Driver fined because landowner changed their mind on parking space

KeithP

MFR123 said:

If I end up going to court, will there be court fees?

Yes there will, but they are payable by the Claimant.

Only if you lose will you need to concern yourself with court fees.

MFR123

Just to get this clear, appeal first then if its rejected, appeal at the second stage:

But, just a quick question: At the second stage, Cm mentioned IAS, but can I not appeal to POPLA instead of going through the kangaroo court?

MFR123

I think I've figured why:

Parallel parking is a member of IAS, it isn't a BPA member and only BPA members can use POPLA

Never mind, I'll appeal and come back with an update or any further clarifications I needed

P.S. NEWBIES forum is pretty helpful once you get the hang of it, its just finding what applies to your particular case that can be overwhelming.

MFR123

Hi guys I hope you're well

This is an update about the parking fine I received last year, the link below was the original post. I said if I was to go to court, I would return... and it seems that time has come

I've received a 'claim form' from 'gladstone solicitors'  for my parking ticket today.

Here is what initially happened in summary:

New owner bought building unit opposite my workplace in a business park last year. They were just doing some work/renovations. We asked if they were happy for us to park there for now they agreed. They did say we don't park on the bay directly in front of the building due to work trucks making use of them. So I always parked in the opposite bay - which was still there's but NOT the one they asked us to stay clear of.

Around OCT 10th, they placed signs of the parking restrictions and started fining our staff. Between Oct 10th and 15th, I was fined. My Manager tried to get in touch with them around Oct 15 about the initial allowance but received no reply. 

So I was fined by parallel parking though we were under the impression we were allowed to park there. When we finally managed to get a reply, it was simply that the signs were up and that was that. So he changed his mind without any warning.

Furthermore, he then said he was willing to let us use the parking bays if we paid him £30 per month (astonishing)

I have since been receiving letters of the incident from gladstone solicitors.

Did I appeal? I kind of forgot and the due date expired. I haven't responded to any of the letters actually and now have received a claim form. 

I have the email from my manager from Sept 2021 stating the owner has allowed us to use the parking bays except the ones directly outside the building. Only thing to mention is that this email is from OUR manager and not the guy directly.

I also have the email where our manager said he was trying to get in touch with the guy about our initial allowance and has yet to receive any communication from them. 

I also have an email about the £30 per month from General manager too.

What do I do now?

Coupon-mad

What's the date of issue of the claim?

MFR123

The issue date stated is 10th May 2022

KeithP

MFR123 said:

The issue date stated is 10th May 2022

With a Claim Issue Date of 10th May, you have until Monday 30th May to file an Acknowledgment of Service. Do not file an Acknowledgment of Service before 14th May, but otherwise there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 13th June 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

MFR123

So just to clarify, I must first file Acknowledgment of Service - THEN prepare the defense?

So I must first send off the Acknowledgment of Service form and keep the defense one for now?

KeithP

MFR123 said:

So just to clarify, I must first file Acknowledgment of Service - THEN prepare the defense?

So I must first send off the Acknowledgment of Service form and keep the defense one for now?

Your first sentence there is correct, if you want the maximum time to prepare a Defence.
(note: there is no letter 's' in the word Defence).

But the guidance I directed you towards says nothing about filling in any paper forms.

One week of the four that you had available has simply vanished since I wrote that.

MFR123

Never Mind, I'm reading the link you sent - Pretty straight forward:

I have 14 days to file the Acknowledgment of Service - Then I have 28 days from the date of issue (10th May 2022) in my case) to get my defense ready through this forum

Once my defense is sent I await the questionnaire they will send back to me and the claimant which I MUST respond to by the date given especially contesting the oral hearing or special directions request

I then send this form to Northampton as well as a copy of this to the claimant 

Then I wait for the Notice of Allocation which will give me a date and time of hearing

Finally attend the hearing

Court Claim Procedure (updated October 2016) — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I think this is the skeleton of it all with details in the specific forum - 

Did I miss anything?

P.S. Can I file the Acknowledgment of Service  online or do I have to post?

EDIT - I've just read the screenshots for the dropbox to do it online through MoneyClaims -

Thank You Very Much