To PAY or NOT to PAY

D_P_Dance

Of  course there are more ways than one to skin a cat.  However the consensus her is tht your plan will not prosper., 

Bargepole spends most of his working life either in court or preparing court cases.  CM appears in court from  time to time as do others here.  AFAIAA there are also two solicitors contributing here.  lI have won three cases in court and accepted three more out of court settlements. 

I should be interested to hear of your court experience. 

Terry1931

Fruitcake said:

Terry1931 said:

What an amusing but silly thing to suggest that I am a parking firm employee. 

You are suggesting people pay who have received an unfair parking charge should pay an unregulated private parking company, which is exactly what unregulated parking companies want motorists to do.
Surely you can see how that looks.

That is only part of what I am suggesting.

I am suggesting paying to release the threat, then Claim against the Parking Company.

I can give you an instance of where this is highly advisable.

If a motorist  receiving a Parking charge either works away from UK or spends long periods out of the UK, then not paying the charge means they have to worry about the claim arriving and having to action it at some future unknown and possibly highly inconvenient time.

I think the essence of the opinion on this matter given by the old sages of this forum is that people may pay the fine and then lose interest and motivation to pursue the claim against the Parking Company, but that is another issue, and they may also have lost motivation to put up a defence had they not paid.

Terry1931

D_P_Dance said:

Of  course there are more ways than one to skin a cat.  However the consensus her is tht your plan will not prosper., 

Bargepole spends most of his working life either in court or preparing court cases.  CM appears in court from  time to time as do others here.  AFAIAA there are also two solicitors contributing here.  lI have won three cases in court and accepted three more out of court settlements. 

I should be interested to hear of your court experience. 

I highly Doubt the Parking Company will wish to appear in Court as a Defendant of an incorrect Parking Charge. I shall enjoy every minute of their squirming.

Terry1931

Fruitcake said:

Terry1931 said:

What an amusing but silly thing to suggest that I am a parking firm employee. 

You are suggesting people pay who have received an unfair parking charge should pay an unregulated private parking company, which is exactly what unregulated parking companies want motorists to do.
Surely you can see how that looks.

It looks to me that the Status Quo approach is also not working.

Motorists are fighting these parking charges and winning and yet nothing is changing, the Parking companies continue to issue the charges and they are then justified at appeal in their Kangaroo courts.

Their Kangaroo Courts have a quota of appeals to grant in favour  of the motorist in order to validate their so called impartial status, but this has nothing to do with fairness or the reasons for granting the appeal. Its complete political manipulation of a so called independent arbitration process.

There will only be real change if the Parking companies lose as defendants rather than claimants.

bargepole

There will only be real change if the Parking companies lose as defendants rather than claimants.

CEL were in court as a Defendant a couple of years ago, against one of my clients. He was suing them for damages arising from breach of the DPA, on the basis that they had no authority to operate at that particular site.

They sent a barrister to Court to argue their case, but due to the fact that their documents were so heavily redacted as to be unreadable, the Judge agreed with our submissions that they had failed to evidence any authority.

He awarded the Claimant £200 in damages, plus his witness expenses.

None of this has had any effect on CEL since that case, they continue to issue PCNs at that site, and no doubt a majority of motorists pay them.

The parking operators regard losses in court, whether as Claimants or Defendants, as a cost of doing business. The cost is far outweighed by all those who pay up.

Terry1931

bargepole said:

There will only be real change if the Parking companies lose as defendants rather than claimants.

CEL were in court as a Defendant a couple of years ago, against one of my clients. He was suing them for damages arising from breach of the DPA, on the basis that they had no authority to operate at that particular site.

They sent a barrister to Court to argue their case, but due to the fact that their documents were so heavily redacted as to be unreadable, the Judge agreed with our submissions that they had failed to evidence any authority.

He awarded the Claimant £200 in damages, plus his witness expenses.

None of this has had any effect on CEL since that case, they continue to issue PCNs at that site, and no doubt a majority of motorists pay them.

The parking operators regard losses in court, whether as Claimants or Defendants, as a cost of doing business. The cost is far outweighed by all those who pay up.

My point exactly , how many times did they get exposed as defendents? Obviously once is not enough. 

A couple more of appearances of their barrister to defend them and things would have changed by now

D_P_Dance

A couple more of appearances of their barrister to defend them and things would have changed by now

Do ypu have any evidence to support that?  You still have not told us if you have any experience in these matters. 

Terry1931

ID_P_Dance said:

A couple more of appearances of their barrister to defend them and things would have changed by now

Do ypu have any evidence to support that?  You still have not told us if you have any experience in these matters. 

I have outlined my experiences claiming against a Local Authority in Court against their solicitors and Barrister. 

More claims against these types of organization is what is required. 

Get them to either settle before court on your terms with adequate compensation or see them in Court with their expensive Barristers they will have to pay for.  

bargepole

If you are determined that you have been wronged then simply you put in the Money Claim On Line MCOL against the Parking Company for the claim amount.

YOU are now in control of the events.

Not true. The only event you are in control of, is when and for how much, to issue a claim.

The parking operator then has 14 days to file a Defence (or 28 if they file an AOS), and after that, all deadlines are imposed by the Court service, which both sides must adhere to. 

These include:

• Filing and serving the Directions Questionnaire.
• Filing and serving the Witness Statements and Evidence
• Paying the trial fee (Claimant only)
• Attending the final hearing.

All of this will typically span 6 months or more from date of claim issue, and if you are away and miss any of the deadlines, your claim may be struck out.

Then, when you finally get the case in front of a Judge, he/she is in control, not you or the defendant. 

Terry1931

bargepole said:

If you are determined that you have been wronged then simply you put in the Money Claim On Line MCOL against the Parking Company for the claim amount.

YOU are now in control of the events.

Not true. The only event you are in control of, is when and for how much, to issue a claim.

The parking operator then has 14 days to file a Defence (or 28 if they file an AOS), and after that, all deadlines are imposed by the Court service, which both sides must adhere to. 

These include:

• Filing and serving the Directions Questionnaire.
• Filing and serving the Witness Statements and Evidence
• Paying the trial fee (Claimant only)
• Attending the final hearing.

All of this will typically span 6 months or more from date of claim issue, and if you are away and miss any of the deadlines, your claim may be struck out.

Then, when you finally get the case in front of a Judge, he/she is in control, not you or the defendant. 

As a MCOL all notifications will come to the claimant online, so it matters not where the claimant is at home or not.  This is a huge advantage and puts US in control. 

When you ignore the claim and do not pay, all notifications come in the post to a possibly very inconvenient postal address. 

Anyway the inconveniences of the trial are applicable in both cases, if your case is strong, the parking company will settle. Especially if enough claims are made against them that they know are going to win.