Moorgate Retail Park, Bury - Defence

Sparky969

Hi everyone.

I have received County Court Claim Form with respects to a 15mins overstay at a free Parking Eye site at Moorgate Retail Park, Bury.

Submitted acknowledgment of service and now need a defence.

So far I've been trying the Ostrich approach, I know bad move, so no appeals or correspondence with Parking Eye.

Upon entry to the site KFC is not listed as part of Moorgate Retail on the signage, and I was going to argue that.. But having now found this forum I am overwhelmed with info and not sure what I should use.

Here's something I've thrown together for the MCOL defence (yes the formatting will be off but I'm on a phone and don't have time to send by post, bad move I know)

I submit the reasons below to show that I am not liable for the parking charge:
1. The operator has not shown that the individual who it is pursuing is in fact liable for the charge
2. ANPR Accuracy and Compliance
3. No Contract was entered into between the ParkingEye and the Driver or Registered keeper
4. The car park had unclear, non-obvious signage leading to the driver not being aware that a parking contract was being offered at the time.
5. The signs in this car park are not prominent, clear or legible from all parking spaces and there is insufficient notice of the sum of the parking charge itself .
6. No evidence of Landowner Authority
7. The alleged overstay of 15 minutes refers to time parked, while time stamps are taken at the entrance and exits to the carpark and does not take into account time taken to find a space and exit the busy,! traffic light controlled junction where the exit is situated.
8. Letter Before Claim not compliant with Practice Directive -
i. Appropriate Alternative Dispute Resolution not offered.
ii. Charges are presumed punitive as no evidence of loss or calculation of charges provided by claimant.
iii. Claimant has not indicated which essential documents it intends to rely on to prove its claim.

Sorry in advance for formatting and yes I have read the newbie threads but as I said I'm at information overload right now.

Be gentle and any help or direction would be great!

Thanks.

KeithP

What is the date of issue on your claim form?

Castle

Did you use the KFC?

KeithP

Really best not to use MCOL for filing your Defence.

When you are happy with the content, the Defence should be filed via email as described here:

1) Print the Defence.
2) Sign it and date it.
3) Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
4) Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
5) Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
6) Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not, you son should chase the CCBC until it is.
7) Wait for the Directions Questionnaire and come back here.


But if you are trying to do all this on a phone, forget that.

Good luck.

Sparky969

29th June.

Sparky969

Yes I used the KFC but don't have a receipt. Will see if it's on a bank statement.

Sparky969

Thanks KeithP, duly noted, though I fear formatting is the least of my worries!

KeithP

If the Date of Issue on your Claim Form was 29th June and you did the AoS in a timely manner then the deadline for filing your Defence was Wednesday 1st August - a week ago.

Since 1st August the Claimant has been able to apply for a Default Judgment against you.

Maybe you should check MCOL now to see if that Default Judgment had been granted.

If it hasn't then I would definitely be filing your Defence, via email, tonight.

Sparky969

Ahh.

I thought I had until tomorrow.

A default judgement has not yet been granted.

Would it not be better to use MCOL to guarantee it registers on the court's end ASAP?

KeithP

Nothing will happen at the court end overnight.

Why upset a judge by throwing a poorly formatted document at him?

Please note: I am not saying whether or not your Defence is any good.
I would suggest you wait until later this evening to see if you get any opinions on that.