Gladstones / Millennium claim form

wi3347

Hello everyone, posted on here before about a PCN I had in 2012 which ended up in court and had some really good advice so posting here again. The vehicle im registered keeper for got a PCN in November last year. Its reached the claim form stage. I have done the acknowledgement of service on MCOL and need to submit my defence. The details of the PCN are.
Name of the Claimant ? Millennium door and event security ltd.
claimants Solicitors: Gladstones solicitors Ltd

Date of issue – 09 Aug 2017 .

Particulars of claim –
1. "The driver of the vehicle registration XXXXXXX (the vehicle) incurred the parking charge on 15/11/2016 for breaching the terms of parking on land at Metropole Chambers Swansea SA13RT.

2.The defendant was driving the vehicle and/or is the keeper of the vehicle

3.and the claimant claims £160 for parking charges / damages and indemnity costs if applicable, together with interest of £8.35 pursuant to s69 of the country courts act 1984 at 8% pa, continuing to judgement at £0.04 per day."

What is the value of the claim? total of £243.35

the initial online defence im going to submit tomorrow (pending advice) is

The whole claim is denied in its entirety for a number of reasons which will be expanded upon in my witness statement should this claim be allocated to the small claims track.

1. The defendant was not the driver of the vehicle on the date of the aleged contravention.
2. The claimant is required under schedule 4 of the Protection of freedoms act 2012, to adhere to a number of strict requirements set out within that act in order to transfer liability to the registered keeper and has failed to do so, therefore the defendant is not liable in this matter as he was not the driver and POFA 2012 has not been complied with.
3. The wording of the signage at the location is confusing and contradictory so cannot be said to be a genuine offer to form a contract. The claimant states the claim is for "parking charges" yet at the location there is no tariff of charges to refer to nor any way offered to pay the prescribed fee if it was deemed to be a contract and that the offer was accepted.
4.It is unclear from the Particulars or claim if the claimant seeks to claim from the driver or rely on the POFA 2012 to transfer liability to the keeper. It clearly states in POFA 2012 that the claimants cannot claim for more than is stated in the original notice to keeper, in this case £100.
5. The claimant has made a number of unsubstantiated claims in the courts and are abusing the court process as a method of intimidation or coercion rather than for collecting monies they have proper entitlement to and the defendant invites the court to strike out the claim.

any help / advice / recommendations is much appreciated!

Redx

seems a bit sparse and short

have a look at the thread and posts by loadsofchildren123 and especially the MILLENIUM threads that are about court cases (from this year only , nothing older)

there should be several you can crib from and make sure that all legal arguments go into this defence because you cannot add any other defence points in later on

so this one needs to be as good as it gets, especially when there are several other court claims from this year ahead of yours , and some people took their to court and won in court, see parking pranksters blogs as well

LOC123 is a solicitor so you really need to home in on her posts about millenium

Coupon-mad

the initial online defence im going to submit tomorrow

Why rush, and why so sparse a defence? If your claim form was dated 2 weeks ago you have another fortnight to get this spot on and robust, with all the usual defence points to hang your hat on.

wi3347

Thanks both for the feedback. This seems again where I've been given bad advice. I've been advised to outline a basic defence and then expand upon it at the witness statement after allocation stage, basically to not introduce arguments not mentioned in their particulars of Claim.

Just to clarify, the advice here is to write a full and detailed defence at the first instance when completing the MCOL stage? So isn't there a restriction on how long it can be via MCOL? or would it need to be send via post etc.

I'm still very new to all this. Any dummies guides are appreciated

Thanks!
Regards

nosferatu1001

Yes, you get ONE CHANCE to write a defence, unless you want to pay £255 to amend it later on?

So you have a choice: write a tiny defence now, or a full defence now. I know the choice I would make.

You do what everyone does, obviously. Print, sign, scan and email as PDF. 5 minutes of research on recent defences would have shown that!

Did you miss the NEWBIES thread, post 2, all about small claims?

wi3347

Haven't read the newbies thread as I've been been quite a bit of advice from a different forum. Some of which as turned out to be fatal in a different case from years ago so I'm starting a fresh with this case

nosferatu1001

Read the newbies thread. Its there for a reason. There are two places for info on parking charges on private land, here and pepipoo.

Just write the full defence everyone does on here, that result in about a 90%+ win rate.

Redx

forget the rest and do as we say above, read and follow the NEWBIES sticky thread

put a signed full defence in by pdf attachment to an email to the ccbc

the witness statement(s) and and evidence etc are later on in the process

read the BARGEPOLE posts about the process , he has done this several times and we go by his guides, so should you

ps:- this one lost with a 2 line defence http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5698585 but didnt ask for help on here first

lesson to be learned ?

Loadsofchildren123

Write straight away and ask for a copy of their contract with the landowner to manage the parking on the land.
Their standard form contract is quite odd. It contains a clause that says they can only ticket cars which are reported to them by the landowner as being unauthorised - so you ask them to prove the landowner reported you. They may not produce this now and so this is something you may have to introduce later.
Put a catchall at the end of your defence:
The Defendant has little understanding of the Claim (s)he must meet, given the Claimant's failure to comply with paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c) of the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct and its failure to file sufficiently detailed Particulars of Claim pursuant to CPR Rule 16.4. The Defendant has tried her/his best in this Defence to defend the claim as (s)he understands it, but must in the circumstances reserve his/her right to add to or amend it should the Claimant later particularise it in more appropriate detail.


When you file your defence, the next thing you'll get is a Directions Questionnaire from the court (Gladstones will send you one direct, just ignore that, only pay attention to the one from the court). You need to fill it in (it's an easy form) and when you return it you must write this covering letter:
Dear Sirs
I enclose my completed Directions Questionnaire.
I ask that when directions are made and the file is transferred to my local court, consideration is given to the following:
1. an order that the Claimant properly particularises its claim so that I may understand the claim I must meet, failing which the Claim be struck out
2. that I be permitted to file an Amended Defence once 1 above has been done
3. alternatively that the claim be struck out under CPR Rule 3.4.
I ask the court to take into account the fact that the Claimant has failed to comply with paragraphs 6(a) and 6(c) of the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct, as well as CPR Rule 16.4. As such, I have been put at a significant disadvantage because I have little understanding of the claim I must meet, nor of the basic evidence on which the Claimant will rely to prove its claim (all of which should have been provided pursuant to the above provisions of the CPR).


If the court is not minded to make that order, then when directions are given I ask that there is an order for sequential service of witness evidence (rather than exchange) because I expect that the Claimant will use its witness statement to provide the sort of detail which should have been disclosed to me much earlier, and I should have the opportunity to consider it prior to serving my own evidence.


Yours faithfully etc.

Loadsofchildren123

Where is Metropole Chambers? Is that where their offices are? The same guy who owns Millennium owns Fancy a Rum? and I think this might be the same area, and so you may find they ARE the landowner. It may be worth doing a Land Registry search, it only costs £3 for the title information (and another £3 if you want a plan). Phone Land Reg, they are very helpful and will talk you through how to apply.

wi3347

Redx wrote: »

forget the rest and do as we say above, read and follow the NEWBIES sticky thread

put a signed full defence in by pdf attachment to an email to the ccbc

the witness statement(s) and and evidence etc are later on in the process

read the BARGEPOLE posts about the process , he has done this several times and we go by his guides, so should you

ps:- this one lost with a 2 line defence (quote removed) but didnt ask for help on here first

lesson to be learned ?

Yes, that was me. Following advice I got from CAG i went to court and got an absolute hammering on a case form 2012, pre pofa, no proof of who was the driver. Open and shut case if i filled a decent defence. I was advised to file a 2 line defence and go into detail in my witness statement. Did so. Went to court and found out that was BAD advice, but if you're like me, your first time in court and you're a humble Fireman with no legal background who knows nothing about parking laws you have to put your trust in people who seem to know what they are talking about. With CAG that proved fatal to my case.

That being said, the judge was extremely difficult and a few things I did have correct, he also disallowed or got wrong. Such as their advocate having no rights of audience which i challenged correctly, he chose to allow her to speak. The fact they didnt reply to my CPR request he said they were under no obligation to. There was a catalogue of errors.

and breathe.

onwards and upwards with some better advice this time around!