Please help with a claim form

[JasonRedZ]

I found real hope joining this forum but its now no hope, I do not know how to write a defence (due today) and already told them that I was going to defend the claim. Can someone PLEASE advise me what is best to do? Should I contact them to ask to arrange a payment plan? Do I still get a CCJ against me? I know this is a free service and no one is obliged to help anyone I am also aware it is my fault my hope was raised reading other peoples threads so not finger pointing, I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now.

[echat11]

Here is a Defence for credit card debts, use that as a template removing all the CCA references.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-court-claims/

Some threads that might help -

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...urt-claim-form

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...istered-keeper

[JasonRedZ]

Here is a Defence for credit card debts, use that as a template removing all the CCA references.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...-court-claims/

Some threads that might help -

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...urt-claim-form

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...istered-keeper

Thanks very much, I really appreciate your reply

[JasonRedZ]

I apologise for bombarding the board with questions, I am struggling to do this.

Can someone please tell me do I have 33 'working' days to file my defence or does this include weekends and Christmas day, Bank holidays etc?
The issue date was December 14th 2021
I am hoping I may still have more time.

Also I acknowledged receipt online 27th Dec 2021 - There was a delay as my Mum died on the 15th December.

I emailed a CPR 31.14 is that OK or did I need to physically post it?

[echat11]

I apologise for bombarding the board with questions, I am struggling to do this.

Can someone please tell me do I have 33 'working' days to file my defence or does this include weekends and Christmas day, Bank holidays etc?
The issue date was December 14th 2021
I am hoping I may still have more time.

Also I acknowledged receipt online 27th Dec 2021 - There was a delay as my Mum died on the 15th December.

I emailed a CPR 31.14 is that OK or did I need to physically post it?

Emailing the CPR31.14 is fine as long as they've received it. You still have 5 days from today, but don't leave it until the last minute.

[JasonRedZ]

echat11 Thank you they sent me an automatic response email saying they aim to respond within 10 working days.

When you say 'don't leave it until the last minute', do you mean filing a defence? Or is there anything else I need to do?

Do you have any suggestions to what my defence may be?
I am trying to put things together but unsure if I have any thing solid.

This PCN was back in 2017 and I went today to see new looking signs up everywhere,
there is no barrier etc just signs and cameras it is a retail park.

It is too long ago for us to remember who was driving the vehicle is this a defence?

Thank you

[BigJ]

JasonRedZ - this isn't my area of expertise, but I get how stressful this is. I think you'd have a good start at a draft defence using the one in the thread echat11 pointed you to here: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...d-keeper/page2 (post 16).

Perhaps take a copy of that and amend to suit your details. Hope that helps.

Regards, John

[friendlylady]

JasonRedZ did you manage to send your defence in today? I’m need to do mine by tomorrow and using this site
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com...admin-costs/p1

[JasonRedZ]

JasonRedZ did you manage to send your defence in today? I’m need to do mine by tomorrow and using this site
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com...admin-costs/p1

No I realise I have a few more days so Ive been working on the defence, thanks for the link I will have a look. Good luck with your one

[JasonRedZ]

Can someone in the know (Or please tag someone in the know) please have a look over my defence and feed back?

____________________

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all. It is denied that a contract was entered into - by conduct or otherwise - whereby it was ‘agreed’ to pay a ‘parking charge’ and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue, nor to form contracts in their own name at the location.



The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied.This was a shared vehicle and after such a long time the keeper cannot possibly remember who was driving on that uneventful day.



3. As the registered keeper of the vehicle in 2017 receiving a County Court claim form years later in December 2021 is the first I have heard of this claim, I the defendant cannot be held liable due to the Claimant not complying with the ‘keeper liability’ requirements set out in the Protection of Freedoms Acts 2012, Schedule 4.

4. The Particulars of Claim set out an incoherent statement of case and the quantum has been enhanced in excess of any sum hidden in small print on the signage that the Claimant may be relying upon. Claiming ‘costs/damages’ on an indemnity basis is stated to be unfair in the Unfair Contract Terms Guidance, CMA37, para 5.14.3. That isthe official Government guidance on the Consumer Rights Act 2015 ('CRA 2015') legislation which must be considered, given the duty in s71. The Defendant avers that the CRA 2015 has been breached due to unfair terms and/or unclear notices (signs), pursuant to s62 and with regard to the requirements for transparency and good faith, and paying regard to examples 6, 10, 14 and 18 in Sch2. NB: this is different from the UTCCRs considered by the Supreme Court, in that there is now a requirement for contract terms and notices to be fair.

5. It is denied that the exaggerated sum sought is recoverable. The Defendant's position is that this money claim is in part/wholly a penalty, applying the authority in ParkingEye cases (ref: paras 98, 100, 193, 198) ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 and para 419 of HHJ Hegarty’s High Court decision in ParkingEye Ltd v Somerfield Stores Ltd ChD [2011] EWHC 4023(QB) where the parking charge was set at £75 (discounted to £37.50 for prompt payment) then increasing ultimately to £135. Much like the situation in this claim, the business model involved sending a series of automated demands to the keeper. At para 419, HHJ Hegarty found that adding £60 to an already increased parking charge 'would appear to be penal' and unrecoverable. ParkingEye had dropped this punitive enhancement by the time of Mr Beavis' famous parking event.

6. Even if the Claimant had shown the global sum claimed in the largest font on clear and prominent signs - which is denied - they are attempting double recovery of the cost of their standard automated letter-chain. It is denied that the Claimants have expended additional costs for the same letters that the Beavis case decision held were a justification for the (already increased from the discount) parking charge sum of £85.

7. The Claimant cannot be heard to base its charge on the Beavis case, then add damages for automated letter costs; not even if letters were issued by unregulated 'debt recovery' third parties. It is known that parking firms have been misleading the courts with an appeal at Salisbury Court (the Semark-Jullien case) where the Judge merely reset an almost undefended case back for a hearing. He indicated to Judges for future cases, how to consider the CRA 2015 properly and he rightly remarked that the Beavis case was not one that included additional 'costs' per se, but he made no finding of fact about the illegality of adding the same 'automated letter costs' twice. He was not taken by either party to Somerfield in point #5 above and in any event it is worth noting that the lead Southampton case of Britannia v Crosby was not appealed. It is averred that District Judge Grand's rationale remains sound, as long as a court has sufficient facts to properly consider the CRA 2015 s62, 63 and 67 before turning to consider the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Sch4 ('the POFA').

8. Pursuant to Sch4 of the POFA at 4(5), the sum claimed exceeds the maximum potentially recoverable from a registered keeper, even in cases where a parking firm has complied with its other requirements (denied in this case). It is worth noting that even though the driver was known in Beavis, the Supreme Court considered the POFA, given that it was the only legislation specifically dealing with parking on private land. There is now also the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 with a new, more robust and statutory Code of Practice being introduced shortly, which evolved because the two Trade Bodies have failed to properly govern this industry.



The ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 case is distinguished

9. Unlike in this case, ParkingEye demonstrated a commercial justification for their £85 private PCN, which included all operational costs, and they were able to overcome the real possibility of the charge being dismissed as punitive and unrecoverable. However, their Lordships were very clear that ‘the penalty rule is plainly engaged’ in such cases.

10. Their decision was specific to what was stated to be a unique set of facts: the legitimate interest/commercial justification, the car park location and prominent and clear signs with the parking charge itself in the largest/boldest text. The unintended consequence is that, rather than persuade courts considering other cases that all parking charges are automatically justified, the Beavis case facts and pleadings (and in particular, the brief and very conspicuous yellow/black signs) set a high bar that this Claimant has failed to reach.

11. Without the Beavis case to support the claim and no alternative calculation of loss/damage, this claim must fail. Paraphrasing from the Supreme Court, deterrence is likely to be penal if there is a lack of an overriding legitimate interest in performance extending beyond the prospect of compensation flowing directly from the alleged breach.

12. The Supreme Court held that the intention cannot be to punish a motorist - nor to present them with concealed pitfalls, traps, hidden terms or unfair/unexpected obligations - and nor can the operator claim an unconscionable sum. In the present case, the Claimant has fallen foul of the tests in Beavis.

13. The Claimant’s signs have vague/hidden terms and a mix of small font, such that they would be considered incapable of binding any person reading them under common contract law, and would also be considered void pursuant to Sch2 of the CRA. Consequently, it is the Defendant’s position that no contract to pay an onerous penalty was seen, known or agreed.

14. Binding Court of Appeal authorities which are on all fours with a case involving unclear terms and a lack of ‘adequate notice’ of an onerous parking charge, would include:

(i) Spurling v Bradshaw [1956] 1 WLR 461 (the ‘red hand rule’ case) and

(ii) Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd [1970] EWCA Civ 2,

both leading authorities confirming that an unseen/hidden clause cannot be incorporated after a contract has been concluded; and

(ii) Vine v London Borough of Waltham Forest: CA 5 Apr 2000,

where the Court of Appeal held that it was unsurprising that the appellant did not see the sign ''in view of the absence of any notice on the wall opposite the southern parking space''. In many cases where parking firm Claimants have cited Vine in their template witness statements, they have misled courts by quoting out of context from Roch LJ, whose words related to the Respondent’s losing case, and not from the ratio. To pre-empt that, in fact Miss Vine won because it was held as a fact that she was not afforded a fair opportunity to learn of the terms by which she would be bound.

15. Fairness and clarity are paramount in the new statutory CoP being finalised by the MHCLG and this stance is supported by the BPA and IPC alike.In the November 2020 issue of Parking Review, solicitor Will Hurley, the Chief Executive of the IPC Trade Body, observed: 'Any regulation or instruction either has clarity or it doesn’t. If it’s clear to one person but not another, there is no clarity. The same is true for fairness. Something that is fair, by definition, has to be all-inclusive of all parties involved – it’s either fair or it isn’t. The introduction of a new ‘Code of Practice for Parking’ provides a wonderful opportunity to provide clarity and fairness for motorists and landowners alike." The Defendant's position is that the signs and terms the Claimant is relying upon were not clear, and were in fact, unfair and the Beavis case is fully distinguished.



16. In the alternative, the Claimant is also put to strict proof, by means of contemporaneous and unredacted evidence, of a chain of authority flowing from the landholder of the relevant land to the Claimant. It is not accepted that the Claimant has adhered to the landholder's definitions, exemptions, grace period, hours of operation, etc. and any instructions to cancel charges due to complaints. There is no evidence that the freeholder authorises this Claimant to issue parking charges or what the land enforcement boundary and start/expiry dates are, nor whether this Claimant has standing to enforce such charges by means of civil litigation in their own name rather than a bare licence to act as an agent ‘on behalf of’ the landowner.



In the matter of costs, the Defendant seeks:

17. (a) standard witness costs for attendance at Court, pursuant to CPR 27.14, and

(b) that any hearing is not vacated but continues as a costs hearing, in the event of a late Notice of Discontinuance. The Defendant seeks a finding of unreasonable behaviour in the pre-and post-action phases by this Claimant, and will seek further costs pursuant to CPR 46.5.

18. The Defendant invites the court to find that this exaggerated claim is entirely without merit and to dismiss the claim.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Defendant’s signature:

Date:

[JasonRedZ]

ostell Good evening would you mind looking at my defence and commenting if you think it is good to submit please?

[JasonRedZ]

Ok I am going to submit this later today so this is my last cry for help, can anyone please give me advise if they think this defence is good enough to submit or do I need to make changes?

[echat11]

I've had a read. It reads well, I can't add any constructive comments, it's one for ostell.

[JasonRedZ]

I've had a read. It reads well, I can't add any constructive comments, it's one for ostell.

Thanks very much I appreciate your time

[JasonRedZ]

As an update I submitted my defence and received a letter from the court stating that the claimant has 28 days to respond. So far I have not heard anything but it is early days.