Parking Eye taking me to County Court, appeal rejected too late - what now?

Tony1989

I'll start by apologizing if what I'm saying has been covered in a sticky, I've read through them and I'm printing out the County Court Sticky to read through more thoroughly, my issue is I was late getting back to the Courts so it makes me kind of guilty in their eyes. I just want to explain HOW awful these parking companies actually are, share my story and get advice as I do NOT understand the legal system at all. 

On April 8th 2023, I took my girlfriend to a restaurant, here in Liverpool and we used the dedicated car park next door run by Parking Eye, I don't have the exact times or the ticket but 18:00 - 18:30 I would of purchased my ticket and I placed it on the dashboard, I have a paper-trail of the £5.50 contactless payment too. We had a meal and went to a bar for one drink. I remember saying to her lets give ourselves extra time to get back to the car in time for the ticket as my girlfriend has chronic fatigue so may need to rest for a minute on the way back. We got back and the car park was shut??? The shutters were down, no security or anything so I had to leave my girlfriend on her own while I ran a few laps to find another way in and there wasn't any alternative entrances. There was a number on the shutter but that was invalid, I tried finding Parking Eyes number online to contact a human which proved to be impossible. We waited round for someone to enter/leave so we could get my car back but no one did and I was very close to us walking to a bus stop getting the bus home THEN coming back in the morning for my car. Then I thought I'd try the restaurant we were at, next door and the owner/manager actually had a fob, he told me they locked the shutters at 7pm. I got in the car, he waited at the entrance for me to leave which was very good of him we left 20:55 according to the PCN. There WAS NO sign outside stating the car park shut at 7pm or had any opening hours 7am-7pm infact it said "parking tariffs apply 24 hours a day 7 days a week" and Google states it's open 24/7. There was one reviewer that said there is a sign on a small black board stating the car park shut at 7pm but its barely visible and INSIDE the car park. There are tons of reviews on Google stating that they car park shut on them at 7pm too, some people have been LOCKED inside. One stated the fire exits were locked and they had to contact the police. So we were lucky.

Anyway, fast forward - I actually got a PCN in the post from them. Generally the advice has always been if you ignore private parking tickets they can't do anything, will proceed to threaten you but eventually the ticket will go away unless it's a council issued ticket. Other people have driven into this car park and due to the condition left, only to receive a PCN which got rejected. Anyway I was contacted by post from Northampton County Court about preparing my defense. I sent an email to Parking Eye about why I "overstayed" my welcome hoping they would at least understand and drop this case but they stated they "couldn't".

I'll admit it that I SHOULD of been much quicker with dealing with this as It's been over a month and I should of done this 14 days after the initial court letter was received, I'll hold up my hands as I am to blame for this. I have really bad ADHD which makes these tasks really difficult to get done on time and I work scattered / long hours which is one reason I was slow in getting a response back to them and unfortunately these things can take time as it's not a case of ringing a number and explaining to someone what happened in your appeal. I was off work last week so spent a day writing up a cover letter, printing reviews, researching my appeal to send it the court and got knocked back today being late.

What are my chances in winning this case now, am I screwed?

Due to my account being new, I'm not allowed to post links but Google "Beetham plaza Liverpool car park" and you can see the Google Reviews, then on the websearch there is Parkopedia and Parkme that both have more reviews. Then another link of someone being locked in from Manchester Evening News.

Any help would be appricated. 

Tony1989

Here is the letter I received today.... (sorry about quality)

Tony1989

and the initial letter....

Half_way

if you were trapped in the car park, then there is a good defence right there.
 Who's car park was it?

KeithP

I would suggest that because you failed to respond to the Claim within the timescale allowed, and you now have a Judgment against you, the only sensible thing to do is to pay the Claimant that £205 as soon as possible.
The How to Pay box on the back of your Claim Form may be useful.

Because you just failed to address the issue, you are unlikely to be able to get the Judgment set aside. 

Failure to pay in the timescale allowed will leave you with difficulties obtaining credit - think mortgage, mobile phone contracts, utilities, etc - for the next six years.

KeithP

Half_way said:

if you were trapped in the car park, then there is a good defence right there.

That's right, but the motorist has simply failed to address the issue at any stage and not challenged anything at all.
Ignoring a County Court Claim was the ultimate mistake.

Half_way said:

Who's car park was it?

It's a ParkingEye car park.

B789

You can try and get a discretionary set aside but it is going to cost you more than the actual CCJ with no guarantee that you will succeed. Unless you are eligible for financial assistance.

It's a pity that you let this one slip through as it could probably have been easily defended.

patient_dream

The first question I would ask, is this......

Is the claim from Parking Eye itself.
The statement of truth is signed by a Jayne Leonard who is Head of legal at PE
The reason I ask is that PE have recently teamed up with another legal called DCBL

There is no such charge as £120 for a parking ticket but Jayne Leonard seems to think there is ??? 
PE NEED TO EXPLAIN THIS

PARKING EYE signs are not fit for purpose with small unreadable print

Signs must be clear to form a contract and if there was a sign that could be easily read in daylight or nightime saying the site closes at 7pm 

Can you take pictures during opening hours

B789

Whilst there is no explanation for the extra £20, it has been disguised as part of the original charge. It is, however, from PE themselves as there are no "damages" or "debt recovery fees" added separately.

It could have been easily defended.

patient_dream

B789 said:

Whilst there is no explanation for the extra £20, it has been disguised as part of the original charge. It is, however, from PE themselves as there are no "damages" or "debt recovery fees" added separately.

It could have been easily defended.

The thing is that we have already seen a PE case via DCBL where £20 was added and none of the usual DCBL rubbish

Coupon-mad

patient_dream said:

B789 said:

Whilst there is no explanation for the extra £20, it has been disguised as part of the original charge. It is, however, from PE themselves as there are no "damages" or "debt recovery fees" added separately.

It could have been easily defended.

The thing is that we have already seen a PE case via DCBL where £20 was added and none of the usual DCBL rubbish

I haven't.