Question. Why is this scenario "legal" and not a crime.. Baffled??

scamnomoreplz

95Rollers said:

When you get a chance please put up a synopsis of what happened as its great to read others can learn from it.  Were you awarded costs for them wasting you're time? 

Also if you got a case number/ email/ letter of the Judgment- please put up a redacted version in the abuse of process post.

As you said earlier you identified a scam. I would certainly take a few minutes and report it to 

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk

The more people reporting PPC scams might entice authorities to look into the PPCs activities...

I must admit it was quite a blur on the day.  The hearing started on time and lasted about 45 minutes.

EXCEL were claiming that I had not displayed my ticket properly in the car.  EXCEL confirmed that I had purchased a ticket, which displayed the correct date, time and crucially my VRM. The judge commented on this fact and I believe this tipped the case in my favour.

During the hearing the Judge, having read our witness statements, would not allow any discussion about signage etc as I had bought a ticket and therefore accepted the contractual terms.   The judge ruled out any defence based on damaged signs, the usual myriad of fonts and sizes of the text on the parking information boards.  All of which I had included in my WS.

In my opinion I think the judge, and probably his esteemed colleagues too, have seen their fair share of these flimsy PPC cases just recently.

The EXCEL representative remarked that I could have paid a reduced fee to avoid this hearing, implying that I had been unreasonable even though it was EXCEL who were trying to fleece me by threatening CCJs etc.  I replied that I had paid and displayed and in any case I had no recollection of a reduced fee offer other than a printout received by them via a Subject Access Request.

Once the judge had refused to allow the sign/contract discussion my defence centred on the evidence the PPC had produced in their WS, which was a sequence of blurry and sun reflective photos of my whole car.  Strangely EXCELS photographs did not include the part of the car where my ticket was on display.   In other words they had produced NO evidence. Just some nice photos of a car in an EXCEL “patrolled” car park.

EXCELS supplied images had date stamps on them but my photographs of the scene did not.  During the hearing EXCELS representative repeatedly tried to imply that I had fabricated my photographic evidence by moving my ticket to a place in the car that had not been photographed by the ticket issuer.  EXCELS representative implied that I was lying. 

In hindsight I should have asked “How on earth could I have known what photographic evidence EXCEL had taken in order to produce my so called “fabricated evidence?” 

The ticket issuer would have seen my ticket and been able to angle the camera and miss off my paid ticket from their photos.  I wonder if this is something they teach in “PPC wonderland”?

The judge did not make a comment on this implied “staging” and on the balance of probabilities ruled in my favour and DISMISSED the claimants unwarranted penalty on the grounds that the defendant, me, had paid and had not deprived EXCEL or whoever the landowner was at the time, of any funds because the ticket had my VRM clearly printed on it.   “Thank you sir and YIPPEE.”

I did remember to ask for costs but I was refused, politely of course.

In summation

·       Where possible use a pay and display machine that allows you to enter your VRM

·       If you do get a ticket on the windscreen DON’T take the PCN off before taking photos of the scene

·       Try to include the date and time on any photographs you use as evidence

Another one bites the dust and thank you all again for the sterling advice and comments, sometimes funny, on this forum. 

Doesn’t feel like a win though.

P.S.  I did complete the Government Consultation by the deadline.

Coupon-mad

Very good to hear you did the consultation and that you won!

WELL DONE!

ANOTHER EXCEL ONE BITES THE DUST!

Have you also registered for the DVLA group action court case being run on a no win no fee basis by Keller Lenkner solicitors or was yours pre 2016?

Jenni_D

scamnomoreplz said:

·       Where possible use a pay and display machine that allows you to enter your VRM

Although that also has its own complications. (There have been several cases reported here where a PCN has been issued due to a missing or incorrectly recorded VRM).

Congratulations.  

D_P_Dance

Sadly no costs awarded though but I did ask.

They have wasted your time,,now waste theirs, read this,

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/making-a-small-claim/

Fruitcake

Well done and thanks for letting us know.

As for photos, it is worth digging into the image Properties to find the metadata. This will include the time and date, and in some cases GPS location data. You can then include that data along with the image itself to show when it was taken.

Johnersh

Try to include the date and time on any photographs you use as evidence

Congrats to the o/p. 

In relation to the sensible thoughts s/he raises, it's worth bearing in mind that photos taken on a smartphone log this data. You can click through to obtain GPS coordinates and date/time of the photos. Those can be printed and form part of statements if required.