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Brief background
Wife parked in local shopping area that has recently introduced a 2 hour parking limit (been free and not time limited for the last 30 plus years).
She has parked here maybe 2 times per week for the last 25 years.
My wife has been type 1 diabetic from birth.
Events
Get a phone call from wife saying that her blood sugars were dropping and no matter what she ate, they were not rising. She needed me to come and collect her and the car. She would not nor could not legally drive with a low blood sugar. This has only ever happened on one other occasion in 30 years of driving.
By the time I arrive and leave the car park, she had over stayed (free parking) by 11 minutes.
The letters begin
Get the parking charge notice from highview and write to them explaining what had happened and asking them to cancel.
they did not respond. More letters from them, send another letter and 2 emails. No response to any correspondence
Next step it gets passed to DCB Legal ltd where it starts over again. Same format, wrote to them, explained situation, no response.
Letter from them to say they intended to go to court, sent a copy of the previous emails back to them...no response
Then it goes to court
Get the court claim dated the 21st Dec on the 7th Jan (postal strikes etc) so knowing there was no time to send them back via post, did the process online on the 9th Jan, stating I intended to challenge everything.
The defence paper work required a signature so as it had bought more time, this was sent by post.
The content of the defence was simple, diabetic automatism....and copies of the emails and letters that had been sent to highview and dcb legal ltd.
Waiting for the court directions and location to be sent and instead receive a default judgement dated the 26th Jan.
DCB having added over £150 on top of the original claim.
Contacted the court who said they have notification of the registration and intent to challenge but they have no record of the defence letter so by default I lost.
Background to land owner
I had at the beginning of this, tried to contact the land owner to ask them to dismiss the claim. Asking around the shops and locals, no one seemed to know who owned the land. Eventually used land registry and paid for the documents and discovered that they are a British Virgin Island company but they did have a local office listed in London.
On checking the details of the office, it turns out to be a private flat with literally 00's of companies registered there.
Asking around the business community I discover that I actually know one of the directors of this BVI company and he lives nearby.
I doorstep him and explain what has happened but he informs me that what happens with the parking is all handled by highview, he has no knowledge or input.
I explain that I'm going to court for a disability claim and that perhaps I could add the company to the litigation list. He was quick to point out that as a BVI company, they were untouchable and only subject to BVI laws.
This has lead me to wonder if highview can actually have a written contract with a company outside of the UK law to use UK law
The purpose of a BVI company is tax evasion so why would they agree to a contract that placed them under UK jurisdiction?
The full amount has already been paid to the court so as to avoid a ccj rather than a set-aside (was actually less to pay than set aside anyway) so now I don't have to pay for a counterclaim either. Its now a fresh claim of disability discrimination against these two companies as type 1 diabetes is a protected disability.
I have to get the court date ASAP to make a claim for disability discrimination as it is seen as time limited and should be taken at the earliest opportunity. The fact that my wife has been to court and had a money award against her means the actual discrimination occurred on that date because prior to them being awarded money, there was no actual discrimination. The money claim was the point at which the offence occurred.
Any suggestions or observations or comments on this situation would be appreciated.
Wife parked in local shopping area that has recently introduced a 2 hour parking limit (been free and not time limited for the last 30 plus years).
She has parked here maybe 2 times per week for the last 25 years.
My wife has been type 1 diabetic from birth.
Events
Get a phone call from wife saying that her blood sugars were dropping and no matter what she ate, they were not rising. She needed me to come and collect her and the car. She would not nor could not legally drive with a low blood sugar. This has only ever happened on one other occasion in 30 years of driving.
By the time I arrive and leave the car park, she had over stayed (free parking) by 11 minutes.
The letters begin
Get the parking charge notice from highview and write to them explaining what had happened and asking them to cancel.
they did not respond. More letters from them, send another letter and 2 emails. No response to any correspondence
Next step it gets passed to DCB Legal ltd where it starts over again. Same format, wrote to them, explained situation, no response.
Letter from them to say they intended to go to court, sent a copy of the previous emails back to them...no response
Then it goes to court
Get the court claim dated the 21st Dec on the 7th Jan (postal strikes etc) so knowing there was no time to send them back via post, did the process online on the 9th Jan, stating I intended to challenge everything.
The defence paper work required a signature so as it had bought more time, this was sent by post.
The content of the defence was simple, diabetic automatism....and copies of the emails and letters that had been sent to highview and dcb legal ltd.
Waiting for the court directions and location to be sent and instead receive a default judgement dated the 26th Jan.
DCB having added over £150 on top of the original claim.
Contacted the court who said they have notification of the registration and intent to challenge but they have no record of the defence letter so by default I lost.
Background to land owner
I had at the beginning of this, tried to contact the land owner to ask them to dismiss the claim. Asking around the shops and locals, no one seemed to know who owned the land. Eventually used land registry and paid for the documents and discovered that they are a British Virgin Island company but they did have a local office listed in London.
On checking the details of the office, it turns out to be a private flat with literally 00's of companies registered there.
Asking around the business community I discover that I actually know one of the directors of this BVI company and he lives nearby.
I doorstep him and explain what has happened but he informs me that what happens with the parking is all handled by highview, he has no knowledge or input.
I explain that I'm going to court for a disability claim and that perhaps I could add the company to the litigation list. He was quick to point out that as a BVI company, they were untouchable and only subject to BVI laws.
This has lead me to wonder if highview can actually have a written contract with a company outside of the UK law to use UK law
The purpose of a BVI company is tax evasion so why would they agree to a contract that placed them under UK jurisdiction?
The full amount has already been paid to the court so as to avoid a ccj rather than a set-aside (was actually less to pay than set aside anyway) so now I don't have to pay for a counterclaim either. Its now a fresh claim of disability discrimination against these two companies as type 1 diabetes is a protected disability.
I have to get the court date ASAP to make a claim for disability discrimination as it is seen as time limited and should be taken at the earliest opportunity. The fact that my wife has been to court and had a money award against her means the actual discrimination occurred on that date because prior to them being awarded money, there was no actual discrimination. The money claim was the point at which the offence occurred.
Any suggestions or observations or comments on this situation would be appreciated.
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