Parking fine Parking Eye

sash0809

Apologies everyone if this seems to be a repeat of few of the older issues,
I seem to have made a big mistake. I did the Acknowledge of service of a court claim for overstaying in a shopping car park which i honestly thought had no restrictions( The signs were there). I foolishly thought that i will be receiving a separate letter or email to fill in my defence which i was going to make after looking at similar cases on this forum instead of putting it down on the Acknowledge of Service.
I am fuming at the thought of handing over my hard earned money to these grubby greedy companies.
Is everything lost or is there still time to conjure up a defence and fight my case.
Please help

Umkomaas

What was the Issue Date on the court Claim Form document (top r/h side)?

sash0809

14.05.18.
Still within 28 days

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

Quentin

You look to have misunderstood what AOS means.

Assuming that you simply completed the AOS and made no defence when submitting it then you now get your defence in before the 28 day deadline.

sash0809

I have been trying to login onto the MCOL site but it keeps on telling me that the claim no or the password is incorrect

Quentin

Is your defence ready?

If so post it here for comments before sending it

sash0809

Just a draft saying that a couple of customer parking signs just before the entrance made no mention of the time limits in force. We were with a 3 month baby and a 5 year old at the time of the alleged incident. Not sure if that would help. We had something to eat and did some shopping.

Quentin

Read up #2 in the Newbies FAQ thread which covers Court claims and how to prepare a defence.

Then post it up here for comments.

(Was receipt of your AOS acknowledged by the Court Office?)

sash0809

Have not received any acknowledgment from the court as yet.

Coupon-mad

You do not get an acknowledgement from the court at this stage, they are expecting your defence within 28 days. You have time, as long as you are sure you submitted the AOS online as per the walk-through pictures of the screens, in the NEWBIES thread.

Your bigger problem is this:

overstaying in a shopping car park which i honestly thought had no restrictions

Sounds exactly like ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis.

Unless someone in the car was disabled and needed more time by law (the Equality Act) you actually have - probably - no arguable defence. Your best bet IMHO might be to:

- complain strongly to the retail park next week, visit personally all the shops you used and ask them to email PE asking them to cancel. ALL STORES have that route available and you should have done that when the PCN arrived, it would have been cancelled!

- email PE and tell them that you have the support of the shops and were a genuine patron, email copies of receipts or bank statement if available, and offer £30 to settle.

When lobbied like that and contacted by retailers, PE will settle - but for £60 or so. Hence why you robustly start the ball rolling by offering £30. Head the email to ParkingEye: 'without prejudice, save as to costs - offer re Claim number xxxxx'

Email addy:

enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk

HTH - sorry but that's my opinion. Should have complained at the time.