Court Hearing for PCN

Bagsy123

Hi. Can I just ask, when attending a court hearing, hoping the claimant doesnt show, do the witness statement just be read out or does the judge ask questions? 

Gr1pr

The judge and any Claimant advocate may ask questions 

The Witness statements plus Exhibits are there to be referred to, but in theory all parties involved should have read them before the hearing , I doubt that any are read out 

There is a you tube video that is worth watching, KeithP posts the link on here, as do others 

KeithP

Bagsy123 said:

Hi. Can I just ask, when attending a court hearing, hoping the claimant doesn't show, do the witness statement just be read out or does the judge ask questions? 

Why do you think that the claimant won't turn up?

Yes, it's quite likely that neither ECP nor their solicitors, QDR, will attend, but it is highly likely that an advocate will be there to act on their behalf.

Assuming you are the Defendant, it is almost certain you will be asked questions, either by the Judge or the Claimant's representative.

Have you seen this video?...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n93eoaxhzpU
Just three or four people sitting round a table having a discussion.

Bagsy123

After reading a few threads on here that we turn up to court and the claimant doesn't bother to show but maybe I am wrong. 
Yes we are the defendant but as we have never been to court before was quite unsure as to what exactly happens, so thank you for the video.
We thought we might see if there was a small claims court case being considered locally we could attend as members of the public but finding it difficult to find where these are listed.

Gr1pr

Claimants rarely show up, even the lawyers acting on behalf of the parking company rarely show up 

Usually its a jobbing advocate that shows up to these cases, so never assume that NOBODY will show up, its a false assumption that catches many victims out at the hearing 

KeithP

@Bagsy123, why not tell us a bit about your case?
What have you been accused of doing wrong?
What Defence have you filed?
Have you filed a Witness Statement and evidence yet?
Have you a hearing date and if so, when is it?

Bagsy123

In 2020 we parked in ECP, we paid 80p instead of 30p for 20mins. The machine did not give us any change so we assumed like most car parks locally that paying extra would give us extra time. we stayed 42minutes and therefore according to the calculations we had paid enough to cover our stay. We received the PCN appealed and replied asking questions and stating we would not correspond further without them answering them. They kept sending us generic bully boy letters stating we owe them different amount of money, one minute going up in price, next going down, all from different companies. Cut a long story short our court date is Monday 25th November after sending defence statement.
Hubby is in the process of writing the witness statement and gathering evidence.

Coupon-mad

Bagsy123 said:

We have a court date with ECP with them using QDR solicitors...whats the likelihood they wont turn up?

we parked in ECP, we paid 80p instead of 30p for 20mins. The machine did not give us any change so we assumed like most car parks locally that paying extra would give us extra time. we stayed 42minutes and therefore according to the calculations we had paid enough to cover our stay. 

You can't make up your own tariff. No car park operates the way you say.

Sadly, I think you will struggle and should have offered to settle it at Mediation stage, IMHO.
I rarely say that but by paying a fee you accepted the fee (contract) on the tariff board and did not pay the advertised tariff.

QDR almost always send a legal rep. They are not known to discontinue.

Your saving grace might be if the ECP signs in 2020 had the £100 in minuscule text buried in small print.  ECP signs often do bury it.

You could then argue that the only sums of money seen at the machine were the 30p, £1 etc., in large bold print.  Nothing prominently listed about £100 so you cannot be bound by it (Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies). No contract seen where you could have agreed to pay £100.

Put the ECP sign next to the Beavis case yellow & black £85 sign (Google images) as one exhibit.  I hope you have photos of the signs from ECP from that time?

Bagsy123

Thanks. Well we have come this far so we may as well go all the way.

We don't have photos of the boards at the time as its quite far away from us. They have provided us photos from the board. Interestingly in their statement they have said we had opportunity to pay by phone and then provided photos of these dotted around. the photos are dated months after the event and we do not remember seeing any pay by phone boards.

we are relying also on the fact they did not answering our original response but just sent generic letter.

Bagsy123

Ps. Some car parks do operate with the time goes up incrementally with smaller amounts of change. It happens in our town rather than in the amounts on the tariff board.

Coupon-mad

Bagsy123 said:

Thanks. Well we have come this far so we may as well go all the way.

We don't have photos of the boards at the time as its quite far away from us. They have provided us photos from the board. Interestingly in their statement they have said we had opportunity to pay by phone and then provided photos of these dotted around. the photos are dated months after the event and we do not remember seeing any pay by phone boards.

we are relying also on the fact they did not answering our original response but just sent generic letter.

So you do have their photo of the sign.

Show us.