Gatwick Airport - Drop Off Parking Defence

qwertyoffice

Hi all

Did not pay in time for the drop off rip off parking at Gatwick Airport on 25/08/21 and received a claim form with issue date of 28/07/22.
I have done the AOS and now need to submit my defence.  Would appreciate one of the experts on here to confirm if the below defence is suitable.

Thank you very much in advance 

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No.:  xxxxxx

Between

Britannia Parking Group

(Claimant) 

Joe Smith

 (Defendant)

_________________

DEFENCE

 

1. The parking charges referred to in this claim did not arise from any agreement of terms. The charge and the claim was an unexpected shock. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver was a breach of any prominent term and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the Particulars.

 

The facts as known to the Defendant:

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

 

3. The only method of payment was via the Gatwick airport parking website or via an automated phone service and payment had to be made within 24 hours.
There was no facility to accept a cash payment for the brief 5 minute parking at the Gatwick North Terminal Drop Off.
Since the Defendant lost their bank card and had to wait 3 working days for a new one to arrive, it was impossible to pay in the 24 hour payment window.
The defendant tried to speak to an operator by calling the only phone number provided but their was no option to explain.

KeithP

I am going to assume you filed an AoS sometime after 1st August and before Wednesday 17th August. Please confirm.

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th 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 just a few days 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'.

Coupon-mad

You need to add something about the signs being unreadable in moving traffic.

You should also add the 'not relevant land' defence point as seen In the other Gatwick thread this week.

fisherjim

The Gatwick drop off area is managed by NCP not Britannia

qwertyoffice

KeithP said:

I am going to assume you filed an AoS sometime after 1st August and before Wednesday 17th August. Please confirm.

AOS was filed 8th of August.

Coupon-mad said:

You need to add something about the signs being unreadable in moving traffic.

Would this be relevant at a place where you park the car temporally to drop off and pick up people?
If it is relevant do you have the text I need to add please?

Coupon-mad said:

You should also add the 'not relevant land' defence point as seen In the other Gatwick thread this week.

Do you have the link to this thread please as I cannot locate it from the search function?

fisherjim said:

The Gatwick drop off area is managed by NCP not Britannia

Well spotted, I copied and pasted my last defence with them!


Thank you

Coupon-mad

Would this be relevant at a place where you park the car temporally to drop off and pick up people?
If it is relevant do you have the text I need to add please?

Yes - unclear signage is ALWAYS relevant to every case. No template is needed.  Just write what we've said and show us your draft for critique.

To build up your confidence on what to put, you could always read a dozen defences on the forum (any Claimant...just browse this week's new posts on any 'DEFENCE/Claim' case) and copy something others already wrote about unclear signs (in the dark, if it was dark...etc).

You have time to do some useful reading of lots of court defence cases. I would!  ANY CLAIMANT.

"Coupon-mad said:

You should also add the 'not relevant land' defence point as seen In the other Gatwick thread this week."


Do you have the link to this thread please as I cannot locate it from the search function?

I'm sorry, I don't have a link.  I'd have to do exactly the same search as you and we always encourage newbies to do the searches.

Just put in Gatwick drop off and change the filter to 'Discussions' and change 'best match' (which is useless...) to 'NEWEST' then scroll down (or up, depending on your viewpoint) thru the results. Only looking for parking threads.

qwertyoffice

I only have a few hours to submit my defence so would appreciate urgent help on this!  

Coupon-mad said:

I'm sorry, I don't have a link.  I'd have to do exactly the same search as you and we always encourage newbies to do the searches.

I found the thread you are referring to but they was not the driver so the wording will not be appropriate for my claim as I was the driver?

I am up to this on my revision so just need more on the not relevant land point in 5 please.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

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

3. The airport drop off point has an automatic charge via ANPR so the Defendant become subject to a charge whether they stopped or not. It is impossible to read the terms and conditions from the signage before deciding to accept them.
This makes it (arguably) the imposition of a contract term unfairly.

4. Further with no means to pay the £5 fee with cash on site for the brief access, the only method of payment was via the Gatwick airport parking website or via an automated phone service and payment had to be made within 24 hours.
Since the Defendant lost their bank card and had to wait 3 working days for a new one to arrive, it was impossible to pay in the 24 hour payment window.
The defendant tried to speak to an operator by calling the only phone number provided but there was no option to explain.

5. Not relevant land….?

Coupon-mad

I found the thread you are referring to but they was not the driver so the wording will not be appropriate for my claim as I was the driver?

That's not true.  The template defence is not about someone not being the driver.  It is generic and suitable for all cases and you just need to add 'and driver' to para 2.

And you can't use a 'not relevant land' defence point if you were driving.  Did you actually stop and drop off?  Just had trouble paying?

qwertyoffice

Coupon-mad said:

I found the thread you are referring to but they was not the driver so the wording will not be appropriate for my claim as I was the driver?

That's not true.  The template defence is not about someone not being the driver.  It is generic and suitable for all cases and you just need to add 'and driver' to para 2.

And you can't use a 'not relevant land' defence point if you were driving.  Did you actually stop and drop off?  Just had trouble paying?

Well I had "meet and greet" parking but the drop off zone was the only place they could meet us as the vehicle was over 2 meters tall and could not fit in the car park.  

But I got into the vehicle and drove it away and could not pay the £5 fee within 24 hours as I lost my bank card.
I tried using my girlfriends card at the time but their website was down!  

qwertyoffice

Would you recommend dropping point 5 on the defence and submitting it now as not got much time as deadline is 4pm today? 

qwertyoffice

I have amended my defence, is this ok now please?

The facts as known to the Defendant:

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

 

3. The airport drop off point has an automatic charge via ANPR so the Defendant become subject to the charge as soon as the vehicle stopped. Therefore, it is impossible to read the terms and conditions from the signage (without stopping) before deciding to accept them.
This makes it (arguably) the imposition of a contract term unfairly.

 

4. Further with no means to pay the £5 fee with cash on site for the brief access, the only method of payment was via the Gatwick airport parking website or via an automated phone service and payment had to be made within 24 hours.
Since the Defendant lost their bank card and had to wait 3 working days for a new one to arrive, it was impossible to pay in the 24 hour payment window.
The defendant tried to speak to an operator by calling the only phone number provided but there was no option to explain as there is no human response.