Help with CC defence GLAD SOL

Ty12

Hi All,

Thanks in Advance for any tips.

I might be too late as I am just about to send off my Defence. I have read the threads on the Newbies Post and manage to draft a defence based on what I have seen

Received a PCN on the 26.11.18 From UKCPM. Ignored all correspondence from them until they submitted the CC claim from the CC Business Centre. The date received was on
9th October 2019. Filed the AOS on the 28.10.19. Unfortunately, I have not kept any of the correspondence apart from the Letter Before Claim.

The particulars of claim suggested I parked in Breach of the term stipulated on the signage.
Claiming £100 for the PCN . £25 Court fee and £60 contractual cost + Interest

I have drafted a defence on the basis of unclear/ inadequate signage at the entrance to the private land. Therefore no contract could have been formed.

A bit of background.

The car park is part of a Housing Associations Car Park, with numbered bays, etc to the left and right of this private road. There are a few signs positioned at the front of a few of the bays.

There is a single sign at the entrance, to the left of the private road as you enter the private road which can easily be missed by a car turning left.

I parked on an unmarked part of this private road, past the first sign at the entrance, immediately after turning left.

So, by parking on that part of the road and missing the first sign, a person is unable to read any further signs that are in front of the marked bays as they are facing towards the bays and cannot be read from that angle.

My Defence is as follows :

IN THE COUNTY COURT

CLAIM No:

BETWEEN:

UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD (Claimant)

-and-

xxxxxxxxxxxxx
________________________________________
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 Gxxxxxx, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date on the road with no markings .

3. Further and in the alternative, it is denied that the claimant's signage at the entrance, sets out the terms in a sufficiently clear manner which would be capable of binding any reasonable person reading them. Upon turning into the road, there is only one sign to the left , which could easily be missed by a driver turning left onto the road in concern.

4. Even IF the terms on the Claimant's signage were visible ( evidence gathered later) it's displayed in a font that 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.

Also, the sign is very similar to the local councils parking signs, which is the road prior to entering on to this apparent private land and is therefore easily misinterpreted as to whether it’s private parking or a local councils parking.


5. The claimant is also a member of the BPA but the sign omits the AOS LOGO. According to BPA’s code of conduct .

Schedule 18.8 and 28.6 States : You should display the BPA’s AOS logos at all sites.
This will help the public to see that you are a legitimate
operator, and show that the site is run properly. The claimant has failed to do so. ..

******************NOT SURE IF THIS HELPS IN ANY WAY OR FORM************************

6. The Claimant is put to strict proof that it has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorization from the landowner to issue parking charge notices and to pursue payment by means of litigation.

7.. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, at Section 4(5) states that the maximum sum that may be recovered from the keeper is the charge stated on the Notice to Keeper, in this case £100. The Defendant has the reasonable belief that the Claimant has not incurred £60 costs to pursue an alleged £100 debt. It is also known that the claimants bring on thousands of generic Robo claims to the small claims court , with inflated recovery costs and even though they have lost on many cases , they still bring about these claims causing much distress to the defendants and wasting the time of our legal system.

8. 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.

Name:
Signature :
Date :


Is that the correct angle to approach this from?

Thanks in advance.

KeithP

Ty12 wrote: »

...they submitted the CC claim from the CC Business Centre. The date received was on
9th October 2019. Filed the AOS on the 28.10.19.

OK, you received the Claim on 9th October, but what is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Coupon-mad

9th October 2019. Filed the AOS on the 28.10.19. Unfortunately, I have not kept any of the correspondence apart from the Letter Before Claim.

So do a SAR by email right now, to UKCPM's published data concerns email.

Ty12

Thanks for the quick response. Apologies, the issue date was the 9th of October.

I did the SAR request on the 4th November using the DPO email on the parking firms website

KeithP

Ty12 wrote: »

...the issue date was the 9th of October.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th October, and having done the Acknowledgement of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 11th November 2019 to file your Defence.

That's just a few days away.


When you are happy with the content, your Defence could 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.

Ty12

Okay cool. Will do so. Any tip of the actual draft of my defence. Do you think it's okay ?

Coupon-mad

Would it be true to add:

2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration Gxxx xxx, of which the Defendant is the registered keeper, was parked on the material date on a roadway, which to all intents and purposes had the appearance of unrestricted public highway as there were no road markings to alert a driver to restrictions, and no signs in view from the place the car stopped.

Then remove your #3. Do not help their case by mentioning an entrance sign, that is for them to prove.

You need to renumber anyway, as this para has no number and it needs one:

Also, the sign is very similar to the local councils parking signs, which is the road prior to entering on to this apparent private land and is therefore easily misinterpreted as to whether it’s private parking or a local councils parking.

Remove all this as UKCPM are not in the BPA AOS (please let's not have that discussion again about the square BPA logo):

5. The claimant is also a member of the BPA but the sign omits the AOS LOGO. According to BPA’s code of conduct .

Schedule 18.8 and 28.6 States : You should display the BPA’s AOS logos at all sites.
This will help the public to see that you are a legitimate
operator, and show that the site is run properly. The claimant has failed to do so. ..

******************NOT SURE IF THIS HELPS IN ANY WAY OR FORM************************

why not stop and read the dozen of so other UKCPM defences recently written in threads this past week, there's at least one right near this thread, right now.

No link given! Not doing that for anyone, it doesn't help newbies with their forum use experience and other threads about UKCPM claims are easy to spot in minutes on the first few pages of this sub-board.

Is this in Brighton/Worthing? If so I can help you in court locally if you wish.

Ty12

Thanks @ CMad for the tips on the defence , Will make the necessary adjustments now.

At #3 will it better to replace it with

"It is denied that the Defendant breached any of the claimant's purported contractual terms, whether express, implied, or by conduct.


Is this in Brighton/Worthing? If so I can help you in court locally if you wish.

It's in London, unfortunately.

Coupon-mad

At #3 will it better to replace it with

"It is denied that the Defendant breached any of the claimant's purported contractual terms, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

Yes that is fine.

Ty12

One last question before drafting my final defence.

Will it be worth adding the ABUSE OF PROCESS.

I am a bit concerned that omitting something at this stage, would mean that I will not be able to use in the WS /Evidence stage? Is this correct?

Thanks

Le_Kirk

The Abuse of Process is not a defence per se but is used to limit your costs if you lose. Since you have introduced it at point 7, that is fine; you can either add the rest of it by searching for beamerguy's thread or leave it until WS stage.