Claim from form country court for unpaid PCN charges

alexrider

Hello MSE,

I have recieved claim form from County Court Business centre ( Northampton) for unpaid parking charges,  I have parked my car in communal space in flats where Im a leaseholder on 18th Sept 2020 as I had to drop of material in flat for contracotrs to work, the Car park was shut due to the new grenfell guidelines and I didnt have any other place to park and drop the material to my flat, I had parked for 10 to 15 minutes near the the flats,  the car itself is not blocking anyone or its blocking way for fire exits, and Im the leaseholder of flat in the building, I have appealed with the same reason when I recieved the parking charges. but the appeal was rejected and passed onto law firm, where I have recieved few letters which I have not acted on. now they have sent me the Claim form,  I would like to know if I would be able to defend myself with the following reasons :

- I had to park there as I didnt have alretnative parking space available within premises due to the car park was shut down due to Grenfell legislation

- This is not causing any trouble or inconvinience to anyone

- The place I have parked is not the road which is blocking or entrance or exit/fire exit

- This didnt cause any loss for any party by parking in that place for 10 to 15 minutes

- Im the leaseholder of the property and I have parked in the building premises to access,

Appreciate your feedback on this, and please suggest if I should dispute the claim with above points or accept to pay,

Thanks

Fruitcake

alexrider said:

Hello MSE,

I have recieved claim form from County Court Business centre ( Northampton) for unpaid parking charges,  I have parked my car in communal space in flats where Im a leaseholder on 18th Sept 2020 as I had to drop of material in flat for contracotrs to work, the Car park was shut due to the new grenfell guidelines and I didnt have any other place to park and drop the material to my flat, I had parked for 10 to 15 minutes near the the flats,  the car itself is not blocking anyone or its blocking way for fire exits, and Im the leaseholder of flat in the building, I have appealed with the same reason when I recieved the parking charges. but the appeal was rejected and passed onto law firm, where I have recieved few letters which I have not acted on. now they have sent me the Claim form,  I would like to know if I would be able to defend myself with the following reasons :

- I had to park there as I didnt have alretnative parking space available within premises due to the car park was shut down due to Grenfell legislation

- This is not causing any trouble or inconvinience to anyone

- The place I have parked is not the road which is not blocking or entrance or exit/fire exit

- This didnt cause any loss for any party by parking in that place for 10 to 15 minutes

- Im the leaseholder of the property and I have parked in the building premises to access,

Appreciate your feedback on this, and please suggest if I should dispute the claim with above points or accept to pay,

Thanks

Is the place where the car was parked part of the same residential area where you live, or was it someone else's land?
If it was where you live, what does your lease/AST say about parking, permits, parking scammers, PCNs, paying parking scammers, court claims? What it doesn't say about this is just as important.

What alternative parking and delivery/loading/unlading arrangements were made by whoever closed the car park? I believe there is case law that says you can't be denied an existing right to park and then penalised because you had to park elsewhere.

Loading and unloading is not parking as determined in the appeal court case of Jopson vs Homeguard. 

Were you consulted and asked to vote in a ballot of all residents and landlords in accordance with Section 37 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987? Your lease cannot be varied without this when parking scammers were introduced, or were they already infesting the site?

What happened when you complained to the landowner/managing agents?

Read and follow the guide to court written by bargepole that you will find in the second post of the sticky thread for NEWBIES.

Complain to your MP.

Redx

Parking company name ?

Issue date from the claim form ?

Check any lease or AST or any similar contracts you have in regards to parking

Read up on the Jopson case , about loading and unloading

Ideally , redact the claim form , covering your name and address , VRM details of the vehicle , all reference numbers , leave the date and claimant showing , so we can see the info we need , after you take a picture and attach it below in a reply

alexrider

Hi guys, Thanks for your quick reply,

The place car parked is communal space between 2 buildings of same, but the landlord id council, but its not managed by council and managed by management compnay, I havent gone throgh the AST but  management said its external company enforced and they cant do anything about charges.

with regards to alternative arrangements none was available onsite, although they provided alternative parking else where, which is not convinient to load and unload the materials to flat, even through I was just unloading the material I had to take the material to 6th floor hence I locked the car and put hazard lights on.

Please find the attached  court claim form,  Thanks for your time and advice,

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 17th May, you have until Monday 6th June to file an Acknowledgment of Service. Do not file an AoS before 22nd May, but otherwise 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 21st June 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.

D_P_Dance

Have you read the newbies and other "own space" threads, there are hundreds if them.   Who is the claimant?
Also read these and complain to your MP

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/11/residential-parking.html

https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum/residential-letting-questions/1053920-private-parking-companies

They may also have added unlawful amounts, 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''.

Fruitcake

Councils are not permitted to run car parks as if they are privately owned.
Add the council to your complaints.

If the council employed the scammers, they are responsible and can cancel this.

If the managing agent employed the scammers, they are responsible and cancel it. 

If whoever employed the scammers tells you they can't cancel it, they are lying.

This thread is a few years old but it is still relevant. Pay particular attention to the posts by Coupon-mad.

Parking Charge Notice in a Free Car Park (fail to display) — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Redx

So PPM and they added £60 fake debt recovery to it

Do the AOS online by logging into MCOL , but not until the weekend or later , but do read the guidance in the second post of the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum , to see how to do it properly , so you don't make any mistakes , do not touch the Defence box , you won't be using it

Send a SAR to the DPO at PPM to obtain all your data attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law , by email if possible , check their website privacy page for details

Read Jopson versus Homeguard to see what is mentioned about loading and unloading is not parking , it's reasonable behaviour

Then start drafting your defence by altering and adapting the Defence template by coupon mad , 2 paragraphs need altering , leave the rest alone

Post your proposed adapted paragraphs below for critique

KeithP

Redx said:

Do the AOS online by logging into MCOL , asap ...

No OP, do not do the AOS as soon as possible.
To do so will reduce the amount of time available to you to file a Defence.
To get the maximum time possible to prepare your Defence, please follow the guidance suggested in my earlier post.
As I wrote earlier...

Do not file an AoS before 22nd May...

Redx

Sorry , missed that vital date , Will amend my reply , thanks

To Alex rider , wait until the weekend before doing the AOS , follow the advice by KeithP

Coupon-mad

I would like to know if I would be able to defend myself with the following reasons

- I had to park there as I didnt have alretnative parking space available within premises due to the car park was shut down due to Grenfell legislation

- This is not causing any trouble or inconvinience to anyone

- The place I have parked is not the road which is blocking or entrance or exit/fire exit

- This didnt cause any loss for any party by parking in that place for 10 to 15 minutes

- Im the leaseholder of the property and I have parked in the building premises to access,
Appreciate your feedback on this, and please suggest if I should dispute the claim with above points

Yes, those would be the facts you change to the 3rd person 'The Defendant did this' (not ''I'') and add to the template defence and show us. 

Certainly defend it.

 or accept to pay,

Absolutely not.  There is NO reason to pay the claimed sum, not least because it's exaggerated by a pretend 'debt recovery' add on.