Letter from Gladstone Solicitors RE: Parking Fines from UKCPM - Resident Car Park [Educational Only]

ms966

Hi all, quick update…unfortunately, no success through my landlords acting agent or estate management…not surprised at all. Now we wait and see if they proceed with court…will keep you guys posted. 

B789

ms966 said:

Based on the L & T Act’ Fruitcake mentioned above, do you guys think I have a genuine case to sue landlord separately for tenancy breach? Or even for mis-sold tenancy, as they now seem to distance themselves from this parking issue, placing the blame on land owner but parking was not offered by land owner (freehold).

But if your landlord didn't alter the tenancy agreement/lease then you have no case to sue the landlord. Your argument is with the third party who have tried to scam you by interfering with your lease.

What have your landlord's agent or management company said about why they cannot help? Have you reminded them that they are jointly liable for the actions of their agents and as you will be defending this all the way to court, they should seek advice from their own legal advisors because you will be calling them as witnesses.

Half_way

What have your landlord's agent or management company said about why they cannot help? [b]Have you reminded them that they are jointly liable for the actions of their agents and as you will be defending this all the way to court, they should seek advice from their own legal advisors because you will be calling them as witnesses.[/b]

That ( above) from B79 and more , you could also add that they could also be jointly liable for any data protection act / GDPR breaches by their agents, as it would appear that your data has been obtained and processed without just cause , as they/  their agents have failed to carry out the relevant checks and carry out due diligence to see if they had cause to access and process personal data, article 6 lawful processing of personal data.

And then use that data to your  detriment in processing and aggressive pursuing of parking charge notices.

Also see here or GDPR art 5+6

 https://gdpr-info.eu/art-5-gdpr/

Parking companies, and those who enable them should be hit with the GDPR stick more often, in particular when dealing with residential cases and the so called double dip

B789

Give this a go:

Article 12 of the UK GDPR legally requires data controllers to store and process personal data accurately: clearly, any data controller issuing an invoice to you because it has wrongly recorded that you parked in breach of the alleged contract between you and the landowner (or, as in this case, an agent of the landowner) is processing your personal data unlawfully. 

The precedents for claiming damages and compensation for such unlawful processing are the decisions of the Court of Appeal in Zeta Jones & Douglas v Hello! Magazine [2003] EWHC 786 and Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd (CCF) [2013] EWCA Civ 333, both being binding on all County Courts in England and Wales.  In the latter claim, Mr Halliday was awarded compensation of £750 at what the Court regarded was the lowest level of award, and although this was a claim under Section 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998, similar provisions - amended to take account of a decision by the EU Grand Chamber that the 1998 Act did not properly implement EU law into UK domestic legislation - replaced the old Section 13 provisions with Article 12 of the UK GDPR and Section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

In short, you ought to give 21 days notice (the pre-action protocol only really requires 14 days but hey, you can be charitable!) to the data controller of your intention to seek (say) £100 nominal damages and compensation under Article 12 of the UK GDPR and Section 168 of the Data Protection Act 2018 for their unlawful processing of your personal data: you could say that you will not file your claim with the County Court if they confirm in writing that all references to this alleged debt have been deleted within (say) 14 days. Clearly mark your letter as a "Letter before County Court proceedings".

Anyone who is fairly confident can claim as a litigant-in-person in Part 27 proceedings in the County Court (commonly but wrongly described as "the Small Claims Court").  Each party is responsible for their own legal costs whether they win or lose and the claim for £100 can be issued online for a fee of £35 at moneyclaimonline.gov.uk which also gives useful advice if you want to have a look at what is involved.  Your claim will automatically be listed as being for a total of £135, i.e. the successful party gets their Court fees back.

ms966

B789 said:

ms966 said:

Based on the L & T Act’ Fruitcake mentioned above, do you guys think I have a genuine case to sue landlord separately for tenancy breach? Or even for mis-sold tenancy, as they now seem to distance themselves from this parking issue, placing the blame on land owner but parking was not offered by land owner (freehold).

But if your landlord didn't alter the tenancy agreement/lease then you have no case to sue the landlord. Your argument is with the third party who have tried to scam you by interfering with your lease.

What have your landlord's agent or management company said about why they cannot help? Have you reminded them that they are jointly liable for the actions of their agents and as you will be defending this all the way to court, they should seek advice from their own legal advisors because you will be calling them as witnesses.

Thanks for clarifying! 

My landlords managing agent did instruct UKCPM to cancel both PCNs but they refused stating the same “no permit” bs despite pointing out the laws. 

Estate management said the PCNs were passed to legal by UKCPM and cannot do anything at this stage and that I need to contact legal to dispute.

As you both and others pointed, I tried to push using the data protection stuff along with section 37 but they seem unhinged. Lost hope with both here so just waiting now for next steps from GS, if they choose this route…is there a timeframe by which Gladstone Solicitors must take me to court if they wish after sending the initial letter? Note my 30 days to seek debt advice ends on 29 July. 

ms966

Also, is it worth drafting the defence and statement of truths now or will I get plenty of time when it reaches that stage? 

Coupon-mad

ms966 said:

Also, is it worth drafting the defence and statement of truths now or will I get plenty of time when it reaches that stage? 

You will have loads of time.  

They have the same limitation as any firm does to bring a contract law case to the English courts.

ms966

Coupon-mad said:

ms966 said:

Also, is it worth drafting the defence and statement of truths now or will I get plenty of time when it reaches that stage? 

You will have loads of time.  

They have the same limitation as any firm does to bring a contract law case to the English courts.

Thanks Coupon!!

ms966

ms966 said:

My landlords managing agent did instruct UKCPM to cancel both PCNs but they refused stating the same “no permit” bs despite pointing out the laws. 

Estate management said the PCNs were passed to legal by UKCPM and cannot do anything at this stage and that I need to contact legal to dispute.

[Quoted post removed by Forum Team]

Landlord legal team said there is no joint liability, as Coupon pointed out, this might be true. 

Estate management ignored my email on this, still pushing for a reply, I was slightly rude in the email thread I must admit, came out of frustration when I read their initial reply…they were blatantly ignorant. The fight goes on…

ms966

In case anyone wondering…still haven’t heard anything from Gladstone. The last time I checked both tickets on UKCPM website, it had the status “with our legal team”…the search of both tickets now results a blank/“nothing found”. Not sure if they decided to cancel without informing me due to the pressure from Landlord and Estate.