Court case soon: Need inputs/help please

zombie_trick

Hello All,
Firstly many thanks to all here in this forum that gave me confidence to fight against these rogue businesses which call them parking management companies and using solicitors to threaten consumers like !!!!!! (legally). 
Reason to post on forum
End of July 2020, I have a county court case against UK Car Park Ltd. I need your inputs/help how should I best defend myself for the case?
Case
In Dec 2018, I parked car at a leisure centre managed by UK Car Park. Important conditions:
- 30 min free parking
- Vehicles are entitled to 30 min free parking, no return in 1 hour
- Customers and Members must sign-in
- Vehicles exceeding 30 minutes must register their vehicle details using an E-Permit kiosk at Reception to qualify for 3 hours free parking (no return 1 hour)
- Register here for 3 hours free parking
- Carefully enter your registration into the kiosk below ensuring you use the correct numbers and letters.
On the date, my car entered car parking 8.53 AM and exited 9.58 AM (1 hour 5 min) as per ANPR. I used to take my son for Gymnastic classes and that's one of those many occasions.
Charges
£100 Parking charge (discontinued to £60 if paid within 14 days). REASON= Vehicle not registered or Exceeding allowed time
References in Witness statement from Claimant
Alder v Moore [1961]
Parking Eye vs Somerfield [2011]
Parking Eye vs Beavis
Witness Statement

1)     I, XXX, registered keeper of vehicle XXX is writing to submit Witness Statement in relation to the above claim related to Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued for the date XXX 2018 at XXX Leisure Centre.

2)     Exhibit to this witness statement are following documents:a)     Personal Bank statement containing online membership fee payment to XXX Gymnastic Club used to operate at  Leisure Centre (Closed for more than a year now)

b)     news article to validate that XXX Gymnastic club was used to operate within Leisure centre premises during the time.

3)     The Defendant denies any claims as submitted by the claimant that is set out in the schedule of the parking charge.

“VEHICLE NOT REGISTERED OR EXCEEDED ALLOWED TIME”

3a) The Defendant denies that the parking was used for more than maximum allocated 3 hours of free parking.

3b) The Defendant claims that the parking was not used for any unauthorised purposes.

3c) It is further denied that car was not registered at Kiosk for a parking more than 30 minutes. The defendant had been a regular user of the business premises prior to and after the alleged breach of contract and had always entered the car registration number as long as Kiosk machine was accepting registration numbers (and correctly).

3d) It is important to note that the kiosk machine was itself faulty at times. The information about Kiosk machine ‘out of order’ was correctly displayed at certain times and therefore, there were occasions when the registration number was not entered for obvious reasons.

The evidence, image of Kiosk machine, as provided by the claimant is not for the date/time in working state but just an image taken some other time.

4)     It is assured that no damage had been caused to the property and/or parking during the time of use of premises.

5)     It is evident that the claim is not about Exceeding Allowed time but ‘Vehicle not Registered’. The arguments provided by claimant giving references to certain court cases may not be relevant and therefore I am not responding to them but leaving to the judgement in the court of law.

6)     Under the new rules, effective from Monday 6th January, 2020 motorists may still have to appeal fines issued as a result of a typo, but “the PCN must be cancelled at the first stage of appeal.”

7)     Terms and conditions are meant to be drawn to favour the efficient use of parking for customers. It is to prevent its unauthorised use. However, in this instance, claimant is using terms and conditions as a source of revenue by tempering with Kiosk machine and penalising customers for not entering Reg Number in faulty machine. If a parking firm was truly acting in good faith and keeping the interests of consumers at the heart of their thinking, they would concentrate on ensuring firstly, that patrons could not miss the keypad(s) and secondly, could not miss the fact that, if they did receive an unfair PCN as a genuine customer, they had a right to ask the landowner/Managers to cancel it. Clearly the Claimants interest is purely in misleading and punishing customers and extracting as much money as possible in penalties.

8)     Finally, having outlined my witness statement with supporting evidence, I encourage the court to strike out the claims against the Defendant as there are no sound grounds of claim and to grant suitable compensation for the distress caused.

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

Redx

the WS statement at the bottom is not up to date, look for the new one that came in a few months ago

the WS should be saying I, not THE DEFENDANT

if its YOUR WS , so you say I

exhibits should have your initials and a number listed, such as TDW/01 , TDW/02 etc

the parking company seems incorrect to me, there are several with similar names, please check and advise us of the exact and correct name of the parking company

your name was dissolved

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01007139

zombie_trick

Thanks Redx for prompted reply.
It is UK Car Park Management Ltd. Case by Gladstones Solicitors.
A stupid question. As you mentioned that I have been missing the later part of witness statement, could I resend with the correct text again as I still have more than 14 days i.e. 26th Jul

KeithP

@mishranitin2003, can you please now delete that post you erroneously placed on the NEWBIES thread?

Thanks.

Redx

there is more than just the bottom statement that needs altering , there are various changes that I pointed out, never mind anything else

I dont see why you cannot send in a supplementary WS with all the various issues fixed, perhaps stating that the one you sent has some legal issues that have been addressed, so yes I think you can and should, but I have no legal training to fall back on, its your decision, your case

Coupon-mad

Search the forum for UKCPM Jack Chapman and read at least ten thread results, in full.

nosferatu1001

What did you defence state? Given yoru WS is in support of the defence, it woudl be good to see it
Did you question landowner authority in your defence?

Le_Kirk

1)     I, XXX, registered keeper of vehicle XXX is writing to submit Witness Statement in relation to the above claim related to Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued for the date XXX 2018 at XXX Leisure Centre.

Maybe rewrite this (if not too late) as: -

1)     I, XXX, registered keeper of vehicle XXX is writing to submit I am xxxxxx the registered keeper of vehicle with VRM xxxxx.  This is my Witness Statement in support of my defence as already filed, in relation to the above claim related to Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued for the date XXX 2018 at XXX Leisure Centre.

zombie_trick

CASE DISMISSED!! 
Firstly, Many many thanks to everyone on this forum who directed very well for the court case. An additional thanks to people who responded and provided their experience with evidences collected. They were really helpful.
The hearing conducted online and we had to wait for Gladstone Solicitors representative who never joined. I would say a very unprofessional behaviour (though that's least expected from business with wrong values and fundamental ethics). After waiting for 15 min, the magistrate started hearing. I explained very clearly as follows:
- I did enter correct registration number in Kiosk machine on XXX 2018. As there was no receipt as part of E-Permit, I do not have proof for same. This is because I remember to have entered it every time as long as it was allowed to.

- I visited Leisure centre, only on Saturdays, for the purpose of my son's Gymnastic classes between autumn 2018 to spring 2019 until Leisure centre was permanently closed.

There were instances when I couldn't enter for obvious reasons:

- When none of the machines were in working state. The reason was technical issue and was correctly informed with a message on board

- In at least one instance, machines were working but the area had been cordoned because someone vomited 

  and it was not allowed to enter registration number due to health and safety reasons.

 - Also, on event days, the PCNs must not be issued. Was there any event on XXX 2018 and machine mistakenly generated parking ticket?
The magistrate then went through the details to find that UKCPM only provided registration number for the search and couldn't find any results. But he mentioned that it might be implied that machine was not in working state at the time as there are no other registration numbers either. The magistrate emphasised that he couldn't see any loss as it was half an hour free parking followed by 3 hours free parking provided vehicle is registered (Doesn't make sense if it is anyways free then anyone can come and register and claim another 3 hours. Seems more of money machine for revenue where council gets a small cut too).
However I expected the magistrate would have struck the claim on the first go. The attached cases which I found on this firm were struck out with consistent wordings i.e. Unlawful charge of £60.00 and abuse of process. 
And this link
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/9/schedule/4/enacted

Redx

Well done

I suspect that you mean judge , not magistrate

zombie_trick

Hahahaha.. To be honest, Its tough to find difference between the two. When I googled it, found a very thin line difference the two. 
But looking into my case, yes its 'Judge'.

What is the difference between a judge and a magistrate UK?

Magistrates have fewer and more limited powers than judges. ... Judges generally hear larger, more complex cases while magistrates hear smaller matters such as petty crime and traffic offenses. Judges and magistrates have different jurisdictional powers. Judges can preside over a large area, sometimes the entire country