VCS Claim for old parking charge (after winning in Court)

KeithP

RoyalBlue82 said:

Appreciate the advice, I will star writing up my defence. 

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service of course. 

RoyalBlue82

Hello All
After filing a defence based on recommended template/guidance on this Forum, I've now been given a Court date of 13th November. I now need to start preparing a witness statement.
I've attached the filed defence for info.
Based on Estoppel being one of the main defence points, and being easy to prove, I was a little surprised VCS decided to proceed.
Am I missing something or should this be relatively straight forward defence to prove in Court? Are there any pertinent points to factor into the Witness Statement?
Thanks
Joe.

nosferatu1001

You're assuming anyone with any competence is looking at it. Or theyve decided as they've paid to file so far they may as welll...
Did you file a counterclaim? Would be obvious to have done so

RoyalBlue82

I didn't file a counter claim. I will draft a witness statement and post a draft on here. Any feedback appreciated. 

nosferatu1001

Shame. Dead easy counter claim to win. They were completely prohibited from filing a new claim when they already lost. Its a done deal. 
Your WS must of course include evidence of the previous won claim.

RoyalBlue82

Hi All, I have telephone hearing in a few days for this and would really value some input.
The Witness Statement for VCS states the below in relation to my 'Estoppel' defence point:

'The defendant states they have successfully defended a case relating to the same car, location and Defendant and alleges this case is barred by cause of action estoppel. The contravention for the previous case was failure to display a valid blue badge whilst parked in a disabled bay. The contravention for this case is parking after the expiry of the time in a pay and display car park.'

My initial response to this would be that the alleged contravention for both cases was a breach of terms and conditions, plus the previous case was won based on poor signage and markings of the car park in question (which is also a defence point for this case). Does my argument make sense?

beamerguy

VCS have a very weak case.

As it's a phone hearing, prepare a crib sheet and reasons the court should dismiss the case

Coupon-mad

Yes, if you won on poor signage, then that was a finding of fact about that car park.

RoyalBlue82

Quick update, the Judge dismissed the case and ruled in our favour! :-) It was quite a long hearing (50 minutes), the Judge was very thorough, emphasizing key legal points and guiding proceedings in a lot more formal way than I initially expected. Basically VCS shot themselves in the foot because the judge spotted that the contract with the landowner was in the name of Excel (not VCS)  and when the Solicitor tried to argue that Excel / VCS are sister companies (the judge said he's aware of that but reminded of Salomon vs Salomon) they were asked by the Judge to provide evidence that VCS had been granted legal permission to act on behalf of Excel. Even after requesting a 5 minute break from proceedings the Solicitor couldn't come up with any evidence to support, I then got to state my defence and really went hard on the unreasonable behavior / estoppel and also managed to claim full costs pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 27.14. All in all a really good day and obviously a ball dropped by VCS/Excel. Thanks again for all the support / feedback. 

Chico_talent

Well done!!