It’s got to the court stage

beauty_in_colour · 8 July 2018 at 8:55PM

Hi All,
I have spent a few days reading the various forums concerning private parking companies and tho I don’t claim to have read it every single thread I think I am safe in starting a new thread. I have also read the newbies FAQ.

Basically i have 2 situations concerning both my sons. I have slapped them on the wrist so we need to move to the next stage if possible.

We live in a small estate that is managed. Due to issues caused by non-resident parking, the management company brought in a parking management company who issued one single parking permit per household. Each house and flat has an allocated parking spot and there are 14 additional ones where visitors can park so as not to park in the wrong place. Basically the parking companies issued so many PCNs to residents and following multiple complaints to the management company, the parking management company did not have their contract renewed so they no longer operate in the area. They were active for 13 months in the area.

The problem is this - during the 13 months they were here, my boys were issued with several pcns which they ignored. (I appreciate they should not have done this but that is the situation). For one son, a claim is in the county court for just under £3k - and a hearing is imminent. The other son is facing a claim of just over 2k

For the other son, a pre-court letter has arrived with an invitation to mediation or ADR.
I have sent the statement of defence for son #1 which i can post a redacted copy if needed and for son #2 i waited TIL day 26 and sent a response claiming that the management company had given us to understand that they were protecting resident spaces from non-residents and importantly that the one parking permit issued had our address displayed and so was in breach of data protection, was unsafe and a security risk
.
Even the DVLA do not expect you to display your address on your vehicle.

Beauty_in_colour

Coupon-mad · 8 July 2018 at 9:03PM

For the other son, a pre-court letter has arrived with an invitation to mediation or ADR.

As expected, DQ stage (N180 form) as per the NEWBIES thread post #2, shows your son how to answer each question (a guide written by bargepole - NO LINK HERE).

I have sent the statement of defence for son #1 which i can post a redacted copy if needed

Yes but I reckon start a separate thread about the separate case, or better still, get your son to post about that one and show us his defence.

beauty_in_colour · 8 July 2018 at 9:44PM

Thank you coupon-mad. I wrote to the court to attend as a lay representative to help him out. He was offering silly defences like not being able to afford that kind of debt etc and i felt we probably had a little more substance - i will post the defence in a new thread.
Thank you

System · 9 July 2018 at 5:24AM

WS from other thread

would be grateful if you would cast your eye over this witness statement which i prepared on behalf of my son who is dyslexic

IN THE xxxx COUNTY COURT CLAIM NO: xxxxxx

Case: National Parking Management 1st Claimant vs Mr xxxx
Claim Number: xxxxx
Date: xxx
In the County Court of xxxx

Xxxx 2018

STATEMENT OF xxxxxx

1. I, xxxxx, of xxxx, acting on behalf of

the Defendant will say as follows:-

2. It is admitted that the Defendant is the registered keeper of the vehicle in

question.

The Defendant is also a resident of xxxxx, where the offence is claimed

to have been committed and the vehicle is registered to the defendant at

Xxxxxx

3. Exhibited to this Witness Statement are the following documents which the

Defendant intends to rely upon.

i) The letter from xxxxx the management agents informing residents of their intention to monitor non-resident parking at xxxxx

ii) The Tenancy agreement issued to the tenants of xxxxx This is not included in this statement pack and will be provided in court. If the Claimant does not show up in court they will have the tenant!!!8217;s information which may breach data protection.

4. The Claimant has no cause for action because National Parking Management

(NPM) have not acted in accordance with the spirit of the letter that was sent to

all residents of xxxxxx (the managing agents) on

X September 2016.

NPM have applied their powers unreasonably by taking enforcement action

against bona fide residents. The letter from xxxx states clearly that

NPM were put in place to deter non-residents from abusing the free parking

rightfully available to residents of xxxx.

Furthermore all parking permits clearly display the vehicle owner!!!8217;s address and

it is contended that this is not only unsafe but is also a security risk and in direct

contravention of the data protection act 1998.

5. NPM!!!8217;s one size fits all policy of imposing penalties to residents as well as non-

residents is morally wrong and not in accordance with their mandate which was

to monitor and control the parking at xxxx. The Defendant is of the

view that more appropriate methods of differentiating between residents and

non-residents could have been applied particularly as NPM appears to have

access to DVLA records of registered vehicles and their owners.

6. The defendant is of the opinion that NPM is not acting in the interest of the

residents of xxxx by protecting them as mandated but have effectively

turned residents into sitting duck cash cows from which a regular source of

profitable income is to be made.

7. NPM has stepped outside it!!!8217;s remit by passing on the Defendant!!!8217;s details to

third party debt collection agencies who have sent harassing and threatening

letters. This contravenes the Data Protection Act of 1998, and the GDPR which

comes into effect in 2018

8. The Defendant feels that the penalties are not fines as NPM are not mandated

to fine residents. These penalties are in effect invoices issued for failure to

display a parking permit which has already been issued to residents. Non-

residents do not have parking permits and so by definition residents posses a

permit and must not be made to pay for failing to display them. The defendant

challenges the legal rights of NPM to impose such penalties and totally rejects

these invoices.

9. The letter from the management agents states quite clearly that all residents

would be issued with permits and nowhere is it implied or stated that fines would

be issued. Furthermore NPM were required to issue permits to ALL residents but

failed to do so. The Defendant asserts this has left him between a rock and a

hard place.

10. The Defendant asserts his right to quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the

parking spaces available to residents of xxxx under the tenancy

agreement with the management company and by supremacy of contract is

under no moral or legal obligation to display any sort of permit or required to

pay any sort of parking !!!8216;fine!!!8217;. Pace v Mr N [2016], C6GF14F0 [2016].

11. The Defendant also states that he succumbed to pressure after being issued

with a County Court Claim and in panic paid an amount of xxx in respect of 2

PCNs. It is the intention of the Defendant to counter claim for a refund of this

amount should his defence be successful.

12. It should be noted that National Parking Management no longer operate in

the xxx area and as such their agreement with xxxx is no

longer effective. All signs and notices concerning the NPM parking enforcement

Contract have been taken down. Therefore the Defendant feels that the claimant

has no cause for action.

I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.

Signed:________________________________

Date:____________________________

System · 9 July 2018 at 5:29AM

The winning issues will be the letter from the MA about "non-residents". You have to have a copy of all you are relying on with the WS so have that.

At 6 you can use the phrase "avers" rather than "is of the opinion". Also add to the end of 6.

"As such the Claimant has no legitimate interest in issuing these charges".

You should also change "National Parking Management" to "the Claimant" wherever it appears.

Important: When you get their WS post up a copy here are there will be items in there that can be used for the final documents which is the Skeleton Argument.

The_Deep · 9 July 2018 at 7:43AM

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

beauty_in_colour · 9 July 2018 at 12:40PM

Thank you, The Deep, I totally agree and i am totally hacked off that they are allowed to get away with this because there is no egislation in place yet and they take advantage of loop holes. I have read the bill proposed by Sir Greg Knight, MP for East Yorkshire and note the second reading was in February this year.
The management company eventually withdrew the contract given to the parking management company and we seem to be living in peace - with ample parking for residents and visitors. I appreciate something needs to be done to control rogue non-residents but targeting residents seems to be very rich picking at the moment.

beauty_in_colour · 9 July 2018 at 12:51PM

Thank you very much. I will post the Claimant witness statement as soon as I have figured out how to do this - unless you have some tips?
In the meantime, i have already submitted the defendants witness statement but nevertheless thank you for the corrections you mentioned above. I feel sorry for finding this forum late in the day but the problem came to my notice late in the day. I will figure out to scan and copy the WS statement here. Thanks for your suggestions so far

Le_Kirk · 9 July 2018 at 1:29PM

beauty_in_colour wrote: »

I will post the Claimant witness statement as soon as I have figured out how to do this - unless you have some tips?

Scan or take a photo (jpg) of the letter and use a hosting site such as tinypic or imgur (there are others) and when you have done that post the URL but replace http(s) with hxxp(s) and the rest of the URL and someone will make it live for you after checking it contains only what it says on the tin.

System · 9 July 2018 at 1:38PM

The management company eventually withdrew the contract given to the management company and we seem to be living in peace - with ample parking for residents and visitors

That is very relevant to item 6. Clearly the Claimant had no justification to target residents, a point confirmed by their removal. See if you can get it in somewhere.

beauty_in_colour · 9 July 2018 at 9:10PM

Here is the claimant ws

hxxps://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/cb58b497-f1eb-4a04-8ac1-463885e0395d

Many thanks

It’s got to the court stage

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