Forgotten Blue Badge PCN

mechpet

Hi,

I have joined here as the newbies thread was suggested to me as I am helping my elderly disabled dad defend a court claim, but wanted to start my own thread in case any questions issues arise. 

In December 2021, my dad had an appointment at his doctors surgery. He had trouble parking as the centre was being used as a covid vaccination centre at the time. He managed to park in a disabled bay, but forgot to display his blue badge. His has mobility issues and other health conditions and also uses crutches to walk. He received the PCN from Vehicle Control Services Ltd for failure to display a valid disabled persons badge. He appealed immediately and provided a copy of his blue badge fully expecting them to cancel the charge at this point. VCS replied fully acknowledging his badge but said the fact remains that he broke a their terms and conditions. He then tried the ‘independent’(insert your own joke) appeals service who also dismissed his appeal and stated the ticket had been issued correctly(although they did have some sympathy with him!). He again told VCS in a letter that he had protected characteristics under the EA 2010 which they have ignored and continued to pursue him for the charge 

We have tried speaking to the doctors surgery, but they have said they cannot help as they only rent the building. So we tried Harlow Health Centres Trust Ltd who own the site. They failed to acknowledge the complaint my dad made which was clearly about the PPC’s conduct and refusal to cancel the charge. We chased them up for a written response, but they passed to the complaint into Excel Parking?- different company. I, not my dad received a very generic email from a Michael Kitchener who magically upgraded the charge to a PENALTY notice and said no further response would be available from him or the landowner! Oh and to pay up or it was going to court, which by this point it already had, so he obviously didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. 

After a couple of letters from ELMS legal, who were also told about my dads disability, we have now received the court claim. We have sent back the acknowledgment. 

We have tried contacting our MP to take the matter up on my dad’s behalf but are yet to receive a response.

Other than going to court , I’m not sure what else we can do. Certainly don’ want to pay it. Any tips along the process will be gratefully received. Thank you for reading.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on the County Court Claim Form?

Who is the named Defendant? You or your father?

Upon what date was an Acknowledgment of Service filed?
The MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Umkomaas

Hello and welcome to the forum. 

Could you give us the Date of Issue shown on the court claim form and the date on which the Acknowledgment of Service (AOS) was sent to the CCBC?

In whose name is the claim - you (not the correct defendant) or you father (correct defendant)?

my dad received a very generic email from a Michael Kitchener who magically upgraded the charge to a PENALTY notice

Who is 'Michael Kitchener' and who does he represent?

mechpet

Thank you for your replies.

The issue date was the 26/07/2022 but wasn’t  received until 05/08/2022. I sent the acknowledgment back the same day. My dad is who the claim is against. Michael Kitchener is the area manager for excel parking not VCS, this is the body of the email. It was sent to me at my email address and  not my dad 

Good Afternoon, 

I have been asked to respond to yourself following a complaint to Harlow Health Trust. I am the Regional Manager covering Essex.

I can confirm that we received your appeal to a Penalty Charge Notice which was declined. I have looked at the Penalty Charge Notice and it has been issued in accordance with IPC standards and regulations.

Please be advised that if the payment of £170 is not received then the matter will proceed to court which may result in a CCJ being issued against the registered owner of the vehicle.

Harlow Health Trust are also happy that the PCN has been issued within the correct guidelines. 

No further correspondence will be available from this email address or Harlow Health Trust.

If you wish to discuss the matter please contact 0114 261 7373. 

Yours Sincerely 

Michael
Michael Kitchener Senior Area Manager   EXCEL PARKING SERVICES LTD 7 Europa View, Sheffield Business Park, Sheffield. S9 1XH

Fruitcake

VCS are owned by Excel (or perhaps it is the other way round). They are separate companies with separate company numbers according to Companies House. Sharing data between these companies is in my opinion a DPA/GDPR breach, but it is difficult to convince a judge. It is still worth making a complaint to the ICO, and mentioning it as a defence point, as for example, IAS appeal made, VCS didn't reply, but a completely different company did in breach of the DPA/GDPR.
Both companies are owned by the same gentleman.

Follow the guide to court written by bargepole that you will find in the second post of the NEWBIES.

Create a defence using the template in the sticky Announcements. Amend paragraphs 2 and 3 and post them here for checking before you submit the whole template defence by email to the CCBC.

The defendant will need to read, research, and understand all the other defence points. Everything must be done in the name of the person named on the claim form. You can assist, and act at the hearing as their lay representative in order to speak on their behalf. The defendant must be present at the hearing.

I suggest you also complain to the Secretary of State for Health about this unregulated parking company who are ignoring the requirements of the EA 2010.

KeithP

mechpet said:

The issue date was the 26/07/2022 but wasn’t  received until 05/08/2022. I sent the acknowledgment back the same day.

With a Claim Issue Date of 26th July, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 30th August 2022 to file your Defence.

That's three 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 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'.

Of course everywhere I have written 'you' or 'your' I mean the named Defendant.


You might want to take issue with your new friend Michael and remind him that the IPC forbids the use of the word 'penalty'.
Section 11 of the IPC's Code of Practice clearly states...

Half_way

That response needs a further complaint to the NHS, plus a reminder of the NHS parking principles

mechpet

Thank you for your replies. 

Disappointingly not had any response from the MP.

After some exchange with the health trust regarding them giving the PPC their own complaint to deal with, we got the name of the CEO and have escalated the original complaint filed with them. The CEO has now acknowledged the complaint (the first time of any response from them) and said he will look into it. No response yet but we have highlighted my dad has protected characteristics, the PPC’s failure to cancel the charge once they were aware of possession of a blue badge and disability. The fact that the blue badge doesn’t apply on private land anyway and doesn’t overrule the EA 2010. Also Excel answering the complaint  when the health centre trust parking company at the site is VCS Ltd. We have provided a copy of the relevant part of the EA 2010 and also the IPC guidelines(taken from here- thank you) that Michael Kitchener has disregarded and that as the landowners they could also be responsible. Hoping therefore that they will look at the facts and behaviour and instruct the PPC to stop the action, and my dad will not have the ordeal of going to court. 

But as we cannot be sure about that  happening, I am still getting things in place for the claim- SAR etc. I see the defence template says brief description, but wasn’t sure how much information to put on at this stage? Wondered if that was later in the witness statement? This is what I have for the edits of para 2 & 3 to be added in to the template

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and owner of the vehicle in question.

3. On 14/12/2021 the defendant attended the Lister Medical Centre in Harlow for a medical appointment. The defendant has mobility issues and uses 2 crutches to assist with walking and to support poor balance. A disabled parking bay became available and the defendant parked using the space in order to be closer to the entrance. The defendant has a legal right to use the available reasonable adjustment as a person with protected characteristics and possesses a blue badge, but did on this occasion forget to display the badge. The defendant has used the claimants appeal process and at the earliest opportunity made the claimant made fully aware of the defendant’s disability and this has been acknowledged by the claimant in a letter dated 18/01/2022.

I didn’t know if I needed to put anything in about signage, there isn’t anything at the entrance to the car park but each bay has a sign?  

I had a look at contacting the secretary for health as suggested, but couldn’t seem to find a way to contact? Would this be through our own MP again? 

Coupon-mad

And driver, not 'and owner' (para 2).

In para 3 mention that you have protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, which an alleged contract about paying £100 if not displaying a piece of card (which is in fact merely one indicator of disability need and applies only to Local Authority parking) cannot overrule. Disabled persons are protected from unfair policies and must not be harassed or marginalised.  As soon as the Claimant knew about the Blue Badge, they should have simply cancelled the charge, as the Government's new incoming statutory Code of Practice (which mentions and draws from the Equality Act) will specifically mandate in the Appeals Charter. The Code will not be retrospective but this clause is nothing new.  It is simply stating the law and quashing unfair practices from a rogue industry.

Is forgetfulness a feature of any medical condition you have?  If so, state that and add some more paragraphs:

para 4:
refer to Excel v Greenwood  Case Number 3QT60496 (4/10/2013) which was on all fours with this case, and where the Judge stated that the parking firm had an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to remove barriers to disabled persons, and that included a duty to cancel the charge as soon as they knew that Mr Greenwood was disabled and merely forgot to display his Badge, but had appended it to his appeal.

Para 5:

It is believed that this Claimant's sister company (Excel) planned to appeal the Greenwood case and as such, the owner of VCS/Excel (Simon Renshaw-Smith, known in the press and public domain as the notorious 'Captain Clampit') will be aware of the case snd that his companies hold a copy of the transcript they obtained for Excel v Greenwood. There is no reasonable cause of action for a case of duplicate facts to be heard nearly a decade later, expecting a different result.

6.  If the Claimant disagrees and contends that the facts are somehow different, the Defendant requires that the Claimant exhibit the full and/or approved judgment transcript for Excel v Greenwood, because that case has only been publicly reported anecdotally and in the press. Although not persuasive, Greenwood involved the same Claimant trying to argue the same points, and It would assist the court to be able to read through the 2013 case papers which must be exhibited by the Claimant, which would meet the Overriding Objective and support the interests of open dealing and justice.

para 7. Add something about your complaint to the NHS Trust and that Excel Parking Services Ltd (company number xxxxxx - look it up!) answered the complaint, when parking company at the site is VCS Ltd (company number xxxxxx - look that up too!). 

I didn’t know if I needed to put anything in about signage, there isn’t anything at the entrance to the car park but each bay has a sign?  

Do the accessible bays actually have FULL TERMS signs within view from the driver's seat that tell you about the £100?  Doubt it!  If they only state to display a BBadge but not the 'penalty' for not doing so, then add that as para 8.

Read about Excel v Greenwood here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4784284/excel-lose-in-court-after-they-had-won-at-popla/p1

Oh, and reply to that rubbish email and copy in your MP and the CEO of the NHS Trust responsible, and tell them about the fact the parking agent is breaching the NHS Car Parking Principles (published Government policy) and the Equality Act 2010 and tell them about Excel v Greenwood.

NB: another county court decision is NOT A PRECEDENT, not a silver bullet but it's worth shoving in VCS' face that this has already been tested in court by Captain Clampit's stable of notoriously aggressive companies, so what they are doing to you is vexatious and pure harassment.

mechpet

Thank you, 

Have amended para 2, my mistake knew it should have been driver

I wouldn’t say the forgetfulness is particular to a medical diagnosis, just that my dad is in his late 70’s and is a bit forgetful from time to time and had just gotten into a bit of a state as it was busy and he was worried about missing his appointment.

I have attached a couple of pictures re the sign, one from Google which shows how the signs were situated and the 2nd one which is from the parking attendants selection of photos

KeithP

mechpet said:

I had a look at contacting the secretary for health as suggested, but couldn’t seem to find a way to contact?

Googling Secretary of State for Health produces this webpage...
https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-health-and-social-care

In the first few lines there it tells us...

Googling contact The Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP produces this webpage...
https://members.parliament.uk/member/4095/contact
where you will find his email address.