County Court claim advice!

Coupon-mad

Gizmo2 wrote: »

IN THE COUNTY COURT BUSINESS CENTRE

CLAIM No: ********

BETWEEN

VEHICLE CONTROL SERVICES LIMITED

(Claimant)

-and-

(Defendant)

__________

DEFENCE

1. I am________, the Defendant in this matter, registered keeper of vehicle
*******.

2. The claim is denied in its entirety.

3. The Defendant denies any abuse of the parking facilities or in fact any breach.

4. The Particulars of Claim lack specificity and are embarrassing. The Defendant is
prejudiced and is unable to prepare a full and complete Defence. The Defendant reserves
the right to seek from the Court permission to serve an Amended Defence should the
Claimant add to or expand their Particulars at a later stage of these proceedings and/or to
limit the Claimant only to the unevidenced allegations in the Particulars.

5. The Particulars of Claim fail to refer to the material terms of any contract and the
Defendant questions that they comply with CPR 16 and 22, in respect of statements of
case, and the relevant practice direction in respect of claims formed by contract or
conduct.

6. The Claimant failed to meet the Notice to Keeper obligations of Schedule 4 of the
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA). By not serving a notice containing statutory
text (or) within the required time period, the Claimant is unable to hold the Defendant
liable under the strict ‘keeper liability’ provisions.

7. Schedule 4 of POFA, Sections 4.5 and 4.6, also states that the only sum a keeper can be
pursued for is the amount stated on the Notice to Keeper (“NTK”), in this case £100.

[FONT=&quot]8. It is an abuse of process for the Claimant to issue a knowingly inflated claim that it is not entitled to recover. The acid test is whether the conduct permits of a reasonable explanation, but the Defendant avers it cannot. Claims such as this have recently been struck out by County Courts for reasons of: ''Substantial charge additional to the parking charge. Additional charge not recoverable under the POFA, Pre-action Protocol and CPRs...abuse of process.''

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9. Signage in place was not prevalent and not brought to the attention of motorists
sufficiently as to comply with the code of practice of the Claimant’s accredited trade
association.

10. This case can be distinguished from ParkingEye v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 (the Beavis
case) which was dependent upon an undenied contract, formed by unusually prominent
signage forming a clear offer and which turned on unique facts regarding the location and
the interests of the landowner.

11. The Defendant questions that the Claimant has authority to bring this claim. The proper
Claimant is the landowner. Strict proof is required that there is a chain of contracts
leading from the landowner to Vehicle Control Services Limited and that Vehicle Control
Services Limited have the locus standi to bring this matter to court.

[FONT=&quot]12. It is submitted that the conduct of the Claimant in pursuing this claim is wholly unreasonable and vexatious. As such, the Defendant is keeping careful note of all wasted time/costs in dealing with this matter and should the case continue to trial, the Defendant will seek further costs, pursuant to Civil Procedure Rule 27.14(2)(g).[/FONT]

13. For all of the reasons stated above the Defendant asks that the learned judge utilise the
discretionary powers of case management and strike out this claim as vexatious and
frivolous.

STATEMENT OF TRUTH

I believe that the facts contained in this Defence are true.
Name: ……………….....…….……………………………..
Signed: ………………………………….………………….
Date: …………………...….……………………………….
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[FONT=&quot]Thanks
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Defence was submitted as above, just so we can all see it on this page.

Gizmo2

Thanks. On the questionnaire, should I tick yes or no to agreeing that I think it is should go to the courts? And if no what should I say in the box? Thanks

KeithP

Gizmo2 wrote: »

Thanks. On the questionnaire, should I tick yes or no to agreeing that I think it is should go to the courts? And if no what should I say in the box? Thanks

That question simply is not there.

Read it again. Attention to detail is important at this 'business end'.

As you said yesterday:

Gizmo2 wrote: »

I feel its getting pretty serious now...

Bargepole's 'what happens when' post linked from the NEWBIES thread tells you exactly how to answer all the questions on the Directions Questionnaire.

Coupon-mad

Gizmo2 wrote: »

Thanks. On the questionnaire, should I tick yes or no to agreeing that I think it is should go to the courts? And if no what should I say in the box? Thanks

We can't deal with this basic stuff (too busy, sorry). Please refer to the NEWBIES thread and bargepole's post about Court Procedure.

We can't have anyone coming back with basic queries about exact same forms. Sorry!

Gizmo2

I didn't realize, sorry. All done now.
One step closer to Court 😱

Gizmo2

Hello again. So looks like I'm going to court!!! Gulp! Got my witness statement documents though the post today from VCS I have to send in mine by the 1st July. Court day is 16th July. Really nervous now! Think I've already lost this!

nosferatu1001

Don't think that!
You've seen by now the dozens of cases VCS have cocked up, yes?

Show us your WS and evidence.

KeithP

Gizmo2 wrote: »

Really nervous now!

Have you seen this video?...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n93eoaxhzpU

Coupon-mad

Gizmo2 wrote: »

Hello again. So looks like I'm going to court!!! Gulp! Got my witness statement documents though the post today from VCS I have to send in mine by the 1st July. Court day is 16th July. Really nervous now! Think I've already lost this!

Why?

I suspect because they sent the same bundle ripped apart on umpteen VCS threads, a template, yet you haven't yet searched & realised that it's not specific to your case and is all rebuttable, and has been done so many times already...

Please for your own sake, search the forum for an unusual name from some case law they cite. All will be revealed.

Gizmo2

Hello,


I understand that this is a robo claim, and a template.

I really don't know how to write my defence. I've been sent one from someone on a fb group that I need to tweak and add my own relevant information too as well as combine it with one that I have read on the newbies thread. But. I'm really overwhelmed and I've never been any good at writing so i'm struggling to even get my head into gear to do it. I'm sat here now wondering what I'm going to do.....:(