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southwestram

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  1. The first charge (and so far, the only one they've followed up on) was for stopping for twenty seconds, not for picking up
  2. In their rejection of my appeal, VCS state that they show a CLEARWAY sign on the main entrance sign upon which they base their alleged contract with me. On my video, it shows a blue circle with a red edge and a red diagonal cross, all on a white background. This is also the sign that is used on all of their repeater signs along the feeder road. This is NOT a Clearway sign. A Clearway sign (or an Urban Clearway) has only one red line crossing the blue circle. And it should be displayed on a yellow background. It's a Red Route sign. Taken from; https://autodaynews.com/car-reviews/what-is-a-clearway-urban-clearways-clearways-and-red-routes-explained-2/#:~:text=If the urban clearway is a clearway with,footpath as well as to the carriageway itself. URBAN CLEARWAY During the hours of enforcement for an urban clearway, you cannot stop or park your vehicle except briefly to pick-up or drop-off passengers. RED ROUTE If the urban clearway is a clearway with a bit more room for manoeuvre, the red route is a clearway with a bit less. On red routes, which are typically found in cities and often along major bus routes, you cannot stop or park your car at any time and, unlike a standard clearway, the rules extend to the verge or footpath as well as to the carriageway itself. The only vehicles that can stop on a red route are licenced taxis or disabled blue badge holders, but they can only do so for the purpose of picking up or dropping off – there’s no parking allowed. Red routes, or red route clearways to give them their proper name, are marked by rectangular ‘red route clearway’ signs at the beginning and end but also, crucially, by double red lines along the sides of the road. So they rely upon one or the other, and as a taxi driver, I am completely free to pick up or drop off passengers along the entirety of the route.
  3. That one, I am 100% sure I would win. The sign used at the entrance is that of a Red Route clearway, which permits a licensed taxi to stop to pick up or drop off passengers.
  4. 15th April 2023 Dear Sirs Further to your letter of 29th March 2023 regarding the miscarriage of justice which resulted in you being awarded a CCJ against me, I can confirm that the amount of £216 was deposited in account 30-97-51 03881002 on Saturday 8th April 2023 It appears on my bank statement under [edited - HB], the epithet I have used to identify you within my banking app. If ever I were to forget your name and very existence, the term [edited - HB] would be certain to pop into my head whenever I think of your company. I await your confirmation of receipt of the same. Warm Regards
  5. Looks complex, potentially expensive, and quite possibly prejudiced before I begin. This from advice Now dot Org Appealing a county court decision is a two-stage process. First you have to get permission to appeal. Second, if you are successful in getting permission, you have to manage the appeal process. There are special rules about appeals. You can find them in the box below. Appealing against the Judge’s decision in a case is a big step If you have lost your case, you will only be able to appeal if there are legal grounds – that is, if the judge made a serious mistake, or there was something seriously wrong with how the procedure was followed. You can’t appeal just because you thought the result was not fair. You will usually need the judge’s permission to appeal. You only have a very limited time to decide whether to appeal, usually 21 days. If you lose your appeal, you will almost certainly be ordered to pay the other side’s legal costs. Appealing is complicated. It is sensible to get legal advice quickly before you start. Other things to consider when deciding whether to appeal Just because you believe that the Judge got it wrong is not sufficient reason to appeal. You may disagree with the Judge’s decision, but on its own that is not enough to be a ground of appeal. If all you are saying is ‘I disagree with the decision’ then your appeal will not succeed. If the Judge who made the decision made minor errors, this is unlikely to be enough for you to succeed in an appeal. The fact you think the Judge believed the ‘wrong’ person and should have preferred your version of events is not a ground of appeal. Evidence you forgot to produce at the trial or which you did not think would be necessary is not ‘fresh’ or ‘new’ evidence. It is too late to use it now. ‘New’ evidence could be evidence of fraud committed since the trial, for example, where one party’s representative overhears the other party boasting about how they had lied to the court and won. Perjury (swearing in a court that something is true when it is not) is a criminal offence. I think it's time to simply pay up, shrug and put it down to experience. Hopefully, Karma will play a big part in the lives of all those that came to the decision that 200+ quid is a fair amount to penalise someone who has stopped to retrieve a phone, put it into its cradle, press the 'answer' button and drive off - a total of 20 seconds during which nobody was obstructed, and no advantage sought or gained. thank you to all of you that have helped in the preparation for the hearing, and who gave their advice freely and candidly. Once I've paid my thirty pieces of silver unto Ceasar, I'll be back to make some form of donation to the cause. Sorry that it didn't work out on this occasion. It will, however, perhaps serve as a warning to others as to what is admissible in a courtroom. I was shocked to find that my video for instance, ostensibly dash-cam footage would not be permitted to be shown, and that prohibition kind of blew my case straight out of the water. I think the judge read the first few paragraphs of my WS, decided it had been a copy+paste from 'The Internet', and so disregarded it. He clearly had not read through the entire WS, and I wish I'd been pedantic enough to take him through it completely. The video ban threw me off-balance, plus the way the judge greeted the claimant's solicitor like old friends well met. In any event, water passes under bridges.
  6. Furious over the lack of attention to the WS I submitted. It appears to have been scanned over quickly, and ignored in the greater part. No, I didn't pay, and I'd consider an appeal. My faith in the British justice system has taken a seismic shock through this though. I felt like I should ask the judge to step back and take a look at what he was actually doing. In effect, giving VCS carte blanche to harass people for over a year, employing all the scurrilous tactics that provoked the new Code of Practice in the first place, and fining someone for stopping to retrieve their phone (it was on the floor) and replace it in its cradle, and halfway through that process, spotting a van behind, pulling forwards to let it pass (there was loads of room anyway) and then retrieving the phone before pulling away. You can probably assume that i stopped for 7 seconds, pulled forward for a couple of seconds and then stopped for 10 seconds while I got the phone. And for this I have to pay £220? Scandalous.
  7. I'm pretty cheesed off. The judge said that the contract was enforceable. That the signage is adequate, based on the map provided by VCS. (I of course could not counter that argument by showing my video.) He agreed that VCS were allowed to operate based on the 6 of 8 pages of the contract that they provided. He said that a contract does not need to be witnessed. He basically threw out all of the legal points raised in my defence, then refused to look at the video. Which kind of left me grasping at straws. I pointed out that their signs do not tally to their map, and aren't properly fixed in position so as to be seen by a driver. I tried to make an argument that NO STOPPING couldn't apply to the entire airport, and that therefore it could only be assumed that it applied where signs were visible, but he interrupted me half way through to tell me that it could apply to the entire airport except in designated parking areas. My point was going to be that there are no visible signs in the area that I had stopped, and so assumed it to not be covered under the prohibition. The twenty seconds between first and third photo cover two separate stops. I first stopped, then pulled forwards to let the van pass (not knowing it was the VCS camera van), then stopped again to put the phone into its cradle and answer the call. Three photos in twenty seconds! And so, our judge decided that having pursued me for a year over a twenty second stop, upholding the claim at a cost to me of eleven pounds a second was an appropriate charge.
  8. Lost. £222 to pay for having stopped, pulled forwards, and stopped again, got a total of 20 seconds. Is this a record? They would not allow the video to be shown.
  9. I think I may have found an ace to keep up my sleeve. In their rejection of my appeal, VCS state that they show a CLEARWAY sign on the main entrance sign upon which they base their alleged contract with me. On my video, it shows a blue circle with a red edge and a red diagonal cross, all on a white background. This is also the sign that is used on all of their repeater signs along the feeder road. This is NOT a Clearway sign. A Clearway sign (or an Urban Clearway) has only one red line crossing the blue circle. And it should be displayed on a yellow background. It's a Red Route sign. Taken from; https://autodaynews.com/car-reviews/what-is-a-clearway-urban-clearways-clearways-and-red-routes-explained-2/#:~:text=If the urban clearway is a clearway with,footpath as well as to the carriageway itself. URBAN CLEARWAY During the hours of enforcement for an urban clearway, you cannot stop or park your vehicle except briefly to pick-up or drop-off passengers. RED ROUTE If the urban clearway is a clearway with a bit more room for manoeuvre, the red route is a clearway with a bit less. On red routes, which are typically found in cities and often along major bus routes, you cannot stop or park your car at any time and, unlike a standard clearway, the rules extend to the verge or footpath as well as to the carriageway itself. The only vehicles that can stop on a red route are licenced taxis or disabled blue badge holders, but they can only do so for the purpose of picking up or dropping off – there’s no parking allowed. Red routes, or red route clearways to give them their proper name, are marked by rectangular ‘red route clearway’ signs at the beginning and end but also, crucially, by double red lines along the sides of the road. So they rely upon one or the other, and as a taxi driver, I am completely free to pick up or drop off passengers along the entirety of the route. We go to court tomorrow at 10am. I'm hoping for a 7-nil win, if they actually take the plunge. I'm not sure that they will.
  10. Yeah. Much like jury service, it's based on 1985 earnings. As I said, I'd be happy just to win the case and send an up-yours letter to VCS, politely worded of course, but with some accompanying diagrams lifted from my Ladybird Book of The Alimentary Canal, explaining how they can override their sphincter muscle when filing their next PCN.
  11. Just wondering how many hours I've spent - a couple of dozen hours at least, asking advice from you chaps, another dozen writing my witness statement, half a dozen more complying with court requirements, four hours traveling to and from the airport to gather video and then another two editing said footage. Plus the cost of attending court which would involve a day off work. It would come to a pretty penny if it were totaled up. Such a shame the judge would likely throw out a four-figure claim. I'll be happy to win the case and let this be, but it would be interesting to have an idea of the success rate of applications for expenses in such situations.
  12. Another badly made point by myself. I'm trying to find the byelaw upon which I'm reliant. I'm not sure what I'm saying in my defence when I say,
  13. We now have less than two weeks to go until the hearing. Two things - the MCOL website has not been updated. Firstly, as you know, I was told that the claimant had paid the fee on time when I called. And I had submitted my WS on the morning of the 17th February - later than the deadline of the 3rd January. None of those points have been updated - not the paying of the fee, nor the lodging of the claimant's or my WS. Is this normal? The second thing is that in my defence, I refer to the Bristol Airport Byelaws. I have searched and searched and can't find any reference to anything upon which I'm basing this point. Could anybody point me in the right direction by posting a link to the relevant Byelaws please? Otherwise, I'm not going to look very credible if the best I can offer is a Gallic shrug when quizzed on them
  14. I enquired today, and the court fee has been paid. I can't see why they would want to do that, but it isn't my 35 quid.
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