Gladstone's taking me to court as registered keeper

[Dazwalsh]

Hi there,

I've got Gladstone's taking me to court over 4x PCN’s, 3 of which have the same date?!. No indication of what breach of contract there was, only that there was one.

My defence- i was not the driver. They are assuming me as registered keeper was the driver. I cant prove i wasn’t but what info will they produce to show that i was? ANPR images showing a long haired blonde?

They dont indicate the contract breach but i know from the same crowd taking my wife to court for another 3 dates that it was purchasing a ticket past the 10 minute allowance, by literally all leas than 5 minutes. She used to drink her coffee in the car before purchasing a ticket for the entire day on each of the 7 instances we are being taken to court over.

They have the date duplicated 3 times on the court particulars, and have dulicated 3 times the court fees and the rest of the charges so they are chasing over 800 from me.

i have warned them in my defence and also in an email to double check their glaring error and to think carefully about proceeding. No answer.

A couple of quick questions.

A day of lost earnings going to court costs me in the region of £250. If i win does the judge have a maximum that can be claimed or is it his own judgement? I am self employed so proving that i have lost those earnings is tricky. Thats an average days earnings.

Are they really going to even show up and defend a glaring error that i have warned them twice about? Is it automatic judgement if they are a no show?.

Because i wasn't the driver i cant produce the purchased tickets as evidence, even though i have them. Also whilst i dont want to go in claiming ignorance i cant really state i knew the breach.

Do i go in defending one of the many blunders or do i spread my defence across the numerous aspects.

I haven't even got as far as inadequate signage, the fact a full ticket was purchased on each occasion meaning there was absolutely zero loss to them by purchasing a full day maximum length ticket

I really want to tear Gladstone's a new one in front of the judge, they obviously throw huge amounts of claims through the courts and rely on the people who are scared of the threat of court paying up. The court particulars for my wifes case and mine are Identical with just the dates changed, obviously they don't even look at the data they copy and paste POC’s and hope for the best.

[ostell]

The lack of detail on the claim is quite common, they do not have the paperwork before they issue the claim. This will be mentioned in your defence, or have you already sent in your defence? If you have then a redacted copy on here might help.

So to hold you liable as the keeper they have to comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 They have to either comply with the requirements of POFA to hold the keeper liable or chase the driver. Edit your post so that the identity of the driver cannot be inferred.

So where was the condition that the ticket must be bought within 10 minutes? If it's on the sign coming in then it probably couldn't be seen.

Don't keep warning them but let them continue to dig their own hole. I don't understand your comment about 3 times the court fees. Have the issued 3 claims? The fees are on a sliding scale, depending on the amount claimed. They are allowed to charge one lot of solicitors fees for raising the claim, max £50. Any other legal charges are not allowed.

They can also only claim from the registered keeper the amount of the original charge, £100 ?, POFA 4 (5).

Maximum that can be claimed for lost pay is £96 per half day. Take in pay slips.

If you are the registered keeper why are they taking your wife to court?

Perhaps post up a redacted copy of the claim form and one of the PCNs that were received. On the PCN leave dates.

[Dazwalsh]

I will post up my redacted defence soon. They had another date where they chased my wife for, she mistakenly rang up to appeal and revealed she was the driver. Anyways her court case was 2 days ago and they didn't even turn up to court to defend. Scumbags.

So they have one date duplicated 3 times in the particulars of claim, and have applied their costs 3 times for that date so that those 3 and 1 more date now total £800+ in total claim. Im assuming they are trying to chase 4 different PCN’s but have rushed and not edited the dates correctly. Im assuming the judge will dismiss on that alone? Never mind that i wasnt the driver. that was the exact reason why i alerted them to the same date listed 3 times, so that i had evidence i had warned them their claim was flawed and it would look bad in front of the judge. I bet any money they dont turn up on the day.

Yeah the 10 minute rule is stated on the sign as you enter the car park where the ANPR picks you up, but its impossible to stop and look at the sign because the car would still be hanging out on the main road. The sign is mounted on a pole on the pavement outside the car park about 8 feet to the left of the entrance, facing the road.

[Dazwalsh]

OK here is my defence.

I (defendant) reject the claim in full for the
following reasons, citing the particulars of claim (POC).

The POC are vague and do not actually detail what the breach of
contract was, only that there was one. The text contained within
the POC appears to be a simple copy and paste of block text,
littered with inaccuracies and lacking in detail, suggesting very
little work was done by the claimant’s legal representative, XXXXX
XXXX, before filing the claim. This is highlighted by a date
duplicated 3 times of 01/10/18. The defendant requests that these
details are looked at and to make sure that there was 3 breaches
of the same terms of parking on one single day, something the
defendant suspects is not true. The defendant notes that it
appears this isn’t a simple administration error, as there is also
duplication in PCN costs.

Due to the vague nature of the POC, the defendant requests a copy
of the terms of parking, ANPR photos for the dates in question,
and the data gathered from the ticket machine showing when (if
any) parking tickets were purchased for the vehicle in question on
the dates in question. It is unreasonable for the defendant to
have any of these tickets given the defendant was NOT the driver.
The defendant also claims no letter before claim arrived, and
requests a copy of such letter to ensure pre action protocol was
met by the claimant’s legal representative.

i should have really found this site sooner so that a more robust defence could be out together. I still think no one will show up so dont want to pile loads of time into preparing.

is there any figures on how many cases gladstones have taken to court and how many they have won vs lost?

regards

Darren

[ostell]

You need to use numbered paragraphs but that is not a defence
, you are asking the court for info

[Gymbunnie]

Hi, My case is identical, my husband was driving a car registered to me but used and insured by him, Gladstones repeated a date 3 times and added additional costs totalling £827.19, they have just sent another letter before claim for another ticket.
Just wondering how you got on with this as someone initially helped me then stopped leaving me in the lurch!!