County Court Claim by Britannia Parking - Advice/defence help needed

Mannis12

Would appreciate any support or advice on a PPC I received and any defence statement:

I have now received a County Court Business Centre Claim.

I parked my car in Canvey Island seafront, managed/owned by Britannia Car parking in June 2020. The total time stay was circa 23 minutes. During that time, I attempted to make payment (as were several other people) but the machine would only accept coins and would not accept card payments. I contacted the two numbers stated on the machine and I have phone records totalling circa 10mins showing calls to these numbers where I was advised that card payments were not working/accepted at the machine and that payment was not possible over the phone or through any app (I do not have recordings of these calls). The nearest cash machine across the road was not working and there were no others in sight. I subsequently left the car park.

I got a PCN from Britannia, and I appealed explaining the above which got rejected at they say I exceeded the 'grace period' of 10 mins (double the BPA minimum required). I did not do POPLA as at the time I thought to myself this is not important how can they charge me for not even parking there - I attempted to pay once I realised I could not pay I left!

The argument/defence I would put forth would be that the driver did not enter into a contract or accept any of the terms and conditions of the car park. The grace period would be dependant on fact and degree and in this instance, the driver took all the necessary steps to make a valid payment and when realised this was not possible, left the car park.

Do I stand a chance at defending my case???? I do not live anywhere near canvey island and have no idea of the signage there or pay and display machine

Does anyone have any photos of the parking signage/pay and display machine there??

Fruitcake

Start by reading the guide to court written by bargepole that you will find in the sticky thread for NEWBIES.
This is a step by step guide from the LBC to the court hearing.

Send an SAR to the scammers as per the advice in the NEWBIES.

Have a look on google street view to see if there are any images of signs at the location.

Part of your defence will be based on Frustration of contract. The driver was unable to pay due to faulty machines therefore could not complete the contract and so left straight after trying to resolve the issue.
Your phone records to the Britannia number will also be part of your evidence that comes later in the process.

You also need to compare the name on the claim form with the name on the NTK and especially the name on the signs. There are two companies called Britannia, and often the wrong one makes the claim.

Redx

The same basic advice was given in this Britannia thread , please read it and follow those same basic steps

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6242019/brittania-parking-bw-legal-taking-me-to-court/p1

Post the issue date from the CCBC claim form below

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

Nobody can assess your chances , court is a lottery , predicting the future is foolish , ask any weatherman , ask Michael Fish !!

Ps , Britannia will not own that land , they are a contractor

Umkomaas

Check which 'Britannia' is involved. The name on the signage, the name on the correspondence with you (each single piece pedantically examined), the name on the LBC, the name on the N1 county court claim form. 

Mannis12

ok he CCBC issue date is 9th Feb, i calculated the defence needs to be in by 13th march? is this correct? i have already served an AOS online.
I already requested a SAR and basically got copies of the NTK, my appeal, internal appeal response and reminder letter and photo images. not sure what i was expecting to receive.
cant see signs from google street view which is annoying!
claim form states 'Britannia parking group limited t/a Britannia parking' NTK see attachment. seemingly no real differences.
another point looking back at my appeal submission, i made the classic mistake of declaring i was the driver although not sure this impedes in this instance.
points noted about frustration of contract. am i stating no contract took place though??

thanks for all your input in advance.

Redx

Check your mcol claim history , it will show both the issue date plus the AOS received date , you will then be given your deadline after Posting that information below

Britannia have numerous names , so comparing everything Umkomaas pointed out is crucial , because each one is a different entity , as pointed out in dozens of Britannia threads on here

Then post your paragraphs 2 and 3 below for critique 

Mannis12

A claim was issued against you on 09/02/2021

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 21/02/2021 at 22:32:00

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 22/02/2021 at 08:05:38

The signs is a real issue for me as i live no where near canvey island but will scrutinise names on all oher correspondance

Fruitcake

If you look at Companies House records you will be able to see if any of the Britannia entities named in your correspondence from them have different company numbers.
This means they are not the same company as far as the law is concerned. Only the one named on the signs can form a contract with the motorist, and only they can issue a court claim. 

KeithP

Mannis12 said:

The CCBC issue date is 9th Feb, i calculated the defence needs to be in by 13th march? is this correct? i have already served an AOS online.

Mannis12 said:

A claim was issued against you on 09/02/2021

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 21/02/2021 at 22:32:00

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 22/02/2021 at 08:05:38

A Defence deadline will never be a Saturday or Sunday.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th February, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 15th March 2021 to file your Defence.

That's three 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.

Mannis12

Hi All,

is the below a really lame defence? What i am missing? i have only included parts 2 and 3.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question and the driver at the time of the incident but liability is denied. 

3. The claim relates to an alleged debt in damages arising from the driver's alleged breach of contract when parking at Canvey Island - Seafront, Movie Starr Cineplex, SS8 7DN on XXXXXX.

3.1 Any breach is denied, and it is further denied that there was any agreement to pay the Claimant's £100 'Parking Charge Notice ('PCN')' for the lawful conduct described below.

3.2 The allegation appears to be that the Defendant 'Failed to validate stay or make a valid payment' based on images by their ANPR camera at the entrance and exit to the site. This is merely an image of the vehicle in transit, entering and leaving the car park in question and is not evidence of the registered keeper 'not purchasing the appropriate parking time.

3.3 The alleged breach appears erroneous and unclear as to what contravention took place by indicating that either the defendant 'failed to validate stay' OR 'make a valid payment'

3.4 In actuality the Defendant was unable to purchase a ticket due to a lack of reasonable payment method in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic; The on-site ticket machine on the day of the incident was not fully operational in that it would only accept coins and no card payment facility was available/operational. Furthermore, pay by phone option was not operational as advised by the Britannia Parking agent contacted at the time of the alleged breach. Moreover, the pay by phone application too was not operational for this site.

3.5 Reasonable steps were deployed by the Defendant to validate any purported stay. Given that the Defendant was unable to purchase a ticket and upon this realisation promptly exited the car park, no parking contract was formed at any point in time.

3.6 In accordance, with BPA standards, a reasonable grace period should be allowed to for drivers to consider the terms and conditions of the car park and leave should they choose to. The defendant considers that the time taken to find a parking spot, queue to validate payment at the machine, phone calls to the operators of the site in accordance with the terms stated on the machine, all reasonably contributed towards the total length of stay at the car park and therefore in conformity with a reasonable grace period.

3.7 The Defendant therefore indisputably contests that any contract was formed between the Claimant and the Defendant and therefore no breach of contract occurred.

3.8  The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation against patrons.

D_P_Dance

If you cannot pay there cannot be a contract.  If there us no c
contract it cannot be breached.  Read this and complain to your MP.

https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/Cosi/SignOn?redirectId=rt_434e9e43-908d-47a0-9dff-2e613f5301cf