SIP Parking PCN for a misleading parking ticket sign

palegreenghost

I just realised I forgot to redact the parking ticket, that's been fixed and reuploaded. 

I also just realised I put the wrong time that the ticket was purchased in my defence, thankfully I noticed it and I have evidence of when I purchased it. I said it was bought at 15:31, when it was in fact 5:31pm (17:31) unfortunate but probably not the end of the world. 

palegreenghost

Still haven't received SiP's WS or anything that they were supposed to send me. How long should I wait before I send my WS?

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Here's what I have so far, I need a bit of advice on some parts and just generally would be helpful. 

2. In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. I am a litigant in person with no formal legal training. I have done my best to present my case and evidence clearly and truthfully, and I respectfully ask the court to take this into account.

My defence is repeated, and I will say as follows:

Facts and sequence of events

3. In November 2022, I looked online to research a place to park for a visit that would take place on 2/12/2022. According to a few websites they advertised that the Essex Street car park charged £5 for 12 hours or £4 for 6 hours which would comfortably cover the time required for the visit. 

4. On 2/12/2022, I parked in a spot at the Essex Street car park towards the rear of the site, I had a passenger with me. I paid £5 for a ticket at 17:31 which I then displayed in my car window. The parking ticket machine allowed me to put £5 in cash into the machine, and print a ticket, even though unknowingly this was not enough to cover the cost of parking for 12 hours. Nothing alerted me to the discrepancy. The lighting at the rear of the parking site was poor, due to it being dark I couldn’t see that the ticket actually only covered 4 hours of parking. My friend and I (the passenger) returned to the Essex Street car park just before 22:22, the time I was recorded leaving the car park. 

5. During my visit in December I wasn’t aware that the tariff had changed significantly in November 2022. There were no additional signs that either my friend/the passenger or I saw to inform us that the terms had changed, upon entering or exiting the site. The price of 12 hours of parking had increased by 50p and the £4 for 6 hours option had been completely removed, had that option not been removed it would have covered the stay. Extra prominent signs informing drivers of significant changes to tariffs are required by the IPC CoP of which there were none.

6. I’d like to make clear that upon receiving the PCN from SiP Parking Limited, I disputed it and appealed to the IAS. I informed them that I had paid £5 for the advertised 12 hours of parking and I couldn’t understand why it hadn’t covered my stay. I was not told that the terms had changed in November when I disputed/appealed the PCN, I was only told that I hadn’t paid enough, again I couldn’t understand why and was left completely in the dark. Upon receiving the Letter Before Claim in April 2024, I took it upon myself to email SiP Legal directly to ask exactly why my £5 hadn’t covered the 12 hours, and only then did they tell me that the terms had changed in November 2022 so I didn’t even have the full picture until I emailed them.

7. The private parking sector single Code of Practice states: “3.4 Material change – notices. Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a driver entering controlled land that is or has been open for public parking, the parking operator must place additional (temporary) notices at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the change making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular visitors who might be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking charges”.

8. [I need some guidance on this part] SiP Parking Limited might argue that at the time of the incident they didn’t have to give 4 months notice as the old IPC guidance on Changes in Operator’s Terms and Conditions stated “Where there is any change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a person visiting the Car Park and which materially affects the Motorist the Operator should place additional (temporary) notices at the entrance making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular visitors who may be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur Parking Charges. Notices should be in addition to the signage ordinarily required and left in place for an appropriate period”. While SiP might believe this ambiguity works in their favour, I would argue it does the opposite as it opens them up to additional scrutiny as to what “an appropriate period” is and seeing as they signed up to The private parking sector single Code of Practice which states “not less than 4 months from the date of the change” then they must’ve found this to be agreeable as an appropriate period of time. [Bit of a weak argument? Does this need beefing up a bit?]

9. Photos were provided to me by SiP Legal to show the updated signs at the entrance to the Essex Street parking site in November 2022, the photos show that there are no “additional (temporary) notices” at the entrance. Shown in (Exhibit XX01) and (Exhibit XX02) 

10. SiP Parking Limited have added £60 to the claim as if it was included in the PCN which it wasn’t, it was £100. This is a disproportionate rip off double recovery; not allowed under Parking Eye V Beavis or POFA. [Do I need to explain why, I’m sure the judge knows about this? Or should I just include Parking Eye V Beavis and POFA 2012 in the evidence at the end?]

11. The parking ticket that I purchased on 2/12/2022 has an incorrect VAT number on it, it says 19721947, the correct number should be 197219474. The VAT number refers to  SIP Car Parks (1) Limited. Which is a completely different company and not the Claimant. [I don’t really know what to say about this part, I think the issue is who exactly did I have a contract with - something along the lines of the Claimant has provided no proof that it can enforce a contract formed by another company, without that proof the claim must fail? It’s ambiguous about who the contract is with etc] Shown in (Exhibit XX03) and (Exhibit XX04)

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My friend provided me with this, is this okay how it's written?

SUPPORTING WITNESS STATEMENT - PASSENGER

I, XXXXXX of XXXXXXXXXX, am not a party to these proceedings. I make this witness statement in support of the Defendant. The facts in this statement are within my own knowledge unless stated otherwise.

I can confirm the sequence of the events detailed by XXXXXXX. I was a passenger on 2/12/2022, we parked at the Essex Street Car park towards the back of the site, at no point did I see any additional signs warning that the terms of the parking had changed so we were unaware of any price increases and the removal of the shorter stay option of 6 hours, either upon entering the car park or exiting the car park. I can confirm that visibility was poor at the rear of the car park where we parked, due to poor lighting so we could not see the details on the parking ticket properly.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Defendant’s signature:

Date:

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Thanks again in advance, hope the holidays are treating you well.

Coupon-mad

It doesn't look like you've got the usual exhibits that I carefully list in post 2 of NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST.

palegreenghost

I apologise. I promise I have read it over and over, I'm getting overwhelmed by the amount of information I'm trying to pull from. I'm really struggling to make sense of what I'm missing and what's relevant to my circumstances. 

I'm missing photos/videos from the car park itself, I can't make that journey to Birmingham at the moment to get any.

I'm so close to the end I can feel it but I'm completely messing it up now.

Would this witness statement be an ideal place to start when trying to get my WS up to snuff? Help Defending A Very Silly PCN From UK CAR PARK MANAGMENT LIMITED - Page 7 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I found this one too Witness statement prep for court hearing — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Gr1pr

palegreenghost said:

Still haven't received SiP's WS or anything that they were supposed to send me.

How long should I wait before I send my WS

Thanks again in advance, hope the holidays are treating you well.

Your NOA on a previous page states that the WS bundle deadline for both parties is Monday,  5th January by 4pm

So you must email yours to the local court and to SIP by that deadline,  which is next Monday,  in 5 days time

I assume that you read it. ?  ,  because you definitely attached it to a previous reply 

SIP have the same deadline as you

Keep checking your inbox and spam folders in case they send you an N279 discontinuation document,  or the WS bundle 

palegreenghost

I was just worried that it'd look bad if I took until the very last moment to send in my WS, like I was being underhanded in some way. I realise that's daft in retrospect but I guess it's born of a suspicion that SiP is taking forever to send their WS to be underhanded and give me less ammunition to use against them. 

I've been checking my spam folders periodically and there's no sign of anything from them. 

ChirpyChicken

no its normal

Gr1pr

Stop overthinking it,  a deadline is a deadline,  if I were your adversary i would wait until the last minute too, in order to give you less time to react,  so as mentioned above,  its normal  !

Your query has been answered,  do it on monday afternoon 

Meanwhile,  concentrate on the task in hand

palegreenghost

I decided to make my WS a bit more concise and easier to read while I'm looking over what else to add in, I did add in Fairlie v Fenton regarding the VAT/Company discrepancy 

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2.       In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. I am a litigant in person with no formal legal training. I have done my best to present my case and evidence clearly and truthfully, and I respectfully ask the court to take this into account. My defence is repeated, and I will say as follows:

Facts and sequence of events

3. I confirm that I am both the registered keeper and the driver of the vehicle on the date in question.

4. In November 2022, prior to my visit, I researched parking options online for Essex Street car park. Several websites advertised tariffs of £5 for 12 hours or £4 for 6 hours, which I reasonably relied upon when planning my visit.

5. On 2 December 2022, I parked at the Essex Street car park towards the rear of the site. I had a passenger with me. At 17:31, I paid £5 in cash at the payment machine and displayed the printed ticket in my vehicle.

6. The payment machine accepted £5 and issued a ticket without any warning that this sum was insufficient to cover the advertised 12-hour stay. Due to poor lighting at the rear of the site and it being dark, it was not apparent that the ticket issued only covered four hours. I returned to the vehicle shortly before 22:22, which is the time recorded by the Claimant as my exit.

7. At the time of parking, I was unaware that the tariffs had changed in November 2022. I did not see any additional or prominent signage at the entrance or within the site warning that the long-standing tariffs had materially changed. Had I been made aware, I would have paid accordingly.

Failure to give notice of material change to terms

8. The Claimant is a member of the International Parking Community (IPC) and was bound in 2022 by the IPC Code of Practice then in force.

9. The IPC Code of Practice applicable in 2022 stated:

“Where there is any change to any pre-existing terms and conditions that would not be immediately apparent to a person visiting the Car Park and which materially affects the Motorist, the Operator should place additional (temporary) notices at the entrance making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular visitors who may be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur Parking Charges.”

10. The removal of the £4 for 6 hours tariff and the increase in the 12-hour tariff was plainly a material change that was not immediately apparent to a motorist relying on previous tariffs or online information.

11. The Claimant has produced photographs taken in November 2022, which show that no additional or temporary notices were placed at the site entrance warning of these changes. These photographs are exhibited at RG01 and RG02.

12. Accordingly, the Claimant failed to comply even with the minimum IPC requirements in force at the time, and users such as myself were not fairly informed of the changes.

13. The private parking sector single Code of Practice states: “3.4 Material change –

notices. Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions

that would not be immediately apparent to a driver entering controlled land that is or has

been open for public parking, the parking operator must place additional (temporary)

notices at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the

change making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular

visitors who might be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking

charges”.

Appeal history and lack of transparency

14. Upon receipt of the Parking Charge Notice, I appealed and explained that I had paid £5 for what I reasonably believed was 12 hours of parking. The appeal was rejected, and I was merely told that I had “not paid enough”, without any explanation that the tariffs had recently changed.

15. I was not informed of the November 2022 tariff change during the appeal process. It was only after receiving a Letter Before Claim in April 2024 that I contacted SIP Legal directly, at which point I was told for the first time that the terms had changed in November 2022.

16. This lack of transparency significantly prejudiced my ability to understand or challenge the allegation at an earlier stage.

17. Photos were provided to me by SiP Legal to show the updated signs at the entrance to the Essex Street parking site in November 2022, the photos show that there are no “additional (temporary) notices” at the entrance. Shown in (Exhibit RG01) and (Exhibit RG02) 

Added £60 – abuse of process

18. The Claimant has added £60 to the original £100 parking charge. This sum was not stated on the signage, not part of the parking charge, and not incurred as a genuine loss.

19. In ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, the Supreme Court held that a parking charge was enforceable only because it was a single, clearly advertised sum which already covered the operator’s costs of running the scheme.

20. Further, Schedule 4 paragraph 4(5) of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 limits recovery from a keeper to the amount specified in the Notice to Keeper. The additional £60 is therefore irrecoverable, represents double recovery, and is widely recognised by courts as an abuse of process.

No contract with the Claimant / incorrect VAT number

21. The parking ticket I purchased on 2 December 2022 displays a VAT number belonging to SIP Car Parks (1) Limited, not the Claimant, SIP Parking Limited. This is shown in Exhibits RG03 and RG04.

22. These are separate legal entities. The ticket is the contemporaneous contractual document and identifies a different company as the party receiving payment.

23. In Fairlie v Fenton (1870), the court confirmed that a party who is not the contracting party has no right to sue upon the contract. The Claimant has produced no evidence of assignment, novation, or agency entitling it to enforce a contract allegedly formed by another company.

24. In the absence of strict proof, I submit that the Claimant lacks standing to bring this claim and that no contract existed between myself and SIP Parking Limited.

Coupon-mad

There's no such company as SIP Legal so I would not give them that level of respect just because they signed off communications that way (presumably). They aren't a legal firm.

If was December after 5pm when you arrived, yet nowhere have you said it was dark & poorly lit, and therefore no signs could be seen and the machine screen did not list the tariffs or contractual terms, it was merely a payment kiosk which was used in good faith.

You are still missing the usual points about the Beavis sign and the Beavis quotes about the PCN itself covering all the costs of the operation that flow from an alleged breach (i.e. the minor costs of a £2.50 DVLA look-up then an automated letter chain including LBC).