MCOL defence - wrong code in parking app

Coupon-mad

As long as you are sure you sent the right one!

And got an acknowledgement email from CCBC?

Suz8674

UPDATE - I won my case in the small claims court.

So - in short, I had entered the wrong code when paying for parking on the mobile app. But the claimant - let's call them VCS but there is more on this in a mo - operated both car parks. So they had my money and my basic case was that I had not breached their terms and conditions as I had actually paid them for parking.

This happened on more than one occasion but they only sent me two parking charge notices for two alleged contraventions. They then pursued two claims against me in the small claims court but the Judge had ordered those claims to be consolidated.

Had my hearing last week. Judge dismissed the claims. During the hearing he did talk about the fact that it was only a technical breach of the terms, so it was arguable whether I should be penalised. But this was not one of the reasons he dismissed the claims.

The main reason was that they had added on an extra £70 “debt recovery charge” to the advertised parking charge of £100 on the signs. The Judge ruled that was a penalty that was not recoverable etc, so claim not allowed.

He also said that it was unclear if VCS could bring a claim against me as the car park signs showed the name Excel Parking, so my contract was with Excel, not VCS. Therefore he struck VCS’s claim out.

Finally they had made 2 claims against me, on the same facts just different dates. He said that was unreasonable conduct and awarded me extra costs on top of the £95 fixed witness fee.

So it was a great day in the office for me! Not so much for the poor legal advocate on the other side because he was quite scathing of their case. 

Thanks very much for the template defences and witness statements. 

I basically copied Robertcox999’s witness statement from this post https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77614685/#Comment_77614685

I did adapt it to my own circumstances but I found it extremely helpful and the Judge said it helpfully pointed out points of law that he relied on. (I claimed the credit for that, sorry Robert!)

Thanks again. 

Grizebeck

I do like how honest the unregistered barristers/solicitors agents are about these cases.

Suz8674

Grizebeck said:

I do like how honest the unregistered barristers/solicitors agents are about these cases.

Yeah - they said they were glad I'd won!