This is true, the reams of paperwork is astounding, they must be responsible for the cutting down of an awful lot of trees, but at the end of the day, most of it is. 'Snippets of carefully chosen quotes from other judges and within sight of each full judgement, it is difficult for a judge to take any quote in its full context'

Let's not get too steamed up on this guys, I believe today was a narrow victory. I think the Judge was ante-parkingeye/and the likes. The contract IS between the parking company and the motorist, the landowner has nothing to do with it. PE just need to be better organised on their charges and in time to come, they may well win, even if they have to reduce their 'penalties'

No, well done YOU. I only really looked at their submissions last night and when I saw their case law quotations, I thought 'bugger it, I've got better things to do with my time', I could easily afford the cost so I figured I wouldn't bother attending and see what happens. However, after getting your reply I thought I would go and defend myself, after all I had underpaid by £3 and could end up paying £165. Total disproportion. However, to my shock horror, when I arrived I was greeted by a lawyer who told me that if they won (which they expected to do) they would ask for costs of £320, so what was a £3 underpayment could have costed me £500! So thanks again and I will give a fuller description in due course. Where can I find a list of the successful defences you mention ?

Always be prepared. Go in with a full breakdown.

Thank you. Breach of contract isn't applicable, the judge didn't accept this argument, it was all about whether the £100 was a fine or not, and he decided it was and therefore, illegal.

I was in court today and i'm very pleased to say I won and I was also awarded my costs and I did this with the help of people on this forum, so firstly, thank you guys, thank you a lot. I am going to post on here my experiences and what I learn't but what I will say is that overall, I think the Judge was against excessive parking fees/fines etc, so that helped a lot but I also believe that change may be ahead, so lets be careful. What I will say though, is it has been a lot of work and the other side put up a lot of argument so anyone going for this, does need a bit of understanding of the law and the points they are arguing. I reckon that each time PE loose, they adjust their future claims to take into account how they lost. They have a lot at stake here, not just the odd £100 so they are clearly putting a lot of resource behind this.

Wayyyyayyy, Bingo.......Happy days... You are absolutely spot on, well done and thank you for your post. When I saw their reams of quotes from other judges I almost didn't go....now I'm so glad I did.......the judge ruled in my favour and dismissed the claim after 2.5 hours and was even prepared to award me costs !!!!! Some interesting points of interest though, so I'm going to share my experiences (and understanding) of today's hearing on another post. Thanks again.

Many thanks, will let you all know how it goes.

Thanks for this. I have had a letter dated 26th March from them which contains pages and pages of case law to back up their claim. I can't see how I could possibly win as there seems to be so much evidence to support their case. I almost feel like not bothering to go tomorrow but don't want to just give up without a fight.

Hi all, Meant to post this before but have been away. The court hearing is scheduled for tomorrow in my local county court. Am I just going there and fighting my corner based on the defence I submitted on my defence form?

My dmc did help me. By removing my innocent post, it would seem that it is all about complaining rather than being constructive. If my view is that I had a very worthwhile experience and it was worth every penny, then why shouldn't I be allowed to say it? I genuinely believe I would have ended up paying more if I didn't have their help as I would have been bullied into it by the lenders.

I agree, they are not deceitful and they made it clear what they charged. I agree also it could be used for paying off the debt but I was happy to use it for the personal service I used and peace of mind.

I totally and utterly disagree. Mine checked everything, came round to my house, were always on the end of the phone, put my mind to rest all the time, dealt with my debts in a personal manner, kept me fully informed and then negotiated settlements and even went to court for me. To be fair, it was a small one man business but it was superb. I spoke to payplan and it was like dealing with a call centre.

I used a fee paying dmc a number of years ago and found them really helpful and worthwhile. I don't agree with a lot of posts that say you shouldn't pay. I didn't want to keep receiving all the calls and letters and have to listen to some threatening lender on the phone so the dmc took all this away from me. I have listened to many arguments both ways but at the end of the day, yes you can do it yourself, j ust like you can stay in and cook a meal for yourself every night of the year but I also like going out and paying someone to cook it for me occasionally. I totally agree there are some [problem] ones and these should be exposed but that applies to any industry, rogue traders or unhealthy kitchens, its all around us. I am now debt free and and a bit like these forums, it was good to have someone to speak to during those hard times. I am not in anyway affiliated or connected to any dmc, I just wanted to put in my pennyworth for what I believe was money well spent.

Fantastic, glad I didn't send the letter off this morning, will change it now and then keep you posted. Many thanks for your help. This is a great site.