Court Claim from VCS (X2)

White_Taxi_Ford

Update 18th January 2022:
Received a "Notice of Transfer of Proceedings" from Sheffield Court to my local Court in Barnstaple.

Further update 27th January 2022:
Received a "General Form of Judgment or Order" from Barnstaple Court that one of the cases (so far) will be suitable for determination on the papers.

The Claimant has confirmed they are agreeable to the matter being determined on the papers alone.
I have until the 10th February to confirm I am happy to do the same, or provide reasons why I am not.

Is there any benefit for me to not have it determined on the papers?

Le_Kirk

There is absolutely no benefit to you having the case heard on papers and the only benefit is to the parking company.  You want your voice heard (be it F2F or video) so that you can put your case to the judge.

Umkomaas

Are you reading other cases, as this pattern is pretty common?  You need to learn from other cases as that will mean you are ahead of the curve and nothing comes as a surprise as this now trundles on to a hearing. You mustn't rely on regulars filling in the gaps in knowledge which simple research can provide. 

The workload on the tiny number of regulars dealing with court cases is extreme at times, and there's a danger of not every query being responded to. 

White_Taxi_Ford

Okay, Witness Statement time.  I have made a start and there's still a long way to go, but how does the below stand as a starting point?  I will add more about POFA, Bylaws in place, Forbidding signage and the added damages/costs "designed to extort money from the motorist". 

I have viewed the two recent good examples by Nosy & jrhys.

1.      I am Name, Director of The Company, and I am defending this claim. The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

2.      In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. My defence is repeated and I will say as follows:

3.      The vehicle in question (VRM) was registered to Ford Motor Company, and supplied to The Company as part of their “Quality and Durability Fleet Test” to operate the vehicle for Private Hire use. Exhibit 1

4.      The Company has been established since 1979 and completes journeys regularly to and from many destinations nationwide, including Bristol Airport.

5.      I first became aware of the incident when I received an email from the Registered Keeper, Exhibit 2, with an attachment showing a “Parking Charge Notice (PCN) Notice to Keeper (NTK)”, claiming that a charge of £100 had become payable for Contravention Reason: 46) Stopping in a zone where stopping is prohibited)”. 

6.      I sent an appeal to Vehicle Control Services Ltd (VCS) via their online portal stating that I was the hirer of the vehicle at the time of the alleged contravention.  Also, because so much time had passed since the contravention that they were unable to hold the “Hirer” responsible for the actions of the driver.  The Claimant replied saying they have 6 years to pursue the charge notice and if I was not the driver I can transfer liability for the notice to another person.

7.      After receiving a “DEMAND FOR PAYMENT” I sent a letter in reply informing the Claimant that I was not the driver. I pointed out that due to the byelaws in place covering parking at Bristol airport, the site is not considered ‘relevant land’ under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (‘the POFA’) and therefore that I, as the Hirer of the vehicle but not the driver, could not be held liable.  I also pointed out that the hirer The Company as a corporate body could not possibly have been the driver.  

Coupon-mad

I've created a new paragraph 4 onwards to replace the template defence:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79031299/#Comment_79031299

Showing you and others, even though your defence is in and you are at a later stage, because it should be fairly easy to adapt and use in witness statements.

Debt recovery 'cost/fees' are now banned from being added to parking charges, and that new wording explains to a Judge why that is relevant for existing cases, too.

Also read the whole new DLUHC Code of Practice because it covers all the usual points and issues, and states the best practice position.

Not retrospective but you can use it in a WS to effectively say 'Here's what a professional parking firm should have done'.

White_Taxi_Ford

Thanks for all your help.
I have just received a notice of Discontinuance from VCS regarding the above claim. 
This was dated 02/03/2022 so only 8 days before WS had to be in by.
What a waste of mine and the courts time! Pathetic!

Coupon-mad

White_Taxi_Ford said:

Thanks for all your help.
I have just received a notice of Discontinuance from VCS regarding the above claim. 
This was dated 02/03/2022 so only 8 days before WS had to be in by.
What a waste of mine and the courts time! Pathetic!

Yay, well done!   ANOTHER VCS ONE BITES THE DUST! 

TM74

Out of interest VCS also took me to court back in 2019 I followed advice on here and had my day in court, their representative turned up late by around 5 minutes ! It seriously annoyed the lovely judge and she disagreed with everything they said ( they thought they had it sewn up) and awared the case to me!

He asked for an appeal and the judges exact response was 'denied'.

I'm now having to deal with another company now trying to steal money from me! So again using this site once more bcz the laws have seemingly changed slightly.

White_Taxi_Ford

Well, this just keeps getting better!
I have just received another letter from VCS, addressed to the wrong address (which they have already been warned about using) dated the very same day as the letter of discontinuance, signed by the very same person, saying that they will accept a reduced settlement charge......blah blah blah.
What are they playing at?!?

D_P_Dance

What do you expect,  you are not dealing with John Lewis!