Defending a claim for train station free car park

yellowdots

Hi again

I've now got a court date which is 17 December.  So I'm going to be getting my witness statement prepared and sent by Thursday 3rd at latest.  I've been reading some of the example statements and other peoples and I'm getting in a bit of a pickle with regard to the fact I referred to "the driver" in my defence statement, but now should I be referring to the actual driver e.g. myself if it was myself?  Or do I still refer to "the driver"?

I am going to try and concentrate on poor signage at the entrance, and the fact it was dark and raining as my main defence, so I hope that is the best way to go about it.  I might also get some photos in the dark of the car park as the photos I took last month in readiness are in daylight.  I don't know if this will help me or not but the car park has had the white lines repainted since (no idea of the date when work was done) and the section where the car was parked now does not have a proper bay marked out.  This is why I have the PCN - the car was not parked wholly within a designated bay.

I've also had a letter from Vehicle Control Services offering me a "discount" payment of £145, but if I don't accept this offer and it goes to court they will seek further costs of £220.

Any advice is much appreciated as I'm getting quite anxious and stressed about this process and particularly the impending court phone call.

Thank you.

Redx

You have 2 choices here

1) hide behind POFA , do not lie if asked in Court if you were the driver , talk about what you found as Keeper when subsequently checking the car park and signs etc

Or

2) admit to being the driver if it was you , talk about those issues on the day as a first person witness , honesty is the best policy , don't try hiding behind POFA

In which case use the word I  , I was the driver , I didn't see the signs , it was dark and raining when I parked there , they have repainted the bays since my visit etc

POFA tends to help a keeper who was not the driver

Sometimes it's better to defend as an aggrieved Driver

Do not lie , perjury is far worse !!

Read recently concluded court case threads about telephone hearings , plus the telephone hearing thread by coupon mad

Write a crib sheet out to have handy with the phone call , with asking for costs at the bottom but you win

They cannot add additional charges , they can ask but you will object because it's the small claims court with limited costs allowed

They can only ask for the amount on the court claim pack , even a loss in Court should get that figure reduced to say £200 total for one PCN

Coupon-mad

I am going to try and concentrate on poor signage at the entrance, and the fact it was dark and raining as my main defence, so I hope that is the best way to go about it. 

Sounds good.  And that is why you should write this as the admitted driver, to be an honest witness.

I might also get some photos in the dark of the car park as the photos I took last month in readiness are in daylight. 

You should!

I don't know if this will help me or not but the car park has had the white lines repainted since (no idea of the date when work was done) and the section where the car was parked now does not have a proper bay marked out.  

You can add that fact, to state that this suggests they know the bays (as opposed to supposed non-bays) were not properly delineated at the time of the event

yellowdots

Thank you Redx and Coupon-mad much appreciated and helping me be a bit calmer about things.  I have no intention of lying and think it probably best if I state I am the driver, less chance of being tripped up too.  One more question, when I email my witness statement and exhibits (photos etc) will it all have to be in one document/bundle?  If so, not sure how I will be able to do this from home.  Or do people copy and paste into, for instance, google word doc and save as pdf?

Thanks again.

Redx

That is exactly what they do , at home or at work , using a laptop and ms office or libre office

Coupon-mad

yellowdots said:

Thank you Redx and Coupon-mad much appreciated and helping me be a bit calmer about things.  I have no intention of lying and think it probably best if I state I am the driver, less chance of being tripped up too.  One more question, when I email my witness statement and exhibits (photos etc) will it all have to be in one document/bundle?  If so, not sure how I will be able to do this from home.  Or do people copy and paste into, for instance, google word doc and save as pdf?

Thanks again.

Yes, like the one you see linked as an example in the NEWBIES thread - the only linked Witness Statement 'bundle' example.

Umkomaas

When taking your night photos, keep your flash turned off, especially if the signage is not self-illuminated. 

yellowdots

Well I took my photos earlier on in the dark and the signs are even worse than I remembered, they aren't lit up properly at all.  I've just had an awful thought though, was I meant to have dates on my photos?  I really hope not as I haven't and will not have time to go back and redo them.  I have a broken toe so I had to get a lift over there tonight. 

I also took a short video clip when we turned into the approach road to the car park from the main road.  When I finished the short video clip the person driving said he could hardly see where the kerb was as it was so dark!

I am also going to include as an exhibit the email from the railway company refusing to give me the date of the resurfacing and repainting of car park earlier this year - work which was done in the months after my PCN was given.  I am hoping it will help show how unreasonable they have been.

One more question, am I meant to include the Southampton County Court judgement for Britannia Parking Group Ltd, which is included in the witness statement in the newbies thread?

I need to submit my witness statement tomorrow.  Thank you again for help. 

Coupon-mad

Android = Auto Stamper for Photo

IOS =   TimeStampIt – Photo Stamper

You do need to put a date on the photos but can't that be done retrospectively with the above?

I am also going to include as an exhibit the email from the railway company refusing to give me the date of the resurfacing and repainting of car park earlier this year - work which was done in the months after my PCN was given.  I am hoping it will help show how unreasonable they have been.

Good.

One more question, am I meant to include the Southampton County Court judgement for Britannia Parking Group Ltd, which is included in the witness statement in the newbies thread?

Yes, and you have to know how to reply if the PPC rep at the hearing says it was appealed (clue - the template WS covers this but don't be silent, the rationale (the decision about £60 not being allowed) was not appealed, just the decision to strike the other case out).

Fruitcake

If the photos were taken with a digital device they will have metadata embedded in the image files. This can be dug out by looking at the images on a PC and inspecting the Properties. If you are unable to timestamp them using the methods mentioned by Coupon-mad, then you will need to take screen grabs as you open the Properties file for each image and then reveal the time and date. It's a bit of a faff to do it that way, but the data will be there.