County Court claim for free parking

nataliek5

Please help.

I have tried to read the newbies FAQ but I have ADHD and struggling to concentrate and read it all (I am extremely stressed about this as you can imagine)

We have a claim for a parking charge from August 2021 for a hotel car park. We were using the leisure facilities at the time and entered our VRN into their system. We have moved home since then so must have missed letters but started getting them at our new address last year. 

We complained to the hotel a number of times but heard nothing back. Went into the hotel and the receptionist said we were not liable to pay as it should have been free but then we received an email from the hotel manager saying this:

"I was disappointed to learn that your partner received a parking charge notice from Creative Parking, whilst you and your family were swimming in the leisure complex. 
I confirm the hotel carpark was maintained, managed and operated by Creative Parking Solutions at the time you received your parking notice in August 2021.  Unfortunately the hotel are not authorised to get involved with Creative Parking Solutions parking Charges since they no longer operate our carpark.
As you were aware at the time you received your parking notice the hotel carpark did display signage throughout the carpark confirming the terms and conditions of parking. Signage are also located at the front door and are displayed in all public areas throughout the hotel. I understand any clients attending functions or events within the hotel are always informed about parking protocol. As you know, parking is free of charge to hotel, residents and leisure club members providing they register their vehicle at reception within 20 minutes.
May I recommend you contact Creative Parking Solutions directly on 03330602490 who issued the charge directly or should you prefer you can write to them at Molteno House, 302 Regents Park Road, Finchley, London, N3 2J0, or go their website there web address can be found on your parking charge ticket."

It is all confusing as he said he cannot deal with Creative Parking Solutions but our PCN is now being managed by the new company, Civil Enforcement Ltd.

I did not reach out to them directly as I had read on here not to do so.

We now have a court claim of £305.25 for what should have been free parking. 

Please help. We have 14 days from 9th April 2024 (so 2 days left) to either make a payment or ask for an extra 14 days to submit our defence. 

I have no idea what I would need to do and also scared to get a CCJ. We also can't afford to pay this £305.25. 

Please help.

Coupon-mad

You won't get a CCJ.  Do the AOS now, which any new poster can do because it is shown in pictures in a link in the NEWBIES thread.

It is all confusing as he said he cannot deal with Creative Parking Solutions but our PCN is now being managed by the new company, Civil Enforcement Ltd.

Same company. 

Read the other CEL claim threads.

What's the Date of Issue of the claim form?

Show us the Particulars (cover your VRM and DO NOT show us the whole page).

nataliek5

Here are the particulars of claim:

nataliek5

Also have you ever heard of the hotel manager not being able to deal with a company acting on their behalf? 

nataliek5

Also I'm not sure if I should do the AOS as I don't think I am capable of putting together a defence. As you can probably tell I am not great at this stuff.

Coupon-mad

nataliek5 said:

Also have you ever heard of the hotel manager not being able to deal with a company acting on their behalf? 

Yes; they clearly can't cancel it now because they no longer have a contract with CEL aka 'Creative Car Parks'.  They could have cancelled it at the time, which is our clear advice when you get s private PCN.  Sadly, that ship has sailed.

Do the AOS now.  Defence is easy.

I've already written your defence.

Did you miss the Template Defence thread when you read the Announcement threads before posting?

Also, I advised you above to read other CEL claim threads...did you?  Given there were two yesterday and one had a full defence in it.  You just need to read around the forum a bit this weekend, and gain confidence.

KeithP

You were asked earlier...

Coupon-mad said:

What's the Date of Issue of the claim form?

You need to be aware that those Particulars of Claim are totally inadequate.

It doesn't even state where the alleged parking event took place.
I wonder how many Mercure Hotels there are in this country?

Nowhere in those Particulars is there any explanation of what the driver is alleged to have done wrong.

This will be an easy win.

nataliek5

Thank you coupon-mad for your advice. I will try my best.

Thank you KeithP. The date of issue is 9th April 2024. I submitted a SAR in Jan 2024 and received all old letters to our prevuous property. There is nothing on any correspondence except "payment not made in accordance with terms displayed on signage" and the location of the Mercure Hotel. 

The signage does ask to enter VRNs on touch screens inside the hotel which we did but we have no proof of this unfortunately. 

I will submit the AOS and read the CEL claim examples today. Thank you for your help.

KeithP

nataliek5 said:

The date of issue is 9th April 2024.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th April, you have until Monday 29th April to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 13th May 2024 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute. 

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

nataliek5 said:

I submitted a SAR in Jan 2024 and received all old letters to our previous property. There is nothing on any correspondence except "payment not made in accordance with terms displayed on signage" and the location of the Mercure Hotel. Is the location important?

No, the location isn't important as such, but how is the Defendant supposed to know where this alleged parking event took place if the Claimant doesn't tell them?

Disappointing to see that you sent a SAR and the parking company were given the opportunity to supply you with details.
Now you have that extra detail, it may be difficult to say that the claim isn't clear enough. 
See what others have to say about that.

nataliek5

Disappointing to see that you sent a SAR and the parking company were given the opportunity to supply you with details.
Now you have that extra detail, it may be difficult to say that the claim isn't clear enough. 
See what others have to say about that.

Ah, I thought I was doing the best thing by submitting a SAR. To be honest I didn't think they would have anything as I thought that CEL and Creative Solutions were separate....

nataliek5

I have now submitted the AOS and started to draft my defence.

Please can you let me know if this would be ok, noting the questions at the end in bold:

1.  The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver was in breach of any term.  Further, it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as agents) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the boilerplate text in the Particulars of Claim ('the POC').

Preliminary matter: The claim should be struck out

2. The Defendant draws to the attention of the allocating Judge that there is now a persuasive Appeal judgment to support striking out the claim (in these exact circumstances of typically poorly pleaded private parking claims, and the extant PoC seen here are far worse than the one seen on Appeal).  The Defendant believes that dismissing this meritless claim is the correct course, with the Overriding Objective in mind.  Bulk litigators (legal firms) should know better than to make little or no attempt to comply with the Practice Direction.  By continuing to plead cases with generic auto-fill unspecific wording, private parking firms should not be surprised when courts strike out their claims based in the following persuasive authority.

3. A recent persuasive appeal judgment in Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan (Ref. E7GM9W44) would indicate the POC fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4(1)(e) and Practice Direction Part 16.7.5. On the 15th August 2023, in the cited case, HHJ Murch held that 'the particulars of the claim as filed and served did not set out the conduct which amounted to the breach in reliance upon which the claimant would be able to bring a claim for breach of contract'. The same is true in this case and in view of the Chan judgment (transcript below) the Court should strike out the claim, using its powers pursuant to CPR 3.4. 

The facts known to the Defendant:

4. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  Conversely, the Claimant sets out a cut-and-paste incoherent and sparse statement of case. The POC appear to be in breach of CPR 16.4, 16PD3 and 16PD7, and fail to "state all facts necessary for the purpose of formulating a complete cause of action". The Defendant is unable, on the basis of the POC, to understand with certainty what case, allegation(s) and what heads of cost are being pursued, making it difficult to respond. However, the vehicle is recognised and it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper, but the Defendant does not know who was driving.

5. The violation date was almost 3 years ago, therefore the Defendant does not recall who was driving at the time stated in the Particulars of Claim.

*** Should I mention here that the Defendant does recall visiting a Mercure Hotel on this date for the purpose of using the leisure facilities? NB. Parking is free for hotel and leisure guests, but not sure if I should mention this? The POC does not state which Mercure Hotel the claim is in reference to however I do have a letter (only received after a SAR) which states the exact location of the hotel and shows a picture of the vehicle arriving and leaving the car park.

*** Should I also mention that the driver could have been the partner of the registered keeper or does this not matter?

Thanks again for all of your help.