Editing this to bump up as I won!! Court pack received- help with defense or I just pay it?

Pippilulu

Hi all, hope you can help! 

Claim form received a few days ago from County Court (issue date 18th Nov so post was obviously very slow!) 
I received a private parking ticket from Parking and Property Management back in March 2020 as my car was parked outside of a bay on a development I own a house in. 

Had genuine reason for parking outside of bay, partner had been very unwell and received a very early diagnosis of Covid-19 which he had picked up on a business trip  (this was literally the week before the world imploded.) Was under strict guidelines from hospital to get him home and quarantined so parked briefly on road outside house instead of parking bay to get him inside. Parking ticket was put on car whilst inside for several mins. 

Rang management company promptly who said they would have this cancelled given the circumstances. Heard nothing more about it, no letters received at all until I got a Claim form from County Court this week. Have been trying to get the management company to help with this as they said they would have it cancelled, they are now pretending they never spoke to me . More galling is I called management company from work land line to have ticket cancelled so call would be recorded but cannot have call pulled from records as it was a personal call!

I have not corresponded on this at all having not received a single letter until now  but car was parked on the road  and not sure what defence I can offer. But realise I need to file a defence pretty quickly as approaching the deadline. Or else I just pay the £257 they are asking for which I can’t really afford to do. 

All advice gratefully received! 

D_P_Dance

Read these first

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading/p1

https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum/residential-letting-questions/1053920-private-parking-companies

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/324523-ukpc-liable-for-trespass-success/

then this

They have added what appears to be an extra unlawful amount for debt collection. This amounts to double recovery 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

Also consider complaining to The SRA about the solicitor. They are full aware of the unlawful nature of this addition yet persist in adding it.

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/

and then complain to your MP

It is a lot of work but it is a scam which HMG has allowed to go on for too long.

KeithP

Pippilulu said:

Claim form received a few days ago from County Court (issue date 18th Nov so post was obviously very slow!)

With a Claim Issue Date of 18th November, you have until Tuesday 7th December to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

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

Having filed an AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 21st December 2021 to file your Defence.

That's nearly three 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'.

Coupon-mad

It would be madness to pay a claim when we see wins and discontinuances in 99% of cases, you have a perfectly good set of facts to add to the template defence and even if you lost you'd likely pay LESS THAN THE CLAIM.

As we keep saying!  We say that every time.  A no-brainer to defend and this forum walks you through all stages with minimum effort from you save for reading a lot of stuff and adapting it to suit.

Nothing scary about a small claim hearing if it progresses that far (might not).  Most are by phone, sitting in the comfort of your own home.

Pippilulu

This case dragged on and on- was supposed to be heard in December last year but got cancelled last minute twice and was finally heard today. But judge dismissed the claim by Parking and Property Management on the basis that it was a clear case of my car being stopped on a highway I had permission to stop on (provided my deed of title in my evidence pack) instead of parked and this was due to a medical reason. I referenced Jopson vs Homeguard which judge referred to and agreed applied in this case. So glad I saw it through and didn’t have to pay those cowboys a penny- I had asked for my costs to be covered in my witness pack and think judge might have granted me something as he didn’t seem terribly impressed with the claimant’s case but I said I didn’t want any money. I didn’t want them to appeal it and end up doing this all over again. The very scathing letter I had from the land owner of the development saying that Parking and Property Management no longer have a contract due to the number of complaints received from residents may have helped. Their representative was pretty terrible it must be said. 

patient_dream

Wo was the so called Legal ??

Coupon-mad

Pippilulu said:

This case dragged on and on- was supposed to be heard in December last year but got cancelled last minute twice and was finally heard today. But judge dismissed the claim by Parking and Property Management on the basis that it was a clear case of my car being stopped on a highway I had permission to stop on (provided my deed of title in my evidence pack) instead of parked and this was due to a medical reason. I referenced Jopson vs Homeguard which judge referred to and agreed applied in this case. So glad I saw it through and didn’t have to pay those cowboys a penny- I had asked for my costs to be covered in my witness pack and think judge might have granted me something as he didn’t seem terribly impressed with the claimant’s case but I said I didn’t want any money. I didn’t want them to appeal it and end up doing this all over again. The very scathing letter I had from the land owner of the development saying that Parking and Property Management no longer have a contract due to the number of complaints received from residents may have helped. Their representative was pretty terrible it must be said. 

Wow what a long wait for justice!

WELL DONE.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

Could you show us the scathing letter and the location in case anyone else can use it?  Remove names and email addresses from it.