Claim form received, help and opinions needed for defence

Stanley821

Coupon-mad said:

Yes, to a point:

I arrived late in the evening at the services and did not see the poorly lit sign displaying the parking terms
 
I had a sleep, then went and bought some refreshments from the services.

On my way back to my car, I noticed a smaller sign in the car park which explained parking charges. The only way to pay was by telephone but this sign didn't give the telephone number and directed me to other signs in the car park to find the number to ring

I found the correct number and rang it for what seemed like five or ten minutes. Once it got to providing my registration plate, I made a mistake entering letters on my phone's numeric keypad and had to start all over again.

...but not this:

"Rather than doing that I drove off in frustration. I've recently rang the services and you are now required to pay at a desk inside."

I'm not sure what to write in my defence other than what is already written here as the template defence covers the points i've made.

I've been searching for defences that are similar to my case and can't find any. Could anyone point me in the right direction with this because I feel like i'm going round in circles with it.

Coupon-mad

I advised you to remove one sentence.  Show us what it looks like now.

Stanley821

I've been spending all of my time looking for legislation and points to back my simple explanation of what happened so apart from tweaking it slightly and removing what you told me to, my defence is basically the same:

I arrived late in the evening at the services and did not see the poorly lit sign displaying the parking terms
 
I parked my car in an area where there were no signs present and had a sleep, then went and bought some refreshments from the services.

On my way back to my car, I noticed a smaller sign in the car park which explained parking charges. The only way to pay was by telephone but this sign didn't give the telephone number and directed me to other signs in the car park to find the number to ring

I found the correct number and rang it for what seemed like five or ten minutes. Once it got to providing my registration plate, I made a mistake entering letters on my phone's numeric keypad and had to start all over again.

The process of paying in this way proved to be too difficult and cumbersome and there was no alternative way of paying and so I left without making payment.

Stanley821

Should I be using information from the BPA's CoP along with legislation from the CRA 2015 in order to back my explanation of events as I go along? Like this:

I arrived late in the evening at the services and did not see the poorly lit sign displaying the parking terms

Section 18.2 of The BPA Approved Operator Scheme Code of Practice Version 7 states “Entrance signs play an important part in establishing a parking contract and deterring trespassers”. Section 18.3 goes on to say, “Signs must be conspicuous”. So therefore it should be easily noticed, or attract special attention.

The entrance sign is poorly lit and is placed on a junction and so it is easily missed as was the case here because I was paying attention to manoeuvring my vehicle safely.

Section 18.3 states “You must place signs containing the specific parking terms throughout the site, so that drivers are given the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle.”

The signs in front of the parking bays were scarce and in this case were not present so I was not given the chance to read the specific parking terms at the time of parking in line with the BPA’s code of practice. 

KeithP

When reading the template defence, and all the other defences you have read, you surely will have seen that everything is written in the third person. There is no place in a Defence for the word 'I'.

I wrote earlier...

...you have until 4pm on Monday 30th May 2022 to file your Defence.

Just a few days to go.

Stanley821

yes fair point I know I need to change it to the third person

Stanley821

Here's my defence as it stands:

The defendant arrived late in the evening at the services and did not see the poorly lit sign displaying the parking terms.
 
The defendant parked in an area where there were no signs present and had a sleep, then went and bought some refreshments from the services.

On their way back to the car, the defendant noticed a smaller sign which explained parking charges. The only way to pay was by telephone but this sign didn't provide the telephone number and instead directed the defendant towards other signs in the car park to find the number to ring.

The defendant found the correct number and rang it for what seemed like five or ten minutes. Once it got to providing the registration plate details, the defendant made a mistake entering letters on their phone's numeric keypad and had to start all over again.

The process of paying in this way proved to be too difficult and cumbersome for the defendant and there was no alternative way of paying and so they left without making payment.

Coupon-mad

I thought I'd replied earlier to this one.

This is not what to say: 

 so they left without making payment.

There were no Pay & Display machines nor any facility to pay inside the premises. Every effort to pay before leaving was thwarted by a cumbersome system and reliance on a fluctuating phone signal.  Despite reasonable endeavours, the defendant simply could not enter into the contract, which proved impossible to comply with, given the method required. The authority in Jolley v Carmel applies and attention is also drawn to the new DLUHC Code of Practice which confirms that parking operators should not be using systems that set drivers up to fail with cumbersome and error-risky numberplate 'keying' requirements.

Stanley821

Thanks Coupon, I’ll work on it a little more. Can I just confirm, is it possible for the claimant to add further costs on top of what is already being claimed for? Or is the total amount now the worst case scenario if I didn’t win if/ when it goes to court? 

Stanley821

Stanley821 said:

Thanks Coupon, I’ll work on it a little more. Can I just confirm, is it possible for the claimant to add further costs on top of what is already being claimed for? Or is the total amount now the worst case scenario if I didn’t win if/ when it goes to court? 

I mean the total amount on the County Court Claim Form (which includes court fee and solicitors fee)