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County Court Claim - Parknig Charge Notice - Gladstones/Link Parking
I am hoping someone can assist me with a County Court Claim by Link Parking Ltd which is being represented by Gladstones LLP.
I have received a letter from the County Court informing of Link Parkin Ltd who are claiming the sum of £237.42.
£162.42 Amount Claim
£25.00 Court Fee
£50.00 Legal rep cost
For the purposes of:
“The driver of the vehicle registration ******* (the “Vehicle”) incurred the parking charge(s) on 14/04/2017 for breaching the terms of parking on the land at St Andrews Village – Marner Point – 1 Jefferson Plaza Bromley By Bow London E3 3QB.
The defenden was driving the vehicle and/or is the Keeper of the Vehicle.
AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS
£160 for Parking Charges/ Damages and indemnity costs if applicable, together with interest of £2.42 pursuant to s69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at 8% pa, continuing to Judgement at £0.04 per day”
Firstly, I was not the driver at the time of the alleged breach in contract and subsequently never received the ‘Notice to Keeper’, though I have received several others for other dates which I have responded to with the name and address of the ”Driver”. I assume that the Notice to Keeper was lost in the post, if in fact, it had been posted. I have no other knowledge previous to the County Court Claim of this ‘breach of contract’.
I have not received any other correspondence in relation to this and the claim form is the first. I have since completed the AoS and confirmed that I will be supplying a defence.
I have since conduced my own research and visited the ‘site’ or ‘St Andrews Village’ as it is referred to in the claim. There is no mention or any information which identifies ‘St Andrews Village’ at the site or in online research. Having inspected the specific place in which I believe the ‘breach of contract’ to have taken place (from pictures from the other Notice to Keeper’ I have received and responded to) it appears that in fact this place is known as Hannaford Walk (opposite to building called Ivy Point). Marner Point and 1 Jefferson Plaza are some 150m away from where the alleged ‘breach in contract’ occurred. There is clearly some discrepancy here and also as it referred to as ‘the land’, it is ambiguous, the definitive article ‘the land’ seems to imply a specific place in which the ‘breach of contract’ occurred however I believe it did not occur at that specific site.
I have inspected the area and determined that although there are several ‘signs’ places regularly along the area, they are not abundantly clear. The main wording takes precedence on ‘Private Land Contractual Agreement’ followed by ‘No Parking for any vehicle in this area’ followed by Terms and Conditions in which the charge of £100 for ‘parking’ is in significantly smaller font than the rest of the sign.
The signs are also placed on lampposts which are not properly illuminated as the ‘lamps’ actually face the opposite direction of the signs themselves. Having also checked the ‘Code of Practice’ on the IPC website (trade body of the Parking firm) it states that signs should be placed at the entrance of the site. There are no signs facing the “driver” upon entry. There is only one entrance from what I have determined. The first sign is parallel to the “driver” approximately 2/3 metres in the road/site.
There is also a gate (buzzer operated) approximately 30m along the site, which could be perceived as it being the ‘entrance’ to the site, which again makes the initial signs further unclear as to whether ‘the land’ is post the gate or not.
I also inspected several other local parking sites where Private Parking firms operate all of which have clear forward facing signs at the entrance(s) providing clear warning.
Can you please advise on how to defend myself and write to the court?
I have received a letter from the County Court informing of Link Parkin Ltd who are claiming the sum of £237.42.
£162.42 Amount Claim
£25.00 Court Fee
£50.00 Legal rep cost
For the purposes of:
“The driver of the vehicle registration ******* (the “Vehicle”) incurred the parking charge(s) on 14/04/2017 for breaching the terms of parking on the land at St Andrews Village – Marner Point – 1 Jefferson Plaza Bromley By Bow London E3 3QB.
The defenden was driving the vehicle and/or is the Keeper of the Vehicle.
AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS
£160 for Parking Charges/ Damages and indemnity costs if applicable, together with interest of £2.42 pursuant to s69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at 8% pa, continuing to Judgement at £0.04 per day”
Firstly, I was not the driver at the time of the alleged breach in contract and subsequently never received the ‘Notice to Keeper’, though I have received several others for other dates which I have responded to with the name and address of the ”Driver”. I assume that the Notice to Keeper was lost in the post, if in fact, it had been posted. I have no other knowledge previous to the County Court Claim of this ‘breach of contract’.
I have not received any other correspondence in relation to this and the claim form is the first. I have since completed the AoS and confirmed that I will be supplying a defence.
I have since conduced my own research and visited the ‘site’ or ‘St Andrews Village’ as it is referred to in the claim. There is no mention or any information which identifies ‘St Andrews Village’ at the site or in online research. Having inspected the specific place in which I believe the ‘breach of contract’ to have taken place (from pictures from the other Notice to Keeper’ I have received and responded to) it appears that in fact this place is known as Hannaford Walk (opposite to building called Ivy Point). Marner Point and 1 Jefferson Plaza are some 150m away from where the alleged ‘breach in contract’ occurred. There is clearly some discrepancy here and also as it referred to as ‘the land’, it is ambiguous, the definitive article ‘the land’ seems to imply a specific place in which the ‘breach of contract’ occurred however I believe it did not occur at that specific site.
I have inspected the area and determined that although there are several ‘signs’ places regularly along the area, they are not abundantly clear. The main wording takes precedence on ‘Private Land Contractual Agreement’ followed by ‘No Parking for any vehicle in this area’ followed by Terms and Conditions in which the charge of £100 for ‘parking’ is in significantly smaller font than the rest of the sign.
The signs are also placed on lampposts which are not properly illuminated as the ‘lamps’ actually face the opposite direction of the signs themselves. Having also checked the ‘Code of Practice’ on the IPC website (trade body of the Parking firm) it states that signs should be placed at the entrance of the site. There are no signs facing the “driver” upon entry. There is only one entrance from what I have determined. The first sign is parallel to the “driver” approximately 2/3 metres in the road/site.
There is also a gate (buzzer operated) approximately 30m along the site, which could be perceived as it being the ‘entrance’ to the site, which again makes the initial signs further unclear as to whether ‘the land’ is post the gate or not.
I also inspected several other local parking sites where Private Parking firms operate all of which have clear forward facing signs at the entrance(s) providing clear warning.
Can you please advise on how to defend myself and write to the court?
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