County Court: Parking Fine Defence

DefenderAvenger

@Coupon-mad I have had a read of that post you recommended. I have made the following changes to my para 2/3. I have removed anything bay related. I recall you mentioned para 4 is not needed for Gladstones? I am not sure what to replace it with. The only other thing I can think of is the car park has 7 negative reviews off Google with a rating of 1.4/5. Any recommendations? Thank you.

1. The parking charges referred to in this claim did not arise from any agreement of terms. The charge and the claim was an unexpected shock. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver was a breach of any prominent term and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the Particulars.

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle.

2.1. The Defendant has found no specific allegation or breach (nor even a term that could be described as a 'relevant contract') in the Particulars, and the Defendant objects and raises to the court's attention the clear abuse of Gladstones solicitors having added an unconscionable 10.25% interest (disproportionately high and wrongly calculated from day one).  There is no cause of action and this inflated claim should be struck out.

3. The Defendant visited the city centre. The Defendant had purchased three hours of parking at 08:31am and returned at 10:50am. The Defendant had reverse parked. The signage was placed on the wall behind the car with very small font. Upon exiting the vehicle , the Defendant was automatically facing away from all signage and therefore was unaware of the terms and conditions. The Defendant did not receive any correspondence due to moving out and only realised once visiting the family home in which all correspondence had been left unopened.

4. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  To pre-empt the usual template responses from this serial litigator: the court process is outside of the Defendant's life experience and they cannot be criticised for using, in part, pre-written wording suggested by a reliable online help resource. The Claimant is urged not to patronise the Defendant with (ironically template) unfounded accusations of not understanding their defence.

B789

Just renumber every paragraph sequentially. Forget the fancy sub-numbering. If you don't need a paragraph then just remove it and make sure every paragraph is renumbered if necessary.

Negative reviews are not a defence. Your defence is just a series of legal points that you will later expand on in your WS.

Coupon-mad

I'd remove this because it sounds like not seeing the signs was your fault, not theirs:

Upon exiting the vehicle, the Defendant was automatically facing away from all signage and therefore was unaware of the terms and conditions. The Defendant did not receive any correspondence due to moving out and only realised once visiting the family home in which all correspondence had been left unopened.


And put this (below) as 4 instead of that irrelevant para 4 (then obviously add all the rest of the 27 paragraph template defence):

4.  The Defendant did not receive any correspondence due to moving home soon afterwards, so the limited time to use the farce of the so called 'appeal' window (unbeknown to the Defendant) was lost.  The Claimant wrongly/unfairly relied on an old DVLA car registration address and made no effort to trace the right address for the Defendant at an early stage.  Hence, the Defendant knew nothing about any allegation of breach, and has no knowledge of the terms either because there was no prominent signage that he can recall.

Umkomaas

DefenderAvenger said:

Sorry, the company is Premier Parking Enforcement Ltd. 

It's Wally!
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10570340/officers

DefenderAvenger

Would I be shooting myself in the foot here if I notified DVLA quite late about the move? Although the move was temporary at first, it became permanent shortly after. hence the delay in notifying them? 

Coupon-mad

Nope, it happens, and PPCs can't ask the DVLA twice anyway so even if you had changed your V5C a week or even a year later, a PPC can't know.

That's why the Code of Practice says they must carry out further checks before litigation.

DefenderAvenger

You sir are an absolute legend you know that! I have made the changes you recommended and will send it off tomorrow after 9am! Will keep you updated. Thank you.

Coupon-mad

DefenderAvenger said:

You sir are an absolute legend you know that! I have made the changes you recommended and will send it off tomorrow after 9am! Will keep you updated. Thank you.

I'm not a sir!

I'm the lady on the each in this programme:
https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/parking-the-big-con

DefenderAvenger

Apologies for my ignorance! You are a legendary lady then! Oh nice! I shall have a watch. Thanks.