Draft Court Defence - PPS - 'delayed payment on entry'

icybear

Update with better image of car park signage in response to request from @Fruitcake

icybear

Thanks to everyone for comments and suggestions so far. I've made some modifications to my defence.

Is this an improvement or are there still statements that should be removed to the Witness Statement, as per comment from @Le_Kirk ?

I'm also not sure how, or where it would be appropriate, to incorporate a statement which refers to S69 of CRA2015 as suggested by @Fruitcake.

Any further advice would be very gratefully received.

Facts known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied.

The Defendant denies being the Driver on the date that the alleged contravention is purported to have occurred.

The Vehicles was pictured by ANPR camera entering the site at 09:04:11

The Vehicle was pictured by ANPR leaving the site at 17:51:47.

The Vehicle was within the car park for a period of 8 hours 47 minutes and 36 seconds.

A ticket for one full day of parking (12 hours total period) was purchased via the RingGo app at 17:30.

The Defendant received a Notice to Keeper, with reason given for issue of the Parking Charge as ‘delayed payment on entry’.

The defendant appealed the decision with the Claimant, as Registered Keeper, inline with published timeline and method.

The Claimant upheld their decision to issue a PCN, citing “the terms and conditions, in particular paragraph 1, (which) states that a valid ticket must be displayed at all times or have an active RingGo session in place”.

In addition the Claimant disclosed existence of a ‘10 minute grace period’ as the maximum time acceptable between entry and payment is contrary to any on site signage. This term and condition is not displayed prominently or transparently on any of the car park signage. It is therefore not possible for drivers to assess the contract for fairness as required under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

The Defendant has since been continually harassed by automated debt collection letters, phone calls and e-mails from BW Legal.

The ‘Terms & Conditions’ signage is difficult to read, with varying font sizes and colour and is therefore illegible from a vehicle or on foot.

The on site signage states that ‘vehicles must display a valid ticket or permit within the front windscreen or have a valid RingGo session’ and hat ‘payment must be made before leaving site’.

Full payment was made by the Driver via the RingGo app before the vehicle left the site, as a result there was no breach of any Terms and Conditions.

Coupon-mad

The Defendant denies being the Driver 

That fine but only if true. Defence looks fine, as part of the template defence, as long as the paragraphs are numbered.  

icybear

Hello all, so my case is now proceeding to court and I've been following the instruction in the 'small claim?' post in the newbies thread - thanks for this great resource.

I'm at the stage where I've received a 'notice of allocation to the small claims track (hearing)' and am preparing a witness statement for submission by 7th April. I also have to submit copies of all documents I intend to rely on at the final hearing.

Should the copies of documents (the evidence) only be those things outlined in the newbies thread (under subsection 'LETTERS ABOUT HEARINGS - WITNESS STATEMENT AND EVIDENCE TIME!'), or should it also include documents that are referenced in my previously submitted defence? The defence (particularly the bits based on the template) includes a lot of references to things like the Consumer Rights Act (2015), Unfair Contract Terms Guidance, and lots of previous cases. Should I include copies of all of these too? It seems like a lot!

Thanks for your guidance.

Coupon-mad

Re the CMA Guidance, I would provide a page from that (I assume it's the part that says that 'indemnity costs' is jargon) but you don't need to append the Beavis case, or the CRA 2015 because the Judge will have access to those.

D_P_Dance

The penallty charge on that sign is far too small.  It is likely to conflict with the ATA's code of practice and The Consumer Rights Act,  Read this

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/motorist-wins-18-month-ticket-battle-870812

Have you complained to your MP?

icybear

Hello all,

Merrily polishing my Witness Statement, Evidence and Schedule of costs this morning when ... a notice of discontinuance arrived through the post from BWLegal!

Apparently Premier Parking Solutions has opted to discontinue all of this claim and BWLegal have confirmed "we are instructed not to pursue the debt and our file shall be closed immediately".

I guess that's a result, but feels a bit deflating. I was looking forward to a day in court especially given the amount of effort that's gone into appeals, defence and other court paperwork.

Just wanted to publicly thank everyone who's helped/commented on this case. I really appreciate all the assistance, it would have been even more anxiety inducing to have tried to navigate this process on my own. 

I'll hang around the forums and help others, where I can, to repay your generosity.

D_P_Dance

,,, feels a bit deflating.

You can still cause them a bit of bother, read this.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/

Coupon-mad

Yay, ANOTHER PREMIER PARK /  BW LEGAL ONE BITES THE DUST!