Gladstones/LPS - County Court Claim

pkul01

Hello everyone

I have not posted on this forum before so I hope I do things correctly so as not to cause any confusion.

I am helping my father who has been chased on a Parking Charge Notice issued in April 2018 by Local Parking Security Limited (LPS) for “Failure to Pay for the Duration of Stay” and now has a Court hearing on Wednesday, 03 June 2020 at our local Court (Brentford County Court). Their solicitors are Gladstones Solicitors.

I have followed the postings on this form and read the Newbies thread. Initially, we ignored the letters from LPS and their debt collectors. After following the advice and suggestions on the threads we filed the Acknowledge of Service and filed a simple defence as he was not sent a Notice of Keeper.

Now prepared a witness statement that needs to be filed along with any documents latest Wednesday, 20 May 2020 – 14 days prior to the hearing.

As we were preparing the witness statement, we saw on the thread that Gladstones’ addition of £60 was an abuse of power. I have included the suggested wording on this issue into the witness statement but as the simple defence did not specifically mention this I am not sure if the Court will accept this argument now.

The witness statement requests the Court to dismiss the claim on the basis of:

a)      abuse of power (adding the £60 charge), and/or

b)      Notice of Keeper not compliant with Schedule 4 of POFA Act. 

I really need your help as my father is 89 years old and you can imagine he is not keen on attending court but on principle does not want to pay as LPS have not complied with the keeper liability requirements for Notice to Keeper.

I had sent an email to the Court asking if Claimant had paid the fee and about the COVID-19 situation and if hearing will still go ahead. Also, what I needed to do formally in order to speak on my father’s behalf.

They replied as:

"Please note the hearing fee was paid and the hearing is still scheduled. This however is changing daily and may well still be vacated or a remote hearing. We will update do as and when.

Please seek legal advice or you may need power of attorney to represent your father. "

I did read the COVID-19 thread and saw the covering email that has been suggested to send prior to the Court making a decision for a remote hearing. I am focussing on my father’s witness statement firstly as the Court has said the hearing is still scheduled as is. I will send the covering COVID-19 email after filing the witness statement before 20-May-2020.

I asked the Court if it is open for me to deliver my father’s witness statement and documents and they replied to file it electronically. However, my father has not been advised of the hearing being vacated or if it will be a remote hearing.

pkul01

Summary.

a)      As I said my father is 89 years old and is definitely “old style”. He has ALWAYS paid his bills on time (usually before the bills hits the floor when is delivered) and never ever buys or has bought anything on credit.

b)      He is an honourable man with integrity and dignity and always sees the best in people

c)       My father was the owner of the vehicle at the time. In our family we have 7 drivers of which 2 are named on the car insurance policy and the others drive the car as 3rd parties on their own insurance policies when they need to – with my father’s full knowledge

d)      Any paperwork he receives on anything eg from his pension, shares, TV licence, insurance policies, etc after reviewing he gives to me for filing.

e)      The car was parked at a Tesco Express car park that allows 30 minutes free or so we thought, until we received the reminder from LPS on 09 May 2018 saying car was parked on 04 April 2018.

f)        My father couldn’t recall if it was him or someone else who took the car on that day as it was more than a month later the reminder was sent

g)      As we know we only buy 1 or 2 items from the small Tesco Express, we know we never use more than 15-20 minutes and always leave well before the 30 minutes free parking expires. Therefore my father thought no more about this reminder.

h)      Then he started to receive Debt Collectors letters (the last one in September 2018) threatening legal action. Again, reading through the forums, we ignored these.

i)        Then in end September 2019 he received the Letter Before Claim from Gladstones Solicitors saying the amount outstanding was £160 (the reminder from LPS in May 2018 stated £100)

j)        In mid-October 2019, he replied asked for copies of all the correspondence and proof of postage in particular the Notice to Keeper as my father had not received this – only the reminder in May 2018 that the parking charge notice amount of £100 was overdue.

k)       Gladstones did not send anything.

l)        Then in November 2019 he received the Court claim for £254.48 made up of:

Amount claimed              179.48 (100 charge+60+19.48 interest)

Court Fee                           25.00

Legal rep’s costs                 50.00

m)    On receiving the Claimant’s witness statement, we saw they had included the initial Parking Charge Notice issued on 10 April 2018 for the car parked on 04 April 2018. He had not ever received this.

n)      Had he received this initial PCN, then given it was only a few days after 04 April 2018, he would have spoken with the family as to who was driving the car at the time and incurred the parking charge.

o)      As I mentioned in the beginning, if he was the driver he would have paid the reduced £60.00 because he may have inadvertently parked in the chargeable area of the car park instead of the 30 minutes parking allowed area. He would have graciously accepted he was at fault.

p)      If he was not the driver, he would have given the details of the driver to LPS as they requested or paid the amount himself. As I said, he is a man of integrity.

q)      However, now that LPS/Gladstones Solicitors/Claimant are trying to cover up their mistake in NOT sending the Notice to Keeper properly and my father has been receiving debt collectors’ letters chasing this amount by scaring and bullying him and threatening legal against him for LPS’ failing, it is a point of principle for him now. He is fighting this claim.

That is why I need your help with his witness statement.

Thank you.

pkul01

Here are the particulars of claim attached

pkul01

The defence filed was: 

"I assert that I am not liable to the Claimant for the sum claimed, or any amount at all, for the following reasons.

It is denied that any 'parking charges’ are owed and any debt is denied in its entirety because no keeper liability so no cause for action against the Defendant.

The Claimant has failed to show locus standi so the defendant does not believe they have a right to bring an action against anyone. 

No enforceable contract offered at the time by Claimant so no cause for action can have arisen."

I can attach this if needed.

Redx

It's abuse of process , not power , they have no power

Does the above paraphrase the defence ? Or is that the defence in its entirety ?

pkul01

Here is the Claimant's witness statement. along with their photos.
I will post further in about 2-3 hours as I need to handle something right now.

Coupon-mad

Why do people keep posting that it's an abuse of power; a phrase that means nothing?   PPCs don't have 'power'!   Never mind.  It's 'abuse of the court PROCESS' though.  Anyway, I like this short but sweet defence as it gives him lots to build on. 

Assume it will go ahead as a telephone hearing and make sure he meets the deadline.

Are you going to speak for him as his lay rep on the phone, as long as he rings in as well?  Are you more confident about putting his case properly, including why they can't add £60 (due to the POFA, Beavis case and CRA 2015?).  This is NOT about not receiving the silly old first PCN; that is so unimportant we don't want you to be swayed by it.

Definitely go through that Gladstones-written WS with a fine tooth-comb, picking up all the errors that prove it's not the words of Richard Barwick but in fact it;s a template written and used by Gladstones.   Spot all the errors in fact - e.g. early on, it says ''her car''.  I don't think your Dad is female?

Include reviews as evidence.  This is a scam car park with unclear signs:

https://www.yell.com/biz/ashford-antique-centre-ashford-7612784/
''Don't even go through their carpark. Their cameras will put fake time on your photos and they'll send you charge notice.''

''Awful place where PCNs are handed out like sweets. Avoid this place like the plague.''

Presumably you found news articles and Facebook?
https://www.facebook.com/Ashfordlocal/posts/the-parasites-have-gone-we-now-have-local-parking-security-ltd-car-park-behind-a/10155584447598714/

This is Michelle Arnold's area.  I'm in touch with her.  You should contact her to see what the outcome has been from other exact same cases heard by Judges locally about that scam site, and what the Judges have said about the signs, which can't be clear or it wouldn't trap so many people. 

Their own evidence shows:

- their car park is right beside the 'free 30 minutes' section, so can you urgently get photos for the WS evidence, of how unclear it is that the 2 car parks are separate (no barrier/gate). 

- also did you notice that none of their photo evidence shows £100 in large lettering, let alone £160!  The £100 is positively buried in a low down blue rectangle showed as blurred and tiny text, even in their own photos! 

So you do not drive from the 'free 30 minutes' spaces across to the 'scam car park' knowingly agreeing to pay £100.

pkul01

Redx, Coupon-mad: my apologies for saying "abuse of power" instead of "abuse of process".
Redx - that is the defence.

pkul01

Here is the WS that I have prepared and is based on "abuse of the court process" and "Notice of Keeper" liability requirements not complied with. As such it is very detailed and quite long. My concern is that the defence was no keeper liability and that is why I was pushing on this as the initial PCN (the NTK) was not sent in compliance with Schedule 4 of POFA.
The first photos shows there is no gate/barrier between the 30 minutes free car parking area and the chargeable Claimant operated area. However, I will take some photos to show more details; especially on the left hand side of the photo as its not clear what else is there.
I will also get any articles and details from Facebook and include them in the WS - even if this make the WS longer.
I can attach Gladstones Letter Before Claim and the reply to them as well as the Claimant's notices, if needed.

pkul01

One final point, after reviewing the Claimant's WS, there were a number of errors/words and in the attached WS I listed these under point 44 when asserting that Claimant did not identify the driver.

Coupon-mad

My concern is that the defence was no keeper liability

Not only that.  It had all it needed.  Like I said, I like that defence as it covers the bases.  You should contact that Facebook group to find out how others have got on in court; Michelle is a respected campaigner. 

Typo here:

although it did state he vehicle was parked on 04 April 2018.

#11 needs the exhibit number adding to it (append Henry Greensade's Understanding Keeper Liability' section from the POPLA Annual Report 2015 as some Judges just do not get this).

You can't have 'in summary' at #36 as it's nowhere near the end!   I'd take all the abuse of process argument out of the WS (up to #38) and put it as a supplemetary WS like in cases by posters like @keypulse and @Chefdave and of course you need the relevant exhibits to support the argument.

This is a really minor point, as I said before, and doesn't need bold & underline, it's just an aside:

This is the first time I have seen this as it was not sent to me at the time

A letter that they say was sent, is deemed delivered.  So it is a 'thing' and you must look at the wording of it.  You haven't addressed in what way that NTK is not POFA worded...