Court hearing letter received for 21st OCtober.

Enoughforme

Hi all,

First, thank you for the advise and the time spent in trying to help others. It is really appreciated.

I followed all the steps from the Newbies guide using the long defense. I heard nothing since February and a few weeks back the court sent a letter to the claimant and a copy to me stating that they did not have the DQ form from the claimant and that they had until last 21st at 4:00pm. I have now received a hearing date and I'm starting to panic.

I know that I am on the stage where I have to prepare a witness statement but this is exactly what is making me panic as I actually parked in there by mistake assuming that I was right to park as I was in use of the premisses. My only defence is that it was really early in the morning and there was nobody using their parking and that I tried to pay back in 2019 (when the parking ticket was issued) but they never offer me a early payment discount and they were asking for the total £100.

I am unsure if just to try to get an agreement...=(

thanks in advance

KeithP

Hello and welcome.
Who is the Claimant?
What is your deadline for filing and serving your Witness Statement and evidence?

Coupon-mad

The GOOD reason you parked there was because you were using the premises and because you saw no signs to tell you otherwise. Unclear signs is ALWAYS what to say in a WS.

Enoughforme

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.
Who is the Claimant?
What is your deadline for filing and serving your Witness Statement and evidence?

Hi, thank you!

Claimant is MET with legal team being DCB. Deadline is 24th September.

Enoughforme

Coupon-mad said:

The GOOD reason you parked there was because you were using the premises and because you saw no signs to tell you otherwise. Unclear signs is ALWAYS what to say in a WS.

Hmm interesting, so I guess I could say that the sign doesn't state who's allowed to park there and who is not?

Le_Kirk

Your Witness Statement is in support of and backs up what you stated in your defence; what did you write in your defence about being there to use the premises?  Just show us the relevant couple of paragraphs; did you use the template defence?

Enoughforme

Le_Kirk said:

Your Witness Statement is in support of and backs up what you stated in your defence; what did you write in your defence about being there to use the premises?  Just show us the relevant couple of paragraphs; did you use the template defence?

yes, I used the template.

Here is what I wrote in paragraph 3:

The Defendant’s vehicle was parked in xxxxxx Road at 8:07am (time specified by the Claimant). xxxxx road has Resident permit holders parking Mon-Fri 8:30am - 6:30pm and Saturday 8:30am-1.30pm. xxxxxx Road had plenty of parking on the date and time specified by the Claimant. The Defendant was present and visible at 151 Freston road and not given the option to move the vehicle by any official representative prior to the issuing of the NPC. 

Coupon-mad

But this sign you are quoting is a Council permit scheme ... must be further along the road:

"Resident permit holders parking Mon-Fri 8:30am - 6:30pm and Saturday 8:30am-1.30pm."

That's not from any PPC sign.

Enoughforme

Coupon-mad said:

But this sign you are quoting is a Council permit scheme ... must be further along the road:

"Resident permit holders parking Mon-Fri 8:30am - 6:30pm and Saturday 8:30am-1.30pm."

That's not from any PPC sign.

Yes, that's correct. Unfortuntely I didn't mention what their signed said. What I was trying to say was that given the opportunity to move the car I could have just parked on the "Resident" permit holders parking as It was plenty of parking everywhere.  The sign that they had is this one.   
I am unsure of what to do...I feel like I have messed it up and they just called to settle for £250...

Coupon-mad

Do a decent WS and DCB Legal will discontinue.

If you know they called "offering to settle for £250" then you spoke to them. Stop talking to them. STOP TAKING DCB LEGAL SERIOUSLY.

Show us your planned WS.  No paying!

Castle

With regards to that Met Parking sign;
1)The registered office address is 10 years out of date and
2) Charging a fee for debit/credit cards has been unlawful since January 2018.