NPM Northampton - PCN for staying in car for 4 minutes

loftytop15

Thankyou, followed up and they didnt have confirmation of my address change as the court location changed just before my address change email went through. And the court has since changed again. 
Witness statement done and sent to court+ claimant. (With cost assessment)

Questions:
- largely my defence is based off there being no consideration period to park, am i safe on this? Their witness statement is largely attacking a "pre-authorisation" to enter the no-signed car park
- i have asked for a court change date because i fly back into the country on the court date given. If they reject my request should i ask to do it remotely?
- is the claimant not attending court normal? They have said they will not attend

Gr1pr

Usually its the legal company that are saying they won't attend 

Sometimes a claimant  ( parking company employee  , or owner or director  ) may attend,  although it appears not in this case, but often an advocate is appointed to attend,  usually a last minute appointment  ( who stated they were acting on behalf of the actual claimant   ?  Gladstones   ?  If its Gladstones,  they never attend  !  )

So the wording and context matter in what was written 

You should EXPECT that an advocate will attend , that is the normal 

Coupon-mad

loftytop15 said:

Thankyou, followed up and they didnt have confirmation of my address change as the court location changed just before my address change email went through. And the court has since changed again. 
Witness statement done and sent to court+ claimant. (With cost assessment)

Questions:
- largely my defence is based off there being no consideration period to park, am i safe on this? Their witness statement is largely attacking a "pre-authorisation" to enter the no-signed car park
- i have asked for a court change date because i fly back into the country on the court date given. If they reject my request should i ask to do it remotely?
- is the claimant not attending court normal? They have said they will not attend

Oh dear. That date should have been communicated to the court as unavailable.

You have to pay for an application at £119 to change a court hearing date, and I doubt they'll let you join remotely. Have you rung them and talked through your options and have you clearly emailed to tell the Judge you cannot attend and why?  You must ensure the Judge knows that it's not just a no-show.

Sorry to say people who do this usually lose.  It's vital to tell courts about booked unavailable dates.

loftytop15

I did tell them about unavailable dates up till February when asked at mediation in Oct/Nov (as thats all i knew, time has passed since then). I have emailed the court asking to change, listing the whole next 3 weeks as available, with proof of my flights back into the country and that they were booked in January.

and yes its Gladstones

Its baffling how in 2025 how much of this is still manual and you cant do anything online

Coupon-mad

Send an email to Gladstones asking if they agree for the hearing date to be moved to a later date in the interests of justice, due to you being on a flight on the day of the hearing.

If they reply and agree then you should be able to get the date moved without paying £119.

This is a real headache and could cause you to lose because you won't be heard. You should have told the court the second the trip was booked.

loftytop15

Gladstones said they have no objection for the hearing to be rescheduled, so i forwarded their email onto the court. Should i be following up each new item with a phone call? they take around a month to get back to my emails. I could move my flight but its probably around the same cost as you mention, will keep in mind tho definitely

Coupon-mad

Follow it up.  You should NOT need to do an application if both parties agree on the rescheduling.

loftytop15

I rang the court twice in the past week with the simple "please read the emails ive sent, im trying to get my court date moved, the claimant has agreed and ive sent evidence of this in forwarded email over to you, as well as evidence of my flight back into the UK and when it was booked" and still no reply, and its getting closer and closer to the initial court date (end of april).

Also got a claimants "skeleton argument" through yet again with the defence of "parking not authorised without e-permit". They hilariously say since i spent 4 minutes in the car park, its their "reasonable assumption" that i was parked. and they refuse my cost assessment because apparently i did not highlight an accurate number for costs (it was clear). They mention again my witness statement is largely a "copy paste from the internet" and could not respond to POFA case law if i was questioned about it in court.

Oh and apparently the "application to do a remote hearing" is £303....not guaranteed, just the application. Farce

Questions:
- is it worth doing a skeleton argument of my own? is this purely a scare tactic?
- how late should i leave it before i just have to concede and move my flight to the day before?
- is it worth sending another cost assessment (i already had my payslip included) that makes it incredibly clear to the claimant exactly the costs im claiming for?

Coupon-mad

Oh and apparently the "application to do a remote hearing" is £303....not guaranteed, just the application.

No it isn't, it's £119 because you'd tick 'without a hearing' (i.e. the Order you'd be asking for doesn't require a hearing to decide "yes the hearing can be remote").

But application costs are going up on 1st April so keep following this up in March urgently.

loftytop15

So they finally replied to my flurry of emails with proof that ill be out the country and forwarded the email from the solicitor and this is what i got:
To ask for the hearing to be adjourned please search for a general application online and provide to court with the method of payment for processing of this application.

Is this correct? @C@Coupon-mad, i thought you mentioned i shouldnt need to do an application if both parties agreed (and i assume at no cost).