Highview Parking Limited - County Court Claim Letter

si_121

Hi all,

I have received a letter of claim from the County Court for a parking fine that I got in October 2016 and it's been been recommended on the Template Defence thread that I start my own thread to provide details of the event.

When I first received the notification of the fine from Highview Parking, I (perhaps naively) wrote to them stating that I had been a customer at the retail park in question and that the security guard at one of the stores had advised me that I would be fine to leave my car parked there.  I explained that I had spoken to the store since receiving the fine and they had advised me that they would contact Highview Parking to clear the fine.  HPL replied requesting evidence that I had been been a customer but I was unable to provide this as I had not purchased anything on the day and on this basis, they rejected my "appeal".  In retrospect, I had actually received a quote to my email from one of the stores.

Whilst the security guards advice was going to be my defence to the claim, I've just realised that I was 41 seconds over the 3 hour parking limit at the retail park.  I know there was a 10 minute grace period introduced by the government in car parks run by the council in 2015.  Whilst this does not apply to private parking companies, surely a judge frowns upon such a claim?

I was concerned that I had left my defence too late as the issue date on the claim is 01 April 2022 and I completed the Acknowledgement of Service on 09 April.  I thought this gave me 33 days to submit my defence but the MCOL site has me worried as everything would suggest I have just  28 days from the date of issue.  @Umkomaas has put my mind at ease on this so now it's just a case of getting this defence submitted ASAP.  I have kept this pretty simple at this stage but it's the first time I've ever done anything like this so I might be well off the mark.  Any advice on this front would be appreciated.  Here is what I have written:

"3. The Defendant had been a customer at Carpetright and B&Q at London Road Retail Park, Crawley.  At approximately 20:00hrs, the Defendant left B&Q and when doing so, enquired about parking restrictions with the store’s security guard and asked whether they would be ok to leave their car on the premises in order to get some food from the neighbouring retail park.  The security guard stated he was not aware of the parking conditions but advised that the store was closing shortly and that it would be fine to leave their car on site.  When leaving the retail park, the Defendant did not see any signs from Highview Parking.  Fortunately, the Defendant returned to their car within the Claimant’s three-hour parking limit but by the time they had driven away, the Defendant was 41 seconds over the limit."

Thanks in advance.

Trainerman

That might need a bit of tweaking. Certainly, I would not say that the defendant WAS 41 seconds over the limit. I would say that it is claimed that they were 41 seconds over, which would of course be covered by grace period ( and quote relevant CoP).

Further, if this was done by ANPR a) are they synchronised to that degree of accuracy and b) you were not actually parked for more than the allowed time, you were exiting.

Just a couple of thoughts. Wait for the real experts before deciding

Castle

13.4 You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave the private car park after the parking contract has ended, before you take enforcement action. If the location is one where parking is normally permitted, the Grace Period at the end of the parking period should be a minimum of 10 minutes

This is under Grace Periods in the BPA's Code of Practice version 6, (in "force" from October 2015 to January 2018). Furthermore, 13.2 state that they must also allow a "reasonable grace period" on entry to the car park.

Coupon-mad

I would not even go there with the 41 seconds argument.

We can tell you categorically that the ticket was 100% not issued for being 41 seconds over, so this is a blind alley. There is and was a ten minute mandatory grace period, so the PCN wasn't issued for 'overstay' unless the time limit back then was lower than 3 hours (check Google Street-view images going back historically).

Have you got a copy of the NTK?  Why was it issued?

si_121

Have a look for yourself, here's a copy of the original 'Charge Notice' that I received from HPL:

si_121

I'm an idiot (although the letter is confusing).  I've just had a look back at a picture I took of the signage after receiving the letter and the maximum stay was 2 hours.

Looks like I'm back at square one and will have to resort back to my original defence.

KeithP

si_121 said:

I was concerned that I had left my defence too late as the issue date on the claim is 01 April 2022 and I completed the Acknowledgement of Service on 09 April.  I thought this gave me 33 days to submit my defence but the MCOL site has me worried as everything would suggest I have just  28 days from the date of issue. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 1st April, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 4th May 2022 to file your Defence.

That's just a couple of days away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence.

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'.

si_121

Coupon-mad said:

Maybe the retail park doesn't allow 3 hours parking after the shops are closed? Could it be that?

I assume you missed my follow up post?  Having looked back at a picture of the signage I took after receiving the fine 5 and a half years ago, it turns out the parking limit at the retail park was 2 hours.  This might explain why I didn’t contest this immediately.

Is my conversation with the security guard at B&Q going to be enough to deny/defend the claim?  Again, any advice on how to word this would be really appreciated. 

Thanks all. 

Umkomaas

Is my conversation with the security guard at B&Q going to be enough to deny/defend the claim?

Without a written Witness Statement from him (including his authority to give 'waiver'), I'm afraid it's hearsay, not going to help you much. Is he still there?  Will he remember? Will he be bothered to help?

si_121

Umkomaas said:

Is my conversation with the security guard at B&Q going to be enough to deny/defend the claim?

Without a written Witness Statement from him (including his authority to give 'waiver'), I'm afraid it's hearsay, not going to help you much. Is he still there?  Will he remember? Will he be bothered to help?

I don't know if he's still there but I highly doubt it.  I barely remember him so he's unlikely to remember me.

Umkomaas

si_121 said:

Umkomaas said:

Is my conversation with the security guard at B&Q going to be enough to deny/defend the claim?

Without a written Witness Statement from him (including his authority to give 'waiver'), I'm afraid it's hearsay, not going to help you much. Is he still there?  Will he remember? Will he be bothered to help?

I don't know if he's still there but I highly doubt it.  I barely remember him so he's unlikely to remember me.

You could mention it in passing in a WS, adds to the pressure on the PPC to deal with, but, IMHO, it's just makeweight.