Cheers Dave

The deadline is Wednesday, and I'm too much of a chicken to wait until tomorrow to post it.  So I'm getting it out end of day today so it arrives tomorrow.

I haven't received anything from them yet.  I imagine they're waiting for me to send mine before they send theirs.  I'll hold off on posting it until Monday, as that'll give me a day's grace before the deadline and if they receive it Tuesday they'll struggle to get theirs out before the Wednesday deadline.  If I receive anything from them I'll post it up here.

Last time I went to County Court was in 2011 (and as the claimant rather than the defendant) and the other side didn't submit any evidence and didn't actually show up on the day.

Morning Dave

I've made the changes as you've suggested and am ready to file this now as it needs to be in by the 9th.  One last question hopefully, after the section regarding punitive charges, do I need to put in any kind of summary paragraph or is it fine to go as it is, with the photos and other evidence included?

Cheers

CD

Thanks Dave, I wasn't sure about that bit.  I'll review it when I get home and let you know.

Cheers for the help.

CD

I agree, but this document seems to state otherwise;

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/861052/inf266-release-of-information-from-dvlas-registers.pdf

Cheers Dave

I did ask the resident whether she had consulted her tenancy agreement but the long and the short of it was that she rents it privately off another friend (who I don't know) and never signed an official agreement.

I'll just went back and consulted the letter chain and the total owed went from £80 for just the PCN to £150 when the debt collection company (ZZPS Ltd) got involved.  It doesn't say what those additional fees are for, it just says "In accordance with the terms and conditions of parking, debt collection charges have now been added and the balance owed is shown above.  You were given prior notice of additional costs through the signage at the location."   Not sure yet where they've got the other £12 from.

No idea mate, maybe they had problems in the past with people parking in others spaces.  As far as I know the majority of the flats in the complex have one allocated space each so if you get a couple move in to one flat who have a car each, with very limited numbers of visitors bays available that's only going to cause issues.  

Then along come our company who generously offer to police parking at the premises with no cost to the landowner.  The problem is solved from their side.  

I don't know anyone else who lives at the complex so I'm not sure how widespread an issue it is but it seems to be a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut approach.  If it was a case of them only coming to slap a PCN on a car if a resident contacted them to complain that someone was in their space illegally then it'd be perfectly reasonable as it's depriving a resident use of their own space that they're paying for.

The GDPR angle is interesting, although they'd probably just claim that because they're members of the BPA this gives them an automatic right to request anyone's details from the DVLA.  Whether a civil dispute such as this is sufficient grounds to release a person's personal data under the GDPR is a whole other can of worms though.  What's ironic is that if I had suffered a genuine loss, say for instance someone sideswiped my car outside my house and drove off, but I got their registration number on my CCTV, the DVLA probably wouldn't give it to me, and I'd have to go via the police to get their information.  Whereas these cowboys can simply request it because someone committed the heinous crime of parking without a slip of paper on their dashboard.  The DVLA gets their fee for providing the details to shady outfits like these anyway so I'm sure they don't give a toss.

Cheers BN.  I've got about another week until it needs to be finalised and sent off so I'll hang on for now and see what the folks have to say.

Cheers DX.  I've included that now.  Plus expanded it to include a bit about the successful POPLA appeals.

I've attached a draft here for your perusal.  Let me know if anything needs adding, removing or expanding?

Thanks

CD

Copy of Defendant's Witness Statement - Redacted.pdf

Thanks both.  I'll spend some time over the long weekend working it into my WS.  

One other question, I want to bring up the case of UKPC vs Miss C linked here;

https://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2017/07/ukpc-lose-residential-case-tenant-can.html

The circumstances of this case are nearly identical to mine.  However, is there some official copy of the judgement I can include in my evidence pack?  I want to refer to it but can't find any other reference to it other than a few paragraphs on Parking Prankster's blog.

Yep.  I'm fully expecting another claim form for the other rejected appeal to arrive shortly, although part of me expects that they'll wait to find out the outcome of this particular case first before they chance their hand again.

I'll add it to the witness statement.  If their own governing body appeals service deems the majority of them to be unfairly issued, then I'm not sure what they hope to achieve in county court.

No, the PPC have rejected all the appeals I've sent their way.  I've subsequently appealed 7 (I think) to POPLA.  2 got rejected and the other 5 upheld.  Same car park, same parking space, same circumstances in every way.

OK, so if you think it'll help;

1 The date of infringement? 09/03/2020
 

2 Have you yet appealed to the parking company yet? [Y/N?] Yes
 

Has there been a response?  Yes
 

Have you received a Notice To Keeper? (NTK) [must be received by you between 29-56 days]  Yes
 

What date is on it? 14/04/2020
 

Did the NTK provide photographic evidence? No, but it did give a brief instruction of how to access them online

3 Did the NTK mention Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) [Y/N?] Yes
 

4 If you appealed after receiving the NTK,

did the parking company give you any information regarding the further appeals process?

[it is well known that parking companies will reject any appeal whatever the circumstances]

Yes, they gave instructions on how to appeal to POPLA.
 

5 Who is the parking company? NSGL Ltd
 

6. Where exactly [Carpark name and town] did you park? Century Wharf Housing Complex - Cardiff Bay

NTK1-Redacted.pdf Appeal to NSGL - 09_04_2020.pdf appeal-reply-redacted.pdf

Afternoon all.

I've been away for a few weeks. 

When I got home I had a letter from from the Cardiff CC. 

The hearing looks like it's going ahead on the 28th July, and I've been instructed to submit a witness statement to the court and the other party by June 9th.  

I've already started prepping a witness statement.  When I've got it sort of ready am I OK to post a redacted copy of it up here for scrutiny?

Thanks

CD

Hi all

No update on this particular case but in one of the subsequent POPLA appeals regarding an invoice at the same premises for a later date which is currently ongoing they've provided 2 copies of a landowner contract, one dated 2015 and the other dated 2021 which do actually appear to give them the right to take legal action.  

One of the points I was planning to make in my witness statement is lack of locus standi so I'm guessing this rules that one out.

I've attached them here for perusal.

Thanks

CD

Century wharfParking enforcement agreement V2.pdf century wharf agreement signed.pdf

Perfect, Cheers DX.

That's gone in the post today.  Am I right in thinking the next step is the court directing both parties to compile their witness statements?

Thanks

CD

Cheers DX

So sign the copy for the court, but not the one for the claimant, and is it going to the claimant directly or their solicitors?

Thanks

CD

So I've received the N180.  Am I right in thinking that;

• I don't agree to mediation (since I don't owe them squat).
• I agree that this needs to be allocated to the small claims track.
• I want this transferred to my local county court.
• I'm not looking to produce any "expert" evidence or any witnesses in person (although I do have a written witness statement I want to submit).
• I also don't believe I need to fill in the EX370 form for mediation since I don't agree to this.

Also it says that I must complete the directions questionnaire and file it with the court by 31st March, and serve copies to the other parties.  Does that mean I need to send a copy of this to the claimant and their solicitors, or does the court do that?

Thanks

CD

Cheers DX, well you were right.  Just checked MCOL again, looks like the DQ was sent yesterday. 

Game on.

Thanks DX.  That's pretty much what I figured was going to happen.  £255 is more than the cost of the claim and I've read that they can't claim that back under costs even if they won the case later.

I haven't heard anything from the court.  I'd assume that if I had then that'd mean they'd filled in the necessary stuff and were proceeding, but I haven't so I presumed the PPC had bottled it.

The only thing I have had is a letter from the PPC's solicitors arrive on Saturday, dated 9th March, it just quotes the case reference number and says "We act for the claimant in the above matter.  Please note our intention to proceed with this claim".

However by my reckoning they're timed out.  I've tried ringing the court but struggling to get through.

Cheers

CD

Hi again all.

Just a quick update as I've been really busy the last 6 weeks or so.  I submitted the short defence on 8th February, just before the deadline and I had confirmation from the court that it had been received.

They advised that the other side had 28 days from the date of the letter to respond, which by my reckoning came and went this week.  I haven't heard any more and there's no new updates to the case if I log in to the MCOL page.  I'm guessing if they don't respond by the deadline then the case gets chucked out?

I also haven't had any response or anything from the CPR letter that I sent to the solicitors back on the 12th of January.  Do they normally have to respond to this within a set timeframe?

Thanks

CD

Hi all.

As the deadline is approaching now, I'd like to get my defence in by the end of the week in case anything unexpected crops up. 

If nobody has anything to add I'm going to go with the defence that Dave posted in post #32.

Cheers

CD

Cheers again Dave.  I'll pencil that in for now but I won't submit yet in case anyone else has anything they think should be included.

Part of me suspects that they're using this as a last ditch attempt to put the frighteners on me into paying up, and once they receive a properly worded defence and realise I'm prepared to push back they'll bottle it and back out.  I'm sure there's some kind of law against using the courts system as an intimidation method but these PPCs seem to know how to play the game.

That's Cardiff City for you, snatching a draw from the jaws of victory.  Seems to be the motto for our current season so far.  Glad you had a good time when you were here though.  If you come back any time soon let me know, there'll be a beer on me waiting, Covid permitting.

Cheers Dave, sounds good so far. 

I take it all the main points I want to raise get introduced later on, as some kind of evidence pack?

Wow, this thread has been busy!

So from reading some of the threads in PPC successes, I'm getting a better idea now, just keep it simple.

1.  It is denied that the driver of the vehicle entered into any contract with the claimant on the day in question.

2.  It is further denied that any contract exists between the defendant and the claimant.

3.  The signage at the site is forbidding and inadequate to constitute an offer of a contract.

4.  The claimant has no locus standi to make a claim in their own name.

Something like that?

I've submitted the AOS now and sent the CPR request to the solicitors, what's the deadline for submitting a defence?