UKCPS Parking County Court Defence

m0t0rbike

All,

This is the 1st time I have joined a forum or posted a thread so please excuse any naivity.

I have just received an MCOL from UKCPS and would be really grateful if someone could help me out with the submission of a defence. If I could work out how to attach it to this post you could see a copy but my education hasn't got me that far yet!! I know it sounds mad but I'd rather challenge the so called 'charge' to the bitter end and lose and pay all charges than hand cash over without a fight. My only concern is that the claim is in my partners name and has taken some convincing that this is the right course of action!

Anyway here are the bare bones. Partner parked in a marked disabled bay - all signage which details contractual terms was installed and legible. I am concerned about relying on a proof of driver defence about who parked the car given that civil law is based upon 'balance of probabilities' and not 'beyond all reasonable doubt'. Besides there may be cctv/photographic evidence. I have not responded to UKCPS letters or had any contact with them.

I have seen in some threads about using PM which I know is private message but again not sure just yet how this works so please be patient and explain in simple terms for me.

Can anyone help with a defence here please?

bondy_lad

yes,, ignore its a scam, nout will happen,there you go, jobs a real belter isnt it.

Browntoa

is it a real mcol form, it is not unknown for them to send "draft" copies of documents to make you think it will go to court etc

taffy056

bondy_lad wrote: »

yes,, ignore its a scam, nout will happen,there you go, jobs a real belter isnt it.

Don't tell the OP to ignore quite possibly a valid county court letter!


OP has the form stamped and claim number on it ? You will be able to login into the mcol website with it, please come back with an answer

bondy_lad

surely its not valid? is it, will be more carefull,but how can it be valid if from these clowns, point taken though.nb,,just noticed in op,, not responded to any letters? does this mean, they have in fact been to court over this????

Aretnap

UKCPS do sometimes take a punt in court so these are quite likely real court papers. Anyone with £35 to spare can file a claim with MCOL. It doesn't mean that the claim is a strong one or that they will win in court - but they will win by default if it is ignored or not properly defended.

I would not recommend relying on the "prove I was the driver" defence; there are far stronger points in the fact that the charge is an unenforceable penalty, and the fact that UKCPS's contract with the landowner may well not give them sufficient rights to "offer" parking in the first place. Hopefully someone with direct experience will be along to help with the finer points. UKCPS read these forums (Hi Peter!) so I would recommend you don;t post identifying details and be wary of PMs from anyone without a high post count and good reputation. AlexisV can be trusted; if you haven;t heard from him in a day or two try posting on Pepipoo where you'll find a number of knowledgeable people.

peter_the_piper

m0t0rbike wrote: »

All,

This is the 1st time I have joined a forum or posted a thread so please excuse any naivity.

I have just received an MCOL from UKCPS and would be really grateful if someone could help me out with the submission of a defence. If I could work out how to attach it to this post you could see a copy but my education hasn't got me that far yet!! I know it sounds mad but I'd rather challenge the so called 'charge' to the bitter end and lose and pay all charges than hand cash over without a fight. My only concern is that the claim is in my partners name and has taken some convincing that this is the right course of action!

Anyway here are the bare bones. Partner parked in a marked disabled bay - all signage which details contractual terms was installed and legible. I am concerned about relying on a proof of driver defence about who parked the car given that civil law is based upon 'balance of probabilities' and not 'beyond all reasonable doubt'. Besides there may be cctv/photographic evidence. I have not responded to UKCPS letters or had any contact with them.

I have seen in some threads about using PM which I know is private message but again not sure just yet how this works so please be patient and explain in simple terms for me.

Can anyone help with a defence here please?

First, get on over to pepipoo.com as well as they are good at this sort of thing.

pogofish

m0t0rbike wrote: »

Anyway here are the bare bones. Partner parked in a marked disabled bay - all signage which details contractual terms was installed and legible. I am concerned about relying on a proof of driver defence about who parked the car given that civil law is based upon 'balance of probabilities' and not 'beyond all reasonable doubt'. Besides there may be cctv/photographic evidence. I have not responded to UKCPS letters or had any contact with them.

Can anyone help with a defence here please?

You will almost certainly win because apart from everything else, disabled bays have no meaning in the context of private parking - The Blue Badge Scheme simply does not apply. Have a look at the regs applicable in your area - they are easily found on every council website!

And similarly, "Photo Evidence" is quite meaningless too. You should be able to quickly dispense with that one as it will expose their fraudulence!

And pepipoo is the place to go to prep your defence, although I have a feeling this will be

Coupon-mad

Yep get yourself registered on pepipoo and post about this here:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

Also read this Hedwig thread which is very relevant to your situation:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=58542

And make sure your defence includes ref to HMRC -v- VCS and the fact that this amount of money is clearly a penalty (cite the Hedwig case even though that's only another County Court decision and is not binging - but it could be persuasive as it's similar).

Did your wife have a medical reason to use a disabled bay?

Kite2010

You will probably find as soon as you enter a defence Hasbeen will just ignore the case and either do a no-show at the court or decide to close proceedings

m0t0rbike

All,

For avoidance of doubt, yes it is a genuine MCOL and definitely not a draft or scam - I can log in with the password. I will register on Pepipoo as well but will keep my eye on this to take account of further replies.

Thanks all for your suggestions and support - I will report back on progress.