Court Hearing Tomorrow - help

Kirkland456

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone can assist.

I received a parking charge notice for parking in a disabled bay at a Leisure car park in August 2025.

At the time, I was heavily pregnant and went to the trampoline park to collect my daughter. I was in the space for no longer than 5 minutes. There was nowhere else to park as the car park has over 35 disabled parking spaces at the entrance for the facilities (a gym, indoor football court and trampoline park). All free parking spaces were taken up so there was nowhere else I could park. It is ridiculous that companies are allowed to profit off disabled parking bays by making 1/3 the car park disabled bays only for a leisure park (knowing they will be able to issue fines as users will be forced to park in the countless empty disabled bays).

I appealed on this basis and it was rejected. I followed all the steps for the pre-claim etc, but E S Parking Force Ltd have still pursued the claim and I have to attend the hearing tomorrow.

I have unfortunately not filed a witness statement as I did not receive the letter notifying me of tomorrow’s hearing, and was only notified when I received the claimants witness statement via email today morning (Gladstone Solicitors). They have advised that they will not be attending.

Can I use unclear signage in my defence? It is a matter of principal for me as I feel strongly that private parking companies should not be able to monopolise the use of disabled bays to issue fines. I cannot find any similar posts where people have experienced this issue, but it is clearly a profit making initiative (I have personally counted that of the 100 car parking spaces , 35 are disabled bays which is disproportionate). I am also against non disabled users parking in disabled bays and would’ve paid the fine if this was just the case. However I wanted to pursue the appeal due to the unfairness as so many leisure park users like myself will have been caught out by this. There were simply no other free bays that were not disabled bays so I am unsure what the solution is supposed to be when you are time limited and the car park is full.

I know I need to submit a witness statement asap (they have also filed late), and attend court. However, I would be grateful for advice on what to include in my witness statement and points I can use in court as my defence.

I am new to this process - I’m not sure what I should focus on in my defence and if I should submit online or wait until tomorrow. Unfortunately I received no postal correspondence etc until I became aware of the claimant’s defence via email today.

Thank you 

Gr1pr

Your defence was submitted months ago, you cannot change it !

No fine was issued, just a pcn invoice ( Magistrates issue fines, not private parking companies. )

Gladstones never attend court hearings , but the claimant may send an advocate

The claimant issued a claim via Gladstones, the witness statement was late, which I'd typical of Gladstones

Your WS needs submitting by 4pm today

You can object to their late WS and the missing court order tomorrow as a preliminary matter at the start of the hearing

Car1980

I'd concentrate on their signage. It's abysmal.

They put a key term at the top by the looks of it and the rest is simply illegible. Tiny type, white on black.

Assuming yours is similar you saw the maximum time at the top and nothing else I would imagine. Was it on a tall pole so you needed a telescope to read it?

No contract could be formed on their disabled bay terms because it's unreadable.

Quote the Consumer Rights Act 2015:


68. Requirement for transparency

(1)A trader must ensure that a written term of a consumer contract, or a consumer notice in writing, is transparent.

(2)A consumer notice is transparent for the purposes of subsection (1) if it is expressed in plain and intelligible language and it is legible.


Forget the number of bays - it's not relevant. Think contract law. Classic "the more littered with small text we can make it, the less clear it will become and the more tickets we can dish out."

Kirkland456

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82143877#Comment_82143877

thanks - this is the photo they have submitted. Signage is small and unreadable, stuck on a wall high up. Thanks - I will draft my witness statement in accordance with unclear signage. Would there be any templates I can use to this effect? Conscious that I need to submit this now by 4pm today

Gr1pr

No templates, but look at the example by member JackR1 , plus the 2nd post in the newbies sticky thread in announcements near the top of the forum by coupon mad

MrJenkinsEsq

Arguing about the number of disabled bays won't win. Arguing about the signs might. The few parking signs on the frontage blend straight in and there are whole stretches with no signs at all. I can't read the signs though and your image doesn't load.

MrJenkinsEsq

How did it go?

patient_dream

The only reasonable point about that sign is ….

*Maximum time = 4 hours

*Charge = £100

I do not see that they add a fake OSNER scam of £70 …. IT IS A FAKE APPROVED BY THE BPA FOR MONEY SCMMERS

GLADSTONES IGNORE THE SUPREME COURT RULING AND ADD A FAKE AMOUNT

THAT IS DOUBLE RECOVERY which is not allowed by the courts

A FAKE CLAIM BY GLADSTONES

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82143889#Comment_82143889

Please can you give us a court 'report' of what happened?

Kirkland456

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82149513#Comment_82149513

Hi all!

Apologies for not getting back to you. Went to Court, waited a while and was extremely nervous but there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

The county court is like a meeting room so one judge and a desk you sit at. She reviewed the evidence, noted that the claimant had submitted their WS late and failed to attend and read my defence.

Thank you to those who told me to get my defence in by 4pm - they acknowledged I couldn’t prepare my defence until I had received the claimant’s particulars, so were fine with it being submitted the day before.

I won the case, which I didn’t think I would! Thank you for telling me to pursue the lack of signage route - she wasn’t interested in any of my defence or evidence. Simply looked at the signage the claimant had submitted and said:

1. no mention was made of having a blue badge present to park in the bay

2. The signage was too little to read - she couldn’t even read it from the paper blown up so scoffed at this.

She seemed pretty familiar with these cases, ordered for the case to be struck out and for the claimant to pay any costs. I’ve posted a pic as evidence as was waiting for this before giving my feedback.

just wanted to thank you all for your help - the day before I was just kicking myself for not just paying the fine in the first place and saving myself all this headache, but on the matter of principle, grateful I persisted. Gladstone were clearly extremely confident they would win the case, hence taking it so far, but I had done all the background research and used all the tools from the forum to navigate the process. Thank you!

Kirkland456

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82145247#Comment_82145247

Hi! Please read the latest comment on this thread. I won! Thank you for all your help