Help with drafting a defence to Gladstones claim

Leeroy909

Hi folks, I've read the newbie thread and the template defence and looking to get some help with drafting a defence. Here is briefly what has happened so far.

I parked in an office building car park multiple times to visit a business in the building. The car park does have signs saying it is permit parking only, but I was told verbally that there isn't actually a permit. I looked at the other cars in the car park and indeed none of the other cars in there had a permit.

I have now checked the car park again, and it appears that there is now a permit system in place. I assume that every other person who worked in the office every day didn't get PCNs before the permit system was in place.

I then received four PCNs from ES Parking by post showing that I did not have a permit, which I did not respond to. Gladstones has now sent me an LBC and then a claim in respect of two of the PCNs. I don't know why they have not sent a claim for the other two. The amount is £100 per PCN, plus £70 costs, plus interest and fees totalling £448.32.

I would like to present an effective defence on the basis that there was not actually a permit system in place at the time that I parked there; it was only implemented after I had parked there and the PCNs had been issued, but whether I'm able to prove that is a different matter. I also had permission to park there, but I should have gotten it in writing.

Can anyone advise if this is a good basis for a defence and if the template defence is applicable in this situation?

Thanks

Coupon-mad

The template defence is applicable to all except ParkingEye claims.  You have a perfectly good set of facts there, if there was no permit scheme in place at the point of parking then you can't have been in breach.

The amount is £100 per PCN, plus £70 costs,

Another point of defence is that the IPC CoP capped the false costs at £60 (it only changed to £70 in August this year for new cases, and can't be applied retrospectively, not that any 'fees' were ever paid to any third party debt collector).  Also it can't be 'per PCN' if they are pretending it's for 'debt recovery' demands.   Can't be added in multiples.  Ludicrous.

KeithP

Looks like you may have received a County Court Claim.

If so, please tell us the Issue Date on it.

Leeroy909

@Coupon-mad Thanks for you advice. With regards to my intended defence, would I need to be able to provide evidence that the permit system was only implemented after the PCNs were issued? The only way I can think to do this would be to ask the office management themselves.

@KeithP Thanks, the issue date is 08/11; I will be able to file a defence by the end of the week.

D_P_Dance

The amount is £100 per PCN, plus £70 costs, plus interest and fees totalling £448.32.

Something wrong here, read this and complain to your MP.

They have added what appears to be an extra unlawful amount for debt collection. This amounts to double recover and some Judges have dismissed an entire claim because of this. Read this and complain to your MP.

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/16qovzulab1szem/G4QZ465V%20Excel%20v%20Wilkinson.pdf?dl=0

However, a VCS appealed this so it may not apply in all cases, read this

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntksx9g7177ahyg/VCS v Percy v1 Amendments (2).pdf?dl=0Also read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6279348/witness-statements-2-transcripts-re-parking-firms-false-costs-recorder-cohen-qc-judgment-2021/p1

Coupon-mad

You need to get your evidence together now.

So yes, I would be getting into email discussion with the site office to get dates and information confirmed to support your case AND to ask them to step in and tell the PPC to cancel, or to confirm in writing/ by email to you, that the site office supports your case and WANTS the PCN(s) cancelled.

Either will help.

Get onto that now, robustly and insistently - and no phone calls.  No use as evidence!


NB: just noticed I passed 100,000 posts this week!

KeithP

KeithP said:

Looks like you may have received a County Court Claim.

If so, please tell us the Issue Date on it.

Leeroy909 said:

@KeithP Thanks, the issue date is 08/11; I will be able to file a defence by the end of the week.

Oh... that's quite a while ago.

Did you file an Acknowledgment of Service sometime before Monday this week?
If not, your Defence is due NOW - before 8am tomorrow morning. 
You are now in a race. If you file your Defence before the Claimant seeks a Default Judgment, you win this heat and go through to the next round.
However, if the Claimant seeks that Default Judgment before you file a Defence, it's game over - you lose.
Read on to find out how to file your Defence.

But if you did file an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 13th December 2021 to file your Defence.

That's over a week 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 at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline 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'.