Tickets issued for Parking in a Loading Bay from Lambeth Council - Bailiff Action

[Witchywoman]

I have a bit of an update on my two cases. After complaining at least 5 times in writing to Lambeth Parking and not getting very far, as they kept saying they did everything correctly, I complained again through the Head of Lambeth Parking, and their Chief Executive officer and it has now been taken to Stage 1 complaint - whatever that is!

 

Apparently they contacted the bailiff and he claims that I miraculously came out of my house at the time he was getting ready to tow my car away. No admission to ringing my doorbell, putting anything through my letterbox or in fact doing anything wrong, and no admission to making two visits, one in June and one in July. It shouldn't be too difficult to blow holes in his story. Guess they will do anything to hang on to their ill gotten gains.

 

I now have to reply to the recent reply.

 

My complaint has now been 'escalated' to the second level and I received a reply from the head of Lambeth Parking Services. He claims that the bailiff insists I came out of my house and he never rang the doorbell. He claims he hung around for several hours until I did so. I now have the opportunity to escalate it to Stage 3, however, I am not sure now how fair this process can possibly be. Of course the council will want to believe the bailiff as it means they can all keep my money.

 

I do not use my car every day. I often only use it once a week, if that. It is laughable to suggest that I just happened to come out of my house at the time he was there. I cannot see my car from my front window. There is a big hedge in the way. I sleep in the back of the house. The only reason I knew what was going on is because the bailiff rang the doorbell, both times.

 

At first the bailiff claimed he was about to tow my car away the first time apparently, and I miraculously appeared. I refuted his claim, obviously, and suggested that not only was his claim fanciful it would be downright counterproductive. Why would he want a car towed away as soon it was located. I said surely the obvious thing to do would be slap a sticker and clamp on it and leave it for me to discover it and contact them, otherwise if the car was immediately towed away then I wouldn't know what happened to it.

 

 

 

 

Does anyone know another route to take to complain about this? Any ideas happily received.

 

I did file an Out of Time with the assistance of Tomtubby but haven't heard anything back yet. It's been over a month now.

Edited October 13, 2011 by Witchywoman
addition

[tomtubby]

I would suggest that you ask the council to request that their AGENT forward a copy of the SCREEN SHOT of your account.

 

The local authority have 19 business days to accept or reject your Out of Time Application. You should normally get a response after approx 6-7 weeks.

[Witchywoman]

I have now filed an out of time application by post this time. The first time Tom Tubby said she did it for me, but having called the TEC they told me they hadn't received it. Tom Tubby, did you get my emails? So I filed my own and the local authority responded promptly and rejected my claim. Can anyone tell me if i shoudl pay for a review by a District judge for the fee of £45 or with a hearing for the fee of £80. Has anyone ever done this and succeeded. The reason I filed an out of time was because I found out, after the same bailiff had been twice and rung my doorbell, despite denying that he had done so, was to have the PCNs reissued so I could challenge them. I base this on the fact that if a bailiff locates you at a different address they are obliged to inform the local authority so the PCN can be reissued. Tomtubby told me this. I parked in a loading bay for less than the allowable time. i notice that Lambeth Council now have on their website that one may receive a parking ticket if parked in a loading bay after 5 minutes.

 

The letter I received also say I have 14 days within date of service of the Court Officer's Order. It is now the 28th February and the order was drawn on the 23rd. Can anyone advise me please?

 

Thanks.

[Witchywoman]

Further to the above, it is outrageous that a bailiff is allowed to lie about ringing someone's doorbell. He was obviously hoping I wouldn't discover that he wasn't allowed to do what he did, so his response was to lie, twice.

[Witchywoman]

Further to my first posting today, I am writing to ask what certain things stated in the order I was given from Northampton County Court mean.

 

For instance

 

1. Under rule 23.8 of the Civil Procedure Rules the Court will deal with the application for leave to file a Statutory Declaration/Witness Statement out of time without a hearing because the court does not consider a hearing at Northampton would be appropriate.

 

2. The applicaiton for leave to file a Statutory Declaration/Wintess Statement to be Refused.

 

Does this mean that Northampton decided this after they received a response from Lambeth Council and is this a common decision?

 

 

Thanks.

[Jamberson]

It's all pretty routine unfortunately. It means the council don;t accept your story as to why this wasn't dealt with before, and Northampton, as ever, agree.

 

Your only course is the N244 process and if you go for it, I would say definitely go and attand a hearing.

[Witchywoman]

It's all pretty routine unfortunately. It means the council don;t accept your story as to why this wasn't dealt with before, and Northampton, as ever, agree.

 

Your only course is the N244 process and if you go for it, I would say definitely go and attand a hearing.

 

Thanks for the reply Jamberson. I didn't know it was routine, not having gone through this before. I was thinking that hearing in front of a judge would be the best way to go. If I show proof of utility bills where I am living etc. as well as bring along a witness I am hoping that might help. In your experience and others do the judges tend to believe the victims of non received PCNs or the councils?

[Jamberson]

Judges tend to be pretty sympathetic to the motorist, not least because they often resent having their time taken up with the (for them) trivial matter of whether you should be allowed to submit forms out of time. They tend to view councils as officious, which is good for you. Also, some councils will not show, so you win by default.

 

There is a process by which you can claim expenses if you win, and get the application cost back - not sure how that works, but worth looking into as I think you have to do it when you apply. Maybe someone can advise on that.

 

In terms of utility bills etc, they won't be so interested in where you live now, but where you were when the paperwork was sent to you - so try and take something which demonstrates that quite clearly.

[Witchywoman]

Thanks Jamberson. I do have proof that I was living where I am now which is where I was when paperwork was issued. Wonder if it is worth sending to council beforehand to see if they back down. Apparently if one loses, ie me, then I would have to pay costs for the council. I shudder to think what that might be.

Edited February 28, 2012 by Witchywoman
addition

[Jamberson]

Well, I agree it's worth a try. You need to make sure you get your N244 in before the case comes off hold, but I would say there's certainly no harm in writing to the council (someone specific if possible, like the person who sent you the last letter) and say you are filing an N244, and this is what you will be presenting in the case, and do they want to reconsider their decision not to withdraw the warrant against you. They might see sense! In any case, it will look good for you and bad for them if they go through with it and sit before a busy judge with what appears to be an unreasonable case. (Definitely take a copy of the letter with you if it gets that far!)

 

Irrespective of what they say, it's important you do the N244 application in the normal time frame.

[Witchywoman]

Just posting to say that I have filed two N244s at Northampton and they have now written to me to say it will be transferred to my local country court. I had to file two N244s as I had two separate PCNs for parking in the same loading bay but on two different dates, two months apart. Will now wait until I get a court date. Hopefully both of them can be dealt with at the same hearing. I also intend to contact Lambeth beforehand. Just wanted to get confirmation that I would be given a court date.