OPC have started proceedings. ****WON****

[mookiandco]

Hi

 

I received a ticket back in Sept 2008 after parking in the car park at my work place. I parked in the bays that are rented to my employers of which there are three. Upon arrival, I went up to the office to get the parking permit that are allocated to my employer for these spaces and by the time I got back (some 20 mins later or so) there was a ticket on the car.

 

I sent the appeal thing back stating the above and provided a copy of my permit. After another couple of letters (including those of Wyld, smythe and partners) I sent the desist letter from here. I then recieved unsealed court papers for Harrow magistrates court which I think I ignored and then received the sealed papers from money claim online.

 

The exact wording of the court claim is:

 

'We are a private parking company who holds a contract with the owners of the land to issue parking tickets to drivers not abiding by the terms and conditions on site. On 18/09/08 My name parkes vehicle reg: MWxxxxxx in Gresham House, Clarendon Rd, Watford without displaying a valid permit. The case was handed to a debt collections agency who also failed to obtain payment. The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the county court act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year from 18/09/08 to 09/09/09 of £7.80 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of 0.02.'

 

The amount claimed is 207.80 + 25.00 (court fee) = 232.80

 

Claimant is OBSERVICES PARKING CONSULTANCY

 

It was issued on 21/09/09 and received by me on 25/09/09. I sent the acknowledgement of service to court as I have recently given birth and couldnt deal with it straight away. I cant even really deal with it now as its just stress I simply dont need when I should be enjoying my time with the little one.

 

Any help as to how I should draft my defence would be greatly appreciated. I've got to take the little one to the GP in the morning but will be back to answer any questions and to consider any advice later in the day.

 

Thanks in advance

[mookiandco]

Hiya thanks for replies so far. I know this is somewhat of a first round here, hence my surprise!

 

With regard to the acknowledgement of service, I sent this back to Northampton County Court. The Court address is: MCOL, money claim online, Northampton county court etc etc.

 

ETA: just checked online. They received the acknowledgement on 30/09/09.

[mookiandco]

Hi

 

Thanks for all your replies. Al27, i'm just going to send you a PM. I'm in the middle of uploading the claim form and the 'pretend' harrow mags claim form I received before it.

 

I returned the AOS so I have until the end of the week really to file the defence but it looks like I can do it online.

 

My employers do pay for the parking spaces. They are a bit unapproachable so dont really want to involve them but I have found a recent e-mail my boss cc'd me on to the building manager about buying another space and that we pay for three already, so that might do.

 

thanks for the support so far.

[mookiandco]

 

 

 

 

 

[mookiandco]

Once i've got this defence drafted, I may well look into taking the issue of false claim papers further. Although I can only imagine its a drop in the ocean. My heads all over the place trying to get this defence done so thanks for the ongoing comments and support.

[mookiandco]

Just waiting for the defence from Al! If you're around later, your help would be greatly appreciated! In the meantime, I have sent my poor suffering husband to the car park to take photos of the signage. There is also a sign requesting that any users of the car park collect a parking permit from the building manager. The photographs of my car provided by OPC were taken with 1 minute between them. I am also suggesting as part of my defence that it would be unreasonable for them to expect that a parking permit could be obtained withing 60 seconds. There is no mechanism or means of obtaining a permit within the car park itself and as such there is no other option than to leave the car without a permit during that period.

[mookiandco]

Hi again,

 

I wondered if anyone else had the defence drafted for OPC cases or knew how I could get it as I have to get this defence submitted tomorrow and I havent heard back from Al. Sorry to be a pain, just getting really worried now.

 

Thanks

[mookiandco]

Thanks everyone for the guidance. Defence has been done, all 6 pages of it. Lets hope it does the trick. Any idea how long it will take till I hear something once the defence has been submitted and whats likely to happen next.

[mookiandco]

Any update to this ?

 

 

Hi

 

Yes, i've received my allocation questionnaire today and the matter has been transferred to my local county court.

Just getting all my documents together like correspondence, photos of signs, the fake court papers etc. I'm going to ask to see their contract with the landowner - is that okay. Do I need anything else from them?

 

Got to file it by 9th November. Thanks again everyone for the help so far.

 

Edited October 26, 2009 by mookiandco

[mookiandco]

Removed it, thanks!!

[mookiandco]

Even if I I lose the case, I doubt the Judge will award them the £200 + they are asking for. So say I have to pay them £100, thats the original charge anyway and i'll just take it on the chin. If I dont fight it, i'll never know. It makes me cross that they can get away with it but if everyone keeps paying their trumped up charges and gives in to their intimidation tactics they'll just keep on doing it and no doubt hike up their charges along the way.

[mookiandco]

Hi all

 

I called the Court about 2 weeks ago to check up on whether the case had been listed and they are yet to list it for a hearing yet. Will let you know as soon as I have a date to work towards.

 

[mookiandco]

Hi all

 

Sorry I have been off the radar for a bit, just trying to put this debacle to the back of my mind.

 

By way of update, both me and OPC filed our witness evidence/other evidence. Part of their evidence was a statement from the parking ticket man who says he remembers arriving at x time, going to see the building manager (who apparently said he didnt know my car) and then doing his rounds and putting the ticket on. The time of the photos and the ticket and the time he said he arrived are all the same, so unless he is superman, he couldnt have done all those things. Which is precisely one of my points - I went to get my permit and when I returned within a reasonable very short time, I had a ticket. They simply didnt bother to wait. Also, I am very surprised that the parking ticket man remembers precisely what he did when the alleged offence was 18 months ago!

 

Also, I have known the building manager for a few years and he knows my very distinctive car well so if he had bothered to ask then the building manager would have told him I had the right to park there.

 

Quite honestly I can see why people pay up because this whole thing is like a dark shadow over me until its over. But I know they are being completely unreasonable (if not unlawful) so I am prepared to follow it through.

 

I can see others are having problems with OPC (User6809 feel free to keep the thread warm for me until I return!!) so hopefully I can report a positive outcome which will encourage others to fight.

 

The case is listed for 5th March 2010 and I shall report back to you all when i'm done.

 

Thanks for all your continued support and your help.

[mookiandco]

Hi all

 

So tomorrow is D-day.

 

Read through all the stuff again; Made some notes; Gone through their evidence and picked a few holes in it; Put everything in some sort of order; Put together an estimate of my costs!; Ate a bar of chocolate; had a cup of tea. Anything else i've forgotten??

 

Taking all originals to court and copies of all my stuff too.

 

Hearing is at 10am, will be there at 9:45am. Knowing that particular court, I wont be heard until atleast 10:30am/11am. Listed for 1.5 hours. Will report back when I can.

 

Fingers and toes crossed everyone!

 

Ps Al27 thanks for your PM a while back, I just didnt get the chance to respond or scan the stuff over to you but thanks very much for your offer of help.

[mookiandco]

Hi all,

 

I'm back and........ I win, I win, I win. Egg all over their faces!!!

 

I questioned them about the time period the ticket was issued in and the fact that the parking attendant's statement said he arrived at 15:40pm, he then went to speak to the building manager to check if he knew who's car it was and then he issued the ticket afterwards. But the ticket time is 15:40pm and so are the photos of the ticket on the car (meaning he's a liar liar pants on fire)! I had plenty more to say but it wasnt necessary.

 

The Judge questioned them about the Harrow magistrates court fake claim paper and asked me whether it was a contempt of court. I read him the relevant part of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 and the Judge lapped it up. He then slapped them on the wrist for it whereupon they blamed those Windsor Smythe people and said they no longer use them (liars again)!

 

After a little clarification of some of the details (where I was very organised and knew where everything was in the bundle and they didnt!), the Judge gave judgement in my favour and dismissed their claim.

 

He essentially said that he accepted my evidence and that it couldnt be right that they could have issued the ticket when I went to get my permit. He said he could talk about whether they have the right to issue and enforce the tickets as raised in my evidence but didnt see the need as he had already made his decision. Finally, he said that he would have found against them anyway due to their behaviour in making an unwarranted demand for monies in a wholly improper way (ie the fake claim form) and had I not been a Solicitor (which I am by the way just not in this area of law), it would have been likely to cause alarm and distress by misleading me into believing it was a Criminal claim.

 

I asked for costs of today which came to £61.50 as wages are capped at £50.00 in small claims.

 

So there ends my tale. Happy now to share my defence papers etc with anyone that would like them by PM.

 

Thanks for the support everyone and best of luck in particular to User6809.

 

xxxx