Are you able to ring the Court again today to see if the fee has been paid?
yes I can do that on the way home..
They have sent me this today:
INTRODUCTION
1. I am a Solicitor in the employment of Gladstones Solicitors Limited, who act for the Claimant in this
matter. I have conduct of this action, subject to the supervision of my principal. The matters to which I
refer within this witness statement are within my own knowledge or based on information provided to
me by my client within the course of my instruction, save where expressly stated to the contrary. I am
duly authorised by the Claimant to make this statement on their behalf.
2. I make this supplemental witness statement in response to matters raised for the first time within the
Defendant’s Witness Statement dated 19 June 2026.
3. Save where expressly admitted, the Claimant joins issue with the matters raised by the Defendant and
relies upon my witness statement dated 17 June 2026.
Driver Identity
4. The Defendant now asserts that she was not the driver of the vehicle on the material date and that the
vehicle was instead being used by her former partner.
5. This allegation was not pleaded within the Defendant’s Defence.
6. The Defence did not state that the Defendant was not the driver, did not identify any alternative driver
and did not rely upon any circumstances involving a former partner.
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7. The Notice to Keeper expressly invited the Defendant, if she was not the driver, to provide the full
name and current serviceable address of the driver within 28 days so that liability could be transferred.
8. No such information was provided. Instead, the first allegation that another individual was driving
appears within the Defendant’s witness statement served shortly before the hearing, more than two
years after the material event and only after proceedings had been issued.
9. Had the Defendant identified the alleged driver within the period specified in the Notice to Keeper, the
Claimant would have had the opportunity to investigate that individual and consider recovery directly
from them. The Defendant’s late assertion has deprived the Claimant of that opportunity.
10. The Claimant respectfully submits that the Defendant cannot now seek to avoid liability by making a
late and unsupported assertion regarding an alleged driver whose identity was not notified to the
Claimant when requested. The allegation is unsupported by any documentary evidence, witness
evidence or other corroborative material and the Court is invited to attach limited weight to an
assertion raised for the first time more than two years after the material event and only shortly before
trial.
Keeper Liability
11. The Defendant asserts that the Claimant cannot establish liability against her as registered keeper.
12. The Defendant admits that she was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the material time.
13. The Claimant therefore maintains that keeper liability is available in this matter pursuant to
Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
14. The Defendant identifies no specific defect in the Notice to Keeper, nor any particular provision of
Schedule 4 with which the Claimant is alleged to have failed to comply.
15. In those circumstances, the Defendant’s challenge to keeper liability amounts to a general
assertion by any identified statutory non-compliance or pleaded factual basis.
ANPR Evidence
16. The Defendant suggests that ANPR evidence alone is insufficient to establish a breach.
17. The Claimant does not rely solely upon ANPR timestamps. The Claimant also relies upon its
parking management records, which identified no payment associated with the vehicle registration
during the material parking event.
18. The vehicle was recorded entering the Site at 13:50 and exiting at 17:00, remaining on site for 3
hours and 10 minutes. No payment was identified in respect of that parking event.
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19. The Defendant does not dispute the vehicle’s presence at the Site, the duration recorded, or that no
payment was made.
Claimant’s Non-Attendance
20. The Defendant criticises the Claimant’s decision not to attend the hearing and suggests that adverse
inferences should be drawn from that decision.
21. The Claimant has complied with the Small Claims Track procedure and has filed and served a Notice
of Non-Attendance pursuant to CPR 27.9.
22. The Civil Procedure Rules expressly permit a party to request that a claim be determined in its absence
where the relevant procedural requirements have been satisfied.
23. The Claimant respectfully submits that no adverse inference should be drawn from the proper exercise
of that procedural right.
Additional Costs
24. The Defendant challenges the additional costs claimed.
25. The Claimant maintains that the sums claimed are properly pleaded and recoverable. In the alternative,
should the Court decline to award any element of the additional costs claimed, the Claimant maintains
its entitlement to the principal parking charge, court fee, fixed legal costs and applicable interest.
26. In any event, the existence of a dispute regarding additional sums does not affect the Claimant’s
entitlement to recover the principal parking charge, applicable court fees and interest should the Court
find liability established.
27. Save as set out above, the Claimant relies upon the evidence and submissions already filed and served
and respectfully invites the Court to enter judgment in favour of the Claimant.
STATEMENT OF TRUTH
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.
