Help with County court claim

KeithP

leighross said:

Yes the issue date is 05 Fed 2020 on the claim form. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 5th February, you have until Monday 24th February to file an Acknowledgement of Service. If possible, do not file an AoS before 11th February, but otherwise there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. To file an AoS, follow the guidance offered in a Dropbox file linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou 

About ten minutes work - no thinking required.

Having filed an AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 9th March 2020 to file your Defence.

That's a month 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 could be filed via email as suggested here:

1. Print your Defence.
   
2. Sign it and date it.
   
3. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
4. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk
5. 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'.
   
6. No need to do anything on MCOL, but do check it after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defence received". If not, chase the CCBC until it is.
   
   After filing your Defence, there is more to do...
   
   
7. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire. Nothing of interest there. Just file it.
   
8. Wait for your own Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC, or download one from the internet - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n180-directions-questionnaire-small-claims-track , and then complete it as described by bargepole in his 'what happens when' post linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou"]
   
9. The completed DQ should be returned by email to the CCBC to the same address and in the same way as your Defence was filed earlier.
   
10. Send a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant - to their address on your Claim Form.

KeithP

Deleted

Le_Kirk

1. Having filed an AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 9th March 2020 to file your Defence.
2. That's over a month away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.
3. When you are happy with the content, your Defence could be filed via email as suggested here:
4. Print your Defence.
5. [*]Sign it and date it.
6. [*]Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.

KeithP, one would have thought that forum builders would have been able to take "old" HTML markers and convert them to "new".  It looks like you are going to have to reformat your excellent standard response to "Issue date".  If you highlight all your text, then you can click on the "Ordered List" symbol fourth from the left above the edit box.  Sorry if I am telling you something you have now discovered for your self,

KeithP

But it did work around 3pm yesterday. 
See here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76813586#Comment_76813586

At that time I do recall seeing a message something like "You can use BBCode in your posts" at the bottom of the edit box. Not seen it since - I guess it has been switched off either intentionally or accidentally.

Le_Kirk

Indeed, maybe turned off.  We are still learning!

leighross

Thank you all for the replies. Tomorrow I will be filling out a AoS form online. And then build a defence. That I don't know how to do and will need to read up about it. As I'm not sure. The reason I think they sent a PCN in the first place was for no ticket but I can't be 100% sure it was a few years ago and I honestly can't remember. I'm not sure what happens after I file the AoS online. As of yet 

Le_Kirk

There are 17 pre-written defences linked in the NEWBIE sticky, second post.

leighross

@Le_Kirk is that the post by coupon-mad. If so could you tell me which person (username) have pre written defences please. 
Many thanks 

leighross

Could I use this? Also would I put in exclamation marks in number 3 as used or change it? 
Here is my suggested alternative:

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 XXXX Business Park, and had a valid permit to be parked in that bay.

3. The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant !!!8220;was the registered keeper and/or the driver of the vehicle(s)!!!8221;. 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. 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 proprietary 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.

8. 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 claim includes an additional £60, for which no calculation or explanation is given, and which appears to be an attempt at double recovery.

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.

Name
Signature
Date

Coupon-mad

Yes use that as a base, but remove these as they are old forum glitches:

!!!8220;

And in #5 you have copied stuff that makes no sense for your case, does it?

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.

I don't think your PCN was about not being parked correctly in a bay, was it?  So change the facts, if the car was only there for 10 minutes then state that, and talk about the IPC Code of Practice allowing a grace period of at least 10 mins.