Court Case for unloading bulky furniture outside own (rented) residence

UnloadTheShelves

I could really do with some reassurance please as I am in quite some panic. 

I am a full time mum and full time carer too, with a lot going on in daily life (my child's health stuff mainly, but also dealing with anxiety and ptsd). I sit down to researching for my WS as often as I can, but it is usually well after midnight and not even able to do that on daily basis. When I do, I am usually beyond knackered and my cognitives are affected and all I feel like is like crying and giving up and simply paying the now demanded 170 GBP so I can save myself this stress and anxiety... i feel like I put months of work into this case since it started in 2020....

I based my hopes for the case on the fact that the Newbies section's part about WS states that this is "the easy stage". The more I read and try to research, the more I am convinced it is the opposite? It's impossibly hard? 

I had the impression that WS is "only" the narrative of what happened from my view (in my husband's view, of course as he is the Defendant) and the supporting exhibits such as tenancy agreement, Jopson case, evidence of collecting/unloading furniture on the day... as well as a couple of paragraphs why I believe the case should be struck out (insulting WS by the Claimant, Jopson precedent, etc).

But then all I see are those super long WS with paragraphs on costs, PoCs, preliminary matters, proper legal jargon quotes... and sooo little narrative. I absolutely don't see myself able to manage to navigate through all this if I also need to write a similar legal document if it really needs to be more than "just the narrative"?

Surely this is the hardest part yet, and not an "easy stage"?

I am in despair, I might not have it in me like I thought I did. 

Would I stand a chance of winning if i really only write the narrative (and put all my hopes into quoting Jopson and the fact that their WS was not written by a true witness, ie the warden who issued the ticket, as they say in their WS that he apparently didn't observe any unloading.... When their photo evidence is a mere 13 seconds apart) and describing that unloading on that particular spot wasn't in breach of tenancy agreement and didn't cause road blocking....), I wouldn't be able to do more than that in the little time I have. Is there any chance for me with my WS being "just" a narrative with a couple of extra bits? 

A little hope would mean a lot as I literally feel like it's killing me right now....

Coupon-mad

Yes that is OK. Here's an example where the Defendant won & used a more narrative WS:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80830947/#Comment_80830947

UnloadTheShelves

Thank you Cupon_mad. That was a reassuring reply to wake up to and since I have less than a week to finalise the WS, I spent half of today writing the narrative. It is still very much a draft, so please ignore the bullet points rather than numbered paragraphs, I will change it to numbers once I am sue it;s the final order. 

I would appreciate a feedback if this could be an acceptable WS or not. I might have gone over the top with the narrative, but I thought it is better to say more rather than less in case if for whatever reason my husband (or I) cannot attend the hearing in August. Like this, the Judge would have as much information about the Claim from our  POV as possible. 

I am particularly hoping that the Claimant will realise that there is nothing in our tenancy agreement that they can use against us or supplement their WS with; and that with quoting the Jopson case they would HOPEFULLY see that the Judge is more likely to rule in our favour? If that's the case, is there hope that they would decide not to even pay the Court Fees and withdraw the Claim, and I could really enjoy our summer respite holidays in peace and with no stress worrying about the upcoming court case? Like I said before, I will take ANY HOPE right now...

UnloadTheShelves

Name on Witness: Mr XXX XXXX

Witness Statement No.: One

IN THE COUNTY COURT AT BROMLEY / (OR RCJ?????, copying Claimant here, which one is correct??)

Claim No.: xyz

Between

PARKING CONROL MANAGEMENT (UK) LIMITED

(Claimant)

V

MR XXXX XXXXX

(Defendant)

________

WITNESS STATEMENT

 

I, Mr XXX XXX, of XXXX London XXXX, will say as follows:

 

INTRODUCTION

·         On XXXX 2020, I received a postal PCN which was issued to me on XXXX claiming an alleged parking offence from a XXXX date – on which date a PCN penalty ticket was not attached to my vehicle. This caused a great confusion as I knew I have never unlawfully parked outside my rented residence.

 

·         I checked the day of the “alleged offence” in my diary and found out that it was the day that my family was gifted numerous heavy pieces of IKEA IKAR shelves and dismantled cupboards. On the day of the alleged offence, I collected those bulky furniture pieces in Central London. Upon returning from Central London, I had temporarily and briefly stationed my vehicle outside my rented residence for the purpose of unloading those said pieces of furniture. My residence is a flat on the third floor of a block of flats (address again?)

 

 

·         I took those furniture pieces into the building in three quick go’s in order to unload the vehicle. This Witness Statement (WS) will build on my previous Defence and again argue that I have not breached any contract or an agreement, as my vehicle was stationed for the sole purpose of unloading bulky furniture pieces, and not “parked” there as the Claimant alleges, therefore he Claimant’s claim against me is without merit.

 

·         Stationing the vehicle outside my residence for the purpose of unloading was the only option as on the day of the alleged offence: 

 

o   there were no unlading bays available anywhere on the whole estate, whether within close or further-way proximity; and

o   In 2020, I had not had an access to allocated underground parking bays which are fob-protected, so could not use such bay for the purpose of unloading on the day – (maybe leave out this second part as not relevant?)

 

BACKGROUND OF EVENTS / PROOF OF UNLOADING

This part of WS will counter the Claimant’s allegation in their WS that “no unloading was observed” and that “it is doubted that the size of the vehicle could have accommodated such load” (look up exact wording from their WS)

 

·         On XXX XXX, my wife XXX XXXX has exchanged several messages on Facebook with a Facebook member who was offering several dismantled cupboards and shelves of the IKEA IKAR series – both of 30cm and 50cm depths. EXHIBIT XXX showing IKEA website page with shelves dimensions etc to prove that, when dismantled, they would have comfortably fitted into the back of the vehicle through the boot when back seating was lowered down.

 

·         Collection was agreed for the day of XXX, the day of “alleged offence”.

 

·         Reading thoroughly through the EXHIBIT XXX of the Facebook exchange, it is clear that my wife was offered – and agreed that I would collect – over twenty large furniture pieces. It is also clear that she later – on the same day -  thanked this Facebook member for the very kind gift, confirming that it was indeed collected on the day of the alleged offence which in itself counters the wrong allegations in the Claimant’s WS.

 

·         EXHIBIT XXX shows that I had paid a Congestion Charge for the day of the collection and alleged offence, again providing a proof to my WS that the furniture pieces were collected on that day, and needed to be brought home. Once again, the sole reason from temporarily stationing my vehicle outside my rented residence was solely for the reason of unloading these bulky pieces of furniture, which in legal terms does not constitute of parking (precedent-setting case of Jopson v. Homeguard Service Ltd, 9GF0A9E will be elaborated on later in this WS in paras x-y-z).

 

REASONS TO STRIKE OUT THE CLAIM

Derogatory comments in Claimant’s Witness Statement:

·         The Claimant’s Witness Statement is derogatory on several accounts:

 

·         In paragraph XXX, the Claimant alleges that “It is highly doubtful that the Defendant would understand the complexities of all the references to the Civil Procedure Rules, the requirements in the Act and the established case law, which is often the case when a Defendant is questioned about such references at Court. Therefore, everything that the Defendant has outlined is not accepted and denied by the Claimant.”

 

·         I hereby respectfully request that the claim is struck out as this statement in the Claimant’s WS para 26 is unfounded, speculative, derogatory, as well as lacking factual basis and is irrelevant to the matters at hand.

 

·         The statement is also prejudicial and does not adhere to the requirements for witness statement under CPR 32.1(1), CPR 32.1(2), CPR 32.4, CPR 32.8 and Practice Direction 32, paragraph 18.2.

 

·         The overriding objective of CPR 1.1 is to enable the court to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost. This includes ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing. The defendant can argue that allowing speculative, unfounded and derogatory comments puts them at an unfair disadvantage and is contrary to the overriding objective of dealing with cases justly.

 

·         CPR 3.4(2) gives the court the power to strike out a claim if it discloses no reasonable grounds for bringing or defending the claim, or if it is an abuse of the court’s process. The defendant can request the court to strike out the claim on the basis that it has no reasonable grounds and is an abuse of the court's process by introducing irrelevant and prejudicial information.

 

Unjustified doubt of Defendant’s statement that unloading took place; and Claimant’s photographic “evidence of unlawful parking against the Defendant” spanning only 13 seconds

 

·         In para 27, the Claimant’s WS states that: “The Claimant highlights that no unloading activity was observed by the warden. Furthermore, the Claimant submits that it is unlikely that the Defendant was unloading over 20 large pieces of furniture due to the size of the vehicle. The Claimant therefore denies the Defendant’s assertions in regards to the alleged unloading of the vehicle”.

 ·         Note to myself for later: ADD IKEA IKAR DIMENSION COMMENT AND EXHIBIT HERE!! Move from higher para down to here - striking out to show that it's not part of WS, only a note to msyelf.

·         In addition to my previous paragraphs x-yz (once I numbered final WS version accordingly!) which already provided enough proof that unloading indeed took place, I would like to state and request the following:

 

·         I would like to respectfully request that the claim is struck out unless the Claimant ensures that the only other true witness to the claim attends the Court Hearing: This would need to be the warden employed by the PCM/The Claimant, who, on the day of the alleged offence took photographs of my vehicles and issued the postal PCN, and who apparently alleged that he observed no unloading taking place.

 

·         If the claim is not struck out, I politely request that this witness provides real evidence to their allegation that no unloading took place. With the warden’s “photographic evidence of alleged illegal parking” spanning mere 13 seconds, I submit that this evidence is not sufficient for any claim of unlawful parking and the claim against me should be struck out.

 

·         The Claimant’s WS has been submitted by Mr XX XXX, who is a Legal Assistant for Gladstones Solicitors Limited, who – with all due respect – cannot testify at all as to what events took place on XXX 2020. I, as the Defendant, would like to state that my WS is truthful, whilst the Claimant’s WS is entirely without merit as it is not written by the witness themselves, and the claim should be struck out as a result of this.

 

·         As has already been demonstrated in paras xyz (fill in once numbered), I submitted enough proof that bulky furniture has indeed been collected on the date of the alleged offence and brought home to be unloaded at my residence. Common sense is enough to know that such amount of dismantled furniture could not be unloaded in one go while keeping the driver’s or passenger doors open. As my wife was not at home at that time, I could not ask her to stay by the vehicle to testify that unloading was taking place should the warden be on his patrol. Similarly, as we live on a social housing estate with unfortunate frequent thefts taking place, I could not leave my vehicle’s door or boot open while I was unloading the furniture by the building’s lift and taking it to my third floor flat. As stated in my Defence, I drove away as soon as the unloading had finished.

 

 

 

·         On the note of paras x –y , I would also like (fill in numbers later) to state what we had often observed from our windows, or while walking around the estate: The PCN wardens are usually seen hiding in entrance doors, or behind cars parked in the disability bays, waiting for a person unloading their shopping or dropping children off, et cetera – waiting for the brief opportunity when the driver walks into the building to unload/drop off, subsequently taking quick series of photos as a “proof of alleged parking offence” whilst not even displaying a yellow PCN sticker as they have been known and witnessed to “get into an argument and even a fight with the returning driver who got angry at not being given sufficient time to unload/drop off”.

 

·         This tactic seems to have taken place on the day of my alleged offence, which I claim to be a “predatory and money making business for the Claimant”: The warden submitted a photographic “evidence” of “illegal parking” spanning mere 13 (thirteen) seconds. I assert that this does not consist of “true evidence of illegal parking” in the slightest and renders the Claimant’s case to be entirely without merit, and therefore I respectfully ask that the Claim is struck out.

 

No breach of tenancy agreement by the Defendant

·         In their WS paragraph 28, the Claimant states that “The Claimant submits that tenants are not exempt from complying with the terms and conditions applicable at the site. The Claimant highlights that the Defendant has failed to provide a copy of their tenancy agreement in support of their defence. The Claimant reserves the right to file a supplementary witness statement should a copy of the Defendant’s tenancy agreement be received”.

 

·         Attached to my WS is my Tenancy Agreement EXHIBIT XXX. In the Tenancy Agreement, there is indeed no mention of parking and/or unloading not being allowed anywhere on the estate or outside the building of one’s residence.

 

·         Under the Section 3 “Tenant’s Obligations” is a paragraph “3.13 Roadways: Not to block local roadways and other vehicular access , and to keep them, and car parking spaces, clear of unroadworthy vehicles and other obstructions.”

 

·         To prevent and pre-empt a potential supplementary witness statement by the Claimant stating that my unloading of bulky furniture on the date of the alleged offence was in breach of the 3.13 clause of my Tenancy Agreement I am hereby submitting the following evidence and exhibits:

 

o   The Claimant with their own photographs of my vehicle on the date of the alleged offence clearly show that the road is still passable as it is wide enough to accommodate one vehicle stationed by the curb, whilst another vehicles can still pass next to it,

 

o   To eliminate any doubt that the road is wide enough for two vehicles, attached is my EXHIBIT xxx, a photograph taken from our third floor balcony clearly showing that even if a vehicle is parked next to the small playground which makes the road a little narrower, a vehicle could still park next to the parked vehicle (it is noteworthy that I had not stationed my vehicle in the place next to the playground on the day of the alleged offence which makes the road a little narrower).

 

o   EXHIBIT xxx shows a photograph from May 2020, a couple of months before my alleged offence. This is our Landlord notice on the building’s main entrance informing residents that PCM patrols will be returning to the estate and parking permits will again need to be displayed for all vehicles. In effect, this shows that parking was allowed by the Landlord alongside the building during the Covid pandemic and the curbs without blocking roadways, and as a matter of fact, one such car can be seen parked on the photo in the background behind the notice. This proves that even though my alleged offence took place after this notice was posted, it proves that unloading in that specific location did not cause a breach of clause 3.13 of my Tenancy Agreement.

 

 

o   EXHIBITS xx and yyy show more recent, time-stamped photographic evidence from 25th June 2024 showing scaffolding built alongside the whole length of the XXX building (our residence). This  scaffolding is built on the road itself, including the exact spot where my vehicle was stationed for the sake of unloading on the date of the alleged offence – on the EXHIBIT photograph it is the very same place where a builder’s van is seen parked underneath the scaffolding. 

 

o   This scaffolding will be in place for several months while new cladding is being installed on the building.  This clearly shows that our landlord/landowner themselves approve of the spaces alongside the curb being used for parking and/or scaffolding taking this space, resulting in no obstruction or blockage of roadways. Therefore my stationing my vehicle there for the purpose of unloading in 2020 was not in breach of clause 3.13 of my Tenancy Agreement either, and the Claimant cannot claim otherwise

 

o   EXHIBIT xxx shows a time-stamped photographic evidence of what does consist of road blocking. At the same time that I took photos of the scaffolding for Exhbity xxx, an Amazon delivery driver was making a delivery to our flat (see EXHIBIT of a proof of delivery in my wife’s name with the same date and time as my photos). Due to scaffolding being built alongside the whole buildings of XXXX and XXXX, there is nowhere else to station vehicles for deliveries, unloading, Royal Mail, maintenance vehicles, taxi pick up/drop off, emergence vehicles, et cetera,  then on the actual road which results into the road getting blocked as the other part is taken by the scaffolding itself. However, no such breach occurred on the date of my alleged offence on the xxx 2020 while I was unloading the bulky furniture.

 

 

The Claimant’s contract to operate a PCN enforcement service at our place of residence and alleged offence does not seem to be with our Landlord/Landowner

·         The Claimant’s Exhibit GS-1 shows the agreement between the Freeholder XXXX and PCM to “authorise the Claimant to operate a PCN enforcement service” at the place of our residence and the whole housing association estate.

 

·         However, it is noteworthy that this authorisation is from 2016 and the Freeholder has not been our landowner nor our Landlord since my family moved into this residence in 2018. Our tenancy agreement is with XXX Housing Association, so I would like to respectfully request that the Judge decides whether this claim has any merit on the grounds that the Claimant does not seem to have an enforcement authority with the current Landowner.

 

TO CONTINUE...

UnloadTheShelves

...CONTINUED:


·         If the Judge finds the above para No. xyz accurate, I would like to respectfully ask that the case is struck out as the Claimant had no right to issue a PCN claim against me in the first place.

Previous appeal hearing establishing that “unloading is not parking” – Jopson v Homeguard Services Ltd [2016] - claim number B9GF0A9E

 

·         Since I truthfully stated that I was unloading bulky furniture pieces my vehicle at the time of the alleged offence and provided evidence to prove it - unlike the Claimant who did not provide any evidence of my alleged “parking for a significant duration of time” - , my case is on all fours with the persuasive appeal case heard by HHJ Charles Harris QC at Oxford: Jopson v Homeguard Services Ltd [2016] - claim number B9GF0A9E. As a result, I respectfully ask that on this point and all of the above paragraphs too, this Claim against me is struck out as being entirely without merit (EXHIBIT XXX, Jopson print out).

 

·         This persuasive appeal hearing constitutes of my strongest argument why the Claim against me should be struck out before yet more Court’s time is wasted:

 

·         In Jopson v Homeguard Services Ltd [2016] - claim number B9GF0A9E, in paragraph 21 His Honour Judge Harris states that a car stopped temporarily or “left for a moment while unloading […] an awkward piece of furniture […] is not parked”.

 

·         In Paragraph 19 of the same appeal case, His Honour Judge Harris states the following statement on a situation that is identical to mine: “The purported prohibition was upon ‘parking’, and it is possible to draw a real and sensible distinction between pausing for a few moments or minutes to enable […] heavy items to be unloaded, and parking in the sense of leaving a car for some significant duration of time.”

 

·         Following all of the above, I strongly believe that there is no merit left in the Claimant’s WS, Mr Joshua XXX’s derogatory statements, and in his untruthful statements as to what really happened on the day of the alleged offence since I seem to be the only true witness to the events of the alleged offence, and the only true witness who had submitted a witness statement and who will be attending the hearing.

 

Unreasonable charges:

??? reduced initial claim from 300 to 170 GBP?

Statement of truth:

copy from WS samples

 

Signed and dated: ***** ***** 2024

Coupon-mad

Very good.

Copy this stuff from the exemplars:

"Unreasonable charges:"

You do need to properly argue against adding the disproportionate £70.  That covers you against that.

Have you got the whole transcript of Jopson? You should also append these transcripts:

Link v Parkinson

PCM v Bull

Excel v Wilkinson

Also remove ALL use of the wrong words: 'penalty' and 'offence' (a parking charge is neither).

And I always scream a bit (forgive me, I'm a spelling pedant...) when I see people spell kerb wrongly.  We aren't in America with sidewalks and curbs (that awful Americanism makes me shudder almost as much as 'aluminum').

LDast

It may have been better worded if you had said that you were "unloading 20 large pieces of dismantled furniture" rather than "unloading 20 large pieces of furniture".

Also, you keep referring to the "offence". No "offence" occurred, allegedly or otherwise. Simply call it the "alleged parking event". There was no "illegal" parking. Only an "alleged breach of a parking term".

As you are asking the court to strike-out the claim because of derogatory language used in the claimants WS, you should be careful of the language you use in your own WS. The claimants witness is stating lack of comprehension of everything in the defence you submitted. Using incorrect terms such as "offence" or "illegal" when there was neither an offence not anything illegal, kind of supports their assertions. You should correct those points/words. 

UnloadTheShelves

Thank you both very much! 

I will make all adjustments as suggested. 

I really apologise for my bad spelling! English is not my first language and i actually didn't know the word or spelling for "kerb" at all, until I once slipped off one and fractured my foot and the Dr spelled it as "curb" in my discharge papers so it got engrained in my brain as such since then! Sorry! Will never make the same mistake ever, I promise :-)

For the three transcript you suggest to append, Coupon-mad, do you mean just to append them, or to highlight relevant parts from them in my WS? 

I haven't looked them up yet, or read them or identified how they're relevant to my case... So is it just to append for now, and then use arguments from them in the hearing if need be?

I'm super grateful for the correction to my use of inappropriate wording, I'm definitely taking off all the offences and penalties! THANK YOU!

Coupon-mad

For the three transcript you suggest to append, Coupon-mad, do you mean just to append them, or to highlight relevant parts from them in my WS? 

Both.

If you search the forum for the case name and the words witness statement you'll find examples of how people have referred to those cases in their WS.

UnloadTheShelves

Thank you!

Genuine (and desperate) question, please don't crucify me. 

I spent over two hours researching the three cases and trying to find applicable examples from Ws's for my own. I think I am ok with Link v Parkinson and Excel v. Wilkinson and have added them to my WS. 

However I am struggling with PCM v Bull (even though PCM are our claimant!). I have found several different quotes of the PCM v Bull in different WSs but really struggle with what they mean and they can be used with our signage - especially as I never mentioned signage in my defense or WS at all, the language used is just beyond me (again, English is not my first language), and how it could be applicable to my case.....

Now - i do NOT expect someone to do it for me of course, but my question is this:

CAN I LEAVE IT OUT FOR NOW, and still stand a chance of winning with my current draft of WS (plus the added Parkinson and Wilkinson quotes)? And once I do have the time to look into it more, send it off as a supplementary WS before the deadline for WS (which is first week of August ish).

The reason I am asking is that I have a very little child-free time left that I can dedicate to finishing this WS off for now, and before leaving on holidays early next week (two weeks of which we are in a cottage with no electricity or running water etc. so deffo no conditions to be on a laptop focusing on this bs  claim argh). 

So I am hoping leaving PCM v Bull is ok for now, and just correct/number everything else to get the final go-ahead from here...., and if PCN v Bull is still crucial to the case, sending it off as Supplementary WS? 

Is that a valid option without compromising my case too much please? Thank you!