court hearing with UK CPM (Gladstones) please help with witness statement

mhagle

Hi, 

I have a court hearing on june 8th, i have written a part of my witness statement but i really need help can someone help me please.

1.    I am xxxx of xxxxx, and I am the defendant against whom this claim is made against. The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

2.     In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. My defence is repeated and I will say as follows:

Sequence of events and signage

3.      Firstly, I have appended the actual signage, photographed myself on August 11th 2021, and will refer to it.

4.      I went to West London Mental health on 2 January 2020 to visit my brother that was admitted into the hospital for having suicidal thoughts and depression. I have attached the hospital admission for my brother who was in the hospital on that day.

5.      I parked my xxxx in a bay and went out and looked at the signs. As it was around 17:50 and quite dark I read the signage for the hospitals parking. The terms and conditions are:

·         Staff must display a valid Green West London NHS Trust Permit in the front window screen at all times

·         You must park wholly within a marked bay. No parking on roadways/yellow lines/ paved / hatched or landscapes areas

6.      There is also a purple sign under the signage at the front where it asks about payment, however there are no pay stations in the car park. I checked all around the car park to find a pay station and found nothing. It states o the purple sign:

·         Have you paid for your parking?

7.      This signage is obscure and ambiguous. This sign is misleading as the sign does not mention who can or cannot park there. For example most signs who only permit a certain people to park they would have ‘staff only’, ‘Residents Park only’.

Coupon-mad

. I have attached the hospital admission for my brother who was in the hospital on that day.

When you append evidence, call it Exhibit 1(your initials) then Exhibit 2(your initials) etc, etc.

The above is merely the start.  You need the usual rest of it, seen in all WS since March 2022, about lack of evidence of landowner authority, and the fact the DLUHC has banned the added fake 'debt recovery' fee and declared it 'extortion'. See examples such as the first WS by @ricky_balboa

mhagle

thank you coupon-mad, 

is there specific cases for ambiguous signs for example the terms and conditions i have quoted that: 

Staff must display a valid Green West London NHS Trust Permit in the front window screen at all times

they are saying this is only staff car park, without saying it explicitly. are there any cases that you can direct me to so i can use them for my witness statement.


Thank you very much for the help

Coupon-mad

Not that spring to mind and you don't need that.  Just say your story and plonk it into the example by ricky_balboa and edit anything that is wrong in his one for your case.

Show us the resulting fully tweaked draft.

patient_dream

You need to keep on top with Gladstones

The company has form

Gladstones Solicitors on BBC Rip off Britain  today  11th May 2022
SERIES 14: EPISODE 8

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6357152/gladstones-solicitors-on-bbc-rip-off-britain-today#latest

Johnersh

What did your defence say? And what are the t&c's on the full sign?

If you were never offered parking on site, it becomes harder for them to assert anything was agreed.

The statement needs to help support the defence. You'll get better help from the forum if you share that, too. 

mhagle

this is the signage 

mhagle

this was my defence about the signage not being clear. 

thank you for the help.

Johnersh

OK so your paras 4 & 5 probably cover it. That sign arguably creates no contract with you as it is impossible to perform:

1. You had no permit
2. Ukcpm would have refused to supply one
3. You were not entitled to one

The contract could never be performed: The obligation (to display a permit) was not ever going to be possible for you. It created an immediate breach of contract the second you entered the site, for which it then sought a payment. 

Note that the payment sought is not for parking as an alternative to displaying a permit (don't let them say it is). The sign clearly states the payment is for the breach of terms - which, in fact it was impossible for the o/p to comply with. 

There are many ways to run a staff only car park, but this isn't it. Google the words impossibility + contract to explore any arguments you may have on this. 

Pace v Lengyl is helpful (but non binding) on this, albeit in the context of a residential setting. 

mhagle

Thank you very much, I will put that in my witness statement and read up on pace v Lengyl.

once i finish my witness statement i will upload on here asap but i really appreciate the help thank you.

mhagle

The signage in the car park is of a “forbidding” nature. It is limited to cars displaying a valid permit only and therefore the terms cannot apply to cars without a permit because the signage does not offer an invitation to park on certain terms. The terms are forbidding. This means that there was never a contractual relationship. I refer you to the following case law: PCM-UK v Bull et all B4GF26K6 [2016], UKPC v Masterson B4GF26K6[2016], Horizon Parking v Mr J C5GF17X2 [2016] – In all three of these cases the signage was found to be forbidding and thus only a trespass had occurred and would be a matter for the landowner.

i found this would this be ok for me to use as it mentions that its a forbidden siganage?