Preparing Defence after CCJ was SetAside - Gladstones & Premier Park

mric2000

Hi all,

This is the next stage, after my recent post (CCJ was falsely issued after Gladstones sent Claim Form to my old address - see here for reference

In a nutshell:

Parking fine issued in March 2018. Was sent to my old address in May 2018, where I lived until Jan 2019.
CCJ issued in June 2022, after they (Gladstones on behalf of Premier Park) falsely served the Claim form to my old address (in April 22), despite having established my new address in March 2022. CCJ was set aside and new dates for case progression were issued.

Gladstones had to resubmit the Claim Form to my new address by 22nd July. I received the original Claim Form (that they forwarded to me) on 11th July.

I have to submit my Defence by 5th August.

My predicament is that I have very limited information about what the claim covers.

What I know:

I submitted a SAR to Premier Park on 27th June. They only replied yesterday (27th July) – 8 days before my Defence is to be submitted.
Had I not submitted that SAR the only info I would have would be the info provided on the Claim Form (i.e location, date, VRN and PCN cost of £100 plus interest of £54.35).

Incidentally, I had sent a SAR and received reply to my new updated address on 9th Jan 2020 – as part of a similar but unrelated case. This goes to show they had my address details correct at that time, but failed to update my records it seems.

From the information I have now gathered (from their SAR reply), I have worked out the following:

My (leased) car was captured on camera at a car park where I used to go regularly to use the gym, use the shops, or work for prolonged periods of time at a Starbucks. I had had tickets previously and the Starbucks manager would simply take them into the back office and get them cancelled out (somehow), as I was a regular customer for them.

Their records show I was at the car park for 3 hours 22 minutes.
I have been back to look at the signs and have seen that it is a 3 hour limit, but this is not mentioned in any of their communications and is not made particularly visible within the car park signs (in my opinion). Their comms only state “Exceeded Maximum Stay Period”.

From the photos I have of the signs, I would argue they are not very easy to identify/read.
There's a sign as you turn in on the left hand side, but it is about 10-20 foot from the turning into the carpark off the main road, and is approximately 5 foot before and you have to turn left to follow the entry flow of the carpark. Its certainly not feasible to stop and read it while you are driving in. I have since taken a photo of it and it simply states that there are parking restrictions and in small print it refers to other signs.

On the reverse of that sign (so impossible to read when you leave the carpark on the otherside of the road!) they have the terms laid out in small print, which is where it states there is a 3 hour stay limit.
There are other signs in the car park, but none that are easily visible from the section of the car park that Starbucks customers tend to use.

I had also used the same carpark and was captured on the camera earlier that day for a period of 1hr 26 mins, according to their records.

It seems that the last correspondence from them was issued on 4th July 2018, based on the SAR info.

I had a similar, unrelated case in the same location with a PCN that was issued on 5th March 2018.
That case was resolved through a successful claim (for them unfortunately) in October 2020.
This begs the question why they have waited another 18 months before processing this Claim?

My Defence:

I'm wondering what the best approach is for this.
Should I go down the line of "poor signage"?
Or should I go more with the poor processes they have followed in addressing this case,which have therefore made it very difficult for me to compile an informed defence, espeically given the 4 year+ window that has surpassed since the alleged offence?

As ever, any advice or suggestions will be very gratefully received.
Thank you

Coupon-mad

I think you should cut and paste this into a reply on your other thread, please, and let this one die.

Why the heck didn't that Judge order your costs of £275 to be paid, or that costs be reserved?  Currently you are £275 out of pocket, surely?

Please answer on the other thread!

mric2000

Understood @Coupon-mad

I'll do that now and leave this thread drop out.