Court claim for car parked in bay allocated to me. My permit came off the windscreen & dropped off

Londoner7788

I received court claim from private parking operator (Baysentry Solutions Ltd) on 12th Sep, 2024. I believe I have strong case and will appreciate if any one can guide me with the next steps.

MY CASE SUMMARY:

I used to rent an apartment in big apartment block and was allocated a parking bay in the basement of the apartment block.

I was also given residential parking permit by the building management and I was supposed to affix it to my car’s windscreen, so that the parking operator looking after residents’/building parking area can make sure no outsiders are parking in marked bays, other than the residents.

At some point during the month of August 2023, the parking permit came off my car’s windscreen and dropped off.

As a result I received windscreen ticket by the parking operator (Baysentry Solutions Ltd)

I emailed the situation to building management and requested them to waive off the ticket. It was the same management who confirmed to me earlier through an email (when I moved in) that the particular bay is allocated to me.

The building management responded that unfortunately they won’t be able to help me out in this situation.

I appealed to Parking operator and then to POPLA (along with the evidence of permit issued to my vehicle, proof of my residence, and copy of my car’s logbook) and made the following grounds to support my appeal:

• The parking permit coming off the windscreen is not within my control.
• The fact that the permit was issued to my vehicle for that particular bay and I enclosed picture of valid permit with the appeal, invalidates the ticket.
• The parking operator is instructed by the land-owner or its agent (building management) to supposedly look after the residents, against outsiders and I was the resident with my car being parked in the correct bay.
• Having gone through my appeal, enclosed with photographic evidence of permit, the parking operator could have easily double checked with the building management if I am the resident, weather the management did provide that permit to me and whether that bay is allocated to me. They could have also looked into their permits database to make sure whether photograph of permit I enclosed in my appeal is a true copy of the permit issued (Note: The permit contains serial number and logo of parking operator)
• The bay was part of the flat and I paid my timely rents each month. I never missed my rental payments.
• I pay rent to my landlord. In turn my landlord pays service charge and ground rent to the land owner, who in turn instructed the building management and parking operator to look after/manage residents’ parking sites/bays. Therefore, the management and parking operator is supposed to assist/look after residents’ parking sites/bays, against the outsiders, rather than issuing ticket to resident.

Unfortunately, both parking operator and POPLA rejected my appeal. POPLA made one of the following points in its detailed response:

`It is not for POPLA to consider whether the vehicle does belong to a resident and is therefore ‘allowed’ to park, POPLAs role is only to assess if the operator correctly issued the PCN. This means that we must consider if the vehicle was parked in accordance with the terms only. As a permit was not clearly displayed in the vehicle, although completely unintentional, a breach did occur and that PCN was correctly issued.`

I have following queries from the members her3

• Do I have a chance to win this case?
• What should be the next steps or best defence for me?
• How can I request copies of my appeal, evidences I shared with the operator and POPLA? Also the photographic evidences taken by parking operator?
• How can I request more time from the court or parking operator’s solicitor, so I could prepare my defence and get time to receive all the requested documents?
• How can I sent letter of acknowledgement?

 Note: Please find attached photograph of permit that came off the screen, detailed response given by POPLA’s assessor, and claim form 

Londoner7788

As I now enter  PCN and my car registration at BaySentry Solutions’s website, it gives the following message ‘they can’t locate the ticket anymore’. Its a bit odd that they can't locate it, and I am now unable to download the photographic evidences taken by their ticket staff.

I also realized that POPLA gave me an access to portal initially, where I was able to view parking operator’s response to POPLA, the evidences given by the operator to POPLA, such as the copy of their contract with the land owner, pic of signage, along with a copy of my appeal and evidences, however POPLA has removed all these documents now, and only provides summary of my case by POPLA’s assessor. 

I dont understand why parking operator and POPLA has removed all the documents and evidences that could help me in the defence. Can I request all these documents from them ?

Kind Regards,

Gr1pr

I suggest that you concentrate on your defence, not all those historical documents ( you would email a SAR to the DPO at the relevant department for each operator, but you should leave it until AFTER the defence has been submitted, not now. )

The witness statement plus Exhibits stage is months away 

Nobody can properly speculate on your chances, speculation deflects from getting on with the game, much like the 2 hours talking before a football match, plus like VAR does or did. We don't speculate, we advise you as the process continues

Your tenancy agreement or lease contract should help you determine what is required at your property, so study what you agreed to, unless its silent about parking 

Your QR code and password are visible on the claim form 

Claimant is Bay Sentry

Issue date is 12th September 2024 via DCB Legal 

Login to MCOL online ASAP and do the AOS only, nothing else on MCOL, just the AOS 

Study the newbies sticky thread post 2, plus the defence template thread, first few posts, both by coupon mad, then study other residential Court claims on here from 2024, especially Bay Sentry cases or residential cases, to get up to speed ASAP 

Save any SAR emails until nearer December or later 

fisherjim

Londoner7788 said:

As I now enter  PCN and my car registration at BaySentry Solutions’s website, it gives the following message ‘they can’t locate the ticket anymore’. Its a bit odd that they can't locate it, and I am now unable to download the photographic evidences taken by their ticket staff.

I also realized that POPLA gave me an access to portal initially, where I was able to view parking operator’s response to POPLA, the evidences given by the operator to POPLA, such as the copy of their contract with the land owner, pic of signage, along with a copy of my appeal and evidences, however POPLA has removed all these documents now, and only provides summary of my case by POPLA’s assessor. 

I dont understand why parking operator and POPLA has removed all the documents and evidences that could help me in the defence. Can I request all these documents from them ?

Kind Regards,

It's because it has gone beyond those stages and on to the next scare tactic in the hands of scumbags who have been "handed the files".

You can see what a bunch of bullying scumbags they are by them using the reference to that disgusting TV programme in the footnote, which in my view is pure scaremongering!

Coupon-mad

Very very easy to defend. But have you done the AOS? That Claim Form is already over a fortnight old.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th September, you have until Tuesday 1st October 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 Tuesday 15th October 2024 to file a Defence.

That's over two 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'.

Londoner7788

Thanks all for looking into it.

I have filed AOS and CR31.14 Request. 

Now preparing defence. Any strong points that I could add in my defence or help prepare my defence well, will be appreciated. 

KeithP

Londoner7788 said:

I have filed AOS... 

When did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?

Londoner7788 said:

I have filed a CR31.14 Request. 

Why? What have you asked to see?

Londoner7788 said:

Now preparing defence. Any strong points that I could add in my defence or help prepare my defence well, will be appreciated. 

There are some good strong points in the template Defence.
Show us your proposed additions to that when you are ready.

Londoner7788

I have prepared Defence, however when I paste it in the thread and hit 'Post Comment', it's not being posted, probably due to any technical glitch. I will appreciate if anyone can assist or share the admin's email address to report the issue

Londoner7788

OK so my defence has links (which are part of template defence) and I am getting error message: 'You have to be around for a little while longer before you can post links.' Any clue how I can paste my defence here

Londoner7788

@KeithP The Popla and the operator has removed all the photographic evidences, picture of signage, copy of contract between the landowner and operator, any other document. Through CR31.14, I requested all these docs and the documents that the operator intend to use in the court, so I can defend accordingly. I submitted AOS on 30/09/2024