Letter of claim DCBL/UKPC

Coupon-mad

teddyinwonderland said:

Thank you all for the replies!Hopefully they decide to reassign to one that I can attend. When I sent them my objection I did point out same things as in my N180

Another thing I was wondering..I’m moving house by 18th of may, do I email the court with my new address now?

Court and ALL PARTIES and also state that you require the old address data to be erased from all databases because it will no longer be good for service of documents connected to the case.

Umkomaas

Another thing I was wondering..I’m moving house by 18th of may, do I email the court with my new address now?

As well as setting up a Royal Mail redirect - while you have any possibility of a live court case against you, you need to ensure you miss nothing posted to you. 

teddyinwonderland

Hello
I’ve got a confirmation from both the court and DCBL that they have only my new address

on Thursday I received the witness statement from Joel Little on behalf of UKPC.

When I got the parking charge notice I didn’t take any photos of my own of the signs etc and now after I spoke to the agency that signed the contract with UKPC I know they no longer operate on site so I can’t go back and take photos now. Do I mention this  in my witness statement? 

In the contract they included in their witness statement I can’t see an end date to the contract or a period for which the contract was in force, so can I use the email reply I received from the managing agent? 

What I have so far in my own witness statement : 

Sequence of events and signage 

 

3.       Firstly, it should be noted that the claimant has appended to their witness statement signage that does not constitute a contract. 

 

4.       The signage was not compliant so there was no valid Contract formed between UKPC and the driver. Due to their high position, overall small size and the barely legible size of the small print, the signs in this car park are very hard to read and understand. I request that POPLA check the Operator's evidence and signage map/photos on this point and compare the signs to the BPA Code of Practice requirements. I contend that the signs on this land, in terms of wording, position and clarity, do not comply and fail to properly warn/inform the driver of the terms and any consequences for breach, as in the case of Excel Parking Services Ltd v Martin Cutts, 2011 and Waltham Forest v Vine [CCRTF 98/1290/B2]). 

   As such, the signs were not so prominent with their terms and conditions that they 'must' have been seen by the driver - who would never have agreed to pay £100 in a free car park in the event that they left the site- and therefore I contend the elements of a contract were conspicuous by their absence. The signage is not a contract or offer of a contract but an invitation to treat.

Moreover, the only clear term is of 

“NO UNAUTHORISED PARKING”

 

Section 18 of the British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice requires operators to fully comply with the following on entrance signage:

18.2 Entrance signs play an important part in establishing a parking contract and deterring trespassers. Therefore,
as well as the signs you must have telling drivers about the terms and conditions for parking, you must also have a standard form of entrance sign at the entrance to the parking area. Entrance signs must tell drivers that the car park is managed and that there are terms and conditions they must be aware of. Entrance signs must follow some minimum general principles and be in a standard format. The size of the sign must take into account the expected speed of vehicles approaching the car park, and it is recommended that you follow Department for Transport guidance on this. See Appendix B for an example of an entrance sign and more information about their use.

18.3 Specific parking-terms signage tells drivers what your terms and conditions are, including your parking charges. You must place signs containing the specific parking terms throughout the site, so that drivers are given the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle. Signs must be conspicuous and legible, and written in intelligible language, so that they are easy to see, read and understand. Signs showing your detailed terms and conditions must be at least 450mm x 450mm.

If a driver can't read the sum of the parking charge (£100) before parking - because the font is too small/the sign unremarkable and too high to read from a driver's seat - then they cannot have agreed to it. Also, a keeper appellant cannot be bound by inadequate notice of the charge either (POFA Schedule 4 requires 'adequate notice' of the sum of the parking charge, not just vague illegible small print, however near the car).

So, for this appeal, I put this operator to strict proof of where the car was parked and (from photos taken in the same lighting conditions) how their signs appeared on that date, at that time, from the angle of the driver's perspective. Equally, I require this operator to show how the entrance signs appear from a driver's seat, not stock examples of 'the sign' in isolation/close-up. I submit that full terms simply cannot be read from a car before parking and mere 'stock examples' of close-ups of the (alleged) signage terms will not be sufficient to disprove this.

 

5.       The approach and entrance to the car park is just off a 3 lane roundabout and traffic lights.This is a busy road with constant traffic where stopping is both impossible due to the double yellow lines and traffic not being able to pass. The only safe way to stop to view the car park terms and conditions is by entering. 

 

6.       At the point of entry, the entrance terms and conditions sign is not visible.  

 

7.       The signage in the car park is of a “forbidding” nature. It is limited to cars displaying a valid permit only and therefore the terms cannot apply to cars without a permit because the signage does not offer an invitation to park on certain terms. The terms are forbidding. This means that there was never a contractual relationship.  I want to bring the court's attention to the following case law: PCM-UK v Bull et al , UKPC v Masterson, Horizon Parking v Mr J where in all of those cases the signage was found to be forbidden and thus only a trespass had occurred and would be a matter for the landowner,

 

8.       After driving around the very busy car park that had construction work going on the only “empty” parking space was one between a car that was taking one and a half parking bays, I had no choice but to mirror their parking and to park courteously in the only empty bay beside them.  Then I realised that this was likely to have been the UKPC ticketer, because of the cynical timing and it being reported as a likely practice of UKPC to set people up (this is a firm that admitted to altering evidence and were twice banned by DVLA). I am requesting the Claimant to prove that the previously parked there vehicle is not their  ticketer. 

 

9.       However, I received a PCN and now am asked to pay an inflated charge of £160. This is not because I did not pay for my stay, as it’s a free car park, but because I was not able to park fully within the marked bays. 

 

10. A key factor in the leading authority from the Supreme Court, was that ParkingEye were found to have operated in line with the relevant parking operator’s code of practice and that there were signs that were clear and obvious and 'bound to be seen'.In this case, the signage fails to adhere to the standards laid out by the relevant accredited parking association, the International Parking Community ('IPC').  The IPC mandatory Code says that text on signage “should be of such a size and in a font that can be easily read by a motorist having regard to the likely position of the motorist in relation to the sign”. It also states that “they should be clearly seen upon entering the site” and that the signs are a vital element of forming a contract with drivers.

When it comes to cases that I mention in my witness statement do I have to add them as an "exhibit"?  saw examples on here of peple doing so and some dont.. Some add photos that were given by the claimant and add comments to them,  i.e the sign that doesn't form a contract, or that the £100 is too small. 

Fruitcake

Who redacted the contract signatures? If they redacted it then Hancock v Promontoria and redactions in disclosure come in to play.

Redactions in Disclosure — MoneySavingExpert Forum

You haven't shown us the whole of UKPC's WS, for example you haven't shown us the signs they intend to rely on. In your WS you need to pair their worst image of a sign from the site with the Beavis sign for comparison.

You ask that PoPLA check the operator's evidence in your WS but you are way past the PoPLA stage.

Le_Kirk

As well as the POPLA reference in your para #4 (already dealt with by @Fruitcake) you need to number every paragraph.  Make sure you differentiate between your witness statement paragraph number and those of text you cite from other sources such as when you go from 3, 4 to 18.2, 18.3. You should add evidence such as other cases as exhibits and give them a reference number, normally your initials followed by a sequential number ABC_001, ABC_002....... for example.

B789

You also refer in your WS about “leaving the site” but the claim is that you didn’t park within a marked bay. Have you not proofread your WS? You cannot just copy and paste bits of other witness statements without carefully double checking everything in the final document. Do not rely solely on others to do your proofreading for you.

teddyinwonderland

Hello

I created my document on google docs with a link to be a bit easier.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ssR5B9NESBsiu74KKYkqA33oehFytveCx7_wO8elDfE/edit?usp=sharing 

@Fruitcake i received the contract redacted like that from DCBL , I've added that point as you noted in my Witness Statement.  Thank you 

@Le_Kirk I've looked at other WS on here for an example and I did mine as theirs , just naming them "exhibit 1" "exhibit 2" ... is that wrong to do so? 

Im attaching the redacted WS from Joell Little with the evidence they'll be relying on : 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jkiccd9ijfc32vs/Signed Witness Statement - Paginated_edited.pdf?dl=0

What I'm worried about after reading his witness statement is para 20, point vii where he says that I'm refering to the new "Parking Code of Practice" and ends with "With respect, I would ask the Defendant would they prefer the Claimant not comply with the current legislation" ... 
he also goes on about which terms are vague/hidden .. would it be a valid point to say the terms are in a very small font? 
and in the Contractual costs he mentions that the £60 additional charge is on their sign which makes it part of the contract so Parking Eye v Beavis wouldn't apply.

Fruitcake

At a conference a while ago, the BPA told its members that they must comply with the new government CoP as a matter of urgency, (even though it hadn't become mandatory at that point.
You could mention this then say UKPC, "With respect, I would ask the Claimant would they prefer they not comply with the current BPA requirements."

Sadly I can't find the link to that conference any more.

teddyinwonderland

I’ll try to have a look for it. I couldn’t find the summary of the UKPC v Masterson to add as an exhibit …would that be an issue?

Le_Kirk

teddyinwonderland said:

@Le_Kirk I've looked at other WS on here for an example and I did mine as theirs , just naming them "exhibit 1" "exhibit 2" ... is that wrong to do so? 

If you looked at the WS from @aphex007 you will see that they used XX-01 etc but whatever convention suits you so long as you and the judge can easily go from your narrative to the actual piece of evidence .