CST Law claim dismissed - can they try again or is that it?

Raoultheman

I have posted the below on the general CST Law thread as well as the response surprised me...

I sent a Without Prejudice offer to Parking Ticketing Ltd, who are the named claimant on the court claim I have received. They have responded same day and said they cannot correspond with me, and that I should reply to the company who are "sending the letters". I presume they mean CST Law.

Surely this is rubbish? If they are the claimant then they are the only party to whom I allegedly owe money and so they are the only party who can agree a settlement?

Any thoughts/advice? 

D_P_Dance

They can do/say what they llike, they are unregulated.

Umkomaas

The N1 court claim form will tell you with whom you correspond. If there's a solicitor involved, normally they will be shown as the contacts for any communication.  Send the sols the WP offer. 

Raoultheman

Umkomaas said:

The N1 court claim form will tell you with whom you correspond. If there's a solicitor involved, normally they will be shown as the contacts for any communication.  Send the sols the WP offer. 

OK, thanks for that. I have done so. Surprised that the Parking company did not just forward the letter themselves, although surely the letter has to end up with them at some point because it can only be their decision to settle or not.

I am guessing CST Law will not reply at all, and play the long game. Let's see.

Redx

Illegal is not the correct word , unjust and not enforceable in law , maybe , but then we are not lawyers

To claim that something is illegal , you would have to show which law has been broken , I would say that no laws have been broken

Raoultheman

Hi all and thanks for comments and help so far. My acknowledgement of service was done in advance of the deadline, and I now have around 10 days to get my defence sorted. I have seen the templates but my case is a little peculiar and I have a couple of questions.

My difficulty is this - we are talking about a residents' car park. I was a resident, but renting from the actual leaseholder of the flat in question. Each flat is allocated one parking space and there are also some visitor spaces, although all of the parking bay markings have long since disappeared so the small number of residents who use the car park just park wherever they want.

Skeleton argument possibilities:

 - parking management company have suffered no loss because there are no spaces available to pay for to the outside world

 - my landlord gave me the property management company details when I moved in, and they sold me daily scratchcards at £1 per day, so the maximum loss for the 5 days I was ticketed with no scratchcard is £5 (and that loss is to the property management company who I was paying for the scratchcards, not the company enforcing the parking in the car park

 - given I had no formal lease agreement, just an informal unwritten agreement to pay rent to my landlord, I have no contractual obligations myself relating to parking in the car park

 - as a resident in someone else's flat, I am in effect a visitor (a rather long term visitor for around 3.5 years...) so had free use of visitor spots and should never have been charged for parking in the first place. 

 - the issuing to me of an annual parking permit for a nominal sum (£20 I think) in late 2019, just after the parking tickets incident, shows that I could and should have had such a permit made available from 2017 when I moved in, given my residential status

Apart from the above, a couple of other thoughts:

 - I have not returned to the car park to photograph signs as I could not see any relevance to my arguments in claiming signage was inadequate ... is this approach worth a look?

 - my ex landlord says he cannot find his lease so I have no way of looking at it, but given I had no written agreement re living there does this help me?

Any thoughts would be welcomed!

Thanks

D_P_Dance

.His solicitor will have a copy, offer to pay for it.  Why have you no AST, was. your landlord evading tax?

Raoultheman

D_P_Dance said:

.His solicitor will have a copy, offer to pay for it.  Why have you no AST, was. your landlord evading tax?

I seem to recall there being a rent a room scheme whereby you can rent out a room and earn 7.5k per year tax free, so I doubt this would be a concern.

Re the lease I will see if I can get a copy but he bought the property in around 1985 so I suspect it will be far from simple.

D_P_Dance

Surely there should be a written contract even under this scheme.  If the solicitor ia no longer practicing The Land Registry will have the documentation. ... ...

.

Raoultheman

D_P_Dance said:

Surely there should be a written contract even under this scheme.  If the solicitor ia no longer practicing The Land Registry will have the documentation. ... ...

.

probably re contract, but landlord is a friend who was doing me a favour in a crisis. I might have an email correspondence I suppose, but my recollection is it was agreed outside a pub face to face.

I am "official" at the address in that he informed the property management company that he had a tenant, and that said tenant needed to park.