UKCPM County Court Claim

Thanks Coupon-Mad, have found the right quotes now.

I've received their witness statement and bundle of documents (pretty early too as the deadline isn't until next week!). No surprises that the witness statement is signed by Jack Chapman, so I'll get the complaint to SRA done.
However 'Jack' has realised his address mistake and now hails from 19 New Road, BN1 1UF.

They've provided an unsigned contract/removed the signatures due to data protection (hard to tell which), will this fly in court?

They've also provided a quote from the IPC code of practice: "where a parking charge becomes overdue a reasonable sum may be added. This sum must not exceed £60". From a quick google this was removed from the IPC's Code in 2017!!

If I want to address their witness statement can I do that under a sub-heading in my own?

Here's what I've added since reading UKCPM's Witness Statement:

12. The Claimant has provided an Agreement authorising them to manage parking on the land relevant to this claim, however, the agreement appears unsigned. In the Defence statement the Claimant was put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

13. In section 7, the Claimant states in their Witness Statement that the area of the car park in question, namely a section adjacent to the gravel bays, was not “outlined for parking”. The pictures provided in my appeal clearly show worn-out markings in this area, proving this area was in fact ‘outlined for parking’.

13.1. Further to this, it appears that the author of the witness statement has no knowledge of the layout of the car park. They state in section 20 that the area in question “did not format in line with the remaining car park”, referring to photographs where gravel areas can be seen. In fact, the car park has multiple gravel areas plus three paved parking areas of different sizes. The cars parked behind mine and in the other paved areas did not receive windscreen notices on the day I received mine, so the Claimant cannot plausibly argue these areas were not valid for parking.

14. In section 22, the Claimant refers to the International Parking Community (IPC) Code of Practice (for which they are an Accredited Operator) quoting a section permitting a reasonable sum not exceeding £60 to be added to an overdue parking charge. This section of the Code, however, was removed in 2017. One would assume an Accredited Operator to be up to date with the Code of Practice, indicating that the quote has either been included by the Claimant knowing it to be incorrect, or that the Claimant does not keep itself updated with the changes to a Code of Practice it apparently relies on.

15. In section 17, the Claimant argues “the Defendant has lodged a template defence that is heavily circulated on the internet and not specific to the fact of her case or the charge at hand”. This is completely untrue. Firstly, the Claimant has referred to sections of my defence, proving it is specific to the case (“The defendant avers she was a student at XXX, holding a ‘valid parking permit’. The defendant argues that the markings were ‘no longer visible’). Secondly, as I am not a lawyer and have no experience in such matters, in order to properly represent myself in this claim I have undertaken many hours of research and sought advice from others who have won similar cases as Defendants. The Claimant’s above statement and the opinion that my Defence is “generically copied and pasted” is entirely unfair and unnecessary to their Witness Statement.

16. The Witness Statement has been signed by a Jack Chapman of Ground Floor, 19 New Road, BN1 1UF using a facsimile signature identical to other witness statements of cases Gladstones is representing for on the internet. A comparison of signatures is included with this witness statements. A complaint has been made to the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (SRA) who are currently investigating Gladstones Solicitors for allegedly using template witness statements rather than statements from their clients. The SRA have also been shown a job advert where Gladstones is advertising for ‘freelance statement writers’, indicating they submit template witness statements on behalf of claimants with little input from any actual witnesses.

Documents to be included:
1. Defendant’s Schedule of Costs
2. Images taken by Defendant in support of defence
3. Images provided by Claimant in appeal rejection (size increased by Defendant)
4. Comparison of sign in this case compared to sign in Beavis v Parkingeye Ltd [2015]
5. Paragraphs 98, 193 and 198 of Supreme Court Judgment in Beavis v Parkingeye Ltd [2015]
6. Map of car park annotated by Defendant to show parking and sign location
7. Transcript of Order in ‘Vehicle Control Services v Mr Jonathon Davies’
8. Transcript of Order in ‘UK Car Park Management Ltd v Esplanade Ltd’
9. Consumer Rights Act 2015 Schedule 2
10. Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4
11. International Parking Committee Code of Practice Part E Schedule 5
12. Comparison of ‘Jack Chapman’ signatures from other witness statements

Any final feedback much appreciated, hoping to get everything sent off today/tomorrow.

Thanks KeithP.

If there’s no other comments, going to send everything off today!