Help writing court case defence

royal600

Good afternoon all.
I will keep this short.
UKCPM, followed by DRP, Gladstones and now County court business centre. (£60, up to £254.87 now) I have logged on and followed the previous guidance, and now need to file my defence.

Change of vehicle and address has meant along with ignoring most of the letters, other than tell to notify them of my change of address, (did not want a CCJ for previous address) I have not spoken to the companies.

1. No ticket left on vehicle, parking offence 6/07/17, notice to keeper issued 21/07/17 (second class post). This is over 14 days PoF act 2012 Schedule 4 line 9-5.

2. Driver has written permission from the landowner to park at the address on this date (too much time has passed for him to cancel the PCN).

3. Driver was parked for 15 minutes to fix a boiler (low pressure, took them longer to walk to house than to top the combi boiler up with pressure).

4. Picture of van shows it in complete isolation (could have been taken anywhere), with a separate blurry picture of a parking sign taken away from vehicle.

5. Land is split in two, with graffiti on the wall with house numbers stating who can park in some areas. Very confusing.

Should I include all of the above in my defence, and if so should it just be on a word document with these points numbered?

royal600

The owner charged residence £50 per month to park on this land.
No loss of earnings was incurred, especially as permission was gained.

Redx

see the examples of defences listed in post #2 of the NEWBIES sticky thread

post the DATE OF ISSUE of the claim form below too

yes do a numbered defence, like the BARGEPOLE ones, if in doubt start with his concise defence and add in a point or two about the facts of the case/contravention/why they are not liable.

And a point about no landowner authority as seen in other defences.

make sure you address and rebut their POC listed on that form too

then post the draft below for critique

save any "story" for the WS later, plus get a signed and dated WS from the parties involved , like the landowner too

royal600

Date of issue: 22nd Feb 2019.
I will get my defence together and post of your comments.
Thank you.

KeithP

royal600 wrote: »

Date of issue: 22nd Feb 2019.

royal600 wrote: »

I have logged on and followed the previous guidance...

I wonder if that means you have done the Acknowledgement of Service?


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 nearly three weeks 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.

royal600

Perfect. Thank you.
I have completed the AoS.
Putting my defence together now.

royal600

Draft 1 of my defence.
Could you take a look and pass judgment please.

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: XXXXX

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

XxXXXxx (Defendant)

________________________________________
DEFENCE
________________________________________

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

2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration xxXXXX, of which the Defendant was the registered keeper at the time, was parked on the material date, with permission of the landowner, attending a property to conduct a boiler break down, and was parked for 15 minutes. The defendant has a letter from the landowner stating permission was given for the 6th July 2017.

3. No NTK was placed on the windscreen of the vehicle, if it was then a written note would have been seen, with the contact details of the defendant, and that permission had been obtained.


4. The breaches of Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA)

a. Schedule 4 Para 7 (2) & 8: No time period was recorded on the parking charge notice.
b. Schedule 4 para 7 (4): No notice was received before the vehicle left the site.
c. Schedule 4 para 9 (5): The notice to keeper was not received within the required 14 day timeframe (offence date day zero).

5. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant XXXXXX; was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle; XXXX. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 single sign which a photo is taken of is unclear, does not indicate the boundaries of the separately owned piece of land (both of which the defendant has permission to park on).

8. 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. The sign pictured in the claim appears to be on a separate area of the car park to which the vehicle was parked.

9. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the lan
ation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

Le_Kirk

9. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the lan
ation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

Not sure what that was supposed to be!

Requires a statement of truth at the bottom, otherwise, my non-lawyerly eye sees that as good as it takes the essence of concisely written Bargepole-like defences.

KeithP

The sign pictured in the claim appears to be on a separate area of the car park to which the vehicle was parked.

How about changing that sentence to something like:

The sign pictured in the Parking Charge Notice is not in the area of the car park where the vehicle was parked.