CLAIM FORM for parking charges in 2018

Dess

Hi all,

Two years ago I created a post regarding a Letter before Claim from VCS - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6182830/help-possible-mistake-in-acknowledgement-of-vcs-letter-before-claim/p1

We have finally received a Claim Form on 05/08/2022, but not for the same Letter of Claim of two years ago. The claim is against my partner, but he is currently away for work, so I'm helping with it.

A bit of background:

On 10/08/2020 I sent an acknowledgment email for the Letter Before Claim. Then on 22/08/2020 I contacted the litigation department of Vehicle Control Services and said that I was seeking debt advice, I denied any debt, and the case needed to be put on hold for 30 days under the PAP for debt claims 2017. I also sent a SAR to the data protection team to access the following information:

• all photos and videos taken;
• all letters and emails sent and received from any appeal and earlier correspondence;
• all data held, all evidence that you will rely on and a full copy of the PCN, NTK; and
• a list of all the PCNs that you claim are outstanding against me.

Well, to be honest, I'm not sure if I have done things correctly back then, but they never replied. I never received a Claim Form and they went silent for 2 years. Then a month ago, I received another Letter of Claim, this time the letter came from dcblegal (previous one was directly from VCS).

I never did anything with this. I didn't reply, I didn't contest, I didn't file a SAR. Maybe I made a mistake, but I was so tired of this that I decided to ignore it, hoping it would go away like the previous one. They've been harrasing us since 2018, so they lost credibility - not sure if they were trying to achieve that.

Two days ago I finally received a Claim Form. The total amount is £1260.08. I have no idea were these charges are coming from.

Initially the costs were roughly £620, and now they're asking for more than double of that. This is appaling.

In the particulars of claim, they state that the defendant agreed to pay within 28 days, but this never happened. Is there any way to request access to their evidence now? I don't even know what parking tickets they're referring to anymore since I had so many issues with them from the beginning of the lease, and the reception team would always get them sorted, but when we left the accomodation they ghosted us.

I'm currently drafting the defence, after filing an Acknowledgment of Service, but I'm finding it difficult because I don't know if I should include that they have sent me a previous Letter of Claim, and that they haven't complied with the SAR back then and completely ignored my emails.

I wish I could file a counterclaim against VCS and the Landlord of the accomodation for all the stress they have caused my partner and me, and the time and effort that it will take us to sort this out, but I just want this to be over so I will just disagree with the claim and hope that I'll win this.

Please advise.

Thank you for your help!

KeithP

Dess said:

In the particulars of claim, they state that the defendant agreed to pay within 28 days, but this never happened. 

No, the PoC say "the driver agreed to pay...".

The allegation is that by parking the driver agreed to the terms of the contract.

Those contract terms are the terms on the signs.

Almost certainly there is a term on the signs stating something like "if the driver doesn't park in accordance with the rules then he agrees to pay £nn within 28 days...".

Dess said:

I'm currently drafting the defence, after filing an Acknowledgment of Service...

When did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
If you've not yet done it then leave it for a few days to gain the maximum time for producing and filing a Defence.

With a Claim Issue Date of 5th August, you have until Wednesday 24th August to file an Acknowledgment of Service. Do not file an Acknowledgment of Service before 10th August, but otherwise there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 7th August, you have until 4pm on Monday 5th September 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that 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'.

Of course everywhere I say 'you' or 'your' I mean that everything must be done in the name of the named Defendant.

Dess

No, the PoC say "the driver agreed to pay...".

The allegation is that by parking the driver agreed to the terms of the contract.

Those contract terms are the terms on the signs.

Almost certainly there is a term on the signs stating something like "if the driver doesn't park in accordance with the rules then he agrees to pay £nn within 28 days...".

Oh right, I understand.

Anyway, I filed the AOS today, unfortunately I only read that I should've done it on the fifth day afterwards. But it's not a problem as I still have plenty of time and I want to get this done by the end of next week because I don't want to dwell on it for an entire month. It's already damaging my mental health as it is, and it's only been two days...

KeithP

Dess said:

Anyway, I filed the AOS today, unfortunately I only read that I should've done it on the fifth day afterwards. But it's not a problem as I still have plenty of time and I want to get this done by the end of next week because I don't want to dwell on it for an entire month. It's already damaging my mental health as it is, and it's only been two days...

OK, then the Defence filing deadline becomes 4pm on Monday 5th September.

I have adjusted my earlier post to reflect this.

Trainerman

I would chase that SAR, or send a new one to the parking company. Whilst it may not arrive in time for filing defence, it should help with witness statement. If you cannot get hold of exactly what evidence they are relying on, it is a bit like having a boxing match in the dark

Dess

Trainerman said:

I would chase that SAR, or send a new one to the parking company. Whilst it may not arrive in time for filing defence, it should help with witness statement. If you cannot get hold of exactly what evidence they are relying on, it is a bit like having a boxing match in the dark

Hi Trainerman,

The SAR that I filed was 2 years ago, same company but different letter before claim (they didn't send me any information afterwards, nor did they initiated a claim form). Was there a deadline to file a new SAR or can I still do it? Because the letter before claim that they sent out for this court claim was on 29th June 2022.

Le_Kirk

You need to submit a new SAR relating to the latest incident and if they fail to respond in the required 30 days, you report them to the ICO.  If they try any nonsense about charging you for the info just remind them that they failed to respond to your previous request but also this is a DIFFERENT issue.

Dess

I have prepared the defence, could you give me any feedback on this?

I have replaced all personal informations with 3 dots.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that at all material times the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of vehicle registration mark ... which is the subject of these proceedings.

3. It is admitted that the Defendant's vehicle was parked at ... . The Defendant parked the vehicle at ... because he was a tenant of the development ... . The Defendant had an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement with ..., originally commencing on 15 May 2017 and expiring on 14 May 2018. The Shorthold Tenancy Agreement was extended by a further month, with a new expiration date on 14 June 2018.

The Shorthold Tenancy Agreement included Apt 218 and 1 x parking space. A copy of the lease will be provided to the Court, together with witness evidence that prior permission to park had been given.

As stated in the Shorthold Tenancy Agreement, tenants are

[10.1. aa.] not park or allow any visitor to park any car or other vehicle on the grounds of the Development without a permit where applicable.

The above subsection of the Shorthold Tenancy Agreement doesn’t specify the following:

·         The meaning of the term ‘where applicable’

·         What a permit is

·         Who was to supply said permit

·         Whether said permit was to be displayed

·         The authority of a third-party parking regulator

The Shorthold Tenancy Agreement also states that:

“The Tenant should be aware that the Landlord or the Management Company may clamp illegally parked vehicles and they will be released only upon payment of a release fee.”

The above quote states the consequence of illegally parking vehicles. The Defendant understands that it was and still is an offence to clamp, tow, block-in or immobilise a vehicle without lawful authority on private land under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. The Shorthold Tenancy Agreement does not state that a Parking Charge Notice would be issued to illegally parked vehicles and does not mention a third-party parking regulator.

The Defendant had been verbally requested to present a parking pass that would be provided by the reception of the development ... and could be displayed on the windshield of the vehicle. The Defendant was compliant with the request, however, the reception team failed to provide said pass on multiple occasions resulting in the Parking Charge Notices being issued by the Claimant.

The Defendant had communicated this to the Assistant Accommodation Manager, to which she replied by email. A copy of the email evidence will be provided to the Court.

From: ...

Sent: Friday, June 1, 2018 10:26:22 AM

To: ...

Subject: Parking Permit

Hi ...

Sorry its taken so long, not sure why this was not sorted before I arrived but I can get you a permit sorted for your last 2 weeks here with us at ...

Can you please just confirm your car reg and car model for our system?

When the permit is ready, I will post it in your post box

Thanks

...

From: ...

Sent: 01 June 2018 17:03

To: ...

Subject: RE: Parking Permit

Hi ...,

Sure, reg number is ... and its a black fiat punto.

Thanks,

...

 

From: ...

Sent: Monday, June 4, 2018 12:28:11 PM

To: ...

Subject: RE: Parking Permit

Hi ...

I have posted a temporary parking permit, valid till 14th June (move out date) in your letter box

Sorry that this has taken so long again

Kind regards,

...

The Defendant received the Parking Charge Notices on the dates between 15 May 2018 and 04 June 2018. The final Parking Charge Notice was issued on the same date of the pass being provided to the Defendant.

It is denied that the Defendant was in breach of any parking conditions or was not permitted to park in circumstances where an express permission to park had been granted to the Defendant permitting the above-mentioned vehicle to be parked by the current occupier and leaseholder of ... , whose tenancy agreement permits the parking of vehicle(s) on land. The Defendant avers that there was an absolute entitlement to park deriving from the terms of the lease, which cannot be fettered by any alleged parking terms.

Accordingly, it is denied that:
3.1. there was any agreement as between the Defendant or driver of the vehicle and the Claimant
3.2. there was any obligation (at all) to display a permit; and
3.3. the Claimant has suffered loss or damage or that there is a lawful basis to pursue a claim for loss.

Dess

Le_Kirk said:

You need to submit a new SAR relating to the latest incident and if they fail to respond in the required 30 days, you report them to the ICO.  If they try any nonsense about charging you for the info just remind them that they failed to respond to your previous request but also this is a DIFFERENT issue.

Right that's great, I will file a new SAR now. Thank you!

Le_Kirk

A lot of your defence should be held back for the witness statement; the defence is a series of short, punchy technical/legal arguments whilst your witness statement, along with the evidence is a narrative, the story of what happened

Coupon-mad

Windshield = USA!

Windscreen.

 parking regulator - no.

parking operator.


I would not quote your tenancy because it doesn't assist really. Not that wording.