County Court claim letter over parking fines

[eczak]

Hi everyone, first time poster in urgent need of advice and/or help!

I've received a 'claim form' from Northampton County Court Business Centre over unpaid parking fines I've had over the period of a year. In total there are 3 'fines' that Close Unit Protection Ltd are trying to get me to pay for and I've ignored each one thinking that they would simply go away which happened previously. The company that issued the tickets originally (which I believe is UKPC) handed over/sold this 'debt' to the company in question and have now claimed for £419.85.

The date of the notice is 30/12/2020 meaning I have just over a day to send something back.

The tickets are from the girlfriend's flat of which they recently added a permit for residents. I could not get one as my name was not on the lease and her name is not on the logbook (both are requirements for a permit). I was living there for over 3 years and the reason I parked there was because there was no where to park elsewhere and of course as I lived there.

Any suggestions?

[ostell]

They have not sold the charges, they are not permitted to.

So acknowledge the claim using the details and password on the form. You need to do this promptly as you would appear to be running out of time. Nothing in the defence. This gives you 33 days from the date of issue to get your defence to the court. Also take down the form and remove identifying details like case no and password before posting up again.

Post up the suitably redacted PCNs you received and photos of the signs. Additionally you need to post up what the lease says about parking.

[eczak]

Hi Ostell,

Thanks for your response.

I’m not sure how to remove the picture but here is a picture of the sign

[eczak]

I’m just getting all the other documents together as we speak. I do not have the PCNs anymore though unless they are on the county court letter? I’m just on my way home from work now.

[ostell]

So the signs are forbidding, there is no offer of a parking contract to Unauthorised vehicles

The signage in the car park is of a “forbidding” nature. It is limited to cars displaying a valid permit only and therefore the terms cannot apply to cars without a permit because the signage does not offer an invitation to park on certain terms. The terms are forbidding. This means that there was never a contractual relationship. I refer you to the following case law: PCM-UK v Bull et all B4GF26K6 [2016], UKPC v Masterson B4GF26K6[2016], Horizon Parking v Mr J C5GF17X2 [2016] – In all three of these cases the signage was found to be forbidding and thus only a trespass had occurred and would be a matter for the landowner.


CPR 31.14 request to the solicitors
SAR to the parking company

[eczak]

Is that how I should respond?

Also there is nothing in the tenancy agreement in regards to parking.