CRA 2015 s62 10 Defence - No real opportunity of becoming acquainted with T&Cs

FizzyCharlie

I had been hoping this would go away but it hasn't so here I am! As pretty much all of us here, I always try and follow the rules and pay what is owed, which is what I believed I did in this situation - Unfortunately I've been caught out by what I believe is a breach of CRA 2015 s62 10 'A term which has the object or effect of irrevocably binding the consumer to terms with which the consumer has had no real opportunity of becoming acquainted before the conclusion of the contract.' I was hoping to use this as a defence in an upcoming court case and wondered if anyone else had done this successfully? Essentially the condition I supposedly breached was that 'Payment needs to be made within 10 minutes of entering the car park' How is it possible to be bound to this condition if you are not aware of it prior to entering the car park!? The Pay and Display machines did not accept credit cards, I had no cash so had to use an online system. Mobile internet not working so has to go into town to make payment, a total of 30min after entering the car park. Add to that, the sign with the T&Cs is facing away from the entrance and the sticker (applied when, after the event?) is in much smaller writing than the rest of the text on the sign. They claim that the signs are BPA approved but haven't provided any evidence of this. So, does anyone have any experience of using this as a defence and/or advice on how to make this clear to the Courts? Or is it worth arguing that they only have ANPR pictures of me entering and leaving the car park, they have no idea how long it took me to park and then try and pay etc etc... Any advice most welcome - Can share pictures if needed for context!

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

You mention 'defence' and 'upcoming court case'. Have you actually received a County Court Claim Form?

If so, can you please tell us the Issue Date on that Claim Form?

Redx

A few side or pedantic but useful comments

Grace periods are covered in the BPA CoP , I agree you won't download it and read it when parking but it is or was standard , but is now a minimum of 5 minutes , so even worse !!

At this stage they don't have to provide evidence or pictures of signs , that stage is in several months time at the WS plus Exhibits stage , so learn what happens and when

They don't have pictures of people , including you , they have anpr pictures of a vehicle with your registration plate entering and leaving the sitev, they monitor vehicle movements , not people

Who is they ?? Which parking company ?

Post the issue date from the CCBC claim form below

FizzyCharlie

Thanks for the prompt response KeithP! I've had the Claim Form and done the AoS, the issue date is 19 April 2021. I've just had a go at the template Defence letter which I believe I send in before 28 days (but not with the evidence etc)?

Redx

What date was the AOS received ? Check your CCBC claim history and post it below

FizzyCharlie

They are useful comments, thanks Redx - I have some pictures for the signs which were provided by them during the IAS appeal (yes, I know now that I shouldn't have done that!) and the writing is tiny... The company is I PARK SERVICES LTD, not a big company I don't think.. Issue date is 19 April 2021

KeithP

FizzyCharlie said:

Thanks for the prompt response KeithP! I've had the Claim Form and done the AoS, the issue date is 19 April 2021. I've just had a go at the template Defence letter which I believe I send in before 28 days (but not with the evidence etc)?

Evidence comes later.

At the moment I am going to assume that you filed an Acknowledgment of Service sometime after 23rd April. Please confirm.

With a Claim Issue Date of 19th April, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 24th May 2021 to file your Defence.

That's two 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.

Redx

Post the AOS date too

Email a SAR to the DPO at I park to obtain all your data attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law to the email request

Use the Coupon mad template to draft your Defence and post only paragraphs 2 and 3 below for critique , not the rest of it

FizzyCharlie

Thanks both, the AoS was submitted on 01/05/2021 received on 04/05/2021. I've spent this afternoon putting in my section (points #2 and #3) on the template letter basically stating what happened but haven't yet made the point about the CRA 2015 s62 10, I assume that is later and/or covered by the text in the template?

Redx

Just post the draft as I said , critique will then hone it , possibly after several drafts , it's a gradual process over the next 2 weeks

KeithP

Doesn't para 4 of the template Defence cover your CRA point?