Ms P asked the BMPA for assistance with a court claim.
The background was that on 16th November, 2016 she stopped for a few minutes on Pelham Road, Grimsby to collect some drugs for work; monthly one of the staff goes to Lloyds Pharmacy on the corner of Dudley Street/Pelham Road to collect the medication. As the box is often large she stops on Pelham Road for as long as it takes to walk into the shop, sign for the medication and put it in her car.
This looks like a public road but apparently is private and part of it is owned by Pelham Accountants who boosts their income by self-ticketing using UKCPM. They don't put up decent signage in order to maximise their income. Ms P fell victim to this scheme and was issued a ticket.
The Hearing - Motorist's report.
Am so excited and proud of myself! Had my hearing at Grimsby today.
I did not have a clue about Court procedures and Gladstones' representative (a solicitor) came up to me in the waiting room trying to show me some older photos of the road in question. I said why are you speaking to me - you're the opposition and I don't really want to have this conversation! I did not take his photos. He was oh so patronising, telling me how the Court hearing would go and that I should address the Judge as "sir" and basically talking down to me.
The judge was absolutely lovely and I felt he was on my side from the start. The solicitor spouted on about Beavis (which the judge said was not relevant) and showed a photo from two years ago stating the road was private. That was also ruled as not relevant. The solicitor even tried to make a point of the fact that I was parked half on and half off the pathway which the judge made nothing of.
The ticket was given when I parked on a road adjacent to a big car park. The railings of the car park had signs on and the solicitor tried to allude that the signs also applied to the road. There were no signs to say it was a private road and the solicitor had no proof just some badly copied Google maps and a piece of paper purporting to be an agreement with the landowner. The Judge said their signs did not create a contract and also that there was no signage to say that it was a private road.
I told the judge I had never been in court before but I was familiar with the area in question and if I had known it was private I would not have parked there. I told him I could not spout legal arguments. The judge went on at length about the signage being the contract. In his eyes the signs did not create contracts.
He finished by saying in the balance of probabilities it was totally unclear as to what the signs meant and whether UKCPM had control of the road.
So he dismissed the case and we got up to go and I remembered about costs. The solicitor looked even more annoyed and I was awarded £90.00! I got the distinct feeling he'd encountered Gladstones before!
As we left the Court building I smiled at the solicitor and said "well that went well didn't it" He didn't reply.....
Prankster Notes
Jamie Ashford and Helen Cook run Gladstones' parking department. Based on their track history they must be two of the most incompetent individuals ever to have their papers regularly fill the courtroom wastepaper basket.
The Prankster would say their credibility has taken a great hit being seen off by yet another courtroom novice, but they never had any to start with.
The Prankster notes that their boss John Davies appears to be of the same opinion as he has recently revamped the Gladstones' website to remove all details of his staff and of what his firm does. Now, the only way to get past the homepage is to login with an account.
Sadly, the perverse reality is that despite their incompetence regarding parking related law, Gladstones' owners also run the IPC, a trade body whose members are allowed access to the DVLA keeper database.
Happy Parking
The Parking Prankster
That's just great for MS P, poor ol gladrags my heart just bleeds for them.
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