Accidental small underpayment

D_P_Dance

Yes, but if the solicitor know that it is wrong, are they not behaving improperly?

Jimsnap

dvdccd said:

Hi Jimsnap I'm in the exact situation you are and it's taken reading your thread for the penny to finally drop for me:

1. You (and me) paid the correct money for our stays, how are they going to prove the meter was not broken?
2. The solicitor has slapped on a made-up fee of £60 that they know is wrong and will show them up in court
3. Why would you check the ticket there is no reason to expect the machine to issue it incorrectly (its a machine)
4. There is no point trying to talk to or reason with the scumbags unless you can use the reply to catch them out and show them up in court. As they are not obligated to give you any proof unless the court tells them to. This is why we make our defense and "The Claimant is put strictly to proof" (tell them to prove you wrong)
5. It feels messed up because you would assume that you would see the evidence against you before you defend yourself but it's the reverse, they have to prove what you say is untrue.
6. the only thing that may be worth communicating to the solicitor is that template letter about the £60 Link and reporting them to SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) 
7. Fill in the template defense Link
8. Make the evidence pack to support your defense 
9. There are only 3 outcomes. You either pay them now, the court makes you pay them, or they don't and you get £95 for your costs (which barely covers the time and trauma, I know) 

As I said I'm new to this myself, so I could be completely wrong but that is my current plan.

Hi. dvdccd.
Thanks for your post, I've been working long hours this week and have only just checked the thread.
I'm planning on writing my defence statement this week, it'll be based on the facts and that the only thing PPL are claiming is that I displayed a ticket that was not for the length of my stay, they're not disputing that I paid the correct fee.
I'm also going to use Snakes_Belly's point, that the machine has a notice saying a ticket will only be issued if the correct fee is inserted, I inserted the incorrect fee in their view, so why did it issue me a ticket? 
If we can help each other in any way that would be great.
The £60 fee is the solicitors fee, aren't they allowed to charge?

Fruitcake

Charges allowed by the court are: -

PCN = £100 X number of PCNs
Filing fee =  £25 X 1
Solicitors fee = £50 X1
Hearing fee (not normally claimed but sometimes allowed) = £25 X1

Adding £60 to the original PCN is double recovery and not allowed.

Therefore interest on each £60 is not allowed.

All this is covered in the sticky threads.

Defence, not defence statement. Use the ready written template and adapt paragraphs 2 and 3. Post only the parts you have changed for the regulars to check.

Jimsnap

I've started filling in the defence template and just wanted to clarify that I include all of the items listed after modifying items 1 and 2 to fit my case?
I understand I'll only share the modified part here for an appraisal.

KeithP

Jimsnap said:

I've started filling in the defence template and just wanted to clarify that I include all of the items listed after modifying items 1 and 2 to fit my case?
I understand I'll only share the modified part here for an appraisal.

That's correct.

Jimsnap

Here's where I've got to so far, please feel free to tear it apart:

The facts as known to the Defendant:

1. I  admit to being the driver

2. On the evening in dispute my wife and I arrived at the carpark at approx 7.20pm.

We were going to The Hippodrome to see the 7.30pm showing of Swan Lake, a Christmas present from our children.

We arrived with little time to spare, there were roadworks in the area and our usual parking place was unavailable causing us to frantically search for an alternative.

Upon parking in the PPL carpark I jumped out and asked the parking attendant, (who was in the process of issuing a ticket to another car) what the charges were, he said £3 for one hour or £6 to park until 8am the following morning.

I went back to the car and got out the purse of change we keep for parking meters, I then deposited six one pound coins in the meter, took the ticket and placed it on the dash.

It was dark, we were in a rush, I wasn’t wearing my reading glasses and didn’t notice that the machine had only issued a ticket to the value of £5.

It’s clear that I wasn’t intending to underpay and in fact did pay the correct amount.

In my defence I submit that the machine was faulty, it failed to register all of my coins and then issued a ticket for a non-valid amount.

There is a notice by the machine stating “ticket will only be issued upon correct fee being inserted”

In this case it issued me with a ticket for £3 even though I had inserted £6.

It actually showed a payment of £5 on the ticket, as this was not the correct fee for a one hour ticket then the machine should either: 

Have not issued the ticket, alerted me that the payment was incorrect or at the very least refunded the overpayment.

I find it incredulous that I’m being hounded by PPL’s solicitors nearly a year after an incident where PPL have suffered no loss, are merely exploiting a technicallity and in the process adding on unwarranted costs while wasting the court system’s time.

KeithP

Have you looked at any other Defences? There are dozens posted here every week.
Here's one posted just half an hour ago.

A Defence is written in the third person - there is no place for the words I, me, myself, etc.

All paragraphs must be sequentially numbered.

Most of that 'story' is better placed in your Witness Statement.

Le_Kirk

All defences are written in the third person, therefore not "I" but "the defendant".  That reads more like a witness statement than a defence.  Defences are a series of technical/legal arguments and save the story for the witness statement.  Check out a few defences on the forum to see the style you require.

Jimsnap

Dohh!  I'll be back.

Jimsnap

Can my defence be this simple at this stage, saving the story for the WS stage?
I'll include the whole template defence when I send it.

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No.: XXXXXXXX

Between

Premier Parking Logistics

- and -  

                       

James Callaghan

____________________

DEFENCE

____________________

The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that a contract was entered into - by conduct or otherwise - whereby it was ‘agreed’ to pay a ‘parking charge’ and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue, nor to form contracts in their own name at the location.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

1. The defendant admits to being the driver

2. The defendant parked correctly and paid the correct amount into the parking machine

3. The defendant claims the machine was at fault for issuing an incorrect ticket for the amount deposited