Court Claim Received Please Help

SeaCastle

Hello, I’m new to the forum and wondered if I could ask for some advice please.
I have just received a County Court claim form for two PCN's which I received 4 years ago on private land. Postal PCNs were sent to me with photos. As was the advice at the time, I have ignored all the letters and debt collector’s correspondence to date.
I suspect it might be slightly early to start a new post but I have concerns regarding my situation, so I was hoping to get an opinion before I head down the road to Court. If possible is OK.
I have read the newbies post and lots of the helpful links on the forum. I am in the process of returning the AOS and I was considering sending a SAR to Premier Park Ltd. I have just got the contact details for the landowner.
The claim is for around £500 with 'contractual costs' and interest added.
The 'car park' is an area of ground behind some small independent shops. (The owner of the land is also the owner of the shops). I visited the shop twice within a week and stayed around 15 minutes on each occasion. I was unaware that the parking had become chargeable after previous years of parking there.
In order to get goods in and out of the back door of the shop you need to cross this car park. I believed that I could legitimately use this piece of land if I needed to load the car. The shop owners say that the cameras appeared without warning, one of the owners was even issued with 13 PCNs on his business van while loading goods. They have many other disgruntled customers.
I have revisited the car park recently to find that the area has now returned to its previous 'free for all' state, with no cameras or signs and still has poorly marked bays. I understand that the landowner ended the contract with Premier Park after only 18 months. I didn’t take any photos at the time. Any signage that was there no longer exists. I assume that if I take photos 4 years after the event, they will be useless.
It is my opinion that the signage was not sufficient or I would have seen it and parked on the road instead, which is free. This however seems like a feeble argument. I don’t want to go to court just to end up paying more costs and fees.
I would greatly appreciate any help before I contact the landowner or send any of my responses.
Thank you. (Apologies this post turned out way longer than I expected)

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?

SeaCastle

Issue Date 26 July. It came from County Court Business Centre Northampton

KeithP

SeaCastle wrote: »

Issue Date 26 July. It came from County Court Business Centre Northampton

With a Claim Issue Date of 26th July, you have until Wednesday 14th August 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 file linked 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 28th August 2019 to file your Defence.

That's three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a perfect 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.

Redx

And email a SAR to the DPO at PP to obtain all the documents and pictures and data about you and your vehicle attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of ID under the GDPR

SeaCastle

Thanks for the quick response. I am just working through the AOS now.
Do you think that I have got much of a chance given the lack of evidence?
Any advice on what I should ask the landowner when I call him?

Redx

Nobody here could possibly predict your chances because nobody has seen all the docs and pics and data (evidence) from either side and won't see some of it until 2 weeks before the court hearing

Ask him or her about the contract and court case permission s, plus their ability to cancel it, plus bring to their attention the predatory nature of these companies and the widespread condemnation by all the MP,s because the new law passed this year in parliament

SeaCastle

I understand. Thank You. AOS now done. I will call the landowner tomorrow.

SeaCastle

I have spoken to my local Planning Department today. As I had suspected there was no planning approval for the car park, (which no longer exists as a pay and display).

I understand that they should have applied for change of use from a ‘Private Car Park’ (for business use), to a chargeable parking facility, which effectively makes it a 'Public Car Park'. All of these car parks should also have planning permission to erect signage, if it is over a certain size.

I am hoping that this might be my winning ticket. If so it might also help many other people with PCNs outstanding on the same car park. In my mind Premier Park were not legally displaying any signage regardless of what signs were present or what the signs even showed. So surely the signage isn’t capable of creating a legally binding contract. On top of that the car park shouldn’t even be operating as a public car park inviting anyone in who is willing to pay.

I was intending to include this in my defence statement. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on doing so. Maybe even some handy paragraphs.

Thanks again for any feedback.

KeithP

Lack of planning permission will not win your case.

The Judge will be almost certain to cast that argument aside with the view that if the council aren't bothered why should the courts be interested?

SeaCastle

Oh no thats disappointing. Back to the drawing board then.
That makes me think this is even more shady if the car parks can get away with not even having any permission to operate.
Should I include it anyway?