Urgent help please!

Mattdab

So, I will start in the beginning.

I went to a local private multi-storey car park in hope of finding a space... loads of traffic and took me a while to get in, up through and around the 2 floors and back out to find somewhere else as there was no space available.
This was 21/08/2018

Had a PCN come through a while after, before doing any research I just ignored it thinking “well I didn’t actually park so F@#k you” the car park has ANPR and I believe the time in and time out was around 16minutes, can’t recall entirely!

Had two other letters since from Trace and BW legal and just ignored them thinking it’ll go away.

Today I have received a Claim Form for
“county court business centre
4th floor st Katherine’s house
21-27 st Katherine’s street
Northampton
Nn1 2lh”

For a total amount of £242.40
(Amount claimed £167.40, court fee £25, legal rep costs £50)

I’ve tried looking through some posts but it’s all too deep and with 3 toddlers under 3 running round it’s not quite so simple to actually find an answer!

I’m thinking I shouldn’t have ignored everything, but, what’s done is done.

What should I do now? I have never contacted any of the companies involved or tried to appeal, I havent acknowledged anything.
Please help as I cannot get a CCJ and am between a rock and a hard place

Where should I go from here and what’s the best action to take?
Thanks

Umkomaas

How to deal with a potential court case is detailed, step by step, in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #2. Far better to read that post than randomly selected threads around the forum.

But you will need to devote a good deal of time to read and understand it, then to undertake the tasks involved. Best when the babes are asleep.

Mahone1302

As above read the newbies thread as it makes it much clearer. I know how it is with 3 kids, so wait until they're in bed and put a side an hour tonight if you can to get your head around it. You're right that ignoring it wasn't the best idea but you may have ended up at this stage regardless.

This is likely to be easily defended and won so don't worry yourself.

Mattdab

So I have found the original PCN letter and I was there from 14:52:02 until 15:07:14.
15 minutes and 12 seconds! And now they want £242.40

I have looked at the newbies thread but most of the information is for appealing upto the LBC, which for me has been and gone, it states in my claim form I have 14 days,
Is it too late for a SAR?
It’s too late for any kind of appeal so
Should I simply type a defence and email it to somewhere?

I’m half tempted to just pay because I simply don’t have the time to do anything else!

Umkomaas

I have looked at the newbies thread but most of the information is for appealing upto the LBC,

That's post #1 of the sticky. You need to move on to post #2. There's a very helpful pictorial run through of how to deal with this.

Is it too late for a SAR?

No it's not. You're unlikely to have a response to it in time for your defence (so you mustn't unnecessarily delay that waiting for a response), but you should have it in time for your Witness Statement (much more useful to you at that stage) which comes in further down the line, well after your defence.

Should I simply type a defence and email it to somewhere?

Simplistically speaking, yes. But it ain't quite that easy! But do learn from the sticky.

I’m half tempted to just pay because I simply don’t have the time to do anything else!

If you've that sort of money to pay off scammers threatening you with court, then that choice is yours. But even if you did go to court and you lost, the court would not order you to pay them that much - more like £175.

But if you are going to pay the scammers so they can perpetuate the scam, please warn us early enough so we don't waste our time over a futility.

Anyway - you haven't even told us which parking company is pursuing you.

Mattdab

I will have another search and look through the post 2 you refer to.

I do not want to pay them but I also don’t have much time to type a letter of defence and I know for a fact I wouldn’t be able to attend a court around kids/work.

The original letter is from NCP for the Hinckley Britannia shopping centre

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on your Claim Form?

Did it come from the County Court Business Centre in Northampton, or from somewhere else?

Mattdab

The issue date is 22 Feb 19

Yes it came from there, is this the usual premise?

Coupon-mad

Yes, same as all the rest.

Show us your draft defence now you've realised it's only post #2 pf the NEWBIES trad you need to read. The one all about how to win by defending a claim.

KeithP

Mattdab wrote: »

The issue date is 22 Feb 19

Yes it came from there, is this the usual premise?

Yes, by far the most common.

With a Claim Issue Date of 22nd February, you have until Wednesday 13th March to do the Acknowledgement of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To do the AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox link from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread. About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having done the AoS, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 27th March 2019 to file your Defence.

That's over a month away. Loads of time to produce a perfect Defence, but don't leave it to the very last minute.


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 the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

Mattdab

Thankyou for the link to the correct page,
I have done the AoS, and will try to make a defence over the next week,
Is there a guide to writing a defence?
Please forgive my ignorance, I’m just rather useless at this kind of thing!

Thanks