Court Papers - north Middlesex uni Hosp trust- pls help :(

[NaciravBanks]

Hello dear Forum!

 

Can somone please take a look at this letter i received today requesting £40. This is the first i have heard of this firm and have a recollection of using a car park (NOT on The Hospital Grounds) for 5 minutes last month and left. No ticket on the car, nothing. Now this.... Do i need to pay or shall i just ignore...

 

Thank you

 

[Bazooka Boo]

Most certainly appeal!

[ericsbrother]

Then deny that the vehicle was there and ask for "strict proof" of the supposed offence. Also demand a plan of the land owned by the trust as you are challenging the assertion that you were parked on their land and the burden of proof lies with them.

[NaciravBanks]

TY. So it would be advisable to send them a letter basically saying...

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ref:.....

 

I was surprised to receive a letter from yourselves today alleging that my Vauxhall...... reg........ was 'observed in breach' of any contract. I therefore require strict proof of said allegation. Also I require a plan of the land owned by the trust as I am sure i did not park on their land.

 

Regards

 

...... ..............

 

 

I know i know, my letter writing skills are slacking... So i would be very grateful if someone can brushup a lil

 

Thanks

[esmerobbo]

That will do except stick "allegedly" in before "observed in breach" they either have proof or they don't.

 

Watch this company though they will issue a claim if you drop the ball. They get paid anyway so its win win for them. They got £120,000 from Aintree hospital trust and recovered £5000 nice init!

[Scouse Magic]

Sorry I have been busy, this thread started a while ago.....

 

I would have simply wrote to them and stated that the charge is rejected, and as this matter is private land, what "Offence" has occurred, and what is their statute authority to say an "Offence" has occurred

 

This can get them into to very hot water by using terminology that implies they act under statute and is a criminal offence to do so which may involve a prison sentence

[NaciravBanks]

I received some court papers today and it appears i am a defendant for the first (hopefully last) time in my life!

 

I went to the hospital late last year and recall parking in a 'office carpark' a few roads away.

 

http://tinypic.com/r/2d1ut55/8

 

 

Contrary to there claims, I do not recall seeing any signs 'prominently displayed' ..

. and now they want £130 i do not have..

 

. I always believed that a privately run car-park can not issue fines like local authority's do yet this lot are taking me to court over one.

 

If anyone can give me any pointer i would really appreciate it,

 

thank you

Edited May 10, 2014 by NaciravBanks
image size

[dx100uk]

please follow these instructions:

 

**you can post up images/letters by this method immediately..you don't need 10 posts**

.

set your default scan page size to A4 less than 300DPI [150 will do]

scan the required letters/agreements/sheets - as a picture[jpg] file

don't forget you can use a mobile phone or a digital camera too!!

'

BUT......

ENSURE: remove all pers info inc. barcodes etc

but leave all monetary figures and dates.

.

************************* ************************* *******

{DO NOT USE A BIRO OR PEN OR USE SEE THRU TAPE OR LABELS]

************************* ************************* ***********

.

DO IT IN MSPAINT.EXE or any photo editing program

goto one of the many free online pdf converter websites ...

http://freejpgtopdf.com/

http://www.convert-jpg-to-pdf.net/

..

if you have multiple scans/pics

put them in a word doc FIRST and convert that to PDF

or http://www.freepdfconvert.com/

or

use www.pdfmerge.com

 

convert existing PC files to PDF [office has an installable print to PDF option]

..

it would be better to upload a multipage pdf if

you have many images too rather than many single pdfs

.

or if you have PDF as an installed printer drive use that

or use word and save as pdf

try and logically name your file so people know what it is.

though DONT USE BANK NAMES or CAG in the title

i'e Default notice DD-mm-yyyy

.

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments below that box

hit the add files button on the top right

hit select files, navigate to your file on your pc

hit upload files

...

YOU DONT have to put a link to the attachment in the msg box..just upload it ..job done

.

dx

[NaciravBanks]

sorry about that dx, hopefully this worked..

[dx100uk]

urm

 

interesting

 

its the hospital trust themselves not a PPC doing it.

[armadillo71]

You have to acknowledge the claim and state you are defending it, to give you more time. That's as far as I can go with the small claims process.

 

You have ignored any other correspondence from a PPC before this claim form?

What does the signage say exactly?

No permit would suggest trespass rather than breach of contract.

More help will follow in the morning...

[armadillo71]

Why have you not updated your original thread on this?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?412825-Trethowans-Solicitors-want-%A340...

[dx100uk]

threads merged for history

 

dx

[ericsbrother]

So, university trust manage the car park, who owns it?

Send off the acknowledgement of service and tick box to say you are defending in full.

Then send a letter to their solicitors demanding a copy of the contract that the University Trust has with the landowner that allows them to take legal action in their own name. Your entitlement to this is as "discovery" (as it used to be called) and you wish to consider this before you supply a defence. If they wont give you sight of the contract then you can ask the court to strike out their claim ashaving no "locus standi" (right to be at court)

[ericsbrother]

Also, what day did you park there? The timings of the letter from the solicitors is critical as they are pursuing you as the owner, not the driver so they have to obey the regs of the PoFA

[NaciravBanks]

Thanks for the replies, I honesty do not know why i did not merge the two threads... It has been a Hectic 6 months to say the least and i genuinely did not link the two. I also do not recall what day of the week it was when i parked there for an appointment, but looking at their paperwork, they say i 'breached contract' on the 13th November 2013 which was a Wednesday (looking at my diary, i had an appointment that day so would say that is the correct date)...

 

Thank you guys for your help but i really am lost as to what to do next, aswell as the documents in the PDF above, the envelope also contained a bunch of forms:

 

Acknowledgment of service

Admission (specified amount)

Defence and Counterclaim

 

Please bear with me, i understand i have to fill in the 'Acknowledgment of service' by entering my Full name, address, ticking the box that says 'I intend to defend all of this claim', DOB and send it to:

 

County Court Money Claims Centre

PO BOX 527

SALFORD

M5 0BY

DX: 702634 SALFORD 5 (Shall i add this line to any letters i send?)

 

Or to

 

[email protected]

 

Finally, Do i need to fill in the 'Defence and Counterclaim' document at the same time as the Acknowledgment of service?

 

Thank you

[havinastella]

There is a good post on MSE today from Bargepole, no doubt in response to the flurry of papers issued.

 

Very well worth posting on here, so I quote it with thanks to him.

 

county court Claims – The Procedure (England & Wales Only: different procedures apply in Scotland or NI)

 

More people seem to be receiving County Court Claims from PPCs since October 2012. This guide is designed to show what to expect, and how to deal with them.

 

1) The first step is the Claim Form (Particulars of Claim) N1, which will usually come from the Northampton bulk clearing centre, if done using Moneyclaim Online, or from Salford if done manually. It should contain a Court stamp, and a claim number in the format 9NN99999. If you are in any doubt as to whether it is genuine, telephone the Court and quote the claim number. MCOL claims will also have a password to allow you to respond online.

 

2) You have 14 days to return an Acknowledgement of Service (AOS). If you fail to respond, an automatic Default Judgment will be entered against you, and you will then have to pay the amount claimed within 21 days, or have a County Court Judgment (CCJ) recorded against you, and on your credit file.

 

3) You should select the option which says “I intend to defend the claim in full”. This extends the deadline to 28 days, and gives you the time to post details of your case in its own thread on the Pepipoo private parking forum, and receive advice, and a full defence statement, from one of the experienced members of the forum. Make sure that anything you post does not allow the PPC to identify who you are – they trawl these forums looking for suitable “victims”. You may well receive a Private Message (PM) about your case, offering to help. Only respond to PMs from established members with over 1,000 posts to their name.

 

4) One of the members will then prepare a defence for you. We have a number of “standard” paragraphs which apply to almost all PPC defences, but we also need to personalise the statement with particulars about how the ticket was issued, what the PPC is claiming in their POC , whether the ticket was pre or post 1st October 2012, what was on the signage, etc.

 

5) Your defence statement then needs to be sent off, either to Northampton or Salford. Once they receive it, they will send a copy to the Claimant, and you will then be sent a Directions Questionnaire (DQ), which can also be downloaded online (form N180 - new as from 1st April 2013). This must be completed within 28 days, and a copy sent to both the Court and the Claimant.

 

The questions on it should be answered as follows:

 

i) Settlement – Do You Wish To Use The Mediation Service? – Generally, the advice is to say No to this. The PPC’s position is that they want the full amount of the claim; your position is that they have no case, and you owe them nothing. It may be, in cases where it was a Pay & Display car park, and you either didn’t pay at all or overstayed the time paid for, that you could opt for Mediation, and offer them the relevant amount of the hourly parking charge . They almost certainly won’t accept it, but it strengthens your position if it goes to Court and you can demonstrate that you offered to make good their actual losses.

 

ii) Location of Hearing – This is where you get the case transferred to your local Court, normally the County Court nearest to your home address.

 

iii) Track – it needs to be on the Small Claims Track. Costs are very limited on this track, normally around £50 or so.

 

iv) Witnesses / Expert Evidence – Both of these are Not Applicable

 

v) Dates – Put down any dates on which you are unavailable to attend Court, eg pre-booked holidays .

 

 

6) Once you have sent off the DQ to either Northampton or Salford, they will then send the case file to your designated local Court. A Judge will look at the papers, and unless he decides that the Claimant’s particulars are so flimsy that the case should be struck out, he will allocate a Hearing date, usually some weeks or months ahead. Both the PPC (The Claimant) and you (The Defendant) will get a letter advising the date. In order for the hearing to actually take place, the Claimant has to pay a Hearing Fee of £35 no later than 14 days before the listed date. If they fail to do this, the Claim is struck out by the Court, and the order sent to both parties. (Note: This is the most common scenario with properly defended claims).

 

7) In the (rare) event that the PPC proceeds all the way to a contested hearing (this only happened 49 times in 2011), you must attend court on the date and time specified. You can bring a friend or relative to speak on your behalf as a Litigation Friend. These hearings are informal affairs, conducted in a side room with the Judge and both parties sitting around a table – no wigs, gowns or jury. The Judge will (or should) have read the papers beforehand, and will invite both the Claimant and Defendant to summarise their case. It is therefore essential that you have read, and fully understood, your defence statement, and that you are prepared to make the arguments. After hearing all the arguments, the Judge will either find for the Claimant, in which case you have to pay within 21 days, or find in favour of the Defendant, which means you owe nothing. If this happens, have a statement of your costs ready to hand to the Judge (see CPR 27.14) and he may make an order for the Claimant to pay your costs. The eventual outcome can be a bit of a lottery, as different Judges in different courts seem to vary widely in their application of the relevant law. This is why preparation, preparation and more preparation are essential.

[NaciravBanks]

Thanks, So just to be absolutely clear.

 

Step1 is to send the (completed) attached form either to

 

County Court Money Claims Centre

PO BOX 527

SALFORD

M5 0BY

DX: 702634 SALFORD 5 (Shall i add this line to any letters i send?)

 

Or

 

email: [email protected]

 

 

Thanks again

[ericsbrother]

Yup, tick the box saying you intend to defend all of this claim and dont tick the box for mediation-waste of time. The spend the next 3 weeks finding out as much as you can about parking contracts and other cases by reading them here, on pepipoo and the parking pranksters blog. Also find out about the ownership of the land and write to the Trust's solicitors DEMANDING sight of the contract that allows them to take legal action in their own name. They have to give you this as they are saying that they have this right. Give them a fortnight to make it available and if they dont you complain in writing to court that the claim is being brought against you without "locus standi"