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    • Please see my witness statement below.  Please let me know what modifications I need to apply.  I haven't included anything related to "administrative charge while paying by credit or debit card" as I wasn't sure if I should include since sign says "it may apply"   Background  1.1 Defendant received the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) on the 06th of November 2020 following the vehicle being parked at Arla Old Dairy, South Ruislip on the 05th of December 2019.    Contract  2.1 No Locus Standi, I do not believe a contract exists with the landowner that gives MET Parking Services a right to bring claims in their own name. Definition of “Relevant contract” From PoFA (Protection of Freedoms Act) 2 [1] means a contract Including a contract arising only when the vehicle was parked on the relevant land between the driver and a person who is-  (a) the owner or occupier of the land; or  (b) Authorised, under or by virtue of arrangements made by the owner or occupier of the land, to enter into a contract with the driver requiring the payment of parking charges in respect of the parking of the vehicle on the land. According to https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/46/section/44  For a contract to be valid, it requires a director from each company to sign and then two independent witnesses must confirm those signatures.  The fact that no contract has been produced with the witness signatures present means the contract has not been validly executed. Therefore, there can be no contract established between MET Parking Services and the motorist. Even if “Parking in Electric Bay” could form a contract (which it cannot), it is immaterial. There is no valid contract.    Illegal Conduct – No Contract Formed  3.1 At the time of writing, the Claimant has failed to provide the following, in response to the CPR request from myself.  3.2        The legal contract between the Claimant and the landowner (which in this case is Standard Life Investments UK) to provide evidence that there is an agreement in place with landowner with the necessary authority to issue parking charge notices and to pursue payment by means of litigation.  3.3 Proof of planning permission granted for signage etc under the Town and country Planning Act 1990. Lack of planning permission is a criminal offence under this Act and no contract can be formed where criminality is involved.  3.4        I also do not believe the claimant possesses these documents.    Unfair PCN  4.1         As stipulated in Exhibit 1 (Pages 7-13) sent by DCB Legal following the defendant’s CPR request the signage displayed in their evidence clearly shows £60.00 parking charge notice and will be reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days of issue. The defendant puts it to the claimant a request for strict proof when the signage changed to show £100.00 parking charge as the evidence provided by DCB Legal stipulated £60.00 parking charge was indeed the parking charge at the time defendant parked and included in Exhibit 1   4.3        The Claimant did not respect PAPLOC   4.4        It is also unfair to delay litigation for so long and claim nearly four years' interest.    No Keeper Liability  5.1        The defendant was not the driver at the time and date mentioned in the PCN and the claimant has not established keeper liability under schedule 4 of the PoFA 2012. In this matter, the defendant puts it to the claimant to produce strict proof as to who was driving at the time.  5.2 The claimant in their Notice To Keeper also failed to comply with PoFA 2012 Schedule 4 section 9[2][f] while mentioning “the right to recover from the keeper so much of that parking charge as remains unpaid” where they did not include statement “(if all the applicable conditions under this Schedule are met)”.    5.3        The claimant did not mention parking period instead only mentioned time 20:25 which is not sufficient to qualify as a parking period.   Protection of Freedoms Act 2012  The notice must -  (a) specify the vehicle, the relevant land on which it was parked and the period of parking to which the notice relates;      No Breach of Contract  6.1      No breach of contract occurred because the PCN and contract provided as part of the defendant’s CPR request shows different post code, PCN shows HA4 0EY while contract shows HA4 0FY.  6.2        The wording “Electric Bay Abuse” is not listed on their signs nor there is any mention on the contract of any electric charging points at all let alone who can park there or use them.    Double Recovery  7.1        As well as the original £100 parking charge and £50 allowed court/legal costs, the Claimant seeks recovery of an additional £70.  7.2        PoFA Schedule 4, paragraph 4(5) states that “the maximum sum which may be recovered from the keeper is the amount specified in the notice to keeper”. Which in this case is £100.  7.3        The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 is also quite clear that the maximum amount recoverable is £100.  Government ministers and government web pages explaining the Act refer to extra charges as "a rip off".  7.4        Unless the Claimant can clearly demonstrate how these alleged additional costs have been incurred this would appear to be an attempt at double recovery.  7.5        Previous parking charge cases have found that the parking charge itself is at a level to include the costs of recovery i.e. Parking Eye Ltd vs Beavis (2015) UKSC 67 which is the authority for recovery of the parking charge itself and no more, since the sum £85 was held to already incorporate the costs of an automated private parking business model and the Supreme Court Judges held that a parking firm not in possession cannot plead any part of their case in damages. It is indisputable that an alleged “parking charge” penalty is a sum which the Supreme Court found is already inflated to more than comfortably cover all costs. The case provides a finding of fact by way of precedent, that the £85 (or up to a Trade Body ceiling of £100 depending on the parking firm) covers the costs of all the letters. Since 2019, many County Courts have considered claims in excess of £100 to be an abuse of process leading to them being struck out ab initio. An example, in the Caernarfon Court in VCS v Davies, case No. FTQZ4W28 on 4th September 2019, District Judge Jones-Evans stated “Upon it being recorded that District Judge Jones- Evans has over a very significant period of time warned advocates (...) in many cases of this nature before this court that their claim for £60 is unenforceable in law and is an abuse of process and is nothing more than a poor attempt to go behind the decision of the Supreme Court V Beavis which inter alia decided that a figure of £160 as a global sum claimed in this case would be a penalty and not a genuine pre-estimate of loss and therefore unenforceable in law and if the practise continued, he would treat all cases as a claim for £160 and therefore a penalty and unenforceable in law it is hereby declared (...) the claim is struck out and declared to be wholly without merit and an abuse of process.”  7.6        In Claim numbers F0DP806M and F0DP201T, Britannia vs Crosby the courts went further in a landmark judgement in November 2019 which followed several parking charge claims being struck out in the area overseen by His Honour Judge Iain Hamilton-Douglas Hughes GC, the Designated Civil Judge for Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight & Wiltshire. District Judge Taylor echoed earlier General Judgement or Orders of District Judge Grand, stating “It is ordered that the claim is struck out as an abuse of process. The claim contains a substantial charge additional to the parking charge which it is alleged the Defendant contracted to pay. This additional charge is not recoverable under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 nor with reference to the judgement in Parking Eye v Beavis. It is an abuse of process from the Claimant to issue a knowingly inflated claim for a addi8onal sum which it is not entitled to recover. This order has been made by the court of its own initiative without a hearing pursuant to CPR Rule 3.3(4) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998.  7.7        The addition of costs not previously specified on signage are also in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, Schedule 2, specifically paras 6, 10 and 14.  7.8        It is the Defendant’s position that the Claimant in this case has knowingly submitted inflated costs and thus the entire claim should be similarly struck out in accordance with Civil Procedure Rule 3.3(4).  7.9        The Defendant is of the view that the Claimant knew, or should have known, that to claim in excess of £100 for a parking charge on private lands is disallowed under the CPRs, the Beavis case, the PoFA AND THE CRA 2015, and that relief from sanctions should be refused.    In Conclusion  8.1        I believe the Claimant has got use to intimidation tactics and has got greedy. I believe the truth of the manor is the Claimant has used bullying tactics successfully for too long and is therefore assured that innocent drivers will fall into the trap of paying rather than going through the hours it takes to defend themselves. In the process, wasting the time of the Court, the time of the Defendant and everyone else who has advised the Defendant, out of sheer decency to help have a fair hearing and see justice delivered.  8.2        I am still in disbelief that I am being heard in this court, defending myself nearly 4 years after receiving a charge through my door. I have had to spend weeks’ worth of my life studying the letter of the law in order to defend myself from this ridiculous attempt at a swindle.  8.3        I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth. 
    • 'I thought why don’t we give it a try?' said student Swapnil Shrivastav, after inspiration struck during water rations.View the full article
    • honestly he/she just makes these ppc look so stupid everytime   fairplay lfi
    • Women share their stories of how they feel renting has held them back in life.View the full article
    • First, the Entrance sign does not mention anything about there being other terms inside the car park so does not offer a contract. so it only  is an offer to treat.  Second, the sign does say % hours free without mentioning that it is also the maximum time one can stay. it would be logical to presume that there would be a fee for staying longer-but not £100. Looking at the PCN-as usual it does not comply with the protection of freedoms Act 2012 Schedule 4. First it does not specify the parking period since their figure includes driving from the entrance to the parking space, then later driving from the driving space to the exit. Second it does not inform the keeper that the driver is expected to pay the charge Section 9 [2]] (b)inform the keeper that the driver is required to pay parking charges in respect of the specified period of parking and that the parking charges have not been paid in full; What that means is that you as keeper are no longer liable to pay the charge-only the driver is. As anyone with a valid insurance can drive your car they will have difficulty proving who was driving especially as you haven't appealed. In addition the Courts should your case get that far, do not accept that the driver and the keeper ae the same person. So just relax and ignore all their threats even from their unregulated debt collectors and sixth rate solicitors.  Just do not ignore a Letter of Claim if you get one of those-come back to us so that you can send a snotty letter.
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Self Employed/Housing Benefit


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Hi every one ,I am having major problems with Housing Benefit because my partner and I are both self employed, we have our own seperate companies. As such the H/B have requested our books, fine we earn nothing, as our businesses are fairly new. Its all come about after a home visit which is meant to replace the yearly review ( I object most strongly to the home visit) we couldn't answer all the questions the woman had so are accounts were requested.

They have requested more info than the tax office do, it took a couple of weeks to get the books done. They have taken figures completely out of context. To give you an example no allowance has been made for travel expenses ect they have averaged our H/B & C/T on gross invoices. My partner has to travel for two hours to get to work it costs £45 every time he goes!!!! Then when we recieved the the out come of take your kids to school day (and let them do all the admin) they say they can't accept us doing our own books again, they have to be audited. Would I be trying to claim H/B when its the biggest pain in the neck ever if I could afford an account???? Does anyone know if they can actually demand this?

Sorry its turned into a bit of a rant. Is any one else going through this?? We have four kids, two of which are disabled. We are on the phone morning noon and night with people telling them we earn't 20p last Thursday so we don't get in to trouble. They have just hit us with a bill for £1600 over payment because they don't know how and what to add up.

Some one please any one HELP

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HI, Got your PM.

 

This is a case for the CAB as it's way out of my league.

 

There is something that may help though with your overpayment.

IF you couldn't have known that an overpayment of housing benefit had been made AND someone within the benefits department has done something OR not done something that resulted in the overpayment.

 

The official line is:

Under the housing benefit regulations, all overpayments are legally recoverable

 

UNLESS The Overpayment was caused by an official error- this means the overpayment was due to some thing done, or not done, by us (the council) or the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions)

 

AND You, or someone acting on your behalf, (E.g An appointee), or someone to whom the payment was made, (E.g. Your landlord), could not have reasonably been expected to know that an overpayment was being made, at the time that the payment was notified or received.

 

AND You, or someone acting on your behalf, (E.g. An appointee), or someone to whom the payment was made, (E.g. your landlord),

did not contribute to the error's being made.

 

So long as you were renting your home and you gave them all the information and didn't hide anything they can prove, You may have a case.

Shouldn't matter whether you were self employed or not. They should have procedures in place to deal with that.

 

hope that helps

 

fox

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No problem,

I come on here regularly so I'll kepp an eye out and I may be able to assist in the future.

The thing to remember is that councils have to follow the rules too so they may seem big but they can be brought to book is they have screwed up.

 

fox

If you are asked to deal with any matter via private message, PLEASE report it.

Everything I say is opinion only. If you are unsure on any comment made, you should see a qualified solicitor

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Yeah, its how to get them to back down and realise they are wrong. I have been called in now for an 'official interview' because they can't work out my benefit they have accused me of trying to fiddle the social. It's all wrong, but it will be money well spent getting them audited. When you talk to them on the phone they act like they are doing you a massive favour! One womans siad 'well its going to take me all day to go though your accounts' 1, sorry your going to have to do your job. 2, you asked for the truck load of info!! lol

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Hi LNOV,

 

We're in a similar position to yourself, in that hubby is self employed and we've unfortunately found ourselves in the position of having to jump through the hoops to claim HB and CTB from the local council.

 

Whilst searching for info on how they work out benefit when you are self employed, I came across the following web pages. Hopefully they will be of some use to you when you have to go for the interview.

 

DWP - Advisers - Technical guidance - RR2 - Working it out (continued)(e) The info for self employed earnings is about 1/5 down the page.

 

http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=S.I.+(All+UK)&PageNumber=19&BrowseLetter=H&NavFrom=1&parentActiveTextDocId=2478068&ActiveTextDocId=2478431&filesize=17746 It's a bit tough-going (well, it was for me :rolleyes::D) but the council have to abide by this, by law.

 

BTW, when you say your partner has to travel 2hrs to get to work - is that place permanent? May have a bearing on whether they take it into account or not.

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Hi Europa, Thanks for getting in touch and for the info. No, it wasn't permantent. The place he travele to was my partner customer rather than him being contracted by them, if you see what i mean. I've just been phone around local auditors and some offer to give you your first chat with them for free if that is any use to you. Maybe if they can't do anything for you they might be able to tell you where you can get help from. All the best keep in touch

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Well if its free i say do it! I can not belive they are t6hreatenin me in this way. We have two disabled kids, no one will employ us 'coz both my partner and I have had to leave full time employment to look after them, one child is his and one is mine. So we went s/e so we could work from home around the kids, four altogether and another two every other week. I feel like we are been persecuted because we don't fit in one of their little boxes instead they accuse us of robbing the goverment. Any way thanks again

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Its all come about after a home visit which is meant to replace the yearly review ( I object most strongly to the home visit) we couldn't answer all the questions the woman had so are accounts were requested.

They have requested more info than the tax office do...

 

In my opinion, they are going way to far! That they asked for your accounts, fine, ... and if they insist in having them audited at THEIR expenses, ... why not (as long as whoever audit them is someone independent!!!), ... but it is the home visit that I don't get, ... and I strongly would object to it too! Unless they have evidence of fraudulent activities, I would have thought that it amounts to invasion of privacy, which is a breach of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.

 

I would be enclined to make a formal complaint about the way your claim is being assessed, ... even getting your MP on board!

 

Have you received a detailed breakdown on how they reach their figures, etc... You are entitled to that information! Also, you have the right to appeal against any decision made, ... which is where having THEIR breakdown comes handy, as you have solid facts you can dispute.

 

Hope this helps!

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They have taken figures completely out of context. To give you an example no allowance has been made for travel expenses ect they have averaged our H/B & C/T on gross invoices. My partner has to travel for two hours to get to work it costs £45 every time he goes!!!!

 

Going through a similar 'ordeal' myself at the moment!

 

With regard to the vehicle expenses that are not taken into account, one wonders WHY there is a section for vehicle expenses in the expenditure section of any form a self-employed individual has to fill in, if such expenses are NOT to be taken into account! :confused:

 

It was very patiently explained to me, that vehicle expenses are not taken into account because it is used to go to and fro where my business is, and other errands connected with it! :confused::( YeeesSSS! That business would not be in existence if I was not able to do so, ... and I am the one paying for the fuel, etc.... It is NOT a case of my employer (which I haven't got by virtue of being self-employed!) paying for that kind of expenses, .... yet the latter is precisely what seems to be the line of thinking they are going along: an employer (me) pays for the car expenses of its employee (me again), ... i.e. those expenses are NOT taken into account for the employee (me)! What about the employer (me) who pays for these expenses? Of course I forgot to ADD the paid fuel expenses by my employer (me), to my income as an employee (me again!)! ;)

 

Seriously now, ... there need to be a shift of perspective when self-employment income is calculated, ... but as it is an employed individual who makes the calculations, that shift of perspective is very hard to obtain, as they are stuck in their very own personal little boxes, ....

 

Funny thing is, every time I ask them to look at the figures again, they every time come up with a different income!!!??? ... So, I keep asking, until they calculate an income we all agree on, ... which will probably be when they finally will concede that the breakdown I gave them from the very start (using the little boxes of THEIR form) IS a true reflection of my financial situation!:)

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Morning,

I don't half have some weird thought first thing in the morning. At 6:30 this morning I woke up and thought," Has Little nest of vipers complained yet"

 

The point is, If you feel they have done something wrong, you need to complain. There is method in my madness.

In lots of council disputes, you can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman BUT you must have made an attempt to resolve your complaint first.

There is normally 2 stages of complain to go through (coincidentally called stage 1 and stage 2 :D)

I find that by going the stage 1 route first doesn't produce much but instead of going down the stage 2 route, bypass it and go direct to either the head honcho of the department or even better, The Chief Executive of the entire council.

The chief exec doesn't like to be bothered with "petty little problems", gets annoyed and passes the complaint down to the head of the relevant department with the order, "GET IT SORTED"

I used that when I got an overpayment sorted out.

 

fox

If you are asked to deal with any matter via private message, PLEASE report it.

Everything I say is opinion only. If you are unsure on any comment made, you should see a qualified solicitor

Please help CAG. Order this ebook. Now available on Amazon. Please click HERE

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Hi dano, have a look at the links europs has posted, I've had a look and inteand to wave it all under their noses on thursday when I have my 'interveiw' its very clear that the car expences must be taken in to concideration and more. It think it will be really useful to you.

 

Hi Fox, my partner has an appointment on tuesday with them to try and get this sorted so I think then will be the time to make a complaint, we are already appealing. They will be sick of the sight on sound of me when I'm done. I have read that the council has auditors, just not for this type of thing. We are in the processes of finding an independant auditor for when we resubmit our books.

 

More than anything I find it hard to belive that they have over paid us when it is so difficult to find out what your entitled to in the first place let alone claim it! Through doing a bit of ringing around and making the right noises I've found out that we are entitled to an increase in a couple of things so when we do resubmit our book our figures will be different again and we are getting more money (bonus!) that should confuse 'um but it wouldn't be a problem if that department were doing thier job properly!!!

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