitcake

The WS signature has been redacted. If the scammers did that, there is no proof it was signed by Mr Dickinson.

There is no contract included, let alone signed by two authorised signatories or a director and witness in accordance with Section 44 of the Companies Act 2006.

Only a director or company secretary is an authorised signatory.

Simon Plumb is not (according to his job title) a director of the landowner so cannot signa contract. His WS is not signed under the current statement of truth.

Quickly add those points to your WS whilst I check if Mr Plumb is registered at Companies House.

victorian12

When you say contract which do you mean?

nosferatu1001

The landowner contract that authorised the PPC to operate there. 
This is different to the alleged contract offered to a driver through signage.