Mary parked her car in a new car park, owned and operated by Queens Parking Ltd (‘Queens'). This was the first time that she had used a Queens car park. When she drove into the car park, she was required to purchase a parking ticket from a machine. Mary inserted cash into the machine and was notified that the parking would cost $10 per day and that the terms and conditions of purchase would be on the ticket. She then pressed a button which said "purchase", the machine processed her payment and she received a ticket. On the back of the ticket were some terms, although no mention of this was made on the front of the ticket, on which had been printed the date and time that Mary entered the car park.
Two of the terms on the back of the ticket read:
•Queens Parking Ltd, its agents, servants, employees, and contractors shall not be liable for any loss or damage howsoever arising from the use of this carpark;
•If the customer does not accept these terms, they may leave within 1 minute of entry without incurring a fee.
This is actual size (size 8) that those same terms above were written on the ticket:
Queens Parking Ltd, its agents, servants, employees, and contractors shall not be liable for any loss or damage howsoever arising from the use of this carpark
If the customer does not accept these terms, they may leave within 1 minute of entry without incurring a fee.
Unfortunately, one of the car park employees is part of a stolen car criminal gang, and he arranges for Mary's car to be towed away by his criminal associates. This employee has previously been convicted of car theft crimes, and Queens were aware of this before hiring him. Mary has not since been able to recover her car.
Advise Mary
(a) Whether there are any terms of the parking contract that have been breached by Queens Parking Ltd under the common law of contract and/or statute (Australian Consumer Law). (You are not required to discuss the contract formation - ‘offer and acceptance' here).
(b) Whether Queens Parking Ltd can rely on the exclusion clause as a defence to a breach of contract claim. In your answer, discuss the requirements as to whether the exclusion clause is valid under the common law of contract and/or statute (Australian Consumer Law).
Answering legal problem and writing skills: Use of ILAC structure, quality of writing, sentence structure, use of paragraphs, grammar, and spelling.