VCS Defence Draft - Advice

InnerPeaceMop

Hi,

So after recieving a County Court Claim Form and reading the newbies thread the time has come to construct my defence.

The claim against me was issued on 03/07/2019 with the AOS completed 2 days later.

Claim particulars are:

"The claim is for a breach of contract for breaching terms and conditions set on private land. The defendants vehichle -ABC1234 was identified in Scam City Business Park on *4 YEARS AGO* in breach of the advertised terms and conditions; namely parked for longer than maximum period permitted. At all material times the defendant was the registed keeper and/or driver. The terms and conditions upon entering private land were clearly displayed at the entrance and in prominent lovations. The sign was the offer and the act of thering private lan was the acceptance of the offer hereby entering into a contract by conduct. The signs specifically detal the T&Cs and the consequences of failure to comply, namely a parking charge notice will be issued and the defendant has failed to sttle the outstanding liability. The Claimant seeks the recovery of the PCN, contractual costs and interest."

Total £185.00

Now here's the thing - i genuinely have no recollection of any of this - it was 4 years ago. I tried to get it cancelled by the business but VCS stated that the landowner (not business) held the contract. Only info i have is that at the time the limited time was 100 mins which has since been upped (with updated signage) to 120 mins.

I've requested SAR but won't have it back in time.

ERGO, i've not got a lot to go on, but here's my defence anyway. Any advice is greatly appreciated as I'm going to get this sent off tomorrow.

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: XXXXXXX

BETWEEN:

VEHICLE CONTROL SERVICES

-and-

(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 ABC1234, of which the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or driver, was parked on the material date in a marked bay allocated to XXX

3. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant was the registered keeper vehicle; 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.

4. The claim is said to be for breach of contract, allegedly entered into by signage displayed within the car park 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient prorpietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices, and to pursue payment by means of litigation. The manager of BUSINESS has contacted claimant on behalf of defendant requesting that all claims are dropped.

9. In summary, it is the Defendant's position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this Defence are true.

KeithP

Is this related to the thread you started three weeks ago?

One outstanding question from that thread...

Did your Claim Form come from Northampton or from somewhere else?

InnerPeaceMop

It is, rather than bump that thread which didn't have the particulars I thought it best to let that one disappear after I'd had chance to properly read up on everything.

Yes, the claim came from Northampton-

Money Claims Online
County Court Business Centre
ST Katharines House
21-27 ST Katharines Street
NN1 2LH

KeithP

Three weeks ago you told us:

Four years ago I went for a drink in a pub near to a football stadium, after which I went to the match. Apparently this pub had a maximum 2 hour limit on parking (though I genuinely didn’t see/notice the signs at the time).

Today you are telling us:

Now here's the thing - i genuinely have no recollection of any of this - it was 4 years ago.

InnerPeaceMop wrote: »

The claim against me was issued on 03/07/2019 with the AOS completed 2 days later.

With a Claim Issue Date of 3rd July, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 5th August 2019 to file your Defence.

That's just over a week away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the 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.

InnerPeaceMop

Yep - following a proper investigation the above, relating to the match, was for something different and was actually 6 years ago - hence not having any memory of the updated claim. I wish it was for the football one as I have all the evidence/memory for that.

As per the original post, I'm looking for any input on the defence, which i've set out, to fulfil the "When you are happy with the content, your Defence..." part.

Egbert_Nobacon

As they have inflated the claim with the so called contractual charges search for ABUSE OF PROCESS and use Coupon-mad’s suggestion in your defence.