Parking fine!!!

Ben255

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yyig9u6g3wt566qbiqcdq/Witness-20Statement-20and-20Exhibits-2022.docx?dl=0&rlkey=q6sdmc2txjb03q8jiukv9w5vr

Coupon-mad

I haven't read it yet but you have the (old news) Britannia v Crosby and not (new) Excel v Wilkinson, as per the best recent WS example by @jrhys.

Ben255

Coupon-mad said:

I haven't read it yet but you have the (old news) Britannia v Crosby and not (new) Excel v Wilkinson, as per the best recent WS example by @jrhys.

Do you have a link to the thread by any chance? Thank you

KeithP

Ben255 said:

Coupon-mad said:

I haven't read it yet but you have the (old news) Britannia v Crosby and not (new) Excel v Wilkinson, as per the best recent WS example by @jrhys.

Do you have a link to the thread by any chance? Thank you

Click on @jrhys in that post (or here) and you will see that poster has only started two threads - and one of them has nothing to do with parking. 
Shouldn't take you long to read the other one and find what you are looking for.

Coupon-mad

You know when someone posts a username and it's blue?  That's a link...

Ben255

Coupon-mad said:

You know when someone posts a username and it's blue?  That's a link...

Yea cheers for that mate. Did click on the username initially but it was not clear how to locate the thread in question from the preceding page. 

Ben255

I located the template in question and found it far easier to edit and format than the previous template.
I wont upload the entire document as I dont want to waste your time guys. I will upload the initial 15 paragraphs before 'the beavis case against this claim' and all that follows.

Ben255

1.           I am Mr xxx of xxx and I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

2.           In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. My defence is repeated and I will say as follows:

Sequence of events and signage:

3.           I am a serving member of the Armed Forces and on the day in question (xx.xx.xxxx) I was travelling from my home in Wiltshire to MOD Stafford where I was due to report for the entire week. I had my 2 young children (aged 4 and 7 at the time) with me for the journey and was dropping them off with my parents on route. The carpark in question is roughly halfway through the journey and I decided to pull into the site in order to grab some lunch and take a break. I had never used this carpark previously.

4.           The approach and entrance to the car park is on a single-track road with double yellow lines (exhibit XX-01). This is a fairly busy road where stopping is impossible due to the double yellow lines and traffic not being able to pass. The only safe way to stop to view the car park terms and conditions is by entering the site.

 

5.           At the point of entry, the site parking terms and conditions are not displayed. The only viewable signs are the pay and stay sign and ANPR sign (exhibit XX-02). Neither of which mention anything related to a risk of paying £100 or that tickets must be purchased within 10 minutes of entering the site. The only way to read the full terms and conditions on this site is to find a parking space and exit your vehicle.

 

6.           After entering the National Trust site I discovered that it was particularly busy with it being a very hot day. After several minutes I managed to find a suitable place to park (exhibits XX-03 and XX-04) and I began getting my 2 young children out of the car. I then along with my children found the nearest pay machine to where we were parked (exhibits XX-03 and XX-04). There was a fairly large crowd gathered around the machine and it became apparent when communicating with several of the people gathered that there was a problem with the machine.

 

7.           Due to the coronavirus regulations that where in place at the time regarding social distancing it was several minutes before the machine was free for me to try and purchase my parking ticket. It was immediately apparent that the machine was not working, I tried for several minutes to operate the machine following the instructions but the buttons where not responding, and the screen remained unchanged.

 

8.           At this point I was made aware after reading the instructions on the pay machine that it was possible to obtain a ticket using an automated service over the phone or by downloading and using a parking app, I refused to do this. Whilst serving in Germany several years ago I was the victim of a parking charge scam involving a similar app which resulted in me loosing several hundred euros. Since that incident I have refused to give my banking details over the phone to automated services or entering them into any new un-trusted apps. I presumed when entering the site that I would have the option to pay with cash or card (there was no visible signage up to this point saying otherwise), and I was prepared to use either. It was only after the apparent implied grace period had elapsed that I was aware that this was not the case.

 

9.           At this point I used my phone to take a picture of the defective machine (exhibit XX-05 and XX-06). There was a large crowd of people in the same predicament as me who were gathered around the terms and conditions sign situated close to the pay machine (exhibit XX-03 and XX04).  So, following the coronavirus regulations that were law at the time I kept my distance waiting for the crowd to thin out so that I could read the main terms and conditions sign. It was difficult to get close enough to read the small writing so we continued to keep the distance laid out in law and waited patiently for the opportunity to get closer. I managed to get close enough to attempt to read the smaller pay and stay sign (exhibit XX-07) but the small print was impossible to read as the sign was displayed too high. The large print made no mention of a 10 minute time limit to obtain a ticket (This time period had already elapsed by this point).

 

10.         Whilst waiting for the opportunity to get close enough to read the main large terms and conditions sign I was informed by a member of the public that it may be possible to obtain a ticket using card or cash from the onsite information centre located near to the entrance to the site. I then proceeded to walk up the large hill (exhibit XX-03 and XX-04) with my young children to find the information centre.

 

11.         After climbing the hill, we found the information centre. It was very busy and there was a que formed outside. I had passed no other pay machines or signage indicating there was another machine whilst on route. It was my honest belief that the one machine that I had attempted to use was the sole machine on the site. (It has since become apparent to me after reading the claimants Witness statement that there was another pay machine on the site. However, this is in a separate area of the site and was not visible on my entry or along the route to where I subsequently parked). We waited for approximately 5 minutes before we got to the front of the que. I asked the lady behind the counter if it was possible to purchase a ticket from her location and was informed that I could not. She also informed me that the machine on site was defective and there had been a large amount of people asking her the same question.

 

12.         At this point my 2 young children were understandably restless. We made our way back down the steep track and I put the children back in the car. We then exited the site. We had not used any of the facilities or so much as sat down for a break at any point. The entirety of the 31 minutes we spent on the site was spent trying to find a parking space and then obtain a parking ticket using cash or card, this time frame was undoubtedly elongated due to the coronavirus legislation that was in place at the time.

 

13.         Around a week later I received a parking charge from the claimant. I immediately replied explaining my reasons for not being able to obtain a ticket. I offered to pay the original parking charge for my short stay via secure bank transfer and requested there banking details. I informed them I would not be paying there inflated parking charge as I found it completely unfair and disproportionate.

 

14.         I believe that the implied 10-minute grace period being enforced is unrealistic for this site and not appropriate during the times of Covid19. By the time I realised I could not pay with cash or card I was already well over their 10-minute time period. I believe a grace period, by definition, must reflect the circumstances at the time. I believe I made every effort to obtain a parking ticket and exited as soon as I had concluded I could not.

 

15.         I am an honest law-abiding citizen and a proud member of Her Majesties Armed Forces. I would not knowingly or deliberately use facilities without paying any agreed fee.

 

 

Coupon-mad

I think I'd add into #12 the transcript of the ParkingEye case where 31 minutes trying to park in a beach car park in Newquay was deemed not having entered into a contract, because your case (31 minutes trying to pay in a National Trust visitor centre car park) is on all fours with that situation as both are a 'frustration of contract' after which the driver gave up and left the site.  It's one of the links here:

http://www.parking-prankster.com/case-law.html


And add here the bit shown in bold (plus there's a typo of 'queue'):

However, this is in a separate area of the site and was not visible on my entry or along the route to where I subsequently parked).   Also, there was no arrow at the machine I tried to use, to tell people that there was another machine elsewhere that could be used in the event of the first machine being full or faulty.  It would be simple for a parking firm to do this, to direct people to the nearest alternative machine, especially at a visitor centre where, on busy days, it must be commonplace for coin payments to fill the machine and block it, as appeared to be the case.  Instructions on what to do in order to pay in coins or by card at an alternative machine were completely absent, to the best of my recollection, otherwise we'd have walked to a second machine.  We waited for approximately 5 minutes before we got to the front of the que queue.

Ben255

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hup4t4c69dhepeaqajobx/gggggg.docx?dl=0&rlkey=5oi4ttt6m2f9c8vt32v57szfe