Excel PCN - AoS submitted, defence drafted, advice appreciated

Le_Kirk

Butterycrumpetlover said:

B789 said:

Court report when you climb down from Cloud 9 please. Which point won it?

Certainly, how would I go about finding it? Still on my phone so limited resources right now.

De minimis, predominantly.

Finding what - court report or cloud 9?  Cloud 9 is the one you should be sitting on and court report is one you write yourself with some details of how the hearing went, which will help other posters.

Butterycrumpetlover

Oh! I was optimistic hoping there would be some official report provided by the judge and published somewhere. I was going to frame it in the loo.

Coupon-mad

We mean your informal 'court report'!  Your take on it all.  Was it in person? What did their rep say, what did you say, etc.

Butterycrumpetlover

It was in person and a local solicitor was there on behalf of Excel Parking Ltd. Upon their arrival they asked if I was here, and then offered me a chat in a side room, unaware of who this was I accepted and followed them in. Once they announced that they represented Excel I politely declined further conversation and left the room. Whilst picking up my bag they tried to persuade me to take a 'reduced' offer of £185 while saying something about 'it'll be 50/50, depends on the judge' at me. I countered that they instead pay me £200 for my troubles, they declined. I said that 'we will see what the judge thinks then'. All pleasant with a bit of tongue-in-cheek banter, I appreciated that they are being paid to represent and aren't actually Excel, but it did tickle me that they tried it on at the final hurdle.

When called into the hearing the judge was very pleasant and informative regarding proceedings. They described their understanding of the day I parked and the events leading up to the day of the hearing. Everything they outlined was factual and accurate and put me at ease knowing they understood the nuances of the case.

I began taking notes and linking it to my witness statement pages and exhibit numbers when the Excel rep. was offered a chance to make their statements. They stated that the claimants 'main issue was the registration', it was a 'contravention of terms' and that the 'claimant states that there is no loss or damages'.

I was shocked because of that last point, the claimant admitting there was no loss or damages, because then what was the whole point of the fines sent through the post and what were they then bringing to court for on the day! Nonsense! I referred back to that frequently throughout.

In response to the Excel rep. the judge asked something like 'and does the claimant feel it's important to return the value of the parking paid on the day, or do they feel it is within their right to keep it'? To which the Excel rep. responded that depending on the outcome of the day they would either return it or deduct it from costs.

In my chance to respond I countered the points the Excel rep. had made with the relevant parts of my witness statement. I drew attention to the fact I had entered and paid previously in March, successfully, and that was what caused the app to default to the incorrect VRM. I made the point that if the car park used ANPR technology then it could be conceived as a pitfall or trap to not utilise it to inform on the app if an unknown VRM was entered (mentioning ParkingEye v Beavis throughout) and that there is no contractual obligation if not contract is formed. I also drew attention to my exhibit of pictures taken a few weeks prior to the hearing, mentioning the fast flow of traffic in and out of the car park, combined with the variety of pedestrians within the vicinity meant I had to pay attention to the road and its users rather than the small, dimly lit sign on entry.

After my statement and response, the Excel rep. pointed out that the signage was present throughout the car park and that I had plenty of chances to read and enter a contractual term. I disagreed and referenced Section 71 of the CRA, pointing to the claimants own WS whereby it shows a dimly lit car park, infrequent signage, no majorly prominent terms, and again my own exhibit showing images of the entranceway.

After a bit more back and forth, and final statements, the judge took 15 minutes to consider and called us back in.

It felt like a long 15 minutes, and then an even longer 2 minutes while they read out the facts of the case, especially when they started by talking about the signage the claimant has and the contractual obligation the claimant was attempting to use to penalise me. Until they said something like 'however this is a de minimis breach' and 'therefore not a breach' and that the claimant 'had received reasonable communication to explain the breach' but 'chose to not act on it', the 'claimant kept payment' and that it was an 'unfair sum sought as disproportionate' and therefore they 'dismiss the case'.

I breathed a very big sigh of relief. What a thrill hearing that!

The judge then prompted to ask if I would like to seek costs, to which I did. They asked me my income (to check if the £95~ daily rate applied), my cost of travel and the cost of parking. I suggested the parking could be rounded to £2.20 (the original fee I paid back in September of 2022) as a good will gesture. Excel Parking Ltd. now have 14 days to pay me £100~. The Excel rep. suggested I contact Elms Legal to confirm payment details, which I did earlier today.

I asked the judge if there was anything further required from me and they confirmed the hearing was over. I thanked both the judge and the representative for their time and skipped out the door and down the stairs on my way. I then went and had a coffee in celebration and text everyone who called me names for taking it this far!

Thanks again to everyone involved for your contributions, it's been a pleasure and overall, as much as it was thrilling, I really enjoyed myself.

Coupon-mad

Flipping brilliant!

You answered everything and got costs!

UncleThomasCobley

Wonderful court report. If only we could get something like this taught in high schools across the country so that everyone would know how the system works and how they can deal with any claims, parking or otherwise, if or when they are ever confronted with one.

As @Butterycrumpetlover, has shown, it is an extremely valuable life learning experience and they will be in a good position to advise friends and family in the future.

Well done.

Umkomaas

Great result and equally great court report. Bet that's rattled Simon!