Small Claims Court Letter - N.Ireland.

Coupon-mad

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/small-claims-process

For a free copy of the 'Understanding the Small Claims Court' leaflet contact the Consumer Council on 0800 121 6022

http://www.consumercouncil.org.uk/

Yours is a first, on the forums. Read up on the procedure as a Defendant. And study the paperwork you've been sent. It will tell you how to acknowledge and defend, and your deadlines.

MercurialNo.10

So I can dispute the claim in under 2000 words (online...happy days!), any advice on wording or just respond to the information in the claim statement?

It would appear they're hoping I ignore everything so a decree is issued in absentia...not going to happen!

The_Slithy_Tove

MercurialNo.10 wrote: »

I did not breach any inferred contract with Car Park Services Ltd. as I did not park in X Car Park, furthermore, I did not receive any Parking Charge Notices and did not respond to any communication from Car Park Services, as I WAS NOT the driver of the vehicle and am therefore not liable for any such invoice(s).

No. That is not a sufficient defence. Start with the Newbies thread. Check out the bit about court claims. Go from there and find examples on the forum of other defences, and base yours on them. Don't forget to say that there is no keeper liability. But you must throw the kitchen sink at it; don't rely on just one point.

P.S. See also this thread, which is another NI one in just a couple of days from the same outfit. Seems they're chancing their arm.

MercurialNo.10

Isn't the keeper liability point THE point (Northern Ireland)?

I can't seem to see anything similar to this for the wording to dispute a small claim via the Courts in the Newbies thread...hence this thread.

Edit: Just reading that other thread. Thanks.

MercurialNo.10

Isn't disputing the claim and defending the case 2 different things? This is a response to the first stage of the small courts process.

Can admit liability, dispute, counterclaim etc.

Umkomaas

You are just the registered keeper, and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which provides the opportunity to pass liability to the keeper, absent knowing who the driver was, only applies in England and Wales.

The basis on which they are attempting to hold you liable needs to be flushed out.

There's another identical/similar case to yours which emerged on the forum a couple of days ago:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74830500#Comment_74830500

You should PM the OP, compare notes, work on your strategies, keep in touch with each other's progress as well as keeping in touch with the forum.

Are you able to scan/photograph the paperwork (suitably redacted) and host it on a free hosting site for us to have a closer look at - this is uncharted water for us right now, so seeing exactly what they are sending out will help us give you best advice.

HOW TO UPLOAD LINKS TO PHOTOS/SCANS TO MSE

To upload a photo/scan link, you first need to host it on a free photo hosting site (like Dropbox, Imurg or Tinypic), copy the URL, paste it here, but change the http to hxxp and we'll do the conversion. Newbies can't directly upload links to photos/scans until they've a few posts under their belt.

MercurialNo.10

The claim statement on their part (from the claim lodged with small claims court) is posted above (Pretty much verbatim), this is what I've to answer to/dispute.

I can scan things, what would you like to see?

Umkomaas

I can scan things, what would you like to see?

The original parking tickets, the postal notices covering the PCNs, any reminder letters, any official 'Letter Before Claim' and finally the Court Claim form - all suitably redacted of your name/address, the VRM, PCN ref numbers, any bar code, anything you think might identify you.

The_Slithy_Tove

MercurialNo.10 wrote: »

The claim statement ... is posted above (Pretty much verbatim).

Sorry to be picky, but "pretty much" verbatim is not good enough. We need the FULL and EXACT wording in order to get the response right. Too many people paraphrase what is said in correspondence and thus omit important detail or change the meaning altogether. In the legal world, a word changed or omitted here or there can make all the difference.

MercurialNo.10

Ticket Example
docdro.id/jiGMAgn

Court Statement
docdro.id/0DgKCHJ

(Can't post links yet so you'll need to do the obvious...with an added s after the htt p!)