VCS Missing Reg PCN, IAS Appeal and Court Claim

blueskyrich

Hi Le_Kirk,

Good point.  Specifics of that..

Alleged contravention - 28/06/2023
PCN issued (to leasing company as registered keeper) - 10/07/2023
PCN forwarded to my wife (as lessee) - 17/07/2024
Appeal made by me via their portal - 31/07/2024

In that appeal, I believe that I (naively) admitted to being the driver as I (naively) assumed that a receipt for payment and that their purchasing system not being user friendly would result in common sense and the matter being closed.

On a related note, the Claim Form states that I was "Parked without purchasing a valid Pay & Display ticket for VRM" however, the wording of their Ts & Cs states "This is a PAY on EXIT car park".  Pay at the meter (s) or Pay by Phone or Online".  I would state that a pay and display ticket infers that one purchases a ticket to be displayed in the vehicle whilst parked to demonstrate that payment has been made.  As a 'pay and display' ticket is not a requirement of this car park, am I on to something here?

Edit - Furthermore, the sign that they have supplied a copy of at the entrance to the car park (you know, death to all ye who enter this private land blah blah) states in very very big letters "Pay & Display 24 Hour Car Park" which isn't actually the case.  The Ts & Cs board makes absolutely no reference to "Pay and Display".  It would be reasonable to assume that on entering the car park, I was aware of the need to pay immediately for my parking as opposed to the different instructions given on the Ts & Cs board.  The conflict between the two is misleading and pressured me into making a rushed payment instead of having the luxury of sorting either at the time of exit.

Coupon-mad

Have you shown us the POC?

Yes you can mention the above in your facts and deny that the term was breached.

blueskyrich

Been away with work and didn't take the document with me, would have posted sooner if I had.

So the PoC....

The Claim is for a breach of contract for breaching the terms and conditions set on private land. The Defendant's vehicle, XXXX XXX, was identified in the Earlsdon Park MSCP on the 28/06/2023 in breach of the advertised terms and conditions; namely Parked without purchasing a valid Pay Display ticket for VRM. At all material times the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or driver. The terms and conditions upon entering private land were clearly displayed at the entrance and in prominent locations.The sign was the offer and the act of entering private land was the acceptance of the offer hereby entering into a contract by conduct. The signs specifically detail the terms and conditions and the consequences of failure to comply, namely a parking charge notice will be issued, and the Defendant has failed to settle the outstanding liability The Claimant seeks the recovery of the parking charge notice,contractual costs and interest.

My defence will be centred on the following points....

Vehicle entered the private land where it is stated that the car park is of the Pay and Display variety. Interestingly, in my IAS appeal, VCS have provided 2 versions of the 'Entrance Sign' in PDF format - one stating the car park is a pay and display, one saying pay on exit.  In the Site Plan with all the photos etc. taken in 2019 show neither sign prominently displayed at the entrance and as such, the T's and C's are not displayed on entering.  As such, the offer of the contract is invalid.

Irrespective of the above issue with signage, the claimant makes reference to the need for a valid Pay and Display ticket in their PoC.  This is clearly not a requirement of their own T's and C's.

In good faith I paid for parking, payment for which has been acknowledged by the claimant.

The alleged breach of contract is based upon a specific contractual requirement which is unfair and one-sided (not along the lines of the Beavis defence and the subsequent Supreme Court clarification).

The published appeal process is weighted heavily in the favour of the claimant and was cynically shut down before I was afforded the opportunity to complete the process and received relevant information/documentation in support of my appeal (specifically around the accuracy of their system).

I think that's about it...

blueskyrich

Just a quick bump re: the above and a question regarding the filing of a defence...

It is advised in the relevant threads that a defence should be e-mailed as opposed to being filed via the website. I can't find the specific reason why - is it because an e-mailed defence can be longer/more detailed than the restrictive field on the website?  

Also, at what point does a claimant and defence have to 'show all of their cards'? Now that I've studied their pictures etc., it's very clear that their whole claim is flawed as they supplied photographic data as part of the IAS process which shows the sign on which their whole claim is based isn't actually there.  Can they suddenly magic out a new picture to possibly counter that or have they had their chance? It's childish I know but I want this matter to cause them maximum expense before I bring out what I think to be the smoking gun that makes all of the other issues of decency and fairness (unfortunately) irrelevant.

Thanks in advance as always.

Coupon-mad

It is advised in the relevant threads that a defence should be e-mailed as opposed to being filed via the website. I can't find the specific reason why - is it because an e-mailed defence can be longer/more detailed than the restrictive field on the website? 

Yes.

Also, at what point does a claimant and defence have to 'show all of their cards'? Now that I've studied their pictures etc., it's very clear that their whole claim is flawed as they supplied photographic data as part of the IAS process which shows the sign on which their whole claim is based isn't actually there.  Can they suddenly magic out a new picture to possibly counter that or have they had their chance? It's childish I know but I want this matter to cause them maximum expense before I bring out what I think to be the smoking gun that makes all of the other issues of decency and fairness (unfortunately) irrelevant.

You can show all your cards in the WS later on.  You can be fairly vague in the defence, saying something like the signage was complied with and payment was made in good faith. 

blueskyrich

As Always Coupon Mad, I appreciate your input. 

I've not included the generic parts of the defence template as I know you learned people are already very familiar with them, but this is the specifics of my defence in what would be paragraph 3.  In no way do I seek any legal advice on the below but any feedback would be welcome.  Unfortunately, even I know I'm not allowed to use swear words at this stage....

"The Defendant entered the Earlsdon Multi Story Car Park at 16:11 on 28/06/2023 in vehicle registration XXXX XXX for the purpose of parking.  The vehicle was parked shortly after, at which time payment for the intended duration of parking was made in good faith via the Connect payment app by the defendant.  This payment was receipted, has subsequently been acknowledged as paid by the Claimant and further documentary evidence supplied by the Claimant demonstrates that the sum paid was correct for the duration of the parking provided. 

During the process of payment, the Defendant encountered technical issues in making a payment via the app, leading to the Defendant erroneously entering the make of the vehicle in the field in which the vehicle registration is expected.  This led to the Defendant eventually receiving communication from the Claimant under the guise of a ‘Parking Charge Notice’ demanding payment, understood by the Defendant to be a speculative invoice.

As per the instructions supplied by the Claimant, the Defendant immediately engaged in communication, once again in good faith, to resolve the matter, offer evidence of payment for the parking provided and appeal to common sense to close the matter.  Such good faith was summarily disregarded by the Claimant and no further opportunity to directly engage with the Claimant was offered. 

Despite reservations as to the integrity of the process and the organisation involved, the Defendant filed an appeal via the Independent Appeals Service as per the process set out by the Claimant.  The Defendant engaged fully with this process until a lack of a timely reply and request for further documentary evidence was ignored by the Claimant.  Such inaction on the part of the Claimant unfairly terminated that stage of the appeal (as per ‘The Rules’ of the process) and prevented the Defendant from receiving their entitlement to a fair appeal.  As per ‘The Rules’, the case was automatically sent (against the wishes of the Defendant) for arbitration (supposedly impartial and independent) and the Defendant’s appeal was rejected.

In the subsequent Claim Form received by the Defendant, the Claimant awkwardly makes a generic statement in the Particulars of Claim surrounding ‘advertised terms and conditions’, ‘entering in a contract by conduct’, unspecified ‘contractual costs’ and several points concerning signage.  The Defendant believes the Particulars of Claim statement to be poorly worded, devoid of specifics and most crucially in several parts, demonstratively untrue." 

As I've said consistently throughout this process, I really really want this to end up in court.

nopcns

You want this to go to court but not with that "War and Peace" story. Your defence statement should be short and concise, answering only the allegation made in the PoC. You can write your novella for your WS.

For your defence, you only need to say that your vehicle was at the location and a parking fee was paid and can evidence that fact.

blueskyrich

Good point, well made.

Perhaps just paragraphs 1 and 5 with possibly 5 toned down a little?

nopcns

No. KISS. Everything else is covered in the template defence. You will expand on everything later in your WS.

They have given you woefully inadequate PoC and you are answering those PoC. You are confirming that your vehicle was there that day and that you can evidence that a payment was made for the parking.

The PoC allege that your vehicle was parked without paying. You are defending with a denial of that allegation and you can prove it. KISS.

blueskyrich

Just the first paragraph then 

I know it seems odd that I want this to go further.  I really dislike these people.  I'm caught between wanting to give them the massive boot in the niagras that ends all this nonsense and the desire to drag this out as far as court where they end up looking daft.