VCS PCN - Help Needed

AB_Express

Yes, had a read through bargepole's post earlier.

Do I need to respond to the part 18 reply from BW?

AB_Express

Just a quick question regarding the DQ.


Who should I send the original to, or do I keep it?


Do I send a copy to VCS, BW Legal or both?


Thanks

Coupon-mad

DQ - original to the court, copy to the claimant's solicitor (and keep copies of everything for yourself).

Do I need to respond to the part 18 reply from BW?

No but it gives you a heads up as to how they will argue the case if they proceed to a hearing (not certain to happen).

AB_Express

My copy of the DQ was submitted before my deadline however the DQ from BW was submitted after. Would they have had a different deadline?

Coupon-mad

No they submitted it late then, probably waited to see if you blinked first (hoping you would miss a court Direction).

You can draw the Judge's attention to their late DQ in your witness statement (WS) if you get a court hearing date and information about when to submit your full defence exhibits & WS.

Bargepole has posted an up-to-date thread yesterday about the court paperwork process, to make sure posters here do not miss what they have to do and when. I'll link it in the NEWBIES thread asap.

Read bargepole's NEW thread if you've not yet seen it, and refer back to it at each stage.

AB_Express

Thanks Coupon-mad, just had a read through now. Guess it's just a case of sitting tight now and waiting to see what happens.

AB_Express

Received a hearing date in the post today.

The court believes my case is suitable for mediation. Is this worth a try or should I defend it in court?

Umkomaas

AB_Express wrote: »

Received a hearing date in the post today.

The court believes my case is suitable for mediation. Is this worth a try or should I defend it in court?

If you are seriously thinking of mediation and you think you want to deal with a mediator incentivised to prevent your case going to court and a totally intransigent PPC wanted their full pound of flesh, then read here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=70242827&postcount=45

and here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=71245087&postcount=42

Let us know what you decide.

PS - refusing mediation has no negative impact on any future court proceedings.

AB_Express

I had read one of those posts after my posting my post.

On that evidence I don't think I will be bothering with mediation.

Coupon-mad

AB_Express wrote: »

The PCN was issued for 'stopping on a roadway where stopping is prohibited'. The piece of 'road' where the car had stopped on was pretty much a dirt track that is not much longer than a car that leads to wasteland. The car was pulled over to check an oil leak and the photos on the PCN show the driver bent over looking under the car.

Here's an updated summary from bargepole of what happens when, what you MUST do in time, re the paperwork & deadlines (sorry if you already saw this but it is a new updated version, compared to the one you read a month ago):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5546325

You will now have a clear date by which YOU MUST file the evidence ('exhibits') and any Witness Statement (i.e. yours, as bargepole says in the above link!).

So you will want transcripts of any court case that supports your case, e.g. the recent persuasive one I posted about yesterday will be useful in the section where the Senior Circuit Judge defines 'parking'. I'd say checking an oil leak cannot possibly be parking and the comments from the Judge specifically about 'parking' definitions, supports that view. Use it! See yesterday's thread with the link to the Jopson transcript.

As well as court transcripts, you will also need the Beavis case sign in your evidence to show a clear sign, as opposed to the mass of small print VCS use, where the £100 can't be read and is not in legible text/it's too high, and the road is not marked as a 'no stopping zone' which requires very clear signs & lines. In fact Henry Greenslade, the POPLA Lead Adjudicator once comments in an early POPLA Annual Report (2013?) about how 'no stopping zones' should be marked or no contract can exist.

You want to find that too as an exhibit. Google it.

It has dawned on me that you said the driver can be seen bent over the car in the photo...if that's you, then DROP the arguments about 'no keeper liability' immediately. You must appear as an honest witness to the court and if they have photos of 'you' then you can't, in good faith, stand there and say you don't know who was driving so the POFA applies!