Claim form received - Excel parking - help!!

Livelifelove89

First off I'm sorry to have to post a new thread on here (after reading a few posts i can see that this frustrates people) but i cant seem to find anything similar to my situation.

I first received a parking charge notice through the post 46days after the alleged offence, a 22 minute overstay in a supermarket carpark that is free for 2hours. After reading through posts online i was under the impression that the firm (excel parking) had 14 days in which to contact the suspected registered keeper of the vechile after immediately getting the drivers details from dvla. This obviously wasnt the case so i ignored their letters (looking back, this wasnt a good idea). Moving on to now, 17/7/19, i received a claim form from the county court business centre. Excel are asking for £185 and i'm really not sure what i should do now.

Through looking at others posts i think i need to fill in the defence and counterclaim form and send it off but do i even have a defence? Was i right it thinking they had a certain time frame in which to contact me in which they failed to do?

I'm really sorry again but I'm panicking as I'm not very law savy and the threads overwhelm me.

KeithP

Hi and welcome.

You say you received a Claim Form on 17/7/19, but what is the Issue Date on that Claim Form?

You should be using post #2 of the NEWBIES thread to guide you through this.

Quentin

First edit your post to remove details of who was driving

Then spend some time learning about this in the newbies FAQ thread near the top of the forum

Post #2 there covers Court claims right through to the hearing

Together with details of what to do and when to do it

You will see submitting your AOS will be your first job. A walkthrough takes you through that.

Doing that buys you a total of 28 days from the date of service to get your defence submitted

Egbert_Nobacon

You should have complained to the supermarket when you received the PCN.

As you received the PCN through the post I am assuming you were caught on ANPR and there was no windscreen ticket.
If this is correct please post the date of the alleged transgression and the date the PCN was issued.

Have you photos of the signs - do they state Excel or VCS as the operator ?

It is important not to reveal the identity of the driver.

Coupon-mad

received a claim form from the county court business centre. Excel are asking for £185 and i'm really not sure what i should do now.

Through looking at others posts i think i need to fill in the defence and counterclaim form and send it off

Wrong.

You haven't read the NEWBIES thread post #2 about court procedure yet!

beamerguy

Excel are asking for £185 and i'm really not sure what i should do now.

What is the breakdown of the £185 ??

The_Deep

Are they using solicitors? If not have they added legal charges? As Beamer says, please let us have a breakdoen.

Mean while, as nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, complain to your MP.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.