Second county court claim form from gladstones!

Bama88

Yes, correct on all points 👍🏼

Bama88

The only day I have off to work on my defence is Sunday, any advice before then will be greatly appreciated.

Bama88

I don't seem to be getting much response on this post, have I don't something wrong? It was my first post so I'm thinking maybe I've messed it up somehow?

Redx

no you have not messed up

your issues are legal ones so very few people can answer and we gets dozens of posts per day on here, so yours has slipped down the pages and been lost

I certainly would not be able to answer your questions, many others wouldnt either

[Deleted User]

You've been advised on the defence available.

You're going to admit being keeper of the car but deny that it was parked in Watford on the material date.

You're going to put them to proof that they were entitled to issue tickets at the address in question, which is 'The relevant land' for the purposes of POFA 2012 and any claim brought against you under that act as keeper.

I suggest you draft it and then we can review. You will need to take parts of various template defences. I'm afraid I can rarely do bespoke pleadings on this forum with my work commitments.

If you're drafting Sunday, when does the defence have to be filed?

Bama88

Hi everyone,

I have been so stressed with all this and pressure at work that I've only now managed to finish my defence. It has to be sent by Monday. I know this is short notice but I wonder if anyone could look over it for me? Thanks in advance.

In the

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County Court Case No

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Between - UK Car Parking Management (Claimant) and

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/ (Defendant)

Defence

I am

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, the defendant in this matter, I currently reside at

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.
Save as specifically admitted in this defence, the defendant denies each and every allegation set out in the particulars of claim.
It is admitted that the defendant is the registered keeper of the vehicle in question. However, the claimant has no cause for action against the defendant on the following grounds.

(1) I could not knowingly have entered into any such ‘contract’ as there was no signage stating there would be a penalty charge of any kind for parking. Please see attached photographs taken by me shortly after this alleged offence occurred. These picture’s clearly show that the surrounding areas have no signs stating any kind of penalty charge.
(2) The land in question is not an actual car park, nor does it belong to any business, so it cannot be argued that any financial loss to any business or person could have arisen from parking there. It seems these PCN’s were being given for parking in certain spaces and not others with no reason given for this or any warning in the form of signage.
(3) I have never been supplied with any confirmation from the claimant or their agents that they actually own or have a contract with the land owner of the land in question, which would allow them to issue penalty tickets.
(4) The information in the particulars of claim is incorrect. It states that the offence occured on

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. I can easily prove that my car was parked at my place of work on __________on that day. I have in fact never even been to _______. The very poor quality picture provided on the PCN in fact shows my car parked where I am to ‘assume’ the actual ‘alleged’ offence occurred on Curran Road, Cardiff.
(4a) This kind of error just highlights the incompetent way in which the claimant’s solicitor’s operate. The claimant’s solicitors are known to be a serial issuer of generic claims similar to this one, with no due diligence, no scrutiny of details, nor even checking for a true cause of action.
HMCS have identified over a 1000 similar, poorly produced claims and the solicitor’s conduct in many of these cases is believed to currently be the subject of an investigation by the SRA.
I believe the term for such conduct is ‘robo-claims’ which is against public interest and demonstrates a disregard for the dignity of the court and is unfair on
unrepresented consumers.
It also concerns me that the people that own this firm of ‘solicitors’ are the same people who own the International Parking community (IPC).Surely this constitutes a significant conflict of interest.

(5) Unfair and unreasonable charge and unnecessary added costs by the claimant’s solicitors. The claimant has added unrecoverable sums to the original parking charge. It is believed the employee who drew up the paperwork is remunerated and the particulars of claim are templates, so it is simply not credible that £50 ‘legal representative’s or even admin costs were incurred. The claimants should also explain how and why they think £150 is fair and reasonable charge.
(6) This case can be distinguished from the ParkingEye vs Beavis 2015 case which was dependent upon an un-denied contract, formed by prominent signage forming a clear contract/offer. Strict compliance with the BPA Code if Practice (CoP) was paramount and Mr Beavis was the driver who saw the signs and entered into a contract to pay £85 after exceeding a licence to park free. Based upon the very vague and incorrect particulars of claim and complete lack of evidence and photographs and without being furnished with the alleged signage contract, none of this applies in this case.
(7) Due to the lack of adequate signage, this is an unfair contract, not agreed by the driver and contrary to the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
(8) Given that the claimant is in significant breach of the pre-action protocol, I ask that this claim is struck out pursuant to CPR Part 3.4. The court may of course make such an order of its own volition, by exercising its inherent case management powers under CPR Part1.4 (2)(c) and Practice Direction 26, paragraph 5.1.
If the court does not wish to make an order under Part 1.4(2)(c) it has the power to treat this letter as an application and dispense with the requirement for me to file a formal application – this power is contained in CPR Part 23.3(2)(b). I invite the court to take this step without putting me – a Litigant in Person significantly disadvantaged by a firm of solicitors – to the time, trouble and cost of a formal application.
I would point out that this matter has already cost me much distress and impacted my work and finances already due to the time it has taken to research and compile this defence.
(9) The claimant has not complied with pre-court protocol (as outlined in the new Pre Action Protocol for Debt Claims, 1 October 2017).
(10) In the absence of any proof of adequate signage that contractually bound the defendant then there can have been no contract and the claimant has no case.

I believe that the facts contained in this Defence Statement are true.

Signed –

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KeithP

Aren't points (1), (7) and (10) the same?
I think you need to expand far more on the inadequate signage issue, but pictures of signs, as mentioned in (1), belong in your witness statement.

More meat is required in point (9).
Perhaps as seen here: forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=73348467&postcount=1


Have a look at this UKCPM defence linked from post#2 or the NEWBIES thread:

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=73052391&postcount=11

Bama88

Thank you so much KeithP, you've been very helpful. I'm sending this through online and the deadline is Monday. Do you know if that means by midnight tomorrow or maybe close of business Monday? Also do I send my photographs through with the defence?

KeithP

Bama88 wrote: »

Thank you so much KeithP, you've been very helpful. I'm sending this through online and the deadline is Monday. Do you know if that means by midnight tomorrow or maybe close of business Monday? Also do I send my photographs through with the defence?

It means by 4pm on Monday.

Photos have no place in a defence statement. As I said, they are for your witness statement - a later stage.

I hope you've read the appropriate section of post#2 of the NEWBIES thread where it describes how to submit a defence statement.
I.e. print it, sign it, scan back in as a pdf and send it as an email attachment.

There is good guidance too in the NEWBIES thread about layout, spacing, font. The idea being to make it look nice so that the judge is on your side from the start.

Bama88

Yes, I read that I need to scan it as a pdf, I haven't found the site the easiest to navigate, I've read the newbies thread but I couldn't find some of the bits people have mentioned, such as the post by bargepole? If I have until 4pm Monday, I will scan it in work on Monday as it's easier. I'm glad you said or I'd have sent my pictures through as well.