UKParking taking me to small claims despite me being 178 miles away from my car

[Stanny82]

Good afternoon,

I have a problem with UKParking and they are also taking me to small claims court. I have found many threads with UKParking being involved but I can't find anything which helps me with the unusual circumstances.

Details -
- Car broke down whilst on a family holiday on the Isle of Wight (we are from Cambridge)
- AA towed our car to the nearest garage (we have the AA report to prove where it was sent)
- Garage owner acknowledged the car, advised that the car would be parked securely in their yard (they were now the keyholders)
- We left island without the car, garage owner advised that the engine had seized up and car was a 'non-runner'
- Garage decided to park the car in a carpark (UKParking carpark) without my permission and knowledge
- I received a letter from UKParking advising that we had parked for longer than the permitted time (picture of the car parked in the carpark) and that we were now required to pay a fee.

- I contacted UKParking and advised that the car wasn't in my possession, that it wasn't a running car and that we were not on the island when it had happened (we are 173.4 miles away)
- They acknowledged this and took the garage contact details/address etc and then sent me a letter confirming this.

We didn't hear from UKP again and as they had sent us a letter acknowledging that they would make contact with the garage we wrongly assumed that this was, for us, over with.

Soon after that we started to get letters from two other collection business's, it appeared that they had sold the debt on.
I had made it clear on many occasions that I was a vulnerable adult (I have Bipolar) and that this was incredibly stressful and terrifying.

We were then harassed by a further two collection agencies despite all of the above.

We were then summonsed to court by UKParking.

I put a pack together and then sent this to the court in response to this claim. This was sent to UKParking and they have decided to take me to small claims.
Pack consisted of summary page, impact statements from my husband and I, all of the correspondence (letters from all of the agencies), AA report and the details of the travel dates and tickets etc to prove we were not in the area.

There are a few things that I am confused about -

- I didn't enter into a contract with UKParking so how am I responsible for the outcome?
- If the car wasn't 'running', can I request that UKParking send me pictures of the car entering and exiting and also if they can prove who was driving the vehicle and parking it in order to ascertain how and who?

Despite all of the above the court has now written back and advised that this is now a defended claim and that it will go to small claims court.
Why is this happening and how can I make this stop?

Thanks for reading and I would be eternally grateful for anyone who could help me.

[ostell]

As the registered keeper of the car liability can be transferred to you under legislation Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. However the Act says that the Keeper is liable and that is assumed to be the registered keeper unless it can be shown otherwise.

Here's POFA: Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (legislation.gov.uk) As this is ANPR then section 9 is what basically affects you.

It looks as though you have already submitted your defence and to modify it would cost £256.

You can try and get the information into your witness statment but this is not usually allowed but as a litigant in person you may get away with it.

In Paragraph 2 of POFA the keeper is defined as"

• “keeper” means the person by whom the vehicle is kept at the time the vehicle was parked, which in the case of a registered vehicle is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be the registered keeper;

So you can prove that you, despite being the registered keeper, were not the keeper at the time. You no doubt have bills etc from the garage to show this plus travel details to get you home. The garage was the keeper.

Para 4 (1) states, under the right to claim from the keeper: The creditor has the right to recover any unpaid parking charges from the keeper of the vehicle. You were not the keeper at the time, it was the garage, and therefore you have no liability

You were not, and could not have been the driver at the time, it was the garage or an employee. You can show that you were not the driver.

Hope this helps. You may have to argue it out in court.

[Stanny82]

Ostell, I simply cannot thank you enough!

We do indeed have the travel booking/ferry details which prove we came and went; this all went to court too in the pack I put together.
Following this initial court paperwork we submitted, they are now taking us to small claims court.
At this point has a judge looked at this or is going to small claims just part of the further process?

I feel a little less scared than I did earlier but still worry that we will turn up with all of the same evidence and still lose.
The mind boggles on things like this.

[ostell]

They had already decided to proceed to court when you got your papers. You appear to have acknowledged the claim and submitted your defence..

A judge has decided that the small claims track is suitable for the case. The judge has not looked at the paperwork with an idea to making a decision, only which track.

You will be required to provide a witness statement to the court at some time before the hearing, usually 14 days. This is the time to relate what happened in chronological order and introduce your paperwork as exhibits.

Can never predict what a judge will do but you should not lose.

There are some sample witness statements and defence in the shortcuts panel on this page.

Post on here for comment before you send.

Can we see the defence you submitted

[Stanny82]

Ostell,
I do not appear to be able to send you this info directly which I would prefer to do.