District Enforcement Limited Residential Parking Fine County Court

upsetbanana

Coupon-mad said:

TBH you add it everywhere and the wording to use is already on the forum if you search for the words:

 consolidate cause of action estoppel true

or maybe try

Henderson estoppel

Thanks for this. I'll have a look! 

KeithP said:

What is the Issue Date on your latest County Court Claim Form?

Issued 14th Jan. I did the AOS today.  

KeithP

upsetbanana said:

KeithP said:

What is the Issue Date on your latest County Court Claim Form?

Issued 14th Jan. I did the AOS today.  

With a Claim Issue Date of 14th January, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 16th February 2021 to file your Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

upsetbanana

Hi all, 
Court hearing by Teams set for 14th June and I'm now starting to think about the the WS and getting ready to defend as I haven't received any letter to say they haven't paid the court fees (deadline was 17th May). The letter doesn't identify the judge, but gives a load of details, it states that 48 hours before we must inform them of our email address via email which they lay out. It also instructs that the claimant making the application must send to the court and other party at least 48 hours before hearing an electronic bundle to be used at the hearing. It does not say when I must do it by. Should I assume it's the same rule? 

In terms of the witness statement, I intend to work from the one recommended in the newbie thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77614685/#Comment_77614685

But I must admit...I'm beginning to feel a little uncertain as to whether I'll actually be able to win the case. For reference, here is the particulars I sent (redacted): 

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No.: XXXXXXX

Between

District Enforcement Limited

(Claimant)

- and -

XXXXX XXXXXXXX

(Defendant)

____________________

DEFENCE

____________________

1. 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:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question at the time, but liability is denied. It is admitted that the Defendant was the driver of the vehicle on the date that the alleged breach occurred. 

3. The Defendant is a resident of the XXX Estate where the alleged breach occurred and is entitled, by way of being a resident of the estate, to make use of the shared parking facilities on the estate. This is stipulated in XXX Resident Handbook, the Defendant's lease makes no stipulations as to any further requirement to park their car in the estate car park, and the Defendant's landlord's lease with the Housing Association also fails to mention any rules or restrictions for residents parking in the estate car park. Therefore, there is no explicit requirement for the need to have a permit to park on the estate nor is there any mention of any signage imposing additional bolt-on terms and charges, thus the tenancy agreement provides for primacy of contract.

4. At the time and date that the alleged breach occurred, and the parking charge was issued, the Defendant had already made an application for a permit to park on the estate following enquiry with District Enforcement Limited and had sent evidence to show that the Defendant was a new resident of the XXX Estate. Following the parking charge being issued, the Defendant appealed against the charge with District Enforcement Limited and the Defendant's vehicle was put onto the whitelist to prevent any further parking charges whilst awaiting their permit, however, District Enforcement Limited refused to remove the parking charge. 

5. The Defendant denies that the signs placed by District Enforcement Limited replaces the residents’ permission to park on the estate and constitutes entering into a contract with District Enforcement Limited whereby it was 'agreed' to pay a 'parking charge'. The Defendant argues that the Claimant, District Enforcement Limited, have abused the authority granted to them by the Housing Association to manage the car parking on the estate in the interest of residents, and is in fact, making it difficult to obtain a permit and directly targeting residents that are entitled to park on the estate and issue parking charges against them. The Defendant, whilst waiting for their parking permit, should have been automatically added to the whitelist and should not have been placed on this list only after the complaint had been made, therefore the parking charge issued on XX/XX/XXXX would not have been, nor should have been, issued against the Defendant. Furthermore, it is argued that primacy of contract bars the claimant from restricting the Defendant’s freedom to park on the estate as a resident, which is provided for in the Housing Association’s Resident Handbook.

*The rest is the same as the template so won't reproduce as there is a character limit for posts* 

My circumstances just don't seem to be all that similar to the cases that keep getting quoted everywhere. I don't explicitly have primacy of contract, it's not in my lease or landlord lease, only the HA resident notebook mentions parking so I'm unsure if I could rely on cases such as those on the parking prankster website: 

"In Jopson v Homeguard [2016] B9GF0A9E, on appeal it was found that the parking company could not override the tenant's right to temporarily stop near the building entrance for loading/unloading.

In Pace v Mr N [2016] C6GF14F0 [2016] it was found that the parking company could not override the tenant's right to park by requiring a permit to park.

In Link Parking v Ms P C7GF50J7 [2016] it was also found that the parking company could not override the tenant's right to park by requiring a permit to park."

For more context, the HA is a bit of a !!!!!! and in my prior communications they have mostly stuck by the enforcement agency. Although their tone changed a bit when it was my landlord and he received the following communication from them: 

"From: XXXXX
Sent: XXXX
To: XXXXX
Subject: RE: Car Parking Permit

Good Morning Mr XXXX,

Every household is entitled to one annual resident parking permit. This costs £30 a year.

They will need a letter from you authorising this stating they are your subtenant and proof that they live at the address.

If you have more than 1 tenant that drives, any subsequent subtenant,  will have to buy visitor permits which will need to be displayed daily.
This apples to all residents on the estate and I believe this costs £20 a booklet of 10. Alternatively that can apply to get a XXXX parking permit and park on any of the XXXX side roads.

With a permit displayed, they can then park anywhere on the estate. There are no designated parking spaces.

The company is District Enforcement Parking and their number is 01785 336784

Regards,

XXXX

XXXXX
Housing Officer 

phone: XXX | mobile: XXX| email:XXX
-----Original Message-----
From: XXX
Sent: XXX
To: XXX
Subject: Car Parking Permit

Hello XXXX

Can you please tell me what rights I or my tenants have to a car parking space or how to get a parking permit?

Thanks

Regards

XXX"

This is important because when I applied for my parking permit (and the reason I needed to complain and get onto the whitelist) was because the agency and HA were being difficult about my application for the permit taking just over a week to make a decision, and at the end of it they rejected my application saying that the evidence wasn't enough. They did not provide the above information about the fact that I just needed my landlord to write an email to authorise it. After the rejection I applied again and they accepted it then. 

In terms of the Beavis case, I'm not entirely confident that the judge will accept that the signage isn't clear. This is my bad but I haven't taken any photos of the signs, and they have been renewed in the last couple of weeks, with two more signs being added (one high on the wall on the left at entrance, another added to the left after you've entered facing the parking spaces, and then there is the two original signs which are right next to the two entrances to the building - which shows who they are really targeting...) the signs are blue and white and otherwise aren't that exceptional. Happy to get some photos to post if helpful. So the question is whether I am able to fight the point that it's primacy of contract and they don't actually have the right to add on bolt on terms to make a permit a requirement.  

Essentially I'm just at that point where I'm wondering if I should contact them to pay before I get any further costs through court as I'm really not sure I'm going to win and hoping that some of you that have more experience and know about successful cases could allay my fears. 

Thanks all!  

Coupon-mad

I'm just at that point where I'm wondering if I should contact them to pay before I get any further costs through court

Eh?  There are no further cost except the £25 hearing fee we assume they've paid, and even if you lost the case you could get the added false £60 removed and pay less than the enhanced claim anyway! 

Flipping heck, you need your mojo back!  Everyone gets nervous before the hearing and it is never guaranteed you will win but there's no risk in carrying on.

What you have described above sound like solid points to add to your WS.  The most recent WS example to crib from is the one by @jrhys

upsetbanana

Coupon-mad said:

I'm just at that point where I'm wondering if I should contact them to pay before I get any further costs through court

Eh?  There are no further cost except the £25 hearing fee we assume they've paid, and even if you lost the case you could get the added false £60 removed and pay less than the enhanced claim anyway! 

Flipping heck, you need your mojo back!  Everyone gets nervous before the hearing and it is never guaranteed you will win but there's no risk in carrying on.

What you have described above sound like solid points to add to your WS.  The most recent WS example to crib from is the one by @jrhys

Thanks for the kick up the bum there. Haha. I'll try and push through. Any advice as to when I should submit my WS to the court and opposing solicitor? The letter is silent on the matter and only says that the claimant must submit to myself and the court 48 hours before court. 

Looking at the WS referenced in the Newbie thread by Robertcox999 there is part which references a contract between the parking company and the property owner, which suggests to me that he had the sight of the parking companies documents before writing their WS, but unsure whether 48 hours is enough time in which to do that....

Le_Kirk

Read any letters from the court - both sides - and see what it states about when to submit WS and evidence.  It might also state that you have to liaise with the claimant to decide on a bundle.  Check ALL letter from court you have received.

Redx

there are probably 2 court orders that arrived

1) with the date and telling you and the claimant how long before that you exchange WS + Exhibits and also submit to the court

2) the one with telephone directions and this 48 hour prior deadline

we cannot tell you, the court tells you in the orders

the most common mistakes we see on here are people not reading and digesting these court orders, checking both sides of the paperwork, or not complying rigidly to those court orders, not placing the deadlines into a calendar app or a paper daily planner , lack of due diligence

upsetbanana

Hi both, last and only letter received since the notice of transfer proceedings to the court is the notice of trial date. Which states it's a teams meeting in June. It only states the claimant or party making the application must submit to the court and other party at least 48 hours before the hearing an electronic bundle to be used at the hearing, which must be paginated and indexed. And then we must also each send email address to them via email for the Teams invite. The pages after talk about Fast track, small claims and infant hearings and where teams is appropriate for them, as well as a warning to contact the court if we don't feel teams is appropriate or meet those criteria. Finally it ends with ground rules for hearings by teams. 

So I'm still at a loss as to when I'll see their full claim and when I send my defence to them and to the court....thus far all I know of the claim is their one paragraph particulars of claim from the claim form! 
Should I just go ahead and get it all sorted without seeing anything from their side including evidence and submit mine to Gladstones and the court then just see what happens? 

upsetbanana

upsetbanana said:

Hi both, last and only letter received since the notice of transfer proceedings to the court is the notice of trial date. Which states it's a teams meeting in June. It only states the claimant or party making the application must submit to the court and other party at least 48 hours before the hearing an electronic bundle to be used at the hearing, which must be paginated and indexed. And then we must also each send email address to them via email for the Teams invite. The pages after talk about Fast track, small claims and infant hearings and where teams is appropriate for them, as well as a warning to contact the court if we don't feel teams is appropriate or meet those criteria. Finally it ends with ground rules for hearings by teams. 

So I'm still at a loss as to when I'll see their full claim and when I send my defence to them and to the court....thus far all I know of the claim is their one paragraph particulars of claim from the claim form! 
Should I just go ahead and get it all sorted without seeing anything from their side including evidence and submit mine to Gladstones and the court then just see what happens? 

I've just emailed the court in the end of clarify with them and also provide my email address so that they can send the invite to me for the teams meeting. Will see what they say!

upsetbanana

Hi all, so I've just received a letter. They didn't pay the trial fee and it's been struck out! !!!!!!! There is a second parking ticket that was received with a separate court date in July. So I'll still finish the defence as I was already half way through but I suspect that it'll be the same and probably dropped.