Won in court: East Midlands Airport / Vehicle Control Services (yet again!)

g0wfv

Half_way said:

Just driven into the petrol station at EMA as I need some petrol, 129.9,  didn't stop as its cheaper elsewhere, and I will fill up somewhere else.

Hahaha this has made my day!  That's one way to hit them in the pocket the one way we reliably can!

Half_way said:

Dashcam was running though, if I can find a way of uploading it, I might try later

If you could grab the video from the dash cam and post it somewhere (YouTube perhaps?) that would be awesome!  We already have a shaky hand held video of things on the appraoch to the garage, but nothing of note on the forecourt.

I may (depending on fatigue levels) do the same on my way home from working the night shift in London tomorrow morning, but take some photos of signs on the forecourt in addition - I beleive there may be 2, possibly 3 variations of signage floating about different parts of the site (No pickups, No parking, No stopping), in which case it begs the question do they form one large contract, the terms for which a driver has to peice together from multiple documents (clumsy!) or 2 or more separate contracts?

D_P_Dance said:

Is the kand not covered by airport bye-laws?  Has the driver identified herself?

Whether the land is covered by the Airport Byelaws or stops at the entrance to the forecourt is open to interpretation and unknown at this time.  I am trying to find some form of map or definition in the byelaws themselves.  All I can find is a broad brush address stating...

"the airport means the airport known as East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington, Leicestershire."

... which I infer to means the garage falls within the boundaries of the airport thus is covered by byelaws.  The double reds lines stop at the entrance to the forecourt so does the prohibition on stopping under S4 of the byelways cease on the forecourt?

You would reasonably expect so, as stopping on a garage forecourt is an implicit act (unless one is expected to fill up on the move like a fighter jet /s).

Unfortunately, the driver is known in this case as described in post #1.

D_P_Dance

That sign at the pumps may well be unlawful or at the very least an unfair term under CRA 2015
.
How on earth can a driver, paying at the cash desk for petrol prevemnt a passenger from doing a bunk..

g0wfv

D_P_Dance said:

That sign at the pumps may well be unlawful or at the very least an unfair term under CRA 2015
.
How on earth can a driver, paying at the cash desk for petrol prevemnt a passenger from doing a bunk..

The "Payment is due immediately" one? I've not really read it in much depth as it's irrelevant to my Sister's case, but now you mention it ....... 

Half_way

I posted a link to the by laws, add the airfield operations manual (both available online) add they make it quite street that the petrol station is within the airport boundary.

As for the petrol station, at one time in the past, it was one of the cheaper ones in the area. I used to fill up there on a regular basis, whether before a journey on the M1, or just after.

g0wfv

Half_way said:

I posted a link to the by laws, add the airfield operations manual (both available online) add they make it quite street that the petrol station is within the airport boundary.

Yes, thanks, I found them.

g0wfv

Coupon-mad said:

I've no idea, sorry, and am struggling with the loss of so many functions we used to have here, for searching, finding members, and posts.

C-m, can you confirm this is the defence/WS that includes Ransomes / Jopson etc that you were referring to ....?!  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5967438/claim-form-for-parking-at-doncaster-airport/p4

g0wfv

Removed by author

Half_way

see if this works - drive in and out

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYr5ErFuWdk&feature=youtu.be[/video]

g0wfv

Cheers H_w. Unfortunately I couldn't make a lot out signage-wise 😟

Interestingly though, do VCS do the whole site, not just the garage? I'm debating in my head whether the big sign as you enter the approach road has VCS at the bottom?

Also, the signs attached to the pumps that the media have in all their pictures seem to be absent .... 🤔

I need to have a ride out this week .....

g0wfv

A few.month down the line, time for and update.

I went for a ride out to EMA to take some photos of the site. The jobsworth behind the counter made a point of putting his company hi-viz on and coming to tell me that I'm on private land and to stop taking photographs that included people without their permission.  I politely declined his request. He then tried the terrorism angle with it being an airport. I told him to go tell that to the aircraft spotters ....

Anyhoo, plenty of photos of signage and markings obtained as evidence and when compared against their video evidence obtained through appeal and SAR, has changed since the time of the incident - something I made a point of mentioning in the defence.

Their claim has now been allocated to the small claims track and a date for the hearing has been set.

Within days of that letter from the the court landing on the mat, a letter from VCS stating they believe they believe they have a strong case and an early settlement offer of £125 appeared!

This is the current state of play.

Time to start working on the evidence and witness statement - 3 months till court date!