Urgent - VCS county court claim

subhuman

Heres an odd one for you all.
Received a County Court Claim from VCS.

Claim issued 26/06/2019, acknowledged service 10/07. I had intended to file a short defence but after much research was steered toward posting here.

What's odd is I've never received anything in the post from VCS before.

The claim is for parking 4 years ago! The text on the claim form is very short, giving a name of a shopping centre, but no town or city. After a bit of googling I think I've found the place in my local area.

Not too odd... except I've never been the registered keeper of this vehicle, so how exactly did they get my name and address? I know who the keeper is, but they have not been sent anything either.

I don't plan on speaking to VCS. If it goes to court, VCS are local to me so I expect them to turn up. I've faught an erroneous CCJ before though so I don't feel particularly daunted.

Has anyone come across this situation before? Any tips on how to proceed?

Cheers!

Redx

we seem to have had a few recently where the defendant is neither the keeper or the driver

any defence will start with those arguments plus all the usual legal ones like in the bargepole defences from the NEWBIES thread

email a SAR to the DPO at VCS asap with a scan or pic of the N1 claim form as proof of ID under GDPR and get all their docs , pics and data on you and the vehicle in question

KeithP

subhuman wrote: »

Received a County Court Claim from VCS.

Claim issued 26/06/2019, acknowledged service 10/07.

With a Claim Issue Date of 26th June, and having done the AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 29th July 2019 to file your Defence.

That's just a few days away, but please 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 "defence received". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
   
6. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to keep 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.

The_Deep

What's odd is I've never received anything in the post from VCS before.

Not odd at all, it happens all the time, you are dealing with low life scammers, not John Lewis.

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams so 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.

Quentin

Is it possible the keeper tried to be "clever" and name you as the driver years ago to try and end this/cause mischief etc?

subhuman

Quentin wrote: »

Is it possible the keeper tried to be "clever" and name you as the driver years ago to try and end this/cause mischief etc?

Thankfully I know 100% that the keeper knew nothing about this.

subhuman

Here's my defence which I'll be filing shortly.

I was toying with adding "how the hell should I know, it was 4 years ago!"

In brief - I didn't know anything about the ticket, didn't receive anything in the post and haven't (yet) had a response to the SAR sent to VCS. I'm still puzzled as to how I was identified as the keeper or driver!

My assumption is that I'll receive more info from them within the next 30 days at which point I'll need to tailor my witness statement as appropriate.

--

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: XXXXXXXX

BETWEEN:

VEHICLE CONTROL SERVICE LTD (Claimant)

-and-

XXX (Defendant)

DEFENCE

1. The Claimant has not complied with pre-court protocol (as outlined in the new Pre Action Protocol for Debt Claims, 1 October 2017). The Particulars of Claim refer to a breach of contract; The wording of any contract will naturally be a key element in this matter, and a copy of the alleged contract has not been provided to the Defendant.

2. There was no compliant Letter before County Court Claim under the Practice Direction. The Claimant also refers to a parking charge notice; The Defendant has received no communication from the Claimant prior to the receipt of the Claim Form issued on 26th June 2019.

3. The Particulars of Claim refers to “The Defendant’s vehicle XXXX XXX”, yet later refers to the Defendant as “the registered keeper and/or the driver” – of which the Defendant was neither at the material times. 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.

I believe the facts stated in the defence are true.

The_Deep

Familiarise yourself with unreasonable behaviour costs, CPR27.14(2)(g), you could be on a nice little earner. Also, involve your MP as nine times out of ten these tickets are scams. They are certainly trying to scam you.

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.

KeithP

There is nothing in your proposed Defence about the alleged parking incident.

Your Defence needs to address all the points in the Claimant's Particulars of Claim.

Just twenty minutes or so left to file your Defence.

subhuman

The problem is, the particulars of claim are vague - no specific address, no photographic evidence, no times/indication of duration - and I've received no other paperwork - that I haven't got much to go on.

Particulars of claim:

The Claim is for a breach of contract for breaching the terms and conditions set on private land. The Defendant's vehicle, XXXX XXX, was identified in the [name only of shopping centre] on the XX/XX/2015 in breach of the advertised terms and conditions; namely parked for longer than maximum period permitted. At all material times the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or driver. The terms and conditions upon entering private land were clearly displayed at the entrance and in prominent locations. The sign was the offer and the act of entering the private land was acceptance of the offer hereby entering into a contract by conduct. The signs specifically detail the terms and conditions and the consequences of failure to comply, namely a parking charge notice will be issued, and the Defendant has failed to settle the outstanding liability. The Claimant seeks the recover of the parking charge notice, contractual costs and interest.

Redx

So say so, plus add all of the abuse of process paragraphs by coupon mad posted in the thread by beamerguy and renumber all paragraphs accordingly

The highlight of which is the judges Grand and Taylor comments and statement