'Template' defence suggestion - NB: ultimately, your choice of defence wording is your own

Sisyphean_Task

Coupon-mad said:

I was wondering whether the mcols allowed images to be uploaded?

Nope. Evidence comes at WS stage.

Hope you are ready to do the Public Consultation posted about in practically every thread this past month? It's open now.

The main part of my defence is that the parking sign is misleading - a picture paints a thousand words, I need an image.

The Defence form states for section 3 Defence "If necessary you can continue on a separate piece of paper making sure the claim number is clearly shown". My plan was to type up a defence, print the whole thing on a separate sheet, attach (or maybe embed) some images and post it. If images aren't allowed online would sending them in the post mean my defence form could be rejected? In the notes on the reverse of the Claim form or on the Defence form itself, there is no mention that images aren't allowed. 

Thatladydowntheroad

Car1980 said:

Comments invited although I am now away for a week!

Just three thoughts (shoot me down!) that may or may not be worth incorporating:

• claimant makes claim based on contract law but has never provided it
• "confirmed" better than "admitted"?
• worth mentioning that discontinuance was an intention from day 1 and that is what makes it unreasonable?

E.g.


2.  It is difficult to respond but these facts come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief. To form a contract, there must be a prominent offer, acceptance, and valuable consideration. It is neither admitted nor denied that the driver breached any term. Section 71 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (‘the CRA’) creates a statutory duty upon Courts to consider the test of fairness. The CRA introduced new requirements for prominence of terms and 'consumer notices'. Pursuant to s62 and paying regard to examples 6, 10, 14 & 18 of Sch2 and the duties of fair/open dealing and good faith, the Defendant avers that this Claimant generally uses unclear and unfair terms/notices. On the limited information available, this case appears to be no different. The Claimant has never provided the wording of the contract they rely upon in any correspondence and is put to strict proof with contemporaneous photographs. The Defendant reserves the right to amend the defence if details of the contract are provided. However, the court is invited to strike this claim out using its powers pursuant to CPR 3.4.

3. The vehicle is recognised and it is confirmed that the Defendant was the registered keeper.

10. The court’s attention is drawn to the common outcome in bulk parking claims, of an unreasonably late Notice of Discontinuance. Whilst a Claimant is liable for a Defendant's costs after discontinuance (r.38.6(1)) this does not 'normally' apply to the small claims track (r.38.6(3)). However, the White Book states (annotation 38.6.1): "Note that the normal rule as to costs does not apply if a claimant in a case allocated to the small claims track serves a notice of discontinuance although it might be contended that costs should be awarded if a party has behaved unreasonably (r.27.14(2)(dg))." It is submitted that a definition of unreasonableness encompasses an intention to discontinue that has been present since the start, as may be stipulated in any contractual relationship between the parking company and bulk litigator.

Happy to delete this in a couple of weeks so we don't clog up this thread.

@Coupon-mad Couldn't find your response to this. Yah or nay?

joolsbfd

Re: Defence Step 1.
Use MCOL to put in your Defence.  Do not forget to hit 'SUBMIT' then check the Claim History, to see that the defence is safely registered
Can I clarify if at this point we tick the box saying we wish to make a 'counterclaim' (last action before submitting)? I'm assuming yes if we will be asking for compensation for work day lost at court etc.  Thank you. 

joolsbfd

thanks Jenni D. Deliberately put here as it's Stage 1 and i think many others may be unsure how to answer as it's not clear from the steps/guidance. Just thought it would have general relevance and usefulness. Thank you for the clarification though. 

Splcoaching

Coupon-mad said:

CLAIM FORM FROM A PARKING FIRM? THEY ARE VERY EASY TO DEFEND.

PLEASE READ THIS POST FIRST TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE SOME OR ALL OF THIS SUGGESTED 'TEMPLATE' AS PART OF YOUR INDIVIDUAL DEFENCE, THAT YOU CAN DRAFT AS YOUR OWN.

THIS FORUM DOES NOT PURPORT TO CONDUCT LITIGATION.

YOUR FINAL DEFENCE THAT YOU DECIDE TO EDIT, DRAFT AND FILE WITH THE CNBC IS YOUR OWN WORK. NOTHING ON THIS BOARD IS LEGAL ADVICE, JUST OPINIONS BASED ON EXPERIENCE OF PROVEN WINNING DEFENCES.

THE MAIN INFO ABOUT THE SMALL CLAIMS DEFENCE PROCESS AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN, IS HERE IN THE NEWBIES FAQS (2nd post):

PLEASE RETURN TO THIS AT EVERY STAGE, AS IT TAKES YOU RIGHT THROUGH TO HEARINGS:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64350585/#Comment_64350585

Below in the 2nd post here on this thread, is some wording you could decide to use & adapt, in a case where the alleged breach is actually specified in the Particulars of Claim.

If you use this wording then the facts of your case can be added as #3 - add more paragraphs if you need more (BUT NOT TOO MUCH AS THE MCOL SYSTEM HAS A MAX LINE COUNT) and adjust the numbering.

No posting your drafts on this thread please.

By all means start a new discussion about your own case if you haven't already got a thread about that PCN, and show us your draft defence wording (your added paragraphs only, please) on your own thread.

We give opinions, not legal advice.

You will be using MCOL via your Govt Gateway account.

The administrative steps are simple:

FIRST THING TO DO - BUT NOT SOONER THAN DAY FIVE FROM THE 'ISSUE DATE':

Acknowledging service of a claim (these steps MUST be done by the Defendant, and that named person can't be changed to the driver now; it is too late)

Here is the up to date document from SoftwareMad, where she shows how to acknowledge a claim, which is to be done within the first fortnight to buy yourself time to defend (but preferably after DAY FIVE, or in theory, you eat into your allowed days!):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ni1h8g3u5skvynt/MCOL AOS help file.pdf?dl=0

YOU WILL NOT GET A RESPONSE.  DO NOT WAIT. AFTER AOS THE BALL IS STILL IN YOUR COURT: YOU MUST FILE A DEFENCE IN TIME.

You may decide to use and adapt as your own, the form of Defence wording shown in the post below...

...unless you have a CEL (in-house only), Elms Legal, Gladstones or Moorside Legal claim (and also specifically for DCB Legal claims for ParkingEye or Group Nexus / CP Plus) in which case, you may decide that paragraph 3 can be the wording you use, re CEL v Chan and CPMS v Akande, here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81571257/#Comment_81571257

When you are happy with what you've drafted, your defence is to also be filed via MCOL

Submitting your defence after having already completed the AOS on MCOL:

THE FIRST 8 STEPS:

1. Use MCOL to put in your Defence.  Do not forget to hit 'SUBMIT' then check the Claim History, to see that the defence is safely registered.
2. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire or the usual template letter saying they 'intend to proceed' and/or want you to 'settle'. Ignore that!
3. Wait for your own Directions Questionnaire from the CNBC and then complete & email it to the CNBC (see box below for the DQ email) and cc in the info@ address for the legals acting for the Claimant. It's a simple form but all the DQ answers are here:   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81302208/#Comment_81302208 
4. Mediation is Mandatory now. YOU MUST GIVE THE MEDIATOR 5 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME TO AVOID ADVERSE COSTS RISK -  Offer zero or a tenner, if you technically owe a parking tariff (or just fancy some fun) see here:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80935749/#Comment_80935749  Another example:   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81148195/#Comment_81148195 And how a regular handles it: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81816730/#Comment_81816730
5. Except in cases where you have filed a counterclaim (which are allocated to your local court quicker and the CNBC is no longer involved) the completed DQ should be returned by email to the CCBC to this address:  DQ.CNBC@justice.gov.uk.       Cc a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant (or their solicitor if they are using one).  Their postal address is on your Claim Form but you can find an email for them by searching this forum. 
6. DO NOT USE RECORDED (OR SPECIAL) DELIVERY FOR ANYTHING TO A PARKING FIRM OR THEIR SOLICITOR.   DO NOT EXPECT ROGUE FIRMS TO SIGN FOR YOUR LETTERS.  IF THEY DON'T, ALL YOU HAVE IS PROOF OF NON-DELIVERY, WHICH IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU NEED!
7. Will you have to attend a hearing? MAYBE...but usually, the PPC discontinues; very common with DCB Legal! Will that hearing be at Northampton?  NO!  That's just a central starting point for claims.  If you are an individual, you get the choose your local court. You do NOT want your case 'heard on the papers'. You want a hearing.
8. You can claim your costs if you win, the hearing might never happen and you risk nothing (no CCJ, no huge costs) by defending, because if you were among the handful who report a loss here you'd have 30 days to pay ... and less than on the claim form (£185 - £212 total).

THE NEXT POST IS BASED ON OUR EXPERIENCE AND OPINION: WE PROVIDE A FORM OF WORDS FOR A PARKING CLAIM DEFENCE THAT WE KNOW HAS WORKED THOUSANDS OF TIMES.

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT HEARINGS.

MOST CLAIMS ARE DISCONTINUED.

How does the questionnaire come? By post or email?

I heard from litigation on the 13th but haven’t had my own form sent as yet 

Splcoaching

Coupon-mad said:

By post of course. Nothing comes by email.

Thank you 
just wanted to make sure I’m not missing something 

Fight_Fine

I have received the N180 and the instruction is to post it to the Civil National Business Centre. I know the advice here is to send by email, so I just wanted to ask how best to proceed. I plan to call them and ask for an email address, but wanted to know if they can refuse and compel me to send by post. 

Fight_Fine

Fight_Fine said:

I have received the N180 and the instruction is to post it to the Civil National Business Centre. I know the advice here is to send by email, so I just wanted to ask how best to proceed. I plan to call them and ask for an email address, but wanted to know if they can refuse and compel me to send by post. 

Apologies for not reading everything on here thoroughly. In any case, and if useful for others, I called and was given the email address: dq.cnbc@justice.gov.uk (which is in the First 8 Steps post by Coupon-mad). They advised that I put the claim number in the subject line. 

Thehorsewithnoname

Hi. I made the mistake of identifying myself as the driver. I am probably in breach of the rules (clear signs, etc.) but I've been pig-headed about this because (I'll save you the story) the fine is incredibly unfair and unreasonable given the circumstances. I'm currently ignoring the debt collector letters. My latest appeal to the land owner has resulted in me being given a reduction by the parking firm to £100 (original fine which I ignored was £60). My question is, does this phrase above:

1. You can claim your costs if you win, the hearing might never happen and you risk nothing (no CCJ, no huge costs) by defending, because if you were among the handful who report a loss here you'd have 30 days to pay ... and less than on the claim form (£185 - £212 total).

mean that my worst case scenario if I lose in court is £212?

Apologies if this is answered elsewhere. I've searched and searched.

SecretIdentityFool

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80205077#Comment_80205077

Sorry if it’s been asked a thousand times, do I copy these 10 paragraphs as they are for my defence? Obviously writing paragraphs 3 in my own words