Claim Form Received at old Address

1505grandad

Whoops  -  apologies  -  misread.

Coupon-mad

Costs are already discussed in the Newbies thread and a typical costs assessment is shown in the WS by @jrhys

D_P_Dance

Very nervous right now..

This may calm you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm4ayt_jsbo

Have you complained to your MP?

harmy69

Coupon-mad said:

Costs are already discussed in the Newbies thread and a typical costs assessment is shown in the WS by @jrhys

Just received a telephone call from a legel
rep at DCB Legal saying their client is willing to settle at £50 and end the case. Told them I’m busy at the moment and they can call me tomorrow. 

Found it quite odd since the claim is for over £200 and they’re wanting to settle at £50! 

harmy69

D_P_Dance said:

Very nervous right now..

This may calm you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm4ayt_jsbo

Have you complained to your MP?

I didn’t think it would make a difference as I got a court claim form rather than any previous letters etc. i thought once the case was filed it had to be seen through to completion..that’s why I was abit taken back with DCB legal call today. 

D_P_Dance

They want to settle because tthey think that a judge will find against them and they wioll be £££s out of pocket.  refer them to Arkell v Pressdram

https://prunescape.fandom.com/wiki/The_Reply_Given_in_Arkell_v_Pressdram_(1971)

harmy69

D_P_Dance said:

They want to settle because tthey think that a judge will find against them and they wioll be £££s out of pocket.  refer them to Arkell v Pressdram

https://prunescape.fandom.com/wiki/The_Reply_Given_in_Arkell_v_Pressdram_(1971)

Lol! Is that for real? 

Coupon-mad

harmy69 said:

Coupon-mad said:

Costs are already discussed in the Newbies thread and a typical costs assessment is shown in the WS by @jrhys

Just received a telephone call from a legel
rep at DCB Legal saying their client is willing to settle at £50 and end the case. Told them I’m busy at the moment and they can call me tomorrow. 

Found it quite odd since the claim is for over £200 and they’re wanting to settle at £50! 

They are about to discontinue altogether. Prod them a bit. Have fun with it!  NO OFFERING MONEY.

Tell them you will accept a discontinuance this week and if they drag it out any longer to back out, you will seek your full costs for unreasonably late discontinuance.

harmy69

Coupon-mad said:

harmy69 said:

Coupon-mad said:

Costs are already discussed in the Newbies thread and a typical costs assessment is shown in the WS by @jrhys

Just received a telephone call from a legel
rep at DCB Legal saying their client is willing to settle at £50 and end the case. Told them I’m busy at the moment and they can call me tomorrow. 

Found it quite odd since the claim is for over £200 and they’re wanting to settle at £50! 

They are about to discontinue altogether. Prod them a bit. Have fun with it!  NO OFFERING MONEY.

Tell them you will accept a discontinuance this week and if they drag it out any longer to back out, you will seek your full costs for unreasonably late discontinuance.

They are apparently ringing me back tomorrow as i said i need 24 hours to think about it. I will them about discontinuance but was now looking forward to getting my costs back! lol I shouldnt be greedy though i guess 

Back to the WS, i will add my second draft below.

harmy69

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT 

 

1. I am <NAME> of <ADDRESS>, and I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts 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. At around (time and date) of November 2020 I was driving my car, (VRN) around the area of Allison Street and Coventry Street in Digbeth. I had turned left from the B4100 on to Allison Street.

4. The on road parking on Coventry Street, where I usually parked when visiting the City Centre had been full due to the busy time of day so after a few minutes driving around the local streets I drove back up Allison Street in the direction of the B4100 and decided to park in the “Indoor Car Park”.

5. The exhibits that I have included in this witness statement are a mix of photos that I took and also images from Google Street View that also show a lack of terms and conditions on any of the signage.

6. There were two signs on the footpath, the first nearest to the passenger side of the car as I approached the car park (exhibit 1) and the second near the entrance of the car park (exhibit 2). There was also a “Please Pay Here” sign next to the payment machine. None of these signs had any terms and conditions on them. From looking at Google street view, the Claimant has since added a “£5.00 All Day” sign which was not there on the date of the alleged contravention. These signs can also be seen in exhibit 2.

7. The entrance did not have any signs stating any terms and conditions, neither on the wall closest to the driver side nor on the wall nearest to the passenger side of the car. The only signs present on the wall were on the passenger side and these stated “PAY AT MACHINE ON OUTSIDE CAR PARK” and above that there was a sign stating “CCTV IN OPERATION ON THESE PREMISES” (exhibit 3). The driver side of the entrance did not have any signs on it (exhibit 4).

8. I drove into the car park and noticed it was very dark in there. The car park was poorly lit with lights only on the far side of the indoor car park with most of the entrance area amongst shadows.

1. As I entered the car park as it was relatively empty and saw an empty space next to a metal pillar and proceeded to park my car there. I parked my car, taking note of the large metal pillar on the passenger side of my car. The position of the metal pillar is such that no other car is able to fit into that empty space.

1. I exited my car and proceeded to the outside of the car park to purchase a ticket whilst my wife remained in the car. As I walked out of the car park I did not see any signs inside the car park that indicated any sort of terms and conditions. I was expecting such a sign to be near the payment machine.

2. There were no signs next to the payment machine regarding terms and conditions either, only a sign about opening hours (exhibit 5). I did not see any signs during my drive to, entry into, stay at or exit from the parking area. As such I can only reasonably conclude that there were no such signs.

3. I paid £2.20 for 3 hours of parking and took my ticket and went back to my car and displayed the ticket in the window clearly (exhibit 6).

4. At no point did I notice that my car was incorrectly parked and I believe I would have noticed a bright yellow line as shown in the Claimant's photo (exhibit 7, green circle). I made sure there was enough space between my car and the large metal pillar that I was parked next to, so my passenger did not bang my door into it when getting out. Had there been a yellow line as drawn in the Claimant's photo, I would have adjusted my parking.

5. Due to the metal pillar being next to my car I believed that I was parked correctly without putting the Claimant at any loss because no other car could have parked in that space.  The Orange circle represents the position my car was parked in relation to the wall art. This can be seen to be the same position as in exhibit 8 where now another car had parked after me. The photo shows how poorly lit car park was during the time I was there. It is evident from this photo that parking bay lines are very poorly maintained and some do not even appear to be there.

6. When I arrived back to the car park later that evening I noticed a parking ticket on my windscreen. I took this off and got inside the car believing it was a mistake due to having already paid. I handed the ticket to my wife (the passenger) and drove out of the car park. By the time I had parked safely to take pictures of the car park and where I had parked another car had now parked there instead.

7. There was now another car parked in the same space as I had parked earlier, marked in a orange circle which is the same position as in exhibit 7. It can be seen that the parking bay is next to the metal pillar where another car cannot be parked. I have marked this pillar with a red circle for clarification.

1. I would like to stress that there was no parking bay marked with bright yellow lines as shown in the Claimants photos whilst I was parked in the car park.

1. I got back into my car and discussed with my wife that it must have been a mistake as I had fully paid but also discussed the lack of signs in the car park that expressed any kind of detail. We both felt this to be somewhat strange and she expressed that it seemed very deceptive not to have signs and it was worrying.

2. On the (date), the next day I emailed the contact email address of Premier Parking Logistics, stating I had paid and provided photos of my ticket. In my haste I accidentally gave my parents address where I visit everyday as I am an unpaid carer due to my mothers disability.

3. I received a reply the following day, (date) stating that the charge was for “not parking WHOLLY within a marked bay” and that I “did not comply with the terms and conditions stated on signage within the area...” and that “signage within the area holds a 24 hour helpline which you could have accessed had you any concerns regarding parking on the day in question.”

4. I absolutely disagree with these points as there was no visible signage regarding any terms and conditions and the only signs that were obvious were the ones pointing to the car park and the one regarding where the payment machine is. I did not see any other signs as I entered or exited the car park.

5. There are numerous metal pillars as you walk out of the car park as shown in exhibit 8 but none of these pillars had any signs either. As such I can only reasonably conclude that there were no such signs on the date of the parking ticket.

6. Parking bays were not clearly or adequately marked out and some bays had no visible lines at all. There were definitely no parking bays marked with yellow lines where I had parked my car.

7. I did not reply to this email as I did not agree that I had broken any terms and conditions. I received no further emails or correspondence at the address that I had provided up until the Claim Form.

8. The Claim Form states that my “vehicle was parked in breach of the Terms on Cs signs (the Contract), thus incurring the PCN(s). I disagree that any contract was formed due to the fact that there had been absolutely no clear and obvious signage visible relating to any Terms by the Claimant as I entered or exited the car park on that day.

9. I therefore disagree with the Claimant's excessive costs and damages relating to me parking in the claimant's car park that day as no contract was ever formed. I paid the full parking charges as directed by the signs that were visible and displayed my ticket clearly in the windscreen.