Private parking ticket court claim

[Ppandora0405]

I received 2 court claim letters from Gemini parking/Gladstone’s solicitors.
It was for parking without a valid ticket in a leisure centre but I was not the driver on both occasions.
My ex was taking our daughter swimming and he is insured to drive the car but my name is the registered keeper.
I ignored the letters for payment thinking they would give up but now have the two coountu court claims.
Is there any way I can name him as the driver (he is aware and happy to do this as he is at fault) or will they still persue me as it has got to this late stage?
Also, he lives/resides in Scotland and can prove he is resident there - they can then chase him for payment which rightly so as he was the one who was driving at the time?
I have been online and acknowledged the county court claim and stated I intend to defend the whole case but not sure how to do this? Please help....

[ostell]

Now that it is subject to a court claim it is too late to name the driver.

Was the parking event in Scotland? If it was then there can be no keeper liabilty.

Edit your post so that the identity of the driver cannot be inferred. Use "the driver.........." etc

Post up a redacted copy of the PCN that was received, but leave the dates.

[Ppandora0405]

Thank you for your reply- the parking event was in England.

Unfortunately I don’t have the original pcn notices just the county court letters.

What action should I take now? Do I need to contact a solicitor to help me or pay the fines ? I’m new to all this so not sure where to start? Also, I’ve tried to edit my post but not sure how to do this?

[ostell]

So you are the registered keeper
The Keeper lives in Scotland
The parking space was in England.

You need to start preparing a defence to submit by day 33 after the date of issue. Here's a start

• The defendant admits that they are the registered keeper of car xxxxxx
• The defendant denies that they were the keeper or driver at the time
• For the purposes of Schedule 4 of The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) the keeper was [name] of [address]
• The defendant is the wrong person for this claim and denies any responsibility for the alleged debt.
• The claimant is attempting double recovery by initiating 2 separate claims rather than a combined claim
• The defendant requests that the court combine cases xxxxxxx & xxxxxx to save wasting the court time.
• The defendant avers that even if the court determines that they are liable under POFA then the maximum that can be claimed is the sum on the original PCN as per POFA 4 (5)

You send a SAR to Gemini demanding that they provide you wit all the documents that they intend to use in the court case against you. It will not be in time but will come in useful later.

A solicitor will cost more than the charge.

If the charge is transferred to your ex then as he is in Scotland then he is out of the jurisdiction of the English court system and POFA keeper liability does not apply in Scotland and they can only go after the unknown driver. There is no requirement in law to identify the driver.

[GBExile]

You could invite your ex to submit a statement to the court & claimant & then sue them for full costs should you lose.