County court claim defense

jeeves93

Hi

Ive received a county court claim form dated November 8th for a parking ticket from UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT. They are using Gladstones as their solicitor. I have already done the acknowledgment and now have until tomorrow to come up with a defense. I understand this is quite last minute, I received the claim form a few days ago due to me moving address and luckily spotted the letter in time to do the AOS when I went back to old address. The PCN was from last year June. I ignored the first few letters, following advice from my driving instructor and information I found on the internet. I then moved house and so didn't receive any of the correspondence after. should have done more to look into the situation i admit, I just continued my life assuming it wasn't ever going to get this far and forgot about it.

the situation was as follows:

I parked in a bay opposite my allocated parking space as there was someone in my spot. this was over night as when i came back i had a ticket. i have not sent a SAR to UKCPM. there was a sign in the surrounding area but it was broken and damaged. also it was not very clear to see at night. I have a picture of it but does not clearly show the writing on the sign.

I have read the newbie forum and have had a look at a few defense examples, but Im honestly stuck on what to include in my own defense. Poor signage is an obvious one, if anyone could offer any assistance on this it would be greatly appreciated

Redx

start with the BARGEPOLE concise defence and expand it a bit

or look for other gladrags + UK CPM court case threads and copy one of theirs, adapting it to suit your own case, this must be emailed (once completed and signed)

have you definitely done the AOS ? and if so what is the DATE OF ISSUE on the claim form ?, plus what are the POC details ?

ps:- this may seem pedantic but there is no S in DEFENCE , so dont use it again, especially not in your court papers

Umkomaas

You need to get at least something off based on other defences, particularly UKCPM winning residential ones.

How you can even contemplate getting detailed advice in the space of a few hours for a process you are provided 4 weeks to deal with, is beyond any likelihood.

We provide good advice on beating parking tickets at base level. There are extremely few advisors (3 or 4 - none of whom have been around for the past few days) providing assistance at court level. I can't see any miracle happening overnight for you. Sorry.

jeeves93

Redx wrote: »

start with the BARGEPOLE concise defence and expand it a bit

or look for other gladrags + UK CPM court case threads and copy one of theirs, adapting it to suit your own case, this must be emailed (once completed and signed)

have you definitely done the AOS ? and if so what is the DATE OF ISSUE on the claim form ?, plus what are the POC details ?

ps:- this may seem pedantic but there is no S in DEFENCE , so dont use it again, especially not in your court papers

Hello! and thank you for your reply

the DATE OF ISSUE was on 8th november

PoC details: the driver of the vehicle registration incurred the parking charge(s) 0n xx/xx/xxx for breaching the terms of parking on the land at xxx. the defendant was driving the vehicle and/ or is the keeper of the vehicle.
the CLAIMENT CLAIMS £160 for parking charges/ damages and indemnity costs if applicable, together with interest of £15 pursuant to s69 of the county courts act 1984 at 8% pa

thank you for the suggestions will have a look now! also thanks for the heads up about defence , I let my computer do spell check and its American

KeithP

jeeves93 wrote: »

I've received a county court claim form dated November 8th

Hopefully you did the AoS before 27th November.

With a Claim Issue Date of 8th November and having done the AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 11th December 2018 to file your Defence.

That's tomorrow!!


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

Print your Defence.
1. Sign it and date it.
   
2. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
3. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
   
4. 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'.
   
5. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put you under pressure.
   
7. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of [URL="https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread[/URL] to find out exactly what to do with it.

jeeves93

Umkomaas wrote: »

You need to get at least something off based on other defences, particularly UKCPM winning residential ones.

How you can even contemplate getting detailed advice in the space of a few hours for a process you are provided 4 weeks to deal with, is beyond any likelihood.

We provide good advice on beating parking tickets at base level. There are extremely few advisors (3 or 4 - none of whom have been around for the past few days) providing assistance at court level. I can't see any miracle happening overnight for you. Sorry.

no worries, thanks for your reply

Redx

change your keyboard to UK then, because you must be in the UK to have received this paperwork


why would anyone set it to USA and have various keys transposed and an american spellchecker ? beggars belief

jeeves93

Redx wrote: »

change your keyboard to UK then, because you must be in the UK to have received this paperwork


why would anyone set it to USA and have various keys transposed and an american spellchecker ? beggars belief

LOL its an American laptop mate. the keys have been changed to UK, the spell check has not unfortunately

Redx

jeeves93 wrote: »

LOL its an American laptop mate. the keys have been changed to UK, the spell check has not unfortunately

lol , in that case learn to spell DEFENCE with a C and adjust the spellchecker accordingly

jeeves93

Thanks for the quick replies everyone

I have used a defence example by bargepole and tweaked it a bit to what I believe suits my situation. Please provide any recommendations and suggestions if any, will be greatly appreciated!

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: xxxxxxxxxx

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

xxxxxxxxxxxx (Defendant)

________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle(s). These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

4. Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

5. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the claimant's signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. The signage in the area is damaged, making it near impossible to read any of the terms of agreement from a passing vehicle.

6. The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle, and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would be unable to do so easily. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract.

7. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.


8. In summary, the Claimant's particulars disclose no legal basis for the sum claimed, and the Court is invited to dismiss the claim in its entirety.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

Name
Signature
Date

jeeves93

I actually have an image of the damaged sign that was in the area. I'm not sure if it can be used as evidence though as the writing can not be read on the sign due to it being relatively far away. the image was also taken around a month after the fine was issued.


I have also changed around my defence:

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: xxxxxxxxxx

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

xxxxxxxxxxxx (Defendant)

________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2. It is denied that the claimant's signage sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. The signage in the area is severely damaged, making it near impossible to read any of the terms of agreement, especially from a passing vehicle.

3. The terms on the Claimant's signage are also displayed in a font which is too small to be read from a passing vehicle, and is in such a position that anyone attempting to read the tiny font would be unable to do so easily. It is, therefore, denied that the Claimant's signage is capable of creating a legally binding contract.

4. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle(s). These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

5. Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

6. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

7. The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred £60 costs to pursue an alleged £100 debt. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, in Schedule 4, Para 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £100.

8. In summary, the Claimant's particulars disclose no legal basis for the sum claimed, and the Court is invited to dismiss the claim in its entirety.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

Name
Signature
Date

please let me know if anything should be changed
thanks for the help