MIL Collections Court Claim - Draft Defence

HO87

@cpr1986 - you are more than welcome to "nick" my more precise wording. The reason I have used what seem like archaic terms is because those are the ones that the court will understand - and they will also be the ones that MIL may attempt to bamboozle you with.

So, "put the Claimant to strict proof" is the way to phrase it, for example.

Just to clarify, is this your initial defence after receipt of the Claim?

cpr1986

Ok, thank you. Yes, this is the initial defence not the full statement.

cpr1986

I submitted the defence, completed a directions questionnaire and the claim has now been transferred to my local court. I've also received a part 36 offer to settle from MIL collections, they will accept £100 in full and final settlement.

beamerguy

cpr1986 wrote: »

I submitted the defence, completed a directions questionnaire and the claim has now been transferred to my local court. I've also received a part 36 offer to settle from MIL collections, they will accept £100 in full and final settlement.

Does this mean that MIL do not want to go to court ?

If it was £10 it would be worth it but £100 ?? .... they take the p**s

If they were that certain of winning, they would not try a deal.

Due to their appalling court record I bet they pull out at the last minute.

Be warned though, they are the sort of company who could say to you that they will not be attending court giving you a false impression so you do not turn up ..... they do, you don't so a default judgement

Coupon-mad

cpr1986 wrote: »

I submitted the defence, completed a directions questionnaire and the claim has now been transferred to my local court. I've also received a part 36 offer to settle from MIL collections, they will accept £100 in full and final settlement.

I think HO87, next time he is passing here, will say that is normal for them and you can just ignore or reject their desperate attempts to make you 'settle'. There is usually another offer to settle, of £50, then they often drop a case once they know you've not taken that bribe.

So have you got a court date yet? And a date by which to submit your witness statement and full defence to the court and MIL?

cpr1986

I haven't received anything from the Court yet.

I thought that might be the case, £100 is not much of an offer but I can see how £50 may be pretty tempting for a lot of people..

I have every intention of attending Court, it is pretty much on our doorstep in comparison with how far MIL would have to travel!

HO87

@cpr1986

Although I was working on the assumption that a different company was originally involved the same (very much so) applies to Parking Awareness. Their signs are what is known, legally speaking, as "forbidding". This is because the wording of the signs creates a specific group of people who by paying become authorised to park and everyone else isn't. In other words unless you pay you are a trespasser. The same applies whether you were able to pay or not.

The important thing here is that MIL's case is based on breach of contract not trespass and it remains to be seen whether they would ever be able to acquire sufficient rights to pursue someone for trespass. Bear in mind that MIL acquire their "rights" from Parking Awareness so if PA have no rights (they haven't done in any of the contracts produced so far) then nor do MIL - not that that has stopped them swaggering around as if they did. This in turn means that MIL's case is based on good old-fashioned fresh air and as a judge also discovered on Thursday their entire case actually contained no evidence at all. The long and supposedly detailed statement submitted by MIL's "Head of Legal" could have been boiled to down, according to the judge, to a single, short sentence - "We bought some photographs".

Going back to the car park itself - was this Syke Street or Glovers Court by any chance? There have been cases in many of PA's car parks where the payment machines fail but their issuing of PCN's doesn't. Given the regularity with which this happens (with photographs that show the read-outs at the time payment was attempted) one has to ask whether or not this is something more than just sheer happenstance?

One of the more recent wheezes that has been employed at another of their car parks (not in Preston) is to have staff directing motorists into their narrow spaces and, once the vehicle's occupants have left, they then issue PCN's for parking over the line. You couldn't make it up.

I am guessing you have received a Notice of Allocation - showing that the matter has been transferred to the local court. The next document you'll receive is likely to be a Notice of Allocation (Hearing) which will give the date and time the case will be heard. Make sure you read through the whole document as sometimes it will give a deadline by which you must make your final submission. Don't miss this - its very easy to do - as some people have discovered. If there is no date shown then the standard deadline will apply - "not less than 14 days before the hearing".

HTH