VCS crash and burn at Southampton County Court: Bristol Airport Case

BTSOAP

In The County Court and the Family Court at Southampton     
Before Deputy District Judge Giddens        Sitting in Courtroom 07
Monday 3rd March 2025       10:00 AM      L1QZ014X
VEHICLE CONTROL SERVICES LIMITED -v- JONES 

Greetings to all on this warm Bank Holiday Monday.

I'm ever grateful for the help I received for my residential case from this forum and promised myself should I ever fall into the clutches of a parking company again I would endeavour to help people in a similar situation. 

The boneheads at VCS issued a PCN at Bristol Airport because I stopped in an emergency. The usual threatening letters, a POPLA appeal and Letter of Claim followed. I asked for a hearing at my local Court and a date was set.

I was prepared with the usual arguements; ROA, POFA 2012, forbidding signage, byelaws, landowner permission and VCS service area. None were required. Also, I wasn't in the patrol area when stopped - they conveniently moved my location in their evidence. VCS refused to supply CCTV footage that would have proved my case.

I won the case because VCS couldn't prove where the photos were taken.

For all the good it will do I've sent a letter of complaint to Bristol Airport with the court transcription highlighting the futility of employing VCS to issue tickets.

The transcription can be found here:

hXXps://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/huvziarxr90na34urwim0/L1QZ014X-VCS-v-JONES-1.pdf?rlkey=76j2fqmkqpoawbovob3v39azt&st=ckqvhlkh&dl=0

Note:Jake Burgess has been mis-transcribed as Birges.

Don't read this standing up. You might fall over from laughing too much and injure yourself...

Regards

BTSOAP

Car1980

Jake you twonk. You've got to put more effort into these claims if you're not going to follow the DCB Legal model of discontinuing everything. A trip to south coast could have been a nice day out.

The argument about morality has overloaded my irony meter.

Gr1pr

What a great read for a sunny morning   !

You would have expected a better, more detailed WS from a CILEX registered employee with over 12 years experience at Excel/ VCS and that scam site has been running for many years 

He wasn't an actual witness to the incident either,  but prepared a clearly flawed Witness Statement bundle on behalf of his employer 

I noticed that the Judge stated that it was up to the court to determine if a breach had occurred,  not the claimant 

Mr Khan knew he was on a loser from the get go,  same as that Barrister in the Court of Appeal case recently

Umkomaas

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/huvziarxr90na34urwim0/L1QZ014X-VCS-v-JONES-1.pdf?rlkey=76j2fqmkqpoawbovob3v39azt&st=ckqvhlkh&dl=0

Umkomaas

That's a good read, thank you for sharing @BTSOAP.👍

I wonder if @Kaizen2024 might comment on this case? 🙂

1505grandad

As above  -  made my day. Has the DVLA sold your data without due cause?

patient_dream

Great read.
Has SRS / VCS forgotten so soon that Southampton court is a graveyard for parking companies?

Castle

On page 10 it should be the Consumer Rights Act 2025, not 2014.

Car1980

But there are 81 signs!

Stopping to read any of them incurs a £100 charge though 🤦

Gr1pr

Car1980 said:

But there are 81 signs!

Stopping to read any of them incurs a £100 charge though 🤦

As does allegedly stopping due to the vehicle in front of you stopping,  then being hemmed in by a vehicle behind you and also by a bus stopping at the side of you  ( classic 3 vehicle box as seen in numerous police programmes on tv   ) , but then if you are shot dead they may waive the charge  !

I am bemused as to why a transcript was paid for  ?

Coupon-mad

In the past people used to pay for transcripts more often but we're now in a cost of living crisis. The OP has stated why they have done. Admirable 'paying it forward' example. Thankyou!

 "I'm ever grateful for the help I received for my residential case from this forum and promised myself should I ever fall into the clutches of a parking company again I would endeavour to help people in a similar situation."

Hence getting a transcript to help inform others, highlighting how bad VCS pleaded claims are, such that neither JB nor the hapless Mr Khan could point to where the scooter even was at Bristol Airport!

There's nothing to be afraid of when defending a claim.

Southampton court judges in particular, really don't appear to like parking claims; I picked that up from Judge Grand when I was lay repping there years ago. They don't miss a trick.

They must have a right laugh afterwards about these cases.

Gotta love Judge Giddens. My personal faves:

"You cannot make silk out of something that was never silky"

"I think I hear the death knell ringing for the claim"