CNBC - Witness Statement. Interesting Twist with Contract Law

Nellymoser

LDast said:

Their opinion is as useful as a poke in the arm with a sharp stick.

🤣🤣🤣 so true  

Coupon-mad

Mediation stage is already more than covered by the 2 links about it, in the Template Defence first 12 steps.

pjwanderer

Mediation done.  I have a letter saying that it has been passed to my local court, which is fine.  I have however received a letter from DCBlegal saying I filed a defence but did not include a contact number or contact email.  They refer me to the civil procedure rules 1.1.  They ask me to contact them with name addess email (which they have from the defence letter posted to the court under Eurocar parks, and contact number - which I have not shared.  Do I drop them an email with these details, or just wait for the court date?

kryten3000

They just want to be able to call and email you to harass you into settling.

You could always give them a "disposable" email and a number from one of these ranges - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/phone-numbers/numbers-for-drama/

Coupon-mad

Give them the phone number of their client parking firm...

Seriously - stop taking DCB seriously!

pjwanderer

I have now got a nice letter with a Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing) at my local county court.  I have a date to send a witness statement and all the evidence to be filed at court and on your opponent.  Now this is a Newbie question, Do I send the paperwork to the court manager listed in the letter, or can it be filed online vie the moneyclaim website?  Next, how much detail do I now include.  I had several pages when it came to the POPLA appeal.?  Any other advice at this stage is welcome!

Gr1pr

Moneyclaim is no longer involved once they have transferred the case to the court that you nominated in your N180 DQ document 

The WS bundle goes to your local civil court and a copy to the lawyers too,  usually online by email 

Study other recent recommended witness statements, which could amount to up to 50 pages 

Coupon-mad

A WS is nothing like a POPLA appeal. Nor is it a repeat of your defence. Just read a few parking WS from 2025.

Easy enough to search & find, as long as you change the search results to show NEWEST.

Also, the NEWBIES THREAD second post already provides the low down on WS stage and gives you an entire list of exhibits. And it tells you not to use MCOL (that gateway admin centre hasn't been involved for months).

I don't know why posters seem to miss that section of the NEWBIES thread. You are merely writing your story and attaching your evidence (not the same as a POPLA appeal though). You'll see when you read a few WS on threads.

Keep an eye on your junk emails daily because this is when DCB Legal will discontinue.

And please edit your thread title to make sense for this stage.

pjwanderer

WS submitted as follows:

IN THE COUNTY COURT AT xxxxxxxx

 

Claim No. xxxxxxxx

Date of Hearing: xxxxxx

 

Between

 

EuroCar Parks Limited

(Claimant)

 

-and-

 

Mr xxxxxxxx

(Defendant)

 

 

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT

 

 

 

Table of ContentsWITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANTPRELIMINARY MATTER: THE CLAIM SHOULD BE STRUCK OUTFACTS AND SEQUENCE OF EVENTSEXAGGERATED CLAIM AND 'MARKET FAILURE' CURRENTLY EXAMINED BY THE GOVERNMENTCRA BREACHESCONCLUSIONCOSTS ASSESSMENTSTATEMENT OF TRUTH:EXHIBITS 01-12Exhibit 01 – Appeal judgements court 'strike outs'Exhibit 02 – Entry and Entry Signage from 2019Exhibit 03 – Car Park Paybyphone signage.Exhibit 04  Car Park and Signage locationsSearch LegislationExhibit 05 Car Park signage from South West corner from 2019 (paybyphone sign on the fence to the right side of the image)Exhibit 06a Evidence supplied from the Claimant on the paymentExhibit 06b Evidence supplied from the Claimant on the signage in 2019Exhibit 07 Paybyphone user interface minutes onlyEXHIBIT 08 Paybyphone user interface Hours onlyExhibit 09 Paybyphone user interface cost/mins calculationEXHIBIT 09 – Paybyphone user interface / hours or daysExhibit 10 – The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002EXHIBIT 11 Example SignageEXHIBIT 12 Supporting Case- excessive fees ParkingEye Limited v BeavisParagraphs 98, 193, and 198 

WITNESS STATEMENT OF DEFENDANT

 

1.     I am xxx, and I am the Defendant against whom this Claim is made. The facts below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based on my own knowledge.

 

2.     In my Statement I shall refer to Exhibits 0x-xx within the evidence supplied with this Statement, referring to page and reference numbers where appropriate. My Defence is repeated, and I will say as follows:

Preliminary matter: The claim should be struck out

3.     I draw to the attention of the Judge that there are very recent and persuasive appeal judgments to support dismissing or striking out the claim. I believe that dismissing this meritless claim is the correct course. Bulk litigators 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 using powers pursuant to CPR 3.4., based in the following persuasive authorities (I append transcripts of a court 'strike outs' of parking claims that reflect these authorities - in Exhibit xxx)

The 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'. (See Exhibit xxxx)

 

4.     I believe the Claim should be struck out and should not have been accepted by the CNBC due to a represented parking firm Claimant knowingly breaching basic CPRs. The specifics of this case lack clarity, as no explicit statement has been provided to indicate which specific term of the alleged contract was purportedly breached, or what contract was in place and the method by which the contract was formed.

Facts and Sequence of events

 

5.     Date and Time of the Incident xxxxx: It is admitted that on the material date, I was the registered keeper of the vehicle xxxxxx. I was not the driver of the vehicle on the dates of the claimed PCN

6.     The Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief in the background to this claim come from the Claimants POA, making a Claim against the keeper for PandD Purchased did not cover the time and date of parking, with very little evidence to go on.

7.     Additional information can be gleamed from A notice to keeper on the date issued xxxxx, and reject of appeal dated xxxxxx

8.     The facts to hand are that the claimant used ANPR to log vehicle xxxxxx entering at 09:00:32 and exiting at 12:32:41, claiming a stay of 3 hours and 32 minutes. However, the actual parking session would have been shorter.

9.     The payment method by the driver is not clear from the claimant, or how the contract was formed.  To my best knowledge this would have been by a paybyphone session as I see no evidence from the claimant of an actual pay and display ticket, or that this was the method of payment.  As stated, (in EXHIBIT xxxxx) by the claimant, the driver actually paid £2.20 for the parking session.  The claimant in (EXHIBIT xxxxx) also provided the tariff schedule in the way of a picture of the only signage from 2019

10.  The Driver therefore made an intermediate payment compared to the tariff on the signage provided by the Claimant.  As can be seen in EXHIBIT xxxx, the behaviour of the paybyphone app shows either the ability to select a number of minutes, hours or days. A selection of 220 minutes would have resulted in a £2.20 charge, consistent with the Claimant's evidence.

11.  If a paybyphone session was commenced sometime after the concession period (this site no longer operates under this app) the workings of the app are based on the number of minutes you wish to park for.  (xxxxxx).  The app then calculates the payment, which would be consistent with the Claimants entry and exit times.

12.  As far as I can determine, the poor signage (EXHIBIT xxxxx) did not state that only exact payments were accepted nor did it explain how intermediate payments would be treated, I cannot find and terms and conditions relating to this in any details from 2019 and as the site no longer operates it is difficult to find this from signage over 6 years ago.

13.  I as the registered keeper would in good faith understand the driver had entered into a valid and fair contract with the Claimant.  There does not appear to be a mechanism in the app or warning of a payment that is insufficient or that an invalid duration had been selected.  According to The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (EXHIBIT xxxx), there should be technical means to correct input errors before placing an order. If an error occurred, it should have been preventable.  Furthermore, Section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires that consumer contract terms be fair and transparent. I do not believe the Claimant's signage or system met these standards.

14.  Publicly available information and the Claimant’s own evidence indicate that in 2019 the car park had two main signs by the entrance displaying tariff information, and a number of smaller signs providing instructions for PayByPhone (EXHIBIT xxxxxx) or pay-and-display use. These signs included general notices (e.g. “Do not leave valuables on display”), but no clear reference to contractual terms, penalty charges, or additional tariff information in connection with PayByPhone. (EXHIBIT xxxxx )

15.  Thus, either the £2.20 payment did cover the stay, or the claimant accepted payment without a correction mechanism, thereby forming a contract via PayByPhone Ltd acting on their behalf.  I believe that the driver in good faith entered in to a contract with the claimant for 220 minutes by Offering payment of £2.20, and this being accepted by the claimant as per their comments in EXHIBIT. 

 

STANDARD WS TEMPLATE

Costs Assessment

 

16.  Given the significant time and effort required to defend this unjust claim, I respectfully request that the court consider awarding costs under CPR 27.14(2)(g). I have spent considerable time researching, preparing this statement, and the attendance at the hearing. My estimated costs for this are as follows:
Research and preparation of witness statement (8 Hours):
Travel expenses (All Day Parking and Milage Allowance):
Totalling: £95

 

I request that the court considers these costs in its judgment

 

Statement of truth:

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

 

 

Signed

 

Dated _____01/05/2025_____________

 

 

 

pjwanderer

Received Notice of Discontinuance on the 29th April.  I think a large part of this was due to the fact it was assigned to my local court.  The court stated the waiting time for the hearing could be all day.  Whether or not my argument was valid or not, DCB costs for a full day attendance at court would outweigh the return.  Additionally, anything in my defence could be used in court in future which if the argument was valid could open up other defence claims.