06-01-2026, 03:30 PM
This is the revised body of the WS I suggest you use:
I suggest you attach as your exhibits the transcripts from Chan and Akande as exhibits XX-01 and XX-02 (replace "XX" with your initials.
Do not send anything until the deadline day, preferably just before the 4pm deadline.
Quote:1. I am the Defendant in this claim. The facts in this witness statement are within my own knowledge except where stated otherwise.
2. I am the registered keeper of the vehicle referred to in the claim.
3. The Court has ordered witness statements to be exchanged by 03 June 2026. At the date of signing this statement, I have not received any witness statement, documents, photographs, contract, signage evidence, or other evidence from the Claimant.
4. I have therefore had to prepare this statement without seeing the evidence the Claimant intends to rely upon. That is a significant disadvantage because the Particulars of Claim do not properly explain the case against me.
5. The Particulars of Claim are generic and defective. They do not identify the agreement relied upon, whether it is alleged to be written, oral, by conduct through signage, or some combination. They do not identify the specific term allegedly breached, the conduct said to amount to that breach, or the facts relied upon to establish liability.
6. The Particulars of Claim also do not make clear whether I am pursued as driver, keeper, or otherwise, nor do they properly explain how the sum claimed has been calculated.
7. My Defence was therefore necessarily directed to the defective pleading itself. I could not provide a detailed factual response to a case that had not been properly pleaded and for which no evidence had been served.
8. I understand that my Defence relies upon CPR 16.4 and Practice Direction 16. CPR 16.4(1)(a) requires Particulars of Claim to contain a concise statement of the facts on which the Claimant relies. Where a claim is based upon an agreement, Practice Direction 16 requires proper particulars of that agreement.
9. My Defence also relies upon Liberty Homes (Kent) Ltd v Rajakanthan & Others [2022] EWHC 2201 (TCC), in which Mrs Justice Jefford DBE held that it is implicit that Particulars of Claim must identify whether the agreement relied upon is oral, written, by conduct, or some combination. The Particulars of Claim in this case do not do so.
10. My Defence further referred to Civil Enforcement Limited v Ming Tak Chan, Claim No. E7GM9W44, appeal judgment of HHJ Murch, Luton County Court, 15 August 2023 and Car Park Management Service Ltd v Akande, Claim No. K0DP5J30, appeal judgment of HHJ Evans, Manchester County Court, 10 May 2024, which I understand are persuasive County Court appeal authorities concerning inadequately pleaded private parking claims. See exhibit XX-01 and XX-02.
11. Those authorities are relied upon because the Claimant’s pleaded case does not disclose the essential facts required for me to understand and answer the claim. The issue is not that the Particulars of Claim are merely short. The issue is that they fail to plead the core basis of the claim.
12. My recollection is that the vehicle was connected with a genuine stay at Travelodge Cambridge, Newmarket Road, and that the stay had been paid for, including parking. However, from the Particulars of Claim alone, I cannot tell what is actually alleged to have gone wrong.
13. I do not know from the Particulars of Claim whether the allegation is that no payment was made, that a vehicle registration was not entered, that the vehicle was not authorised, that a time limit was exceeded, that signage terms were breached, or that some other alleged contravention occurred.
14. If the Claimant serves a witness statement or evidence after the Court-ordered deadline, that will be the first time I have seen the factual case and evidence being advanced against me. I will not have had a fair opportunity to deal with that material in this witness statement.
15. Any late evidence which introduces the alleged contract, signage, terms, breach, authority, photographs, payment records, or other factual basis of liability would not be evidence supporting a properly pleaded case. It would be the first explanation of a case that should have been pleaded from the outset.
16. I understand that in private parking claims conducted by Gladstones Solicitors, witness statements are often signed by an employee or representative of Gladstones rather than by someone from the Claimant with direct knowledge of the material facts. If that occurs here, the statement will not be direct evidence from a person who witnessed the relevant events or who can give first-hand evidence about the alleged parking event.
17. I have therefore made this statement on the basis of the only case currently before me: the Claimant’s defective Particulars of Claim. My evidence is necessarily limited because the Claimant has not pleaded its case properly and has not served any evidence by the time this statement had to be prepared.
18. I deny that the Claimant has provided me with a properly pleaded case to answer, and I rely on my Defence and this witness statement.
I suggest you attach as your exhibits the transcripts from Chan and Akande as exhibits XX-01 and XX-02 (replace "XX" with your initials.
Do not send anything until the deadline day, preferably just before the 4pm deadline.
Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience. - Mark Twain
