Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello,

I am currently involved in a court claim with ParkingEye regarding a parking incident at a hotel. On that day, I was visiting a gym through the MoveGB scheme, which provides 2 hours of free parking. Upon entering the hotel, I registered my car with the reception staff.

Shortly after, I began receiving parking charge reminders, but due to being busy, I did not respond. Eventually, I received a small court claim (via the Civil National Business Centre) for £210. I rejected the claim and filed a defense, explaining:

The MoveGB scheme includes 2 hours of free parking.
I provided my car registration to the hotel staff and should not be held accountable for a communication failure between the hotel and ParkingEye.
ParkingEye should seek payment from the MoveGB scheme.
In response, ParkingEye argued that:

I did not reply to their earlier letters.
I overstayed by 30 minutes, being parked for 2 hours and 30 minutes (this was not mentioned in their original claim).
It’s worth noting that the hotel usually overlooks minor overstays, but this matter has now escalated to litigation.

I consented to mediation to resolve the dispute, but the mediation call did not take place for some reason, even though I waited by the phone. The claim remains for £210 and has now been handed over to the court.

I am seeking advice from those with similar experiences:

Is an out-of-court settlement still possible, and if so, how should I proceed?
What plausible conditions could be proposed in a settlement? Do parties usually meet in the middle?
Should I write to the claimant to offer a settlement, and what should such a letter include?
If the hearing goes ahead, what are my chances of success? If I lose, will this affect my credit rating?
Thank you in advance for your guidance and advice.

-Claim
-Defence




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The main discrepancy here seems to be that your defence essentially hinges on the car being parked for less than 2 hours, but ParkingEye's ANPR evidence seemingly suggests the vehicle was on site for 2 hours 37.

Do you have any evidence to support your claim that the vehicle was parked for less than 2 hours?

I overstayed by 30 minutes, being parked for 2 hours and 30 minutes (this was not mentioned in their original claim).

Can you clarify the bit in bold? You've redacted a lot of the Particulars of Claim, but they do seem to include an entry and exit time, what are these times?

The defence identifies them as the driver.

And the OP has stated clearly and repeatedly to the court that they were not parked for more than 2 hours (albeit that here they have admitted the same) when PE claim to have objective proof on this point AND that this has been provided to the defendant twice.

OP, you are made to look like a denier of objective facts and an unco-operative party and this is worrying.

I almost always park for less than 2 hours, which I mentioned in my defence. I had no way of knowing the exact timing as I don't keep track of such records. Additionally, the time details were not included in the original Claim but were only provided in the Reply to Defence.

What would you do if you were in my position? Thanks.

You have said a few times that the timings were 'only' provided in the reply to the defence - this would be unusual. Are they not included in the original parking charge notice, or reminders you said you ignored?

If they genuinely haven't provided such details previously in any form this would be useful to know.

Thanks for pointing that out. I might have been wrong, and it looks like the entry and exit times were mentioned on the parking charge reminders.

What’s the best way to negotiate better terms for an out-of-court settlement? Do you think it’s worth it?