Court claim - it was a permit car park (my employer) permit fell off dashboard - worth defending?

monkeyboystu

Hi there I haved read the newbie thread (very helpful) and aware that as you say 'everyone think's their is different' - however going through the threads I've not found an example to base my defence on that relates - maybe its not going to be a goer. 
Company: One Parking Solution Ltd
Legal: DCB Legal Ltd
Claim issue date 15 March

This relates to me parking in my work car park (university of Brighton). 
I had a permit (had parked there daily for over a decade).
On the occasion in question the permit was not on the dash - but their photo did show the permit inside my car. 
I foolishly assumed this would be a no brainer 'appeal' - obviously the appeal was not granted. 

Fast forward to court claim received this week. 
I honestly don't know if I have snowballs chance to fight this or not

• The car park was free for staff and students - who were allocated a permit (no-one paid to park there)
• As I has been issued a permit obviously I knew I needed a permit
• The photo showed it not being on the dash, but inside my car
• In terms of potential evidence gathering - the car park no longer exists - it is now a load of tower blocks so not possible to take photos
• The claimant on the form is stated as One Parking Solution Ltd (NOT University of Brighton who was the landowner - maybe thats a hope?)
• In the particulars of the claim it states that I agreed to pay the PCN within 28 days then failed to do so - I certainly did not agree that...
• From memory signs stated 'full terms and conditions can be found on the university website www.brighton.ac.uk' - full T&Cs were not on the website (maybe thats something)
  
  Do you think it is worth it? 
  Obviously I would rather not pay £252(!) to have parked in a free car park I was entitled to park in...Equally there is a lot going on for me at the moment, and the stress associated with pursuing this would be better avoided if realistically there was little chance of success. 
  
  Any advice very very gratefully received

 

D_P_Dance

Of course this is worth defending, it is a scam, these companies target the poor, the daft, and the vulnerable.  If this goes to court and you win, (very likely) they wil be £££s out of pocket.  Get your MP on side, it adds to their costs.  Read these,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6242993/court-report-brentford-telephone-ukpc-roasted#latest 

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''.

Umkomaas

Get photos of the signage and screenshots of the T&Cs on the website. You need to be evidencing what they are saying about the display of the permit. 

monkeyboystu

Umkomaas said:

Get photos of the signage and screenshots of the T&Cs on the website. You need to be evidencing what they are saying about the display of the permit. 

Thanks for your reply

This is the problem - the car park has since been demolished (the incident in questions was back in November 2017 - the car park has since been built on). 
The website bit is a possibility using the way back machine - but I cant take photos of signs that don't exist anymore  

Le_Kirk

I would be getting very angry with the Uni - how dare they penalise a long standing member of staff who has a permit and it was in the car.  The purpose of employing parking scammers (and let's face it, the Uni is responsible for contracting with them - they didn't just rock up and erect their signs) is to deter fly-parking and ensure there are enough spaces for genuine employees and/or students.  You require them to have this cancelled immediately and when they say they can't just remind them who employs the PPC and ask for the name of a representative from the Uni who you will call as a witness if/when it goes to a small claims court hearing.

monkeyboystu

D_P_Dance said:

Of course this is worth defending, it is a scam, these companies target the poor, the daft, and the vulnerable.  If this goes to court and you win, (very likely) they wil be £££s out of pocket.  Get your MP on side, it adds to their costs.  Read these,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6242993/court-report-brentford-telephone-ukpc-roasted#lates

Thank you for this - I will read through and see what it says - really appreciate it

Fruitcake

I see no difference to the hundreds of cases we see here every week.
You were scammed just like everyone else that comes here.

What happened when you complained to your employer and the landowner? This is always your starting point. 

What does your employment contract say, if you have one, about parking, permits, unregulated parking scammers, parking scamvoices, paying unregulated parking scammers, and court claims? Ask your employer and the landowner for a copy of their contract with the parking scammers that is capable of making an employee liable. 

If you are a member of a trade union, then get your rep involved. 

Coupon-mad

Yes it is well worth fighting.  This should be quite a simple one for a Judge, but use the template defence and add the facts to it about who you work for and what happened, and the things I've said in this paragraph below:

In your case, the permit was visible inside the car, and OPS employees attending on foot on a daily basis would have seen that permit for many, many years (since they got this contract).  So there is no 'legitimate interest' in issuing a charge, which is clearly punitive and not the same as the commercial justification in ParkingEye v Beavis.

I am local-ish to you and have seen OPS in court countless times when helping people.  OPS discontinue loads of claims so you may not even get your day in court.  It is a solid defence that sends them the message that this is one that they may not win.

Johnersh

As everyone else has said.  Plus, if the permit is visible inside the car, then there is a solid argument that there is no breach of parking terms at all, even on the claimant's own case (particularly if visible through the windscreen).

We've seen plenty of those thrown out by the courts on here.

KeithP

monkeyboystu said:

Claim issue date 15 March

With a Claim Issue Date of 15th March, you have until Monday 5th April 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 19th April 2021 to file your Defence.

That's over 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.

monkeyboystu said:

• In the particulars of the claim it states that I agreed to pay the PCN within 28 days then failed to do so - I certainly did not agree that...

The allegation is that by parking the driver agreed to the terms of the contract.
Those contract terms are the terms on the signs.
Almost certainly there is a term on the signs stating something like "if the driver doesn't park in accordance with the rules then he agrees to pay £nn within 28 days...".

Does Google Street View show the car park and signs?
Do you know that you can often step back in time when using GSV?

Umkomaas

Does Google Street View show the car park and signs?
Do you know that you can often step back in time when using GSV?

Here's @Fruitcake's great tutorial on exploiting GSV to help you. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6252019/google-street-view-gsv-tutorial#latest