County court claim UKPC

Y333moe

Once I have have done so, can I show you, so that you can help me improve it if need be?

KeithP

When you have compiled a Defence, then of course post it here for critique - like everyone else does.

Y333moe

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No: xxxxxxxxxx

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

xxxxxxxxxxxx (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 XXXX, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date in a marked bay allocated to Company XXXX at Business Park in a visitor bay. Not on any yellow lines nor causing an obstruction.

3. The Particulars of Claim does not state whether they believe the Defendant was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the 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 does not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

4. 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.

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. They merely state that vehicles must be parked correctly within their allocated parking bay, giving no definition of the term 'correctly parked', nor indicating which bays are allocated to whom.

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 interest in the land or that there are specific terms in its contract to bring an action on its own behalf. As a third party agent, the Claimant may not pursue any charge, unless specifically authorised by the principal. The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant does not have the authority to issue charges on this land in their own name, and that they have no right to bring any action regarding this claim.

8. Even if the Court is minded to consider that the car did pass that sign, the terms of the sparse signage make no offer available; there is no licence to park.

9. At best, parking without authorisation could be a matter for the landowner to pursue, in the event that damages were caused by a trespass. A parking charge cannot be dressed up by a non-landowner parking firm, as a fee, or a sum in damages owed to that firm for positively inviting and allowing a car to trespass. Not only is this nonsense, but the Supreme Court decision in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, confirmed that ParkingEye could not have pursued a sum in damages or for trespass.

1. The Claimant has sent threatening and misleading demands which stated that
further debt recovery action would be taken to recover what is owed by passing the
debt to a ‘local’ recovery agent (which suggested to the Defendant they would be
calling round like bailiffs) adding further unexplained charges of £25 to the
£100 with no evidence of how this extra charge has been calculated.
No figure for additional charges was 'agreed' nor could it have formed part of the
alleged 'contract' because no such indemnity costs were quantified on the signs.
Terms cannot be bolted on later with figures plucked out of thin air, as if they were
incorporated into the small print when they were not.
2. The Defendant also disputes that the Claimant has incurred £50 solicitor costs.
3. The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred £50 costs
to pursue an alleged £100 debt.
4. Notwithstanding the Defendant's belief, the costs are in any case not recoverable.
5. The Claimant described the charge of £50.00 "legal fees" not "contractual costs".
CPR 27.14 does not permit these to be recovered in the Small Claims Court.

10. In summary, the Claimant's particulars disclose no legal basis for the sum claimed, and the Court is invited to dismiss the claim in its entirety.

Statement of Truth:

I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

Name
Signature
Date

Le_Kirk

You have point 9 followed by point 1, 2, 3 & 4.

1505grandad

Just checking - what are the details of the parking event because:-

Your post #13 includes the following in a draft Defence:-

"2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration!XXXX, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, appears!from the sparse evidence supplied by this Claimant,!to be parked on the material date on a public road, not on any yellow lines nor causing an obstruction."

Your latest D now says:-

"2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration XXXX, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date in a marked bay allocated to Company XXXX at Business Park in a visitor bay. Not on any yellow lines nor causing an obstruction."


Paras 7 & 8 should be reversed (i.e. para 7 should be where para 8 is and vice versa) so that relevant points flow logically.



Abuse of Process paras as per Le-Kirk's post #16 to be added if the £60 mentioned has been added. What is the total sum claimed and how does the claimant calculate the amount due?.

Y333moe

I can change those around and where can I find abuse of process. Shall I add abuse of process in there is that what your saying?

Coupon-mad

Please just read any other defence thread as we are blue in the face from saying where the wording is every time! It is literally everywhere on every court claim thread that's not ParkingEye.

Pick any 'claim' thread from the first ten pages and you will see!

Y333moe

Shall I add abuse of process in there

Coupon-mad

That's what I said.

I was telling you how to find the wording, without linking it which I won't do, as it doesn't help people's research & ability to use the forum well!

Le_Kirk

Y333moe wrote: »

I can change those around and where can I find abuse of process. Shall I add abuse of process in there is that what your saying?

If you reread post # 16 you will see I told you how to find it by searching. OR as Coupon-mad said, read just about any thread from the last two days and it will be referred to in one of those posts.