Civil Enforcement Claim Form 22 February at 2:45PM in Parking Tickets, Fines & Parking 32 replies 300 views

wilson111

Right guys, I'm hoping someone is gonna come up with the good and help me out here.
17/10/2019 I parked in a hotel car park in Bury St edmunds whilst eating lunch. This car park does have signage to which I genuinely didn't even notice or see. I stayed in in this car park 31 minutes going by the letters I received meaning I overstayed by 1 minute as i believe 30 minutes are free. The hotel also confirmed this with me when I called the yesterday. I would assume I have received 5-6 letters over this period of which I have replied saying this fine is unreasonable and I will not pay. 
Then after a year and 4 months and lots of back and fourth letters they send me a claim form (issue date 15/02/21). Total amount £276.31
I have read this letter and have no idea what to do, I have read the Newbies post but still lost, I have no experience with any of this. Citizens Advice advised me to pay by check and fight using a solicitor after as the money would increase, although I didn't feel this was the best advice. HELP!!!

Fruitcake

Complain to the hotel manager/CEO, asking them to cancel this charge. Be forceful.

Read and follow the guide to court written by bargepole in the second post of the NEWBIES.

If you have received a letter Before Claim, then tell them that although you deny the debt, you are seeking debt advice so require them to put the case on hold for thirty days.

Send an SAR as per the NEWBIES.

Construct your defence using the ready written defence template in the sticky threads. You only need to amend paragraphs 2 and 3, then post them here for checking before you submit the whole thing.

Covid regs permitting, get pics of the site and signage.

wilson111

Awesome thankyou. Will look into all that now. I did actually contact the hotel to confirm the 30 minutes free. They said they would speak to management but no response as of yet. I think they are not interested in helping as i never stayed at the hotel, just used the car park to eat lunch. 

Redx

If you have a court claim pack from the CCBC in Northampton dated 15th February , then do the AOS online first

Email a SAR to the DPO at cel next , attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law

Try and get the landowner to give you written retrospective permission 

Draft your defence , pasting paragraphs 2 and 3 below for critique

Do not pay , do not listen to citizens advice , they are clueless

Fruitcake

Complaints should be in writing direct to the hotel manager and/or CEO. A 'phone call is not worth the paper upon which it is writ.

wilson111

Much appreciated guys. I have just written a letter to the hotel manager, will send this off tomorrow 1st class. Also done my AOS to give me some more time too. I will look at the templates for my defense now 

D_P_Dance

 Total amount £276.31

How come?  there must be a lot of unlawful stuff in there, read this

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.

Have you left a review in TripAdvisor?    Have you complained to your MP?

KeithP

wilson111 said:

...they send me a claim form (issue date 15/02/21).

With a Claim Issue Date of 15th February, you have until Monday 8th March to file an Acknowledgment of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AoS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 22nd March 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 again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Ralph-y

some links to help

direct link to court section in newbies thread
.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64350585/#Comment_64350585

and  

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6108153/suggested-template-defence-to-adapt-for-all-parking-charge-cases-where-they-add-false-admin-costs#latest

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6130456/telephone-hearings-re-parking-firm-claims-can-we-all-discuss-strategy-and-outcomes-here/p1

Ralph

Umkomaas

I think they are not interested in helping as i never stayed at the hotel, just used the car park to eat lunch. 

Do you mean a bit like someone parking on your driveway for 31 minutes just to eat their lunch?  A private car park where you are not invited to park is a crazy place to pull up and think it's consequence-free. Almost every private car park in this country is now infested by private parking firms, doing their utmost to catch out the naive, the unwary, the don't-give-a-fig for what the landowner wishes. 

You've been an 'ideal candidate'!

But, we'll help you through this. CEL issue zillions of court cases which they hope that either the victim is too frightened to fight and will just pay up, or the victim ignores or doesn't respond (especially if they've moved house and don't receive the papers), or they don't follow all the instructions given to them by the court, resulting in a judgment in default (CCJ) against them. Don't be one of these, please follow the process as detailed in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, second post. 

wilson111

Wow okay. Awesome stuff guys, ur unappreciated. Will spend this evening and tomorrow looking at all this info. It's all a bit overwhelming