Another EMA VCS No Stopping Fine!!!!!

SkyWhy

Hi, I've spent a lot of time reading through this forum after discovering it relatively late in the game once I'd decided to defend against the claim.  I'd welcome any constructive advice to help me formulate my defence which is due to be submitted shortly.  I no longer drive the vehicle because I have moved jobs.  The car was leased by my previous company and I drove it for both business and pleasure use.  I initially appealed via their internal process because I didn't want my company automatically paying the fine and charging me through salary and I panicked and hadn't discovered this forum!  It was rejected as was the IAS appeal.  I'm sure I admitted to being the driver.

I now face court action.

PPC: VCS
Airport: EMA
Claim: Standard VCS wording for stopping in a zone where stopping is prohibited

Timeline

1. Alleged Offence Date: 08th November 2021
2. Issue Date of CN/NTK: 11/11/2021
3. Claim Form Issue Date: 24/05/2022
4. Submitted AoS via MCO: 08/06/2022

Q's

1. I have calculated that I have until Sunday 26/06/2022 to submit my defence, is that correct?
2. I intend to use the template provided (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6108153/template-defence-to-adapt-for-all-parking-cases-where-they-add-false-admin-costs-edited-march-2022) as my defence and my question is other than the particular facts of my case @ #1,#2,#3 do I need to add change anything else?
3. Is POFA relevant given I have admitted I am the driver?
4. In addition to the defences listed in the template, is there a defence that I can add based on the following? Because I had already paid to use the swimming pool at the hotel I was given a contractual licence to be on the land by the hotel (or third party) who had a right to grant such a licence under the terms of their lease before I was aware of the T&C's of no stopping, etc.  This meant that there was no contract between me and the claimant as there was no consideration/or the consideration was 'past consideration' and not valid in law.

For context my draft defence para #3 of template:

The Defendant was taking their family swimming at the Jury’s in on the evening the alleged offence took place.  It was November and approximately 5.30pm and it was dark.  It was the defendants first visit to the hotel and therefore they were unfamiliar with the parking arrangements.  When the defendant pulled into the hotel access road, they noted the hotels parking tariff sign which wasn’t lit and could only be read using the cars headlights.  Due to the position of the sign the only way to read it and light it up was to stop prior to the car park entrance barrier.  The defendant's passenger then proceeded to ring the hotel to clarify whether or not they would be liable to pay for parking in addition to the £15 they had already paid when booking to use the swimming pool.  Once clarified that parking was included the defendant proceeded to the barrier and entered the car park.  

All constructive feedback welcome please.

Thanks, SW

KeithP

SkyWhy said:

I now face court action.

1. Claim Form Issue Date: 24/05/2022
   
2. Submitted AoS via MCO: 08/06/2022

1. I have calculated that I have until Sunday 26/06/2022 to submit my defence, is that correct?

Almost right with your Defence filing deadline, but no court deadline will ever be on a Sunday.

With a Claim Issue Date of 24th May, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 27th June 2022 to file your Defence.

That's nearly a week away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see you are not leaving it to the last minute.

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'.

legalbeagles

Q4 raises an interesting point. If the claimant still argues that consideration is given by way of a contractual licence from the freeholder and the defendant is already in possession of a contractual licence, then based on these facts then, the 'consideration' is of insufficient value to the defendant and not 'good consideration'.

SkyWhy

Thanks KeithP that’s very useful to know. Appreciate you taking your time to provide feedback. 

SkyWhy

legalbeagles said:

Q4 raises an interesting point. If the claimant still argues that consideration is given by way of a contractual licence from the freeholder and the defendant is already in possession of a contractual licence, then based on these facts then, the 'consideration' is of insufficient value to the defendant and not 'good consideration'.

Thanks legalbeagles this is good feedback and an angle perhaps worth further exploration. Has anyone else used this before with success? 

SkyWhy

Now that the Private Parking Code of  Practice was temporarily withdrawn on the 7 June 2022 am I still able to reference it as part of my defence as still relevant to this case as per para 7 of the template defence mentioned above?

Fruitcake

You can still refer to the intent of the new CoP, but it has never been enforced. It was suspended to evaluate the validity of the fake add on debt collection/admin costs that a PPC has not incurred, which does not affect any other points, or the fact that the department for levelling up said that the fake add on costs that the PPC has not incurred is an attempt at extortion.

SkyWhy

Thanks Fruitcake that is helpful.  Do you have any comments to my Q's #2,#3 and #4 raised in my original post above?

KeithP

SkyWhy said:

 Do you have any comments to my Q's #2,#3 and #4 raised in my original post above?

My comments are...

2. No.

3. No.

4. Yes - and see also @legalbeagles' comment.

SkyWhy

Thanks @KeithP I will remove the reference to POFA and add in some draft wording about consideration given by the hotel as per @legalbeagles advice.

Once drafted is it ok if I post my draft defence here in it's entirety to obtain clarification that it's good to go from this knowledgeable source?  I would like to submit it on Friday ahead of the Monday deadline.

KeithP

SkyWhy said:

Once drafted is it ok if I post my draft defence here in it's entirety to obtain clarification that it's good to go from this knowledgeable source? 

Please don't do that.

There is absolutely no point in showing us all those paragraphs of the template Defence that you have not altered.
That's just creating more work for everyone - wondering whether you have altered a paragraph or not.

Of course you can show us those paragraphs that you have written or amended.