Third Claim by NPM/Gladstones - Got CCJ cleared - WON AT COURT - Case Dismissed

AdamBliss

1505grandad said:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81121314/#Comment_81121314

"I need to fill in the DQ (Form N180) and send it by 2nd December."

Just checking  -  which local court did you state when you filed the DQ?

Northampton crown and county court

AdamBliss

Le_Kirk said:

AdamBliss said:

There is no definitive evidence to establish a valid contract between the lawful landowner and the Claimant that would authorise the Claimant to issue Parking Charge Notices to motorists utilising the land. Consequently, the Parking Charge Notices (PCNs) in question, along with the related claim, lack legal standing. It is therefore requested that the honourable judge to strike out this claim.

Spare word there between judge and strike.  ALL paragraphs require a number.  Seems you have covered the agreement and signing issues well but IANAL

Thank you. Will read the whole thing again and clean up all the spelling, grammar, numbering etc. 

And yes the agreement and signing issues are the my best points, the signs at that car park are actually a joke its so bad its laughable. 

AdamBliss

h2g2 said:

Do I remember that you had a leasehold or tenancy agreement granting you occupation of that space? (Apologies I can't remember the details - I follow a lot of cases here. My bookmarks list has hit ~200...) If you do, that should be brought, since primacy of contract should be pretty strong as well.

No I do not own or live there. 

The tenancy agreement was from the Claimant here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6523021/ccj-sent-to-my-old-address-despite-updating-it/p9

Page 10 includes the entire parking scheme agreement but it was not with the lawful landowner as stated on the TR1 tenancy agreement 

AdamBliss

BikingBud said:

Johnersh said:

Who's Whitbread? Is that John Whitbread, Wayne Whitbread or Jane Whitbread? Might it even be Whitbread PLC? Better still, type in Whitbread into companies house and look what happens. Why is there no company address or number?

A corporate entity is a person. If the contract fails to specify a person, who is it really with?

One might generously argue that a contract was implied through the PPC operating.... But would the CEO of Whitbread PLC even be aware of it, given that all revenue is kept by the PPC. In theory, this could all have been set up by a local pub landlord/coffee shop owner acting on a frolic of their own.

Always love that term: "a frolic of their own"

Wonderful!

haha true 

AdamBliss

Thank you everyone for you feedback, I will update some minor things in the WS, double check it and make sure the spelling, grammar, numbering is accurate. 

The deadline for submitting the WS is 20th March

I will just send it to the court and the claimants solicitors tomorrow, and keep a printed copy for myself. 

AdamBliss

Just sent my witness statement to the court via post and email, and just emailed it to the claimant's solicitors

The hearing date is 29th May

Can't wait to get this done and over with, this is the third claim by the same claimant in the past year and hopefully the last. 

AdamBliss

Received an email back from the court stating: 

Good morning,

Please note HMCTS guidance informs users that court bundles/documents over 50 pages (25 pages if providing a double-sided document) and the total size of the email, including any attachments, must be less than 10mb.  Anything over this will not be printed. Documents must not be spread over multiple e-mails with regards to taking a single step in any claim or case.

We have received your email which is too large for the Court to print, please send or bring a hard copy to the Court.

If you would still like the document to be printed by the Court, then a fee of £11 for the first 10 pages will be charged and every subsequent page costing 50p. payment will be taken before the printing is undertaken.

I told them I also sent a hard copy via post to the court, they should have received it  

 

 

Coupon-mad

Ring up and check.  If they answer! 

AdamBliss

Recieved an email from the claimants solicitors with their 180 page trial bundle attached, they told me it was sent to the court too. 

Still havent recieved the physical trial bundle, might need to print it all,

Hearing is at 10am on 29th May... not long left 

AdamBliss

Finished my hearing today, got to the court at 9:30, signed in, my hearing was supposed to be at 10am, ended up waiting 2 hours until 12pm before I was called in. 

The lawyer representing NPM was hired just for the day, it seemed like the judge gave him time to prepare.
For the whole 2 hours I was waiting in the waiting room he was on his laptop and making notes the entire time. 

We finally got called in around 12pm, judge asked the claimants representive to give his case, this man went on a 30 minute rant about everything he could possibly say, he mentioned all 3 PCNs and how the driver breached contractual agreement blalala, he mentioned how this is a serious case and that the claimant could claim up to around £1,500, he also tried to get the judge to rule in claimants favour by saying there was no statement of truth by the defendant, but the judge pointed out that it was in this page which was kinda funny. 

Next it was my turn to speak, I was honestly not prepared to go up against a 50 something year old lawyer that seemed to know everything he was talking about, I honestly thought NPM wouldnt show up just like last years case that got struck out.
I just told the judge that I was not the driver as there is no proof of this and that I am defending this as the keeper, I mentioned no landowner authority and no valid proof of any,
I also told him the signs are not sufficient; the left half of the car park has no signs and that the 1 ticket where my vehicle was parked directly in front of a sign with a PCN attached to the windshield.
I told the judge that there was no grace/consideration period (10 minutes for IPC PPCs) for any of the tickets (all tickets were issued within 2 minutes of the first and last picture of my vehicle; 2 of the PCNs did not even have a PCN attached to my vehicle) 

The judge also mentioned how my witness statement was long and that there were other points he mentioned from my witness statement like how the company was incorporated a day after the alleged landowner authority was signed. 

The whole hearing took almost an hour, the judge agreed with some of the claimants points but also disagreed with a few too, the point of consideration/grace period really caught the lawyer off guard he didn't know much to say...

Eventually the judge came to judgement and agreed with my case that the signs were not sufficient nor clear and that no grace/consideration period was given!

CASE DISMISSED!!!

I therefore asked the judge for my parking, travel expenses and half day of work since I am self employed, the honourable judge granted me £55 to be paid by the claimant within 2 weeks!!!

This marks the 3rd claim I won against NPM/Gladstones and hopefully the last.
I also got the default CCJ struck out and cleared too this year. 
All tickets cleared and all cases dismissed, I honestly saved close to £5,000 overall in the past 2 years.

I honeslty could not have done this without everyones help on this forum. 
I want to thank @Coupon-mad @Le_Kirk @1505grandad @h2g2 @Castle @BikingBud @Johnersh and everyone else. 

You guys are life savers, keep doing what you're doing. Thank you!!!