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UK CPM - Court claim form for parking in 'visitors' bay in own residence
gotcmpd
post Sun, 3 Mar 2019 - 21:56
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Hi, I've received a court claim form for parking in a visitors space in my own residence where I own a parking space. The PPC is UK CPM Ltd.

I'm not home until Wednesday so don't have lease or correspondence from the PPC to begin draughting a defence just yet. I found this post that seems fairly similar to my own case, so will use it as a base.

Wondering what are the next steps.

Assuming I should send off the acknowledgement of service intending to defend all of the claim ASAP?

Do I also need to make a counterclaim in order to force a hearing?

Thanks for any help.

This post has been edited by gotcmpd: Wed, 6 Mar 2019 - 14:40
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post Sun, 3 Mar 2019 - 21:56
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gotcmpd
post Thu, 25 Jul 2019 - 21:38
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Here is a first draft of my witness statement.

I would be really grateful to receive some feedback as I'm kind of struggling with what to do now, thanks!


I, NAME, of ADDRESS will say as follows:


I am the Defendant in this matter, I am unrepresented, with no experience of Court procedures. If I do not set out documents in the way that the Claimant may do, I trust the Court will excuse my inexperience.

In this Witness statement, the facts and matters stated are true and within my own knowledge, except where indicated otherwise.

Whilst I was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned, there is no evidence of the driver and as this event was 19 months ago, it is impossible to expect a keeper to recall who might have been driving.

The Defendant denies being the driver at the time of the supposed event, and therefore puts the Claimant to strict proof that any contract can exist between the Claimant and themselves.

Sometime on the 6th December 2017 my car was parked in the gated residential car park of ADDRESS in a bay generally reserved for contractors. Ultimately it is the discretion of the building manager to grant permission for residents and their visitors to park in these bays. I had been granted permission to park there previously by the buildings manager.


These bays are not marked and were not owned by any one resident in particular.


On the 6th December 2017 when the parking charge was issued I was 9 months pregnant and 8 days overdue. On the 7th December 2017 I gave birth. My car would have been parked in this bay temporarily to unload shopping as it is a lot closer to the entrance of my block of flats than my allocated bay.

The car park can only be entered by operating the gated entrance using a key fob that has been issued to residents who own a parking space. Access to this car park is explicitly granted to residents by way of it being gated. My car was therefore defacto authorised to be in the car park.

On the 15th December 2017 I received a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) numbered PCNNUMBER through the post. The PCN stated that on 6th December at 18:24 my car was “parked in a manner whereby the driver became liable for a parking charge”. The accompanying photographic evidence was clearly taken at a different time as the photos are taken in broad daylight. On the 7th December 2017, the sun set at 15:52 in London - over 2 hours before the parking charge allegedly occurred.


The signs mention that “A Valid Permit must be clearly displayed in windscreen at all times”. However, no permits have ever been issued to residents for parking in their own bay or otherwise. Furthermore, the car park is run on a self-ticketing basis without the need for permits.


There are only two signs from UK CPM in the car park. The font size of the signs makes it impossible to be read, even when standing as close as possible, and certainly not upon entering the car park, as the sign is placed high up on the passengers side.


The small print of the signs is small and illegible.

The Claimants notices are forbidding with no offer of a contract.


The Claimants signs do not adhere to the IPC ‘code of practice’.


There are also two signs in the car park from a competing parking company (PCM limited). This makes it confusing to know which company is managing the car park and which terms and conditions are supposed to be followed.

On the 19th December 2017 I emailed NAME, who was the point of contact for PROPERTY MGMT CO, the property management company that is contracted to manage ADDRESS on behalf of the right to manage company, which was set up by residents of ADDRESS. NAME replied, referring to the parking enforcement, saying he was "not aware this was re-activated and will contact the parking company tomorrow.".


Shortly after receiving the PCN I appealed directly to UK CPM but on 8th February 2018 I received a letter rejecting the appeal and asking me to pay £100.

On 22nd February 2018 I received a letter saying that payment for the parking charge was now overdue and again asking me to pay £100.

On 14th May 2018 I received a threatening letter from Debt Recovery Plus (DRP) Ltd acting on behalf of UK CPM. The costs claimed on this letter had inexplicably increased to £160. There was no reference as to how the alleged debt had arisen or how the charge had been calculated. With no evidence or further detail offered, this letter was also assumed to be a scam and ignored.


On 29th May 2018 I received another threatening letter from DRP again asking me to pay £160.


On 12th June 2018 I received another threatening letter from DRP stating ‘Final chance to pay’ again asking me to pay £160.


On 12th July 2018 I received a letter from Gladstones Solicitors Ltd threatening further court action saying they have been instructed by UK CPM in relation to the debt of £160 relating to the parking charge.


On 12th November 2018 and the following few days I then received four identical “Letter Before Claim” letters from Gladstones Solicitors all dated the 12th November 2018.


On the 12th, 13th and 14th of December I received a further 3 “Letter Before Claim” letters.


On the 11th March 2019 and 22nd July 2019 I emailed NAME, the new contact at PROPERTY MGMT CO and told him the situation about the parking company taking me to court over this. He emailed UK CPM requesting that they cancel the charge and pull it from court. UK CPM replied on the 16th July 2019 with the following statement:

“Unfortunately the ticket has now been transferred over to our Solicitors and small claims court, as a result UK CPM don’t have control over the status of the ticket or the power to overturn the ticket.

The resident will have to get in touch with the solicitors and to get further details, if they had come to us when the ticket had originally been issued we would have been able to cancel the ticket as a gesture of goodwill as always but when it over a year and a half down the line this makes it very hard.“

Clearly the underlined statement is a lie as I had already contacted UK CPM directly shortly after receiving the PCN and my appeal was subsequently rejected. The statement also demonstrates how trivial this case is and how it should never have gotten to this stage.

STATEMENT OF TRUTH

I believe the facts stated in this witness statement are true.
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nosferatu1001
post Fri, 26 Jul 2019 - 08:45
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Numbered paragraphs!

Othewise we cant refer to it and neither can a court.

There is not a SINGLE exhibit referenced from your ws. You MUST have this - format is INITIALS/001 - a photo showing...

"and as this unremarkable day was more than 19 months ago, I am unable to recall who might have been driving "
However you then contradict this by stating you were not driving. SO which is it? You dont know who drove, or you know you didnt drive?

And you then basically say who drove in the next line...

Work out what youre doing. Identifying the driver, not identifying the driver, or something else...

SO you would say "I have permission for my car to be parked..." - not to park, but for it to BE parked there.

I kinda gave up there.
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Sheffield Dave
post Fri, 26 Jul 2019 - 20:35
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Some of those points read more like parts of a defence than parts of witness statement; e.g. "it is impossible to expect a keeper to recall who might have been driving" - is this you, stating under oath, that you can't remember who was driving? That's immediately followed by "The Defendant denies being the driver", which looks at first glance like a contradiction. Presumably you are trying to convey the idea that you're certain you weren't the driver, but can't remember who the actual driver was"?
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gotcmpd
post Fri, 26 Jul 2019 - 23:02
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Ok thanks for the feedback so far, I can see why it looks like a contradiction so I've pulled the denial statement. I genuinely don't recall who was driving that day, as there is more than one driver on the insurance. Here's a line numbered update. For some reason the line numbers don't copy over when pasting from a google doc ohmy.gif

Regarding the exhibits, I was going to leave that until the end once the order is complete and it's been edited down. As you've already seen it's pretty rough and ready right now biggrin.gif . Rest assured I do have plenty pictures and evidence to back up most of these statements.



1. I am the Defendant in this matter, I am unrepresented, with no experience of Court procedures. If I do not set out documents in the way that the Claimant may do, I trust the Court will excuse my inexperience.

2. In this Witness statement, the facts and matters stated are true and within my own knowledge, except where indicated otherwise.

3. Whilst I was the Registered Keeper of the vehicle concerned, there is no evidence of the driver and as this unremarkable day was more than 19 months ago, I am unable to recall who might have been driving.

4. Sometime on the 6th December 2017 my car was parked in the gated residential car park of ADDRESS in a bay generally reserved for contractors. Ultimately it is the discretion of the building manager to grant permission for residents and their visitors to park in these bays. I had been granted permission to park there previously by the buildings manager.

5. These bays are not marked and were not owned by any one resident in particular.

6. On the 6th December 2017 when the parking charge was issued I was 9 months pregnant and 8 days overdue. On the 7th December 2017 I gave birth. My car would have been parked in this bay temporarily for example to unload shopping as it is a lot closer to the entrance of my block of flats than my allocated bay.

7. The car park can only be entered by operating the gated entrance using a key fob that has been issued to residents who own a parking space. Access to this car park is explicitly granted to residents by way of it being gated. My car was therefore _defacto_ authorised to be in the car park.

8. On the 15th December 2017 I received a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) numbered PCNNUMBER through the post. The PCN stated that on 6th December at 18:24 my car was “parked in a manner whereby the driver became liable for a parking charge”. The accompanying photographic evidence was clearly taken at a different time as the photos are taken in broad daylight. On the 7th December 2017, the sun set at 15:52 in London - over 2 hours before the parking charge allegedly occurred.

9. The signs mention that “A Valid Permit must be clearly displayed in windscreen at all times”. However, no permits have ever been issued to residents for parking in their own bay or otherwise. Furthermore, the car park is run on a self-ticketing basis without the need for permits.

10. There are only two signs from UK CPM in the car park. The font size of the signs makes it impossible to be read, even when standing as close as possible, and certainly not upon entering the car park, as the sign is placed high up on the passengers side.

11. The small print of the signs is small and illegible.

12. The Claimants notices are forbidding with no offer of a contract.

13. The Claimants signs do not adhere to the IPC ‘code of practice’.

14. There are also two signs in the car park from a competing parking company (PCM limited). This makes it confusing to know which company is managing the car park and which terms and conditions are supposed to be followed.

15. On the 19th December 2017 I emailed NAME, who was the point of contact for PROPERTY MGMT CO, the property management company that is contracted to manage ADDRESS on behalf of the right to manage company, which was set up by residents of ADDRESS. NAME replied, referring to the parking enforcement, saying he was _"not aware this was re-activated and will contact the parking company tomorrow."_.

16. Shortly after receiving the PCN I appealed directly to UK CPM but on 8th February 2018 I received a letter rejecting the appeal and asking me to pay £100.

17. On 22nd February 2018 I received a letter saying that payment for the parking charge was now overdue and again asking me to pay £100.

18. On 14th May 2018 I received a threatening letter from Debt Recovery Plus (DRP) Ltd acting on behalf of UK CPM. The costs claimed on this letter had inexplicably increased to £160. There was no reference as to how the alleged debt had arisen or how the charge had been calculated. With no evidence or further detail offered, this letter was also assumed to be a scam and ignored.

19. On 29th May 2018 I received another threatening letter from DRP again asking me to pay £160.

20. On 12th June 2018 I received another threatening letter from DRP stating ‘Final chance to pay’ again asking me to pay £160.

21. On 12th July 2018 I received a letter from Gladstones Solicitors Ltd threatening further court action saying they have been instructed by UK CPM in relation to the debt of £160 relating to the parking charge.

22. On 12th November 2018 and the following few days I then received four identical “Letter Before Claim” letters from Gladstones Solicitors all dated the 12th November 2018.

23. On the 12th, 13th and 14th of December I received a further 3 “Letter Before Claim” letters.

24. On the 11th March 2019 and 22nd July 2019 I emailed NAME, the new contact at PROPERTY MGMT CO and told him the situation about the parking company taking me to court over this. He emailed UK CPM requesting that they cancel the charge and pull it from court. UK CPM replied on the 16th July 2019 with the following statement:




_“Unfortunately the ticket has now been transferred over to our Solicitors and small claims court, as a result UK CPM don’t have control over the status of the ticket or the power to overturn the ticket._


_The resident will have to get in touch with the solicitors and to get further details, <span style="text-decoration:underline;">if they had come to us when the ticket had originally been issued we would have been able to cancel the ticket as a gesture of goodwill as always but when it over a year and a half down the line this makes it very hard</span>.“_


Clearly the underlined statement is a lie as I had already contacted UK CPM directly shortly after receiving the PCN and my appeal was subsequently rejected. The statement also demonstrates how trivial this case is and how it should never have gotten to this stage.


STATEMENT OF TRUTH


I believe the facts stated in this witness statement are true.
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gotcmpd
post Mon, 29 Jul 2019 - 11:38
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I also want to get the buildings manager to sign a letter to be used as evidence, stating that they gave prior permission to park in the bays when they are not being used.

I was wondering if there is any technical name for such a letter or any rules about how it is formatted or written?
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ManxRed
post Mon, 29 Jul 2019 - 11:39
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If you can get it in the same form as a witness statement that would be great. Google 'witness statement format'.


--------------------
Sometimes I use big words I don't understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis.
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