Parking charge notice

[peterbaker70]

Hi,

I am due to attend court soon to contest a PCN i received in October 2016, it was issued after a pay and display car park turned into a permit holders only area overnight. There were new signs put up however I never noticed them and didn't get a ticket as obviously the machines were still there but weren't working or turned off.
Part of my appeal was that the meters weren't working but in correspondence received back from the solicitors the parking company insisted they were on that particular day saying
'If the ticket machine has malfunctioned our client would have issued far more charges than is usual and would have received a significantly higher volume of complaints'.
They also say 'Proof that the machine was working on the day in question will form part of our witness statement'.
As it is now getting closer to the court date the parking company have notified me through their solicitors that they will not be attending the court and instead have issued this witness statement from the parking attendant who issued the ticket.
In this statement in response to me saying the meters weren't working the attendant states-
'The defendant appears to be confused alleging the payment machine was not working so they were unable to purchase a ticket, there is no payment machines on the land where the defendant was parked'.
Surely they are contradicting each other saying in one that they were there and definitely working and in the statement saying there are no payment machines on the same land...
do you think i should just attend court and bring this to their attention then or make them aware now and hope they drop the case??

thanks,

Peter.

[MIKE770]

Just seen this humour on a Facebook parking forum:- just smile!:- Awaiting Penalty Notice

[ostell]

So what do the signs actully say? Is it "permit Holders Only" ie a prohibiting sign and not offering parking to non permit holders?

Here's a bit of text I saved about this:

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.

Certainly point out the contradictory statements that have been made. It helps raise doubts about the reliability of their evidence

[peterbaker70]

i think the signage was right although as said i didn't notice on the day, more asking if the contradictory statements they have supplied will get me a reprieve?

[ostell]

No they won't automatically give you a reprieve, civil court is not like that, but it will show that their evidence may be suspect.

What do you mean that the signage was right? Lets have details of the location and may be able to see what they say on Google.

[charitynjw]

Who is the parking co?
Who are their sols?