Parking Charge Notice now been referred to County Court

Patrickius

KeithP said:

Yup, I made a mistake earlier. Sorry.

I should've written...

...you have until 4pm on Tuesday 6th April 2021 to file your Defence.

Hi,
Not a problem.  I was assuming that with the Bank Holidays that it would be the next working day following the Bank Holiday.  In any case it is all emailed off now and bit of a weight off my shoulder.  I will now sit back and await the Directions Questionnaire ( N180).

KeithP

Patrickius said:

I have inserted spaces as I have seen from other threads that newbies are not allowed to leave links in their thread.

The link is www.dropbox.com / t / twn6p1AX JSfqibfw

Having been here for over five months and with nineteen posts under your belt I think you can probably post live links.

Even if you can't, you only need one strategically placed blank to break a link. Don't make it too difficult for us.

Jenni_D

https://www.dropbox.com/t/twn6p1AX JSfqibfw should be a working link. (Link is blocked on my work computer so I can't confirm).

KeithP

Jenni's link does work if you remove the blank between the 'X' and the 'J'.

However. the first thing that is clearly visible, even before looking at any of the files, is your full name...


And I really don't want to download stuff to my computer.

Patrickius

Hi,  I have now received my court date through the N157 which is on 14 September 2021 2021.  My case will be via telephone hearing.  I have also received the Claimant's Witness Statement bundle from Gladstone's who have advised that they will not be attending and have asked that their case be heard through the bundle that has been submitted.

A quick scan of their Witness Statement states that I was given adequate grace period of 10 minutes and the photos seem to verify this.  The first photo being taken at 08:50.49 and the last photo with PCN on windscreen taken at 09:01.25.

I believe my Witness Statement and exhibits need to be emailed and delivered to the County Court and Defendant by 31 August 2021..

I have scanned the N157, Witness Statement and Exhibits.  Link is below:

https://www.dropbox.com/t/zXHGJlAsZOt3dNMv

KeithP

Lots of today's posts have been deleted from this thread , making those replies left looking a bit silly.

Patrickius

KeithP said:

Lots of today's posts have been deleted from this thread , making those replies left looking a bit silly.

I had to put a new link with the attachments as I needed to do further redacting.

I was trying to tidy the thread up and cause as little confusion as possible  If you delete your last 3 posts, then it won't look silly

Patrickius

Ah boy, have been working on my WS but feeling quite demoralised.  My Defence was centred around insufficient grace period being applied when I parked my car, but having seen the Claimant's WS this has been blown out of the water as they did give the minimum 10 mins, which is evidenced in their photos when issuing the PCN.  The only relevant legal argument I can see left is the Double Recovery.  Don't think any of the other's that I mentioned in the Defence apply to my case anymore?

Can't really see a lot in my favour to be honest.  I never appealed the PCN or disputed the NTK or LBC which will not be looked upon favourably by the Judge.  Have already admitted to being the Driver in my Defence and can't really criticise the signage as I have said in my Defence that I read the signage which informed me that I had needed a Visitor's Parking Permit.  Which I duly went and got from my sister.  But when I returned to my vehicle I had been ticketed.

I will post a copy of what I have written so far, but as I have said the Claimant's WS has already disproved by suggestion of insufficient grace period being applied.

Patrickius

Witness Statement so far........

I am Mr XXXXXXXXXXX of XXXXXXXXXXXX, and I am the defendant against whom this claim is made.  The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

 

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

On the morning of 17 January 2020 I went to visit my sister, who lives at Beesborough House which forms part of the Ingress Park Development, Greenhithe.  My sister had recently moved to this area and it was my first time visiting her at this property to carry out general DIY work – assembly furniture and plumbing in a washing machine for her, as she lives alone.

 

When I arrived at the Ingress Park Development, I parked in a bay marked VP.  I then got out of the car and had a read of the parking sign, which was very wordy, but deduced that a purple parking permit was needed to park in a Visitors Parking (VP) Bay. 

 

I went back to the car and retrieved my tools, then locked the car and made my way to the entrance of Beesborough House, buzzing my sister’s flat on the intercom at the main entrance door to gain entry.  I then took the lift to the 5th floor and was given a purple parking permit by my sister.  I took the lift back down to the ground floor to put the permit on my car dashboard and noticed that a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) had been placed on my car windscreen. 

 

The whole sequence of events from the time of parking the car, getting out of the car, walking over to the parking sign and reading it would have taken approx. 2mins.  Walking back to my car, unloaded tools and locking the car would have taken a further 2 mins.  To then gain entry to the block of flats and taking the lift to the 5th floor and walking to my sister’s flat would take approx. 4-5 mins depending on how busy the lift is, as there is only one lift that serves this block of flats.   The same can be said for returning to the ground floor by lift, exiting the block of apartments and then walking to the car would take approx. 4-5 mins.   The total time taken - from parking my car, obtaining the required purple parking permit and returning to my car with said permit would have taken between 12 – 14 mins.

 

According to the Claimant’s Witness Statement

An inadequate grace period has been given as required by the BPA Code of Practice to which Parking Eye must adhere.

The code states:

 

13.1 If a driver is parking without your permission, or at locations where parking is not normally permitted they must have the chance to read the terms and conditions before they enter into the ‘parking contract’ with you. If, having had that opportunity, they decide not to park but choose to leave the car park, you must provide them with a reasonable grace period to leave, as they will not be bound by your parking contract.

13.2 If the parking location is one where parking is normally permitted, you must allow the driver a reasonable grace period in addition to the parking event before enforcement action is taken. In such instances the grace period must be a minimum of 10 minutes.

 

A grace period OF GREATER THAN 10 MINUTES must be offered, 10 minutes to exit the car park and an unspecified period to study, accept the terms and enter into a parking contract.

The Claimant Parking Control Management (UK) Limited are operating in breach of the Code of Practice.

Redx

In which case they didn't allow visitors enough time to complete the contract , namely , enough time to obtain a visitor permit and display it , so predatory tactics , setting visitors up to fail !! If 10 minutes isn't long enough , then it's a minimum allowance and the CRA 2015 would advise that a longer period in favour of the consumer should prevail , such as making it 15 minutes or 20 minutes , due to high rise flats

You complied with the terms of parking as soon as you were able , so no breach occurred !! The issue involved is de minimis , a penalty imposed for not being Usain Bolt , meaning the Penalty rule under Beavis is engaged

PCM UK are not BPA AOS members , so not sure why that is in there or the reference to Parking Eye either 


Think aBout it , whilst filling in the government consultation ASAP , it closes tomorrow morning , if not done already

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6286801/government-consultation-re-private-parking-charge-levels-august-2021-please-bookmark-this-thread/p1