Smart Parking refused landowner's request - court papers received three years later

Ralph-y

"I gave them a call, the lady tried her best to be helpful " 

who was the lady ? 

what was her position? 

ask her who signed a deal with the devil ? 

who ever signed the contract can cancel it !  

h2g2

The optics and will to maintain a good relationship with the church may well be reasonable cause not to drag the church in as a defendant.

Asking if the church kindly help you out by providing someone to act as a witness and confirm that you were, in fact, authorised to park and that Smart Parking were, in fact, informed of this and instructed to cancel the tickets would probably be better for that relationship.

Then if Smart Parking lose and want to recover their losses from their client (particularly if they lose a "misuse of personal data" counter-claim, perhaps) then they can take the PR hit of suing a local church doing good for the community over lost income due to poorly issued parking tickets.

Smick100

Ralph-y said:

"I gave them a call, the lady tried her best to be helpful " 

who was the lady ? 

what was her position? 

ask her who signed a deal with the devil ? 

who ever signed the contract can cancel it !  

I would imagine she is the parish secretary. 

Nowadays I believe that most things in churches are done by committees; well meaning parishioners with either experience in a subject, or else enthusiasm to help out. That committee will have made the decision to appoint Smart, so it is difficult to pinpoint a responsible person. The vicar only concentrates on matter spiritual.

I don't think it's reasonable for me to expect them to cancel their contract with Smart.

1505grandad

"I don't think it's reasonable for me to expect them to cancel their contract with Smart"

Although that would be ideal I think Ralph-y was saying they could cancel the pcn.

James_Poisson

Smick100 said:

Ralph-y said:

"I gave them a call, the lady tried her best to be helpful " 

who was the lady ? 

what was her position? 

ask her who signed a deal with the devil ? 

who ever signed the contract can cancel it !  

I would imagine she is the parish secretary. 

Nowadays I believe that most things in churches are done by committees; well meaning parishioners with either experience in a subject, or else enthusiasm to help out. That committee will have made the decision to appoint Smart, so it is difficult to pinpoint a responsible person. The vicar only concentrates on matter spiritual.

I don't think it's reasonable for me to expect them to cancel their contract with Smart.

I'm afraid I have a totally different view, I thought Churches were supposed to be upstanding, community spirited, supporters of people not an organisation that engages scammers that prey on vulnerable people to make an easy profit with absolutely no reasonable appeals service.

Half_way

Smick100 said:

Ralph-y said:

"I gave them a call, the lady tried her best to be helpful " 

who was the lady ? 

what was her position? 

ask her who signed a deal with the devil ? 

who ever signed the contract can cancel it !  

I would imagine she is the parish secretary. 

Nowadays I believe that most things in churches are done by committees; well meaning parishioners with either experience in a subject, or else enthusiasm to help out. That committee will have made the decision to appoint Smart, so it is difficult to pinpoint a responsible person. The vicar only concentrates on matter spiritual.

I don't think it's reasonable for me to expect them to cancel their contract with Smart.

Most of the things that are run by community committees have committee members that are scared of their own shadow, as well as being a fetid pot of local "politics" - the conduct of Handforth parish council is mild im comparison.

 As they are scared of their own shadows and the ever present question of could "I" be liable you can play on this by informing them that they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents and if there has been a GDPR breach the finger could point at the committee.

 The threat of court, plus the risk of liability, usually stirs things in the right direction.

As for the ANPR cameras, if i was a "volunteer" at such a place then the cameras would either be turned off at the main circuit breaker, re-pointed or bagged, in other words disabled with causing damage to protect users of the place.

Coupon-mad

I hope the claim was acknowledged, given the OP was effectively advised to do nothing re defence just yet?

Le_Kirk

Coupon-mad said:

I hope the claim was acknowledged, given the OP was effectively advised to do nothing re defence just yet?

Yep, AoS is due tomorrow as advised to the OP upthread.

Smick100

Hi all, as expected, I did not receive any response from DCB Legal when I wrote to them offering that they either withdraw the claim or else have me issue counterclaim.

It seems that my next step is to enter defence and counterclaim. 


Does the beneath seem appropriate in defence:

On the date in question, I was using the car park as a musician 

volunteer at an event in the church, having done so several times 

before without issue. 

The sign stated that the car park is for use of patrons of the 

church, which I was.

Upon receipt of the notification in the post, I contacted the 

telephone number to advise Smart Parking of why I was in the 

church. I was told by them that they would only take payment, not 

discuss anything else. 

I contacted the event organiser who liaised with the parish office 

who confirmed that I had permission to park at the church, and who 

took details to have the fine withdrawn.

The parish office, as landowners, then contacted Smart Parking 

twice to request that my fine, and that of five others be 

withdrawn. Smart Parking responded to the parish, refusing to do 

so. 

Since receiving the Claim Form, I have contacted Smart Parking and 

DCB Legal Ltd and have not received any response.

And, if I submit a counterclaim, how do I justify the figure I claim for?

James_Poisson

Counterclaim for what exactly?