Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed - Won

[gmprasad_us]

Hi,


I have 2 county court claims from Parking Eye for overstay on a 12 hour parking ticket on both occasions, claiming £175 each including court fees to date.


Background

• This car park is close to the train station. I commute every day to London and park here since April to date and will probably continue to use this as this is cheaper.
• Both these incidents happened in April due to train delays, one resulting in a 22 minute overstay and the other 55 minutes.

• I have filed a defence in court for both of them with the defence points suggested by M1 in the forum and had references to the Beavis case. One of them was stayed by the judge until the Beavis case is settled.
• The other case is set for hearing on Dec 1 (probably it went to a different Judge). I had actually opted for Mediation and Parking Eye accepted. I offered to pay upto £75 and PE could not accept anything less than £100 and the mediation failed.

I am not a legal expert and not quite sure how strong or weak my case is, though I find it very hard to believe/digest, we have a judicial system that allows a service provider to claim £175 pounds or potentially more for what would be a £2 difference in charge and possibly even win.


What I would like to know


1) Should I have taken the offer given by PE to settle for £100 ? As I said I am not sure if I will win. I have attached my defence to this post. Is the defence good enough for me to feel confident about winning or should I settle if I get an opportunity?


2) As on the mediation date (14/11/2014), Parking Eye didn't pay the hearing fee of £25. They would now pay it to take the case to hearing. If I contact Parking Eye direct agree to pay the £100 they demanded, would they be able to reclaim their hearing fee before the hearing date?


3) If I wish to proceed to hearing, do I have any grounds to convince the judge that this case should also be stayed until the Beavis case is settled as it has happened for my other case for which I sent exactly the same defence word by word. If so, should I wait until the date of the hearing to do this?


4) Assuming the judge doesnt accept this, I am on my own to present my points. I havent attended a hearing before and I am not sure what I have to do. Will it be just reiterating the points that I provided in my defence?


Please can you let me know how to take this up further. Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Mo

[mystery1]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

1) Should I have taken the offer given by PE to settle for £100 ? As I said I am not sure if I will win. I have attached my defence to this post. Is the defence good enough for me to feel confident about winning or should I settle if I get an opportunity?

It covers the main stuff. If i was settling it wouldn't be for more than £50. Make sure you write to the court and ask for a stay.


2) As on the mediation date (14/11/2014), Parking Eye didn't pay the hearing fee of £25. They would now pay it to take the case to hearing. If I contact Parking Eye direct agree to pay the £100 they demanded, would they be able to reclaim their hearing fee before the hearing date?

Yes if they tell the court at least 7 days before the hearing.

3) If I wish to proceed to hearing, do I have any grounds to convince the judge that this case should also be stayed until the Beavis case is settled as it has happened for my other case for which I sent exactly the same defence word by word. If so, should I wait until the date of the hearing to do this?


No, write to the court. If the trial goes ahead bring it up again.

4) Assuming the judge doesnt accept this, I am on my own to present my points. I havent attended a hearing before and I am not sure what I have to do. Will it be just reiterating the points that I provided in my defence?

Pretty much.

M1

[gmprasad_us]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Hi M1,

Thanks very much for the speedy reply.

So to consolidate my understanding, should I write to the court referring to the attempts I have made at mediation, make reference to my other stayed case (which refers to the Beavis case) and request a stay for this case?

Will this be a sequel to the defence that I already filed, or is it just a written request to stay the case?

Given that I have roughly more than 2 weeks for the hearing, will I be able to email my request for a stay or do I have to post the same?

Thanks
Mo

[mystery1]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Just follow http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co...urt-cases.html

Email should be fine.

M1

[gmprasad_us]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Hi M1,

Based on your suggestions, I wrote to the court asking to adjourn the hearing until the Beavis case was settled. I got a response only today as I was told they have huge backlogs (my Hearing is on Dec 1 which is just 1 working day away).

The response reads

Your email dated 20 November 2014 has been placed on the court file for the hearing. Any application by either party to adjourn the hearing should be made on Form N244 and the relevant fee paid.

Gaynor Anderson
Administration Officer
Peterborough County Court
0344 8924000

I am not authorised to bind Her Majesty's Court & Tribunal Service contractually, nor to make representations or other statements which may bind Her Majesty's Court & Tribunal Service in any way via electronic means.

Should I be filing this online and pay the fee in order to get the stay?

I am a bit stumped here as I have only tomorrow to gather what needs to be done.

Any response would be much appreciated.

Regards
Mohan

[mystery1]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

I'd just turn up and mention it.

Are you ready otherwise ?

M1

[gmprasad_us]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Hi M1,

Given the limited time, I think I have no option other than to to turn up.

But in terms of being ready, I assume I would just reiterate the following

1. Claim not a genuine estimate of loss
2. No clear contract
3. My attempts to negotiate
4. Reference to Beavis case, so this case can be adjourned ( I am not sure if I still have to pay the fee to do this) &
5. Point out that my other case which is exactly the same is adjourned until the outcome of Beavis case

Is there anything else that I should be preparing on?

Regards
Mohan

[mystery1]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Don't mention 5 as you might poison the mind of the judge into thinking you're a chancer.

1. Yes but don't forget if it's not a GPEOL it's a penalty.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/393970 Should help.

When the judge ordered a date he also gave instructions that anything you wanted to rely on had to be served 14 days before hearing. Did you submit anything ? Receive anything ?

M1

[mystery1]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Looking back at your other thread, is this also the case you paid £3 ? Mention this quite often. No loss because i paid. OF COURSE YOU WOULD'VE PAID THE EXTRA IF THERE WAS A WAY TO DO IT TOO RIGHT ? bUT BECAUSE THE MACHINE WOULDN'T TAKE PAYMENT YOU COULDN'T (grr caps lock)

M1

[gmprasad_us]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Hi,

Thanks for the tip.

With respect to 1, if it is not a GPEOL, I believe Parking Eye can't and have no grounds enforce a penalty - Please correct me if I am wrong.

In terms of replying back before 14 days of the hearing date, I was hoping to get it settled with a mediation and which is why I didn't get back to the court. After the mediation failed, I moved into the window within 14 days and hence shot an email on the 20th Nov.

I will go through the link that you sent for arguments in the court. Thanks very much.

Regards
Mo

[mystery1]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

With respect to 1, if it is not a GPEOL, I believe Parking Eye can't and have no grounds enforce a penalty - Please correct me if I am wrong.

That's what i said


Well you need a judge to be lenient if you get that in. It can happen.

Did you get anything from parking eye ?

M1

[gmprasad_us]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

M1,

Yes, I did pay £3 for this day as well and there is no way to pay ( no number to call and extend if need be), If I am delayed on the train, say.

Thanks
Mo

[gmprasad_us]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

I haven't got anything from Parking Eye on this.

[mystery1]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Refuse to take anything beforehand then and inform the judge. No evidence is difficult to come back from.

If they fail to show or lose because of no evidence point out any unreasonable behaviour, such as producing no evidence or failing to state Beavis is being appealed, along with CPR 27.14 2 g http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...s/part27#27.14 and ask for extra costs that wouldn't normally be allowed such as full days pay, copying costs, prep time @£18 per hour etc

M1

[gmprasad_us]

Re: Parking Eye Court Hearing - Help Needed

Dear M1,

Happy to share the news that the Judge dismissed Parking Eye's claim for one of my cases that was heard today.

Parking Eye sent an agent from LPC and she went through her 120+ pages documentation regarding the case. I had the initially defence that you helped me draft and nothing more (no additional evidences etc.) , though I took a photocopy of my Parking Ticket, my Train Season Ticket and a couple of pictures of Sign Posts covered by leafy wall creepers. The agent objected to me presenting these at the last minute, but the Judge said he will use his discretionary powers to accept that as he thought it is a small claim and he should give me an opportunity to present them. Inspite of her repeatedly emphasising that the defence is simply made out of content lifted from internet sites, the Judge was considerate of the facts that I reiterated.

My points were very simple based on the advise you offered.

1. No binding Contract
2. No means to extend the payment in case of a delay
3. no Genuine estimate of loss

In the final Judgement, he ruled that a contract exists based on evidence from PE, but finally concluded that the claim is disproportionate and sounds more of a penalty. The agent requested to appeal referring to the Beavis case (I didnt mention this), but the Judge was not keen on letting her appeal as he thought he already spent enough time on this and denied her permission to appeal. I am not sure if there is a way for PE to open this up again, but I hope it is settled for now.

I wish to let you know that this would definitely not have been possible without your help. You have been such a great support, being there every time I posted something. Thank you so much. You are a real star!

Please do let me know if you like to know more details about the case. I would be happy to share.

Thanks a ton
Mo