Free Traffic Legal Advice

I received a private parking charge from VCS through the post for stopping in a no stopping zone at East Midlands airport. I wasn’t driving at the time and am refusing to name the driver. I lease the car and charge was addressed to registered keeper, which I am.  The incident took place in June 2023. Using advice from other forums I have tried to get out of paying the fine but have received a date for a virtual small claims court hearing. In the meantime I have gotten married and changed my name, the court documents are addressed to my old name. Do I need to make the claimant and/ or court aware of this? I don’t want to lose the case because of an admin error on my part. Thanks

@Warrenator, please answer the questions if you would like help and advice. Did you plead in your defence that you cannot be liable as the keeper/hirer?

I was told I was in queue position 74 

74 isn't too bad by their standards.

Can you modify (edit) that post, put a space in front of all the ‘http’ so they work as hyperlinks please?

Shame you called yourself registered keeper in the defence when clearly you are not, perhaps you don’t understand what the term means? (The registered keeper is the keeper registered with DVLA who’s name and address appear on the registration document)

I know. It was a dumb mistake. I got advice from another forum and it was a little overwhelming. I now understand the difference. It'd be helpful to get your thoughts as to if i have  genuine defence otherwise I will save myself the time and pain going through the next steps and just pay up.

Thanks. This is really helpful. I will work on my WS as soon as I can and share for feedback. Defence is all truthful but I’ll make sure to keep to the point this time.

Hearing date isn't until 7th November. I will start work on WS and share a draft in a week or so for sense checking.

Do I need to just detail the day in question or everything since e.g. the fact that I have contacted VCS to dispute I was driving and that I went through the IAS process etc? I am assuming the latter?

Thanks

I've drafted my WS. I haven't gone into as much detail as my defence e.g. I haven't included the info about EMA not having landowner authority at the time they issued the charge notice,  nor have I talked about unreasonable costs and lack of ADR as this is all mentioned in the defence. Is it worth adding to WS too?

WS below. Thanks!


On 27/6/23 I received a letter from Volkswagen Financial Services (VFS) notifying me that they had received a Charge Notice (CN) Notice to Keeper (NTK) from Excel Parking Services Ltd (Excel) regarding a ‘driving offence’ for XXXX XXX which had allegedly taken place at 13.54 on 26/6/23 at East Midlands Airport (EMA). 

The letter went on to say that VFS had passed my details onto Excel transferring liability of the offence to me, Hirer of the vehicle in question.

The letter from VFS referred me to a copy of a CN by Vehicle Control Services Ltd (VCS)  the CN stated the alleged offence as ‘stopping in a zone where stopping is prohibited’. The CN also outlined the next steps about how to make a payment if I accepted liability or how to appeal if I did not accept liability, along with black and white images of the alleged offence.  Please see exhibit A attached.

On 4/8/23 I received a Charge Notice (CN) Hirer Notification (HN) from VCS. Please see exhibit A attached.

I would like to point out to the court that I am the Hirer of the vehicle. As EMA is land that is under statutory control, PoFA does not apply and only the driver can be liable for any alleged charge. As the hirer, I am under no legal obligation to identify the driver and no inference or assumptions can be made that the hirer must also be the driver and the persuasive appeal court case of (same claimant) VCS v Edward is produced in evidence. See Exhibit C

On the date and time in question of the alleged offence, I was flying back to East Midlands Airport (EMA) from Naples Airport, Italy. My flight was due to land at 12.55pm.

My flight was delayed and at 13:54 I was going through passport control and confirm that I was not driving the vehicle in question.  Please see exhibit B attached for a copy of my flight confirmation.


I followed the process outlined by VCS on the CN NTK  and CN HN and appealed the charge on 19th August on the My Parking Charge website: www.myparkingcharge.co.uk.

In my appeal, I outlined that I was not driving the car at the time of the alleged offence and that as the land at East Midlands Airport is under statutory control , PoFA, and hirer liability does not apply.

My appeal was rejected and VCS sent me a message detailing why they rejected my appeal and what I should do next. Please see exhibit D .

I appealed to the Independent Appeals Service (IAS) on 27/8/23 but this appeal was also turned down on 26/9/23 - See exhibit E for all correspondence.

I received a Letter before Claim dated 14/11/2023. See exhibit F

I received a Notification of Instruction letter from ELMS Legal dated 19/12/23 advising they had been instructed by VCS to ‘recover the outstanding debt’. Please see exhibit G

I received a Notification of Issue of Proceedings from ELMS Legal who had been instructed to act on behalf of VCS. Letter dated 7/3/2024. See exhibit G

VCS sent me a letter dated 19/4/2024 that ELMS aren’t acting on their behalf anymore and made a settlement offer. See exhibit H

I received the Claim Form dated 5/3/202. See exhibit I

I’d like to draw to the Court’s attention that VCS’ Particulars of Claim (PoC) appear to be in breach of CPR 16.4, 16PD3 and 16PD7, and fails to "state all
facts necessary for the purpose of formulating a complete cause of action".

The PoC state that the defendant is being pursued for a “breach of contract” and the claimants state that the “sign” was the “offer” and driving onto the land was the “acceptance” but they fail to state what the third requirement to establish a contract, the “consideration” is. As the signs are prohibitive, there can be no consideration and therefore no contract can exist.

The PoC also state that “at all material times, the defendant was the registered keeper and/or driver”. That is an untrue statement and has been signed with a statement of truth, that is anything but truthful. I am not the registered keeper nor was I the driver.