Claimant filed >£700 for 3 Parking Invoices issued in 2016

Umkomaas

Forget 'Abuse of Process', it no longer flies in terms of getting a court case dismissed. Instead you need to be terming the spurious add-on costs as 'Double Recovery' and you need to be cognisant of the very latest Code of Practice, now determined by Government, where debt collection/administration charges are banned as part of its roll out.

You should be adding the following paragraph, very helpfully drafted by legally qualified regular forum contributor @bargepole, into your WS:

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ('DLUHC') has published, as of 7 February 2022, a statutory Code of Practice which all private parking Operators are required to comply with. This states, as Section 9, that 'The parking operator must not levy additional costs over and above the level of a parking charge or parking tariff as originally issued.'  In the present case, the Claimant has added a sum of [INSERT FIGURE HERE], described as '[INSERT DESCRIPTION HERE]', which is clearly contrary to the intention of the Code. Whilst it is accepted that the new statutory Code does not take full effect immediately, it clearly sets out the Government's intentions regarding private parking, and the Court is invited to strike out this element of the claim, irrespective of the determination of any other element.,

The Beavis signage is a legitimate point to make. 

PODE001

By saying forget abuse of process do you mean that I shouldn't follow the telephone template advice (post by coupon Mad in 2020) when submitting evidence to request the case to be struck out with the Draft Word Order ?

I had planned to use a tailored version of the above paragraph in the submission email too, as my WS is not due until after the evidence submission date, and I wanted to wait to see what I received from the Claimant first.

Umkomaas

Things move at a pace in this game and 'Abuse of Process' because of additional spurious costs no longer works.  You can make the same point using the term 'Double Recovery', which will probably get the add-ons removed, but highly unlikely to get the whole case dismissed. 

Use the @bargepole suggested paragraph to reflect what the new Code of Practice says about added debt collection/administration charges - banned!

In regard to the £XX 'contractual costs' you will need to include in your WS this statement helpfully provided by legally qualified, regular forum contributor @bargepole.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ('DLUHC') has published, as of 7 February 2022, a statutory Code of Practice which all private parking Operators are required to comply with. This states, at Section 9, that 'The parking operator must not levy additional costs over and above the level of a parking charge or parking tariff as originally issued.'  In the present case, the Claimant has added a sum of [INSERT FIGURE HERE], described as '[INSERT DESCRIPTION HERE]', which is clearly contrary to the intention of the Code. Whilst it is accepted that the new statutory Code does not take full effect immediately, it clearly sets out the Government's intentions regarding private parking, and the Court is invited to strike out this element of the claim, irrespective of the determination of any other element.,

I've not read back through the entire thread, but I'm a bit unclear what you're saying here. 

I had planned to use a tailored version of the above paragraph in the submission email too, as my WS is not due until after the evidence submission date, and I wanted to wait to see what I received from the Claimant first.

You'll be lucky to see the Claimant's WS before you have to submit yours. As a rule of thumb, if the Defendant receives the Claimant's WS before submitting his/her own, they will, generally speaking, have missed the deadline for submitting theirs. Both parties have the same deadline; parking firms' low rent solicitors are notoriously late with theirs. Ordinarily the 'evidence submission date' is the same as that for the WS, the evidence being an integral part of the WS. 

Can you explain what you mean by 'submission email'?  Who is it aimed at and with what kind of content?

PODE001

I received a notice of Allocation to the small claims track which laid out these deadlines:-
-By 2 Mar Claimant must file a Reply to the Defence (I received a copy of this by email today 21/02/22)
-Final Hearing - to be held by telephone on first open date after 4 May
-Evidence to be submitted to all parties by 9 Mar 
-WS to be submitted to all parties by 6 Apr

I called the court and they told me these dates were correct as I thought it was odd they gave different deadlines.

I confirmed with the court I can submit my evidence via email and this is what I meant by including those paragraphs in my "Submission email" to invite the judge to strike out the case before a hearing date has been set.

For your information - The Reply to the Defence includes:
1. Claimant was displaying signs of parking terms, stating a valid parking permit must be clearly displayed at all times.
2. By parking on the land I have accepted the contract and the parking service is the consideration.
3. The contract states a charge is payable if breached.

They have provided an easier to read version of the sign as an exhibit which looks in a slightly different format to the sign in the car park and the blurry image taken of the sign by the parking attendant that day.

Now they have provided a clear copy of the sign I can see it reads:-
No Unauthorised Parking - large writing
Terms of Parking apply at all times - smaller writing
Failure to comply.. will result in £100 parking charge - even smaller writing
A valid parking permit must be clearly displayed at all times - even smaller writing!
Unpaid charges will be passed to debt collection and an additional £60 charge applied.

They state they will provide in advance of the hearing, the authorisation to enforce this contract for the landowner and do not accept the lease provides the right to park.

My defence was based upon:-
1) Primacy of contract - I rented a space from another tenant in the building and cannot access a lease to prove this does not mention permits, or provide specific correspondence of the contract with the tenant, other than bank statements showing monthly payment for the space, a copy of a permit and general correspondence discussing parking options to "rent from a friend" which was the tenant. I would argue this agreement overrides the parking sign "offer of contract".

2) Parking Charge cost - inflated to £160 per ticket - refer to Beavis although not applicable to residential cases, hard to establish commercial justification for charging residents. Refer to double jeopardy / code of practice / abuse of process practices.

3) the signage - no offer - I would argue "No Unauthorised Parking" is not an offer to park, but it does look like they did include the general information on the sign as per consumer contracts regulations 2013. However it can be argued the copy of the sign provided cannot be proven this was the sign in question on the date of the PCN as the photo quality is poor.

4) Authority to operate
If primacy of contract is proven, would the claimant have to prove the other tenant gave them authority to pursue a claim against me?

Any advice on specific points to concentrate on in my WS?

I have to submit my evidence this week as I'm going on holiday, but will use the extra time given for the witness statement.

Jenni_D

It seems really odd that evidence (which associates a WS) should be filed/served 4 weeks before the WS itself is due?

PODE001

That's what I thought(!) - how can I upload a copy of this to show you? I don't want to make a mistake and not file the correct support on time.

PODE001

hxxs://www.dropbox.com/s/h3l6rx928tfnzbh/Notice%20of%20Allocation%20-%20_Redacted.pdf?dl=0

Coupon-mad

Some courts do it this way.

Show us your draft WS and evidence, may as well do it all at once as it will save time if you are going away.

Le_Kirk

Your link made live: -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h3l6rx928tfnzbh/Notice of Allocation - _Redacted.pdf?dl=0

Coupon-mad

So, a few days to get your exhibits filed and served before 9th.  Include the stuff recommended in the NEWBIES thread section about WS and Exhibits stage, plus the whole new statutory Code of Practice published by the DLUHC last month.

Warwick Court are good and will love it!

And WS by 6th April but you were thinking of doing both by next week?

If so, look at my recent replies this weekend as a couple of people are working on their WS right now, to include the new wording about the fact that debt recovery fees are now banned.