URGENT request for advice on defence against Britannia Parking (BW Legal)

Coupon-mad

Show us exactly what your defence said.

You cannot add new arguments - you can only build on what your defence said -  except CRA 2015 fairness/prominence of signage arguments.

Mahule2

Coupon-mad said:

Show us exactly what your defence said.

You cannot add new arguments - you can only build on what your defence said -  except CRA 2015 fairness/prominence of signage arguments.

Here is the defence I submitted:

I wish to contest the claim for £251.56 from the claimant Britannia Parking Group on the following basis:
* Th claimant issued a parking charge notice on 20/8/2021 for contravening the parking conditions at HEARN STREET, PO30 5EH, Newport, Isle of Wight.

* The claimant does not have any proprietary interest at Hearn Street, Isle of Wight. The lease agreement between Vesplace Limited and Britannia Parking Limited issued to me upon my appeal is for a completely different address; LUGLEY STREET, PO30 5HA, Newport, Isle of Wight. 

*There was no record of any Britannia carpark listed on their own website for Hearn Street, Newport, Isle of Wight on the date my appeal to the claimant was raised.

*I requested the CCTV footage of me allegedly parking at Hearn Street to be investigated by Britannia Parking Ltd. but they did not respond to this request. Therefore I contacted the local council who advised me to contact Island Roads (Isle of Wight Highway Service). Their reponse was that Britannia Parking Ltd. do not have a car park at Hearn Street, PO30 5EH.

* I believe there has been an administrative error by the claimant as I have always paid for my car parking as stated in my original appeal to the parking charge notice.

* I have NEVER parked at Hearn Street Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5EH.

--------------------------

I am dreading to hear what I've done wrong or haven't done. Seeing the defence draft you pointed me to I think it'll be a lot

Coupon-mad

Nah - it's interesting!  Not bad.

You can build on that and attach your evidence AND you can say (in the alternative) that if the court feels the car was within the location pleaded, then the signs (and £100 punitive clause) were neither clear nor sufficiently prominent and (as your defence and appeal states) you always paid and displayed, so there was no breach of any prominent term, and you did not agree to pay £100, let alone a fanciful and abusively enhanced £170.

Mahule2

Coupon-mad said:

Nah - it's interesting!  Not bad.

You can build on that and attach your evidence AND you can say (in the alternative) that if the court feels the car was within the location pleaded, then the signs (and £100 punitive clause) were neither clear nor sufficiently prominent and (as your defence and appeal states) you always paid and displayed, so there was no breach of any prominent term, and you did not agree to pay £100, let alone a fanciful and abusively enhanced £170.

Thank you for checking it and for your advice Coupon-mad. I am relieved I haven't totally messed it up. I will continue working on my WS and evidence list and will share it with you once finished. 

Mouse007

Well if they can't get the name and address of their car park right what can they get right?

Mouse007

Meanwhile, just to add to the fun, there are 2 Lugley Street Car Parks

Mahule2

Please can I have another question? The directions don't state if the statement and the evidence has to be delivered by mail or if it is ok emailing it. If emailing, is there any suggested way of attaching the files? I mean if the files are larger. 

PS: I haven't received any new documentation from BP except a letter from BW Legal dated 6/1/ called Without Prejudice Save as to Costs telling me 'Great news - 25% discount offer' and saying their client's discount is open for acceptance until 11/1/ (the WS deadline). Should I acknowledge this letter? 

Thank you

Coupon-mad

 Should I acknowledge this letter? 

Nope. Ignore it.

Email the WS & evidence to the local court and the solicitor. If your PDF attachments are large just merge them using a free online PDF merging tool, but make sure you also number every page and every exhibit.

By the way, BW Legal's template witness statement is posted all over this forum a hundred times already, so when you receive it please don't post telling us what it says about MSE...!  Spare us.

Read a few BW Legal witness statement threads and you'll find it in advance.

Mahule2

Coupon-mad said:

 Should I acknowledge this letter? 

Nope. Ignore it.

Email the WS & evidence to the local court and the solicitor. If your PDF attachments are large just merge them using a free online PDF merging tool, but make sure you also number every page and every exhibit.

By the way, BW Legal's template witness statement is posted all over this forum a hundred times already, so when you receive it please don't post telling us what it says about MSE...!  Spare us.

Read a few BW Legal witness statement threads and you'll find it in advance.

Thank you!

Reading some of the posts I am not sure if my Sequence of events is not too detailed! Would you mind reading through?

Also, in my case the signage wasn't a problem so I don't think the Beavis case is relevant. Or is it?

WS -draft 1

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. My name is ………… of …………, and I am the defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge.

2. In my statement I shall refer to exhibits within the evidence supplied with this statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. 

Sequence of events

3. In August 2021, whilst on holiday on Isle Of Wight, myself and my family were coming back from a day trip and decided to have takeaway. We arrived in Newport and I dropped my partner off by Newport Fish & Chip and drove off to find a place to park. As there were yellow lines, I kept looking for a carpark. 

4. I parked roughly in the middle of the car park and, whilst leaving the vehicle driver's door open, walked to the closest pay machine which was right next to a metal barrier separating the carpark from another carpark. Whilst I was paying, I remember thinking I shouldn’t have left the door open with my two children sitting in the back.

5. There was plenty of signage, and the use of ANPR system clearly shown. The minimum fee was £1.20 for an hour. As I always pay for parking,  I paid. I had to pay more, £1.50 or £2 (I can’t remember exactly), because we didn’t have the right coins and the machine didn’t give change. I walked back to the car, put the ticket on the dashboard, slammed the door shut and went to find my partner.

6. After finding my partner we came back to the vehicle where we ate our dinner. I remember checking the ticket to make sure we didn’t exceed 1 hour I paid for. As there was no PCN affixed to the vehicle, I didn’t have a reason to think there might be a problem. I took the parking ticket off the dashboard and put it in the bags with the fish and chips leftovers. None of us ate much as it was the most disgusting fish and chips we ever had. This might seem to be irrelevant information but I clearly remember moaning about the fact that, on top of paying quite a bit for our disgusting dinner, I also had to pay more for the parking ticket because the machine wouldn’t give change. 

7. A few days after returning home I was shocked by receiving a Penalty Charge Notice (Exhibit BP-MM-01) for failing to make a valid payment. I thought maybe I mistyped the number plate so I appealed to the Claimant (Exhibit BP-MM-02) requesting CCTV footage of all payment machines to be reviewed and to see the records of all payment machines as I knew the footage would prove I paid and displayed. The Claimant declined my appeal (Exhibit BP-MM-03) on the basis that ‘a valid ticket was not purchased’ and ‘the full and correct registration number has not been entered’ whilst ‘Taking into consideration keying errors.’ From their reply it seemed like I mistyped the number plate but I found their reply unclear. The Claimant didn’t comment on my CCTV investigation request at all. 

8. Following the unsuccessful appeal to the Claimant, I submitted a POPLA appeal and, once again, requested the CCTV footage of the carpark to be investigated (Exhibit BP-MM-04). To show I pay for parking, I attached a copy of two parking tickets from other IoW car parks (Exhibit BP-MM-05), as well as a bank statement showing a PayByPhone payment from time I didn’t have any or sufficient change (Exhibit BP-MM-06). 

9. In response to my POPLA appeal, the Claimant provided several documents including a photo of my vehicle entering and leaving a car park taken by an ANPR camera. Again, there was no comment on my request for CCTV footage itself to be investigated. The Claimant supplied several other documents amongst them a log from a pay machine (or pay machines - unclear as no explanation was given), the first and the last page of their lease agreement (Letter Of Authorisation, further LoA) for car park premises at Lugley Street (Exhibit BP-MM-07) and their OP Case Summary (Exhibit BP-MM-08). My POPLA appeal was unsuccessful.

10. As a last resort, I contacted the IoW council for the information about the car park’s CCTV footage and was advised to contact Island Roads (Isle of Wight Highway Service). Their response was that the correct address for the car park is Britannia Car Park, Lugley Street, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 5HA (Exhibit BP-MM-09).

Lease Document Discrepancy

11. In the OP Case Summary (Exhibit BP-MM-08) supplied by the Claimant in response to my POPLA appeal, the Claimant writes: ‘We have authorisation to act on behalf of the landowners, ensuring that the terms and conditions are adhered to. We have full authority to issue Parking Charge Notices on their behalf. A copy of the document has been enclosed to show that we have a contractual agreement to manage the parking facilities, to take legal actions or recover parking charges where they remain unpaid…’. The document they refer to is the LoA which clearly shows the Claimant leases premises at Lugley Street, Newport; NOT Hearn Street, Newport which they issued the PCN for. 

The Claimant is also stating that the copy of this document shows they can take legal actions or recover parking charges. The provided copy of this document is incomplete. It only shows 2 pages out of 22 and therefore doesn’t show anything of that kind. 

..... here I will continue about the abuse of process etc. but do I need to include a summary as well?....... 

Coupon-mad

As there were yellow lines, I kept looking for a carpark. 

Just an observation to help you avoid PCNs in future... You avoided double yellows... Errrmm, may I ask why?

Double yellows are for loading!

I wish UK drivers would stop being scared of yellow lines and stop seeking out car parks for minor brief stops (e.g. for collecting an item or waiting to board/alight a passenger).

Double and single yellows are there for stopping for certain 'exempt activity'... so please do just briefly stop 'on street' next time.  You cannot get a PCN by camera from a Council on street in those circumstances.

Not sure if I've told you that already on this thread but I hope it helps.  When I told some friends this over Xmas, they were gobsmacked!  All longstanding intelligent drivers for decades; all wrongly thought double yellows mean 'no stopping'...

Just an aside.

Typo here:

Penalty Charge Notice

It isn't!