Set-aside-Friday

The Prankster is dubbing tomorrow "Set-aside Friday"

There are 20 parking-related court hearings scheduled. Of these, 11 are set-asides, 2 are procedural and only 7 are actual hearings.

Barnet Parking Control Management (UK):   Set Aside:
Basildon: ParkingEye:    Set Aside:
Bedford: ParkingEye:    Set Aside:
Cardiff: New Generation Parking Management: Set Aside:
Croydon:        ParkingEye:    Set Aside:
Great Grimsby: ParkingEye:    Set Aside:
Manchester: MIL Collections:    Set Aside:
Gwent: Link Parking:    Set Aside:
Portsmouth: District Enforcement:    Set Aside
Swansea: Excel Parking Services:    Set Aside:
Swansea: ParkingEye:    Set Aside:

Romford: Parking Control Management (UK):   Redetermination:

Bournemouth: Devere Parking Services:    Preliminary:

Blackpool: PCN (NW):
Bradford: ES Parking Enforcement:
St Helens: ES Parking Enforcement:
St Helens: ParkingEye:
Wakefield: Vehicle Control Services: :
Wolverhampton: SIP Parking:
Blackpool: NE Parking:

This huge waste of court time and taxpayer's money is largely due to the lack of due diligence parking companies carry out before filing a claim.

In a traditional claim, both parties know each other and there will be a definite address where the defendant is known to reside. The claim will also be filed shortly after the dispute arises.

In a parking claim, the parking company often has never established the correct address of the defendant. Although they have a suspected address, they will have made no real effort to confirm the address is correct; in a substantial number of cases, it will not be.

Additionally, even if the address was once correct, court claims are often taken out many years after the parking event, so the victim may well have moved home.

The result is the defendant never receives the court papers, and the parking company wins by default. The victim will often fnd out months later when tracing services track down their new address.

They will now have a CCJ against their name. They could pay this off, but this will leave their credit ruined for years. Therefore, the best strategy is often to pay £255 and ask for a set-aside. If the court agrees, the CCJ is removed and a new hearing is scheduled.  The judge may or may not order the parking company to refund the £255 hearing fee, but in most cases the major consideration of the motorist would be to repair their credit rating.

The government announced measures to stop this abuse of the court system. However, these have not been implemented and it is likely these have taken a backseat due to Brexit.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster