Parking Apps - Can you claim a keying error?

Le_Kirk

Your witness statement will be due at the same time as the claimant.  What will you be writing?  The WS is in support of and backs up your defence so it matters not what others have written unless they submitted the same or similar defence as you.

mczero

Le_Kirk said:

Your witness statement will be due at the same time as the claimant.  What will you be writing?  The WS is in support of and backs up your defence so it matters not what others have written unless they submitted the same or similar defence as you.

Hi, thanks for your message, really helpful.

I must admit I was a bit surprised that the Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track doesn’t explicitly require the defendant to submit a witness statement. I’ve gone through it carefully, and under the “Case Management” section, it only states that the claimant must serve a witness statement no later than 14 days before the preliminary hearing. There’s no mention of any obligation on the defendant’s part, which I find odd. I may raise this point for clarification.

That said, I did submit my defence online via MCOL (though I had to trim it down due to the character limit). In essence, my position is that I paid via Ringo, but due to a keying issue, the payment wasn’t correctly attributed to the parking operator. This is despite me having used and paid for that same car park many times before without issue.

The crux of it is that they’re happy to accept my money through Ringo, but unwilling to show any flexibility when a minor keying error occurs. The Code of Practice does mention such errors, but it doesn’t seem to reflect the realities of modern app-based payments.

Thanks again for your help, it’s much appreciated.

Coupon-mad

It's BW Legal for Napier. Odd that you haven't been asked for a WS before the prelim hearing but - importantly as a matter of fact & law - remember that their only POC allegation is 'failure to display' (not failure to pay).

Really push the fact that the claim is improperly pleaded because app users are not required to display anything. And the C can't change horses now to talk about failure to PAY, not without a formal application to re-plead the POC.

mczero

I may be being over interpreting here, but in reading the rules and practice directions for Prelim Hearing on Small Claims track appears that two of the reasons for a prelim hearing are:

   (b) to enable it to dispose of the claim on the basis that one or other of the parties has no real prospect of success at a final hearing; or

   (c) to enable it to strike out(GL) a statement of case or part of a statement of case on the basis that the statement of case, or the part to be struck out, discloses no reasonable grounds for bringing or defending the claim.

if, the judge, having considered the statements of case, is going to dispose or strike out that would be good news.   

Coupon-mad

Yep and it is impossible for this breach to have occurred. You can't 'fail to display' when using an app and they can't re-plead the case without making a formal application.

mczero

Attended preliminary hearing. Very interesting that the Judge seemed keen that there be some resolution and I think detected that this was more about fairness than money. The claimant’s rep however didn’t seem have any leeway so now being listed for small claims face to face session.

DE_612183

Prelim Hearing? was this just mediation?

mczero

DE_612183 said:

Prelim Hearing? was this just mediation?

No - mediation happened in the summer. This was a preliminary hearing with a Deputy District Judge who is scheduling a full hearing (prob in New year). Term used was "listed".    

mczero

Their claim is now scheduled to be heard at the County Court with an estimated time of 90 minutes (this was the decision from the preliminary hearing). The claimant has a bit more time to go before paying the trial fee. I am preparing my witness statement which is a modification of my defence (having seen their skeleton of argument and their own witness statement). I have gained much from the examples on this forum - thanks. 

I am aware that I need to send the witness statement to the other party (and I am expecting a large bundle of paper from them soon). 

Can I ask if it is acceptable and / or usual to use e-mail to send them (and indeed the court) my witness statement and evidence pack? 

The letter from the court doesn't seem to be prescriptive (nor does it have an obvious email address - although there is a fax number :-)).  

ChirpyChicken

Yes email is fine