ParkingEye claim acknowledged. Now what?

mogwoppit

Hi,

I have been dealing with a ParkingEye claim dating from August last year, which has gone via POPLA, letter before action and now a claim issued 18th April which I have now acknowledged through MCOL. Hoping for a bit of guidance on the next steps.

The claim is for an overstay of a couple of hours at a free car park. As far as I can tell this is a case of their ANPR system registering the car entering the site in the early evening and leaving it some hours later, but not the fact that it left the site in between. So far I have argued that ANPR systems are known to not be 100% accurate (and can quote some figures with a bit of research), and referred to another claim that was dismissed (ParkingEye v Griffiths 3JD10885) in very similar circumstances. I submitted the email record showing I had another appointment on the other side of town in between the visits, along with a detailed account, maps showing distances etc. To me it's pretty obvious that it makes no sense for me to have parked there, but POPLA said I didn't give any 'evidence'. In the POPLA claim was standard cookie cutter images of all the signage wording, signage plan on site and photos of the car entering and leaving along with a printout of the evening's reg numbers and in/out times, which of course would only show reg numbers that were recognised. So is this 'evidence' that the car was actually parked??

The problem is I don't really have slam dunk incontrovertible 'evidence'. How does one prove they were NOT somewhere? What has surprised me is that POPLA expected me to 'prove' innocence, seemingly ignoring the evidence I did submit. But there is no solid 'proof' of being anywhere - in the car park or otherwise.

So far all I have received is template responses, which have been entirely generic but pretty much by the book in terms of timing. I have sent personalised letters, including in response to the letter before action (which did not include any details of any documents they'd be using in their claim), requesting full details of documents supporting their claim and invited a without prejudice settlement, but so far all I have had is template letters. As far as I am concerned the letter before action they wrote does not comply with the practice direction, but it seems totally irrelevant as they can happily get all the way to court regardless. Of course the only communication options they provide are a PO box and a 'payment hotline'. It seems the only way to actually speak to or communicate with a human being is to attend court. Which I intend to do.

So, what next?
1. Where will the court hearing be held? The car park in question is a few yards from the court in my local town, but the county court business centre is in Northampton.
2. What actually happens now? Who will look at the claim, and what will they do? Will anything happen before I enter a defence?
3. Do I really have to enter a full defence without them having to submit all their evidence first? It seems to me they get the upper hand here, as they are the ones that get to effectively have the last word.
4. Does CPR 26.14 prevent them from claiming legal costs? I thought this wasn't allowed but now I read it I find it hard to understand how it's written. They are claiming for £85 + £25 court fee + £50 "legal representative's costs"
5. CPR 27.14 2(e) seems to allow me to claim costs for a day's equivalent pay for loss of leave in defending the claim if I win, correct? If so do I have to put all costs in the defence or is this decided on the day? The CPR also refers to a limit, but I cannot find it...
6. Is the above likely to be enough or do I have to pull out the big guns and get a witness statement or even in-person witness? This could be tricky to arrange due to the nature of my meeting but not impossible. Problem is I doubt I could get it together to go into the 28-day defence itself.

And most importantly:
6. What is the actual impact of losing on the day? If it happens I will grit my teeth and pay, but I absolutely CANNOT risk a CCJ as I am about to move house.