Received court letter from ‘County court business centre’ – extension finishes this Friday!

Me101

County court business centre letter issue date is 07/FEB/2020 (extended from 14 days to 28 days)

Hey, I have just got involved with my dad’s PCN and he only has until this Friday with the extension from 14 days to 28 days if I am correct (does this mean I have until 5pm this Friday?). I have had a browse through some other cases on the forum and thought I should start a thread asap as his defence is time critical! He has received a court letter from the ‘county court business centre’, which is on behalf of the claimant ‘one parking solutions ltd’ and is being handled by ‘QDR solicitors limited’ on behalf of the claimant.

From what I understand on my dad’s behalf is that he paid the weekday price as opposed to the weekend price as he took a quick glance at the board in the wind and rain hence the time he paid for was less than he expected, so 1 hour instead of the expected 2 hours (he still has the ticket he bought for parking that day if it helps). We do not have any pictures of signage as the car park signs have now been changed as they had a revamp.

On the particulars of the claim it states that ‘vehicles parking at the site are subject parking restrictions and terms and conditions which are set out on the signs at the site and form part of a contract between the driver and of the vehicle and claimant.’ subsequently due to paying less than my dad should have he was in breach of the contract and liable for £100 parking charges as per their t's and c's, plus additional contractual charges incurred by the claimant for the collection of the debt pursuant to the terms and conditions.

The total amount being claimed is £257.00. Amount claimed is ‘£182.00’, court fee is ‘£25’ and legal representative’s costs are ‘£50.00’. I have seen before that one or more claims from QDR have been thrown out due to the solicitors trying to claim an extortionate amount for effectively sending a few letters, is this relevant here. I have tried to be as thorough as possible in my initial explanation and hope I haven’t droned on too much! Any help is much appreciated and I will try to answer any questions quickly. Thanks in advance.

Redx

use the latest template by coupon mad posted last week to draft his defence asap

name the parking company too

KeithP

County court business centre letter issue date is 07/FEB/2020 (extended from 14 days to 28 days)
Hey, I have just got involved with my dad’s PCN and he only has until this Friday with the extension from 14 days to 28 days if I am correct (does this mean I have until 5pm this Friday?).

With a Claim Issue Date of 7th February, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 11th March 2020 to file a Defence.

That's longer than you thought. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To file a Defence, follow the guidance in this post:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76880595#Comment_76880595

Guidance on creating a Defence is also in that thread - in the first post on that thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

Coupon-mad

 I have had a browse through some other cases on the forum and thought I should start a thread asap as his defence is time critical!

Yep, we get that.  No worries, this is an easy stage.

Use the template.defence and change the red bits to suit.  Easy. 

The aim is to get it struck out, but if the Judge doesn't do that, it covers the bases needed in NON-ParkingEye cases.   No-one needs to look anywhere else or pay anyone to do this, absolutely avoid that (worse than a PPC) aggressive option, and just stay here.

Me101

Redx said:

use the latest template by coupon mad posted last week to draft his defence asap

name the parking company too

Thanks for the quick reply! The car park operator is ''one parking solution ltd' and the car park was 'gs car park leicester'. Also the offence seems to be 'expired payment/ticket'.

Just noticed that QDR solicitors were instructed by 'ZZPS' on behalf of the claimant if that makes any difference.

KeithP said:

County court business centre letter issue date is 07/FEB/2020 (extended from 14 days to 28 days)
Hey, I have just got involved with my dad’s PCN and he only has until this Friday with the extension from 14 days to 28 days if I am correct (does this mean I have until 5pm this Friday?).

With a Claim Issue Date of 7th February, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 11th March 2020 to file a Defence.

That's longer than you thought. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To file a Defence, follow the guidance in this post:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/76880595#Comment_76880595

Guidance on creating a Defence is also in that thread - in the first post on that thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

Wow! What a relief, gives us some breathing space. Thank you very much for the link. At this point is the defence the main port of call or do we need to request anything from the solicitors such as a SAR?

Coupon-mad

A SAR is emailed to Anne at OPS, using the email addy in OPS' privacy page, as the NEWBIES thread advises.

Why not copy the other GS Leicester OPS one on here last week, they are all the same...no idea who posted it, you will have to search keywords.

D_P_Dance

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Me101

Coupon-mad said:

 I have had a browse through some other cases on the forum and thought I should start a thread asap as his defence is time critical!

Yep, we get that.  No worries, this is an easy stage.

Use the template.defence and change the red bits to suit.  Easy. 

The aim is to get it struck out, but if the Judge doesn't do that, it covers the bases needed in NON-ParkingEye cases.   No-one needs to look anywhere else or pay anyone to do this, absolutely avoid that (worse than a PPC) aggressive option, and just stay here.

Hey, just wondering if it is worth adding anything else/any other points apart from the amendments to points 16. and 17. on the latest template? Also will it effect my defence at all without a SAR? I applied for it as per your last bit of advice in this post but we wont get it before the defence is filed. Will the info be of use after we receive it?

On a side note I think it's amazing what you guys are doing here, not sure where I would be without all of this!!

Coupon-mad

How are you getting on? 

Most OPS cases I handle are being discontinued now, since the Lewes case we hope you read.