Parking fine claim county court business centre 19 October 2022 at 8:36PM in Parking tickets, fines & parking 60 replies 1.4K views

ZR18

Coupon-mad said:

That's good.

I would change "the said private land" to a more vague "the area".

Were their photos actually taken by a lurking person with an iphone at car height then, as your end section suggests?  Not CCTV or ANPR 'in and out' driving images?

Thanks Coupon-mad for reading.
 I will change it to the “the area”. 

I believe it was a lurking person with an iPhone. I didn’t see any CCTV or ANPR after re-visiting site. No videos just 4 photos provided  by PCM following SAR request  suggest it was taken from the far end Approximately 50 feet. first photo taken 14:38:02 when vehicle entered the area, it actually shows the vehicle turning around.
14:38:29 vehicle by sign
14:45:04 by the sign,reading 
14:49:04 last photo, it’s when vehicle leaves area.
All photos car height. 

Coupon-mad

I think your defence should say that the Claimants predatory (distance) photographs by an unknown third party who did not identify themselves, merely show the vehicle in transit on arrival and turning round, then the driver reading the sign, and leaving at the exit, within 5 minutes of reading and rejecting the terms.  Clearly, this is evidence of a parking contract not being accepted. 

ZR18

Thanks Coupon-mad
I have added what you suggested at number 13 without changing anything else.
please let me know what you think.

10. There was not a sufficient grace period offered to the Defendant as per the IPC AOS Code of Practice (of which Parking Control Management UK LTD is a member of) 13.1 states: “Motorists must be allowed a sufficient consideration period so they may make an informed decision as to whether or not to enter or remain on the private land”.

11. As there are no adequate signs on the boundary, the defendant had no reason to believe a charge started from the time entered the land. The time spent within was 11 minutes and 53 seconds (assuming the camera equipment used by the claimant’s representative has been properly maintained and serviced).

12.Given the timings involved, the balance of probability strongly suggests that the claimant’s representative watched from a distance and took photographs as the vehicle entered the site. This can be construed as a strategy to entrap and unfairly penalise individuals. Not to warn the driver that they would incur a parking charge, this in my opinion is “predatory tactics”.

The IPC guidelines (14) state:

‘You must not use predatory or misleading tactics to lure drivers into incurring parking charges. Such instances will be viewed as a serious instance of non-compliance’.

13. The Claimants predatory (distance) photographs by an unknown third party who did not identify themselves, merely show the vehicle in transit on arrival and turning round, then the driver reading the sign, and leaving at the exit, within 5 minutes of reading and rejecting the terms.  Clearly, this is evidence of a parking contract not being accepted. 

 

14.If the parking company genuinely wished to prevent parking, rather than lurking around taking photographs, they could politely ask drivers to leave immediately. They would also use large signs which can be seen from inside vehicles. Thus the signage is simply a device to entrap motorists into a situation whereby the Claimant sends them invoices for unwarranted and unjustified charges, for which motorists can have no contractual liability due to the terms and conditions not having been sufficiently brought to their attention

1505grandad

Typo  -  there are two para 4(a).

Coupon-mad

I would remove this. Don't draw attention to the full timeline:

The time spent within was 11 minutes and 53 seconds (assuming the camera equipment used by the claimant’s representative has been properly maintained and serviced).

ZR18

1505grandad said:

Typo  -  there are two para 4(a).

Thanks for reading

ZR18

Coupon-mad said:

I would remove this. Don't draw attention to the full timeline:

The time spent within was 11 minutes and 53 seconds (assuming the camera equipment used by the claimant’s representative has been properly maintained and serviced).

Thank You so much, I will remove it. 

I’m confident enough to submit this defence now. Please let me know if you think I should add or remove anything else.

At this point, should I include any evidence  i.e. blue badge,site pictures etc ?

Coupon-mad

Nope!

Read IMPORTANT: KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN in the second post of the NEWBIES thread, so you know what to expect and do throughout the process.

ZR18

Ok, Thank You.
I’ll just submit the defence for now.

ZR18

Just to make sure please, after emailing as pdf to [email protected] and the parking firms legal team, should I also posted to CCBC ?