County Court Claim received not sure on defence strategy - I beat the system!

KeithP

alldoors said:

KeithP said:

alldoors said:

KeithP said:

Did you bother to read that document I pointed you towards in early December?

It really is only a few lines long.

It is really simple to read.

But to answer your question -- A Lay Representative cannot represent the Defendant without the Defendant being there.

Or to put it another way -- The named Defendant must attend any hearing.

I did at the time, but what threw me was "The person attending the hearing must have full authority to settle the case". This must be the claimant then and not the defendant. 

Where did the line -
"The person attending the hearing must have full authority to settle the case"
- come from?
It's not part of The Lay Representatives (Rights of Audience) Order 1999.

Even so, why do you think the Defendant's Lay Rep doesn't have that authority?

This phrase is on the first page of the letter and underlined. It's on the the notice of allocation to the small Claims Track hearing. I'm presuming the Claimant's letter is identical. It also states the hard copies of documents must be delivered by post, in person or by DX only. It also says if any party cannot attend then they must tell the Court within 7 days of the hearing and the case will be heard in their absence. Be interesting to see if they go down that route.

OK. so nothing to do with Lay Reps then.

As we discussed earlier, even if a Lay Rep is used, the Defendant must attend any hearing.

I would suggest that it almost goes without saying that the Defendant has that authority.

alldoors

Well, as suspected, we have received a copy of an N279 notice of discontinuance via email this morning. Another one bites the dust. Thanks so much for all your replies. Have found it very interesting. Probably spent about 100 hours reading this forum. Was about to post off the witness statement this morning but dont need to now. Another DCBL one to add to the list!  

Weirdly, I opened the post to a new PCN this afternoon! I parked at Heathrow in the quick drop off (costs £5.00) and was using my husbands car which I don't normally use. Then like a numpty, but my car reg in when paying the following day and not his! 

B789

alldoors said:

Weirdly, I opened the post to a new PCN this afternoon! I parked at Heathrow in the quick drop off (costs £5.00) and was using my husbands car which I don't normally use. Then like a numpty, but my car reg in when paying the following day and not his! 

From the experience and knowledge gained using this forum, hopefully, you will know that APCOA at Heathrow have no idea who the driver of the car is. Also, as it is on non-relevant land covered by airport bylaws, POFA does not apply and therefore liability cannot transfer from the driver to the keeper.

Appeal to APCOA without identifying the driver and explain the above. Tell them you are not obliged to identify the driver and will not be doing so. You've paid them £5 anyway.

It is guaranteed that they will cancel the PCN "as a gesture of goodwill" and tell you not to be a naughty girl in the future and to follow their rules whenever using their facilities.

Here's a link to one I made earlier: 

Another APCOA Heathrow PCN capitulation on appeal

Coupon-mad

alldoors said:

Well, as suspected, we have received a copy of an N279 notice of discontinuance via email this morning. Another one bites the dust. Thanks so much for all your replies. Have found it very interesting. Probably spent about 100 hours reading this forum. Was about to post off the witness statement this morning but dont need to now. Another DCBL one to add to the list!  

Added to the list as discontinuance no. 98.

CONGRATS!  Woohoo!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

Be aware that a final Public Consultation is coming very soon, about the levels of parking charges and banning rip-off 'fees'.

Explained here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79803066/#Comment_79803066

Don't miss it!  Bookmark the necessary thread.

(The APCOA one is dead easy as long as HE APPEALS and NOT YOU. Killed off immediately, one email.  Search the forum for Heathrow APCOA and no doing the appeal yourself as driver).

alldoors

B789 said:

alldoors said:

Weirdly, I opened the post to a new PCN this afternoon! I parked at Heathrow in the quick drop off (costs £5.00) and was using my husbands car which I don't normally use. Then like a numpty, but my car reg in when paying the following day and not his! 

From the experience and knowledge gained using this forum, hopefully, you will know that APCOA at Heathrow have no idea who the driver of the car is. Also, as it is on non-relevant land covered by airport bylaws, POFA does not apply and therefore liability cannot transfer from the driver to the keeper.

Appeal to APCOA without identifying the driver and explain the above. Tell them you are not obliged to identify the driver and will not be doing so. You've paid them £5 anyway.

It is guaranteed that they will cancel the PCN "as a gesture of goodwill" and tell you not to be a naughty girl in the future and to follow their rules whenever using their facilities.

Here's a link to one I made earlier: 

Another APCOA Heathrow PCN capitulation on appeal

Ah. Like a numpty I have already filled in their online appeal process which asks for your name etc! I've not seen any of the posts about Heathrow drop off and wish I had read up on it before filling that form in. I've gone through all of the terms and conditions on the sign and also read the website. Can't find anything on there about what happens if you put the wrong vehicle registration in. So, in my mind, I entered into a contract to park there as a driver and I paid the fee (which I have proof of). Should be the end of it as far as I am concerned. Reading up online the general theory is that they will try and charge me £20.00 as an admin fee. I'm not sure I want to go through 12 months of threatening letters and then defending a court case but my bloody mindfulness is making me think I should do the same again! 

alldoors

Coupon-mad said:

alldoors said:

Well, as suspected, we have received a copy of an N279 notice of discontinuance via email this morning. Another one bites the dust. Thanks so much for all your replies. Have found it very interesting. Probably spent about 100 hours reading this forum. Was about to post off the witness statement this morning but dont need to now. Another DCBL one to add to the list!  

Added to the list as discontinuance no. 98.

CONGRATS!  Woohoo!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

Be aware that a final Public Consultation is coming very soon, about the levels of parking charges and banning rip-off 'fees'.

Explained here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79803066/#Comment_79803066

Don't miss it!  Bookmark the necessary thread.

(The APCOA one is dead easy as long as HE APPEALS and NOT YOU. Killed off immediately, one email.  Search the forum for Heathrow APCOA and no doing the appeal yourself as driver).

Thanks Coupon-Mad. You all do a fantastic job on here dedicating your time to this. Will definitely look into the Public Consultation. It was about the money for me, it was about challenging these professional scam artists.  

B789

alldoors said:

B789 said:

alldoors said:

Weirdly, I opened the post to a new PCN this afternoon! I parked at Heathrow in the quick drop off (costs £5.00) and was using my husbands car which I don't normally use. Then like a numpty, but my car reg in when paying the following day and not his! 

From the experience and knowledge gained using this forum, hopefully, you will know that APCOA at Heathrow have no idea who the driver of the car is. Also, as it is on non-relevant land covered by airport bylaws, POFA does not apply and therefore liability cannot transfer from the driver to the keeper.

Appeal to APCOA without identifying the driver and explain the above. Tell them you are not obliged to identify the driver and will not be doing so. You've paid them £5 anyway.

It is guaranteed that they will cancel the PCN "as a gesture of goodwill" and tell you not to be a naughty girl in the future and to follow their rules whenever using their facilities.

Here's a link to one I made earlier: 

Another APCOA Heathrow PCN capitulation on appeal

Ah. Like a numpty I have already filled in their online appeal process which asks for your name etc! I've not seen any of the posts about Heathrow drop off and wish I had read up on it before filling that form in. I've gone through all of the terms and conditions on the sign and also read the website. Can't find anything on there about what happens if you put the wrong vehicle registration in. So, in my mind, I entered into a contract to park there as a driver and I paid the fee (which I have proof of). Should be the end of it as far as I am concerned. Reading up online the general theory is that they will try and charge me £20.00 as an admin fee. I'm not sure I want to go through 12 months of threatening letters and then defending a court case but my bloody mindfulness is making me think I should do the same again! 

What a pity. You could have saved yourself another £15-£20 as that is what they are likely to ask you to fork out because of your major input error. However, APCOA are incredibly benign and as far as we know have never progressed any PCNs to court, possibly ever and certainly not in recent years.

It's up to you how you want to progress this and how affordable you think it is to you and how badly you want to fund these scamming parking companies. You can try and appeal at POPLA but you'd need evidence based on points of law as anything else such as mitigating circumstances are not considered.

I doubt you have much of a case as you've already dropped yourself in it. However, as pointed out above, APCOA are benign and if you were to ignore it all, you would go through the process as outlined in the Newbies thread and receive the reminders and eventual DRA letters. Unless you ever get an LBC, there is nothing else you would need to do and, as already stated, APCOA never progress beyond that stage.

Coupon-mad

That error has cost you £20. Ouch!

Never appeal before coming here and never appeal as driver!  Would have been dead easy.  One appeal.  Stone dead.

alldoors

B789 said:

alldoors said:

B789 said:

alldoors said:

Weirdly, I opened the post to a new PCN this afternoon! I parked at Heathrow in the quick drop off (costs £5.00) and was using my husbands car which I don't normally use. Then like a numpty, but my car reg in when paying the following day and not his! 

From the experience and knowledge gained using this forum, hopefully, you will know that APCOA at Heathrow have no idea who the driver of the car is. Also, as it is on non-relevant land covered by airport bylaws, POFA does not apply and therefore liability cannot transfer from the driver to the keeper.

Appeal to APCOA without identifying the driver and explain the above. Tell them you are not obliged to identify the driver and will not be doing so. You've paid them £5 anyway.

It is guaranteed that they will cancel the PCN "as a gesture of goodwill" and tell you not to be a naughty girl in the future and to follow their rules whenever using their facilities.

Here's a link to one I made earlier: 

Another APCOA Heathrow PCN capitulation on appeal

Ah. Like a numpty I have already filled in their online appeal process which asks for your name etc! I've not seen any of the posts about Heathrow drop off and wish I had read up on it before filling that form in. I've gone through all of the terms and conditions on the sign and also read the website. Can't find anything on there about what happens if you put the wrong vehicle registration in. So, in my mind, I entered into a contract to park there as a driver and I paid the fee (which I have proof of). Should be the end of it as far as I am concerned. Reading up online the general theory is that they will try and charge me £20.00 as an admin fee. I'm not sure I want to go through 12 months of threatening letters and then defending a court case but my bloody mindfulness is making me think I should do the same again! 

What a pity. You could have saved yourself another £15-£20 as that is what they are likely to ask you to fork out because of your major input error. However, APCOA are incredibly benign and as far as we know have never progressed any PCNs to court, possibly ever and certainly not in recent years.

It's up to you how you want to progress this and how affordable you think it is to you and how badly you want to fund these scamming parking companies. You can try and appeal at POPLA but you'd need evidence based on points of law as anything else such as mitigating circumstances are not considered.

I doubt you have much of a case as you've already dropped yourself in it. However, as pointed out above, APCOA are benign and if you were to ignore it all, you would go through the process as outlined in the Newbies thread and receive the reminders and eventual DRA letters. Unless you ever get an LBC, there is nothing else you would need to do and, as already stated, APCOA never progress beyond that stage.

Thanks B789. I think I will just pay the £20.00 as it was my own stupid fault for not putting the correct registration in and they will have incurred a fee for getting my vehicle details so they wont be making that much out of me. Thanks for your time replying though as someone else will read this and take note. My family are sick of hearing about PCN's as I've been banging on about it for 11 months! Thanks again

Boat_to_Bolivia

alldoors said:

B789 said:

alldoors said:

B789 said:

alldoors said:

Weirdly, I opened the post to a new PCN this afternoon! I parked at Heathrow in the quick drop off (costs £5.00) and was using my husbands car which I don't normally use. Then like a numpty, but my car reg in when paying the following day and not his! 

From the experience and knowledge gained using this forum, hopefully, you will know that APCOA at Heathrow have no idea who the driver of the car is. Also, as it is on non-relevant land covered by airport bylaws, POFA does not apply and therefore liability cannot transfer from the driver to the keeper.

Appeal to APCOA without identifying the driver and explain the above. Tell them you are not obliged to identify the driver and will not be doing so. You've paid them £5 anyway.

It is guaranteed that they will cancel the PCN "as a gesture of goodwill" and tell you not to be a naughty girl in the future and to follow their rules whenever using their facilities.

Here's a link to one I made earlier: 

Another APCOA Heathrow PCN capitulation on appeal

Ah. Like a numpty I have already filled in their online appeal process which asks for your name etc! I've not seen any of the posts about Heathrow drop off and wish I had read up on it before filling that form in. I've gone through all of the terms and conditions on the sign and also read the website. Can't find anything on there about what happens if you put the wrong vehicle registration in. So, in my mind, I entered into a contract to park there as a driver and I paid the fee (which I have proof of). Should be the end of it as far as I am concerned. Reading up online the general theory is that they will try and charge me £20.00 as an admin fee. I'm not sure I want to go through 12 months of threatening letters and then defending a court case but my bloody mindfulness is making me think I should do the same again! 

What a pity. You could have saved yourself another £15-£20 as that is what they are likely to ask you to fork out because of your major input error. However, APCOA are incredibly benign and as far as we know have never progressed any PCNs to court, possibly ever and certainly not in recent years.

It's up to you how you want to progress this and how affordable you think it is to you and how badly you want to fund these scamming parking companies. You can try and appeal at POPLA but you'd need evidence based on points of law as anything else such as mitigating circumstances are not considered.

I doubt you have much of a case as you've already dropped yourself in it. However, as pointed out above, APCOA are benign and if you were to ignore it all, you would go through the process as outlined in the Newbies thread and receive the reminders and eventual DRA letters. Unless you ever get an LBC, there is nothing else you would need to do and, as already stated, APCOA never progress beyond that stage.

Thanks B789. I think I will just pay the £20.00 as it was my own stupid fault for not putting the correct registration in and they will have incurred a fee for getting my vehicle details so they wont be making that much out of me. Thanks for your time replying though as someone else will read this and take note. My family are sick of hearing about PCN's as I've been banging on about it for 11 months! Thanks again

In your shoes I'd just pay the 20 quid too, but I disagree that it was your 'own stupid fault'. 

Inputting an incorrect digit or letter is not the crime of the century. It could happen to anyone, no matter how diligent.

'To err is human, to forgive divine'.