PDT Machine took payment but didn't print ticket

dizzyblonde2015

Hi All

I recieved a PCN from "I Park Services Ltd" last June for parking "without a valid pay and display (or prepay arrangement) (ANPR)" (Their wording not mine).

The story goes like this...... I went to purchase a parking ticket at the PDT machine, entered my car registration as requested, inserted the correct fee for 1.5hr stay (£1.50), pressed the green button to confirm my details and print the ticket, but intead of it printing the ticket the display changed to "Out of Service" and didn't print out my ticket or give me a refund!
I called the telephone number on the PDT machine to report the fault, no-one answered and it went to voice mail which told me to leave a message and they would call me back. I left my contact details, and explained the fact I had paid for a ticket but the machine didn't print one out etc . I didn't know the name of the car park as it wasn't visable around the PDT machine so I just said the name of the town I was at.  On walking out of the car park the name of it was on a sign attached to the temporary fencing at the entrance so I called the number back to give them the car park name so as to give them no excuse to give me a PCN. No one called me back, most probably on purpose so they could fleece me. 
When the PCN arrived I was angry and phoned the number that was on the ticket machine again and this time a young lady answered.  I calmly told her my problem and she said that it was nothing to do with them as they only look after the machines but she would send "I Park Services Ltd" an email to expect my appeal.
I appealed but it was turned down surprise surprise.
I recived several letters from "dcbl" which I ignored.
I have recieved a Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre dated the 31st March and filled in the AOS by the 18th April so by my reckoning I have to submit a defence by the 2nd May.
I have submited a SAR to "I Park Services Ltd" and sent "dcbl" an email as advised.
Please could someone kindly give me some guidance as to how to best defend this? I have searched this forum (using key words) for any similar threads but only found a couple to do with PDT machines but those machines were not working and the ops didn't pay.

I know I can use the DS template which is great but I am not so sure what applies to my situation as I've never had to defend a pay and display problem.

Many Thanks in advance 

Fruitcake

What happened when you complained to the landowner? That is Plan A, and it is never too late to get them to cancel this spurious charge.

You have explained what happened perfectly well in your post, which will be great to use at the witness statement stage later in the process, but your defence needs to be a shorter and more precise version of that.
For your defence, use the template and adjust paragraphs 2 and 3 to suit your case. Remember that it should be written in the third person, so defendant not, me, myself, or I.

Para 2 should simply state you were the keeper and driver at the material time, but liability is denied.

Para 3 should explain the type of car park, pay and display and that the defendant paid the correct tariff but the pay machine took the money, but instead of printing a ticket, it displayed an error message.
The defendant completed their side of the contract by paying, but the claimed failed to comply with their side of the agreement by nor providing a ticket, thus causing a frustration of contract which was completely out of the defendant's control.
Then briefly explain about 'phoning the helpline, but getting no answer, and all other steps the defendant took to bring the problem to the attention to the claimant.

Like I said, you have everything you need in your opening post; you just need to condense and streamline it.

You should also complain to your MP.

Trainerman

I would also be looking for any verification possible ... mobile phone bill with number and date recorded, or possibly a photo of the call log on the 'phone again showing number called and when

Coupon-mad

There was no need to email DCBL because that's LBC stage advice.  You have a claim so it won't be put on hold.

Just put in paragraph 2 of the defence that you were the driver and in para 3, a concise synopsis of paying and phoning.

What's the issue date of the claim?

Have you done the AOS yet?  As per the NEWBIES thread.  Don't do it within the first 5 days though.

dizzyblonde2015

Coupon-mad said:

There was no need to email DCBL because that's LBC stage advice.  You have a claim so it won't be put on hold.

Just put in paragraph 2 of the defence that you were the driver and in para 3, a concise synopsis of paying and phoning.

What's the issue date of the claim?

Have you done the AOS yet?  As per the NEWBIES thread.  Don't do it within the first 5 days though.

Hi Coupon-mad
Thank you for your reply
The date of the claim was 31st March and I did the AOS on the 18th April

dizzyblonde2015

Trainerman said:

I would also be looking for any verification possible ... mobile phone bill with number and date recorded, or possibly a photo of the call log on the 'phone again showing number called and when

Hi Trainerman
Thank you for your reply.
I have kept the call logs on my phone and have taken a screen shot that shows the dates, duration etc of the calls I made.

Coupon-mad

Ok, evidence comes later though.

dizzyblonde2015

Fruitcake said:

What happened when you complained to the landowner? That is Plan A, and it is never too late to get them to cancel this spurious charge.

You have explained what happened perfectly well in your post, which will be great to use at the witness statement stage later in the process, but your defence needs to be a shorter and more precise version of that.
For your defence, use the template and adjust paragraphs 2 and 3 to suit your case. Remember that it should be written in the third person, so defendant not, me, myself, or I.

Para 2 should simply state you were the keeper and driver at the material time, but liability is denied.

Para 3 should explain the type of car park, pay and display and that the defendant paid the correct tariff but the pay machine took the money, but instead of printing a ticket, it displayed an error message.
The defendant completed their side of the contract by paying, but the claimed failed to comply with their side of the agreement by nor providing a ticket, thus causing a frustration of contract which was completely out of the defendant's control.
Then briefly explain about 'phoning the helpline, but getting no answer, and all other steps the defendant took to bring the problem to the attention to the claimant.

Like I said, you have everything you need in your opening post; you just need to condense and streamline it.

You should also complain to your MP.

Hi Fruitcake
Thank you very much for your reply.
I haven't complained to the Land Owner yet.. I will do some digging to find out who owns the land.
I will write a complaint to my MP too after I've sorted my defence statement.

This is my first attempt at a Defence Statement.  Do I need to add the fact I appealed the PCN with I Park Services and they turned it down?

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver gave rise to a ‘parking charge’ and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue or to form contracts in their own name at the location.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle in question but liability is denied. 

3. On arrival at the Car Park the Defendant proceeded to purchase a ticket from the PDT Machine, the defendant paid the correct tariff, the pay machine took the money, but instead of printing a ticket, it displayed an error message.
The defendant completed their side of the contract by paying, but the claimed failed to comply with their side of the agreement by not providing a ticket, thus causing a frustration of contract which was completely out of the defendant's control.
The defendant then proceeded to phone the helpline, but getting no answer, left a voice message reporting the fact that the PDT Machine had not printed out the ticket that had been paid for.  The defendant did not know the name of the Car Park that the helpline needed to know as it was not displayed on the PDT Machine, on walking out of the Car Park the Defendant found the name of the Car Park at the Entrance so called the helpline back to confirm the Car Park name, again no answer. The helpline answer phone message said that they would call back, but they didn’t.

ALL comments welcome and appreciated

Fruitcake

You need to spell out things like Pay and Display Ticket (PDT), Notice to Keeper (NTK) etcetera the first time you use it, then you can just use the initials PDT or NTK etcetera thereafter.

You have most of what you need, I think, about what happened on the day, but you need to add something about this happening at the material time or on the date of the alleged event.
You should also add a line or two about what happened next. NTK, appeal, second stage appeal, court claim, refusal of the claimant to accept responsibility for the fault etcetera, despite the defendant making every reasonable effort to report the fault.

If you sent an SAR, you should add a comment that a recording or transcript was not supplied since the call contained your personal data (name, VRM etcetera).

1505grandad

Typo  -  "....contract by paying, but the (claimed) failed to comply...."  -  (claimant)

dizzyblonde2015

Fruitcake said:

You need to spell out things like Pay and Display Ticket (PDT), Notice to Keeper (NTK) etcetera the first time you use it, then you can just use the initials PDT or NTK etcetera thereafter.

You have most of what you need, I think, about what happened on the day, but you need to add something about this happening at the material time or on the date of the alleged event.
You should also add a line or two about what happened next. NTK, appeal, second stage appeal, court claim, refusal of the claimant to accept responsibility for the fault etcetera, despite the defendant making every reasonable effort to report the fault.

If you sent an SAR, you should add a comment that a recording or transcript was not supplied since the call contained your personal data (name, VRM etcetera).

Thank you fruitcake.
I've taken your advice and added more info. Really not good with the wording ... see what you think 

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver gave rise to a ‘parking charge’ and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue or to form contracts in their own name at the location.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle in question but liability is denied. 

3. On arrival at the Pay and Display Car Park on the 28/06/21 the Defendant proceeded to purchase a ticket from the PDT Machine, the defendant paid the correct tariff, the pay machine took the money, but instead of printing a ticket, it displayed an error message.
The defendant completed their side of the contract by paying, but the claimant failed to comply with their side of the agreement by not providing a ticket, thus causing a frustration of contract which was completely out of the defendant's control.
The defendant then proceeded to phone the helpline, but getting no answer, left a voice message reporting the fact that the PDT Machine had not printed out the ticket that had been paid for.  The defendant did not know the name of the Car Park that the helpline needed to know as it was not displayed on the PDT Machine, on walking out of the Car Park the Defendant found the name of the Car Park at the Entrance so called the helpline back to confirm the Car Park name, again no answer. The helpline answer phone message said that they would call back, but they didn’t

4.  The defendant received a Parking Charge - Notice to Keeper dated the 30th June 2021 from “I Park Services Ltd” stating the reason for issue was “without a valid Pay and Display (or prepay arrangement) (ANPR).  On receipt of the Notice to Keeper the defendant called the helpline number that they called on the 28/06/21.  The call was answered, the operator was very apologetic about the issue, but confirmed that there was nothing that they could do as they only look after the Pay and Display machines but offered to send “I Park Services Ltd” an email to expect my appeal.

5.  The defendant appealed to “I Park Services Ltd” explaining all that had happened on the day in Question but the claimant was not prepared to take responsibility for the malfunction of the Pay and Display Machines that are installed at the car park despite the defendant making every reasonable effort to report the problem and turned down the appeal.  Now the Defendant is facing Court Proceedings for something that is out of their control.