County Court Claim Form HELP PLEASE!

Le_Kirk

That reads more like a witness statement (WS).  Defences are written in the third person and are legal and technical arguments.  Save the story about it being a busy day at the Uni for the WS.  If you are using the new template defence it will already contain the points about the Abuse of Process and additions for spurious amounts; just change the Global Amount to suit your case, there is no need to repeat it.

Coupon-mad

This first section is enough but no ''I'' or ''me'' in a defence:

The alleged offence occurred at the University of Chichester Bognor Regis Campus where the Defendant was a student at the time. There was a valid parking permit and ticket displayed in the car at the time the PCN was issued. The alleged offence was for parking outside of a marked bay, although the car was parked on tarmac between 2 other cars, not blocking any entrances or exits or restricting the movement of other vehicles in the carpark. On that day, the University was holding multiple events and therefore the carpark was far busier than usual, something that the University apologised for not warning their regular visitors about. 

Have you got the new statement of truth (longer version) changed last week in the CPRs?

huntrm100

Perfect, thank you both. I have just found the new Statement of Truth: "I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.  I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth."  Correct one?

beamerguy

DCBL don't understand a lot of things,  they joined the £60 fake cartel at a late stage. They copied another legal who thought they were "god's gift" to a scam ......  The other legal is now paying the price and DCBL are yet to wake up and smell the coffee ...... so sad 

Amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules bring mandatory changes to statements of truth

This information with thanks to henrik777 and Castle
AS FROM APRIL 6TH 2020

For witness statements, the statement of truth’s wording will be as follows:
I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.  I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.
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This means that in your Witness Statement you must tell the truth as you know it

It also means that parking companies and the legals who start court action will be bound by their statement of truth. Given that the trend is to add £60 or more to a claim, is this legal ?  The courts have said it is unlawful, the POFA2012 explains what can be charged and the ruling of the Supreme court in ruling 198: says very clearly that the amount of the ticket price includes the costs of collection.
Currently being used as an explanation for adding amounts is they are allowed to by each Code of Practice of the BPA and IPC.  The codes of practice only applies to the parking companies and NOT the motorist. It is not a law neither is it a contract. The BPA and IPC are advising companies to break the law.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6083229/bpa-cop-clause-19-9-and-34-8
ALL CLAIMS MUST LAWFUL AND THE £60 ADD-ON IS NOT

It now remains to be seen if those who issue claims are prepared to be in contempt of the law

There is nothing you can do until you receive a "letter before claim".  Such letters must be replied to and you can include a request of their legal authority of adding amounts above the parking ticket charge. Excluded of course will be a court fee of £25 and legal costs of £50 (both are allowed)
You can also confirm that you will only accept a legal claim that complies with 

Civil Procedure Rules

Le_Kirk

huntrm100 said:

Perfect, thank you both. I have just found the new Statement of Truth: "I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.  I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth."  Correct one?

Yes, that is the one.

huntrm100

I have updated my defence section to include a couple more bits based on reading other examples and adapting to my case. I think it still makes sense but would be extremely grateful if you experts could check it for me.

1.       The alleged offence occurred at the University of Chichester Bognor Regis Campus where the Defendant was a student at the time. There was a valid parking permit and pre-paid scratch card displayed in the car at the time the PCN was issued so it was well known to the Claimant that the Defendant was a regular paying user of the carpark and therein authorised to park there. As The Defendant’s vehicle clearly was ‘authorised’ as per the lease and the Defendant relies on primacy of contract and avers that the Claimant’s conduct in aggressive ticketing is in fact a matter of tortious interference, being a private nuisance to students and staff. In this case the Claimant has taken over the location and runs a business as if the site were a public car park, offering terms with £80 penalty on the same basis to students and staff of the university, as is on offer to the general public and trespassers. However, students and staff are granted a right to park/rights of way and to peaceful enjoyment, and parking terms under a new and onerous ‘permit/licence’ cannot be re-offered as a contract by a third party. This interferes with the terms of permit, none of which is this parking firm a party to, and neither have they bothered to check for any rights or easements that their regime will interfere with (the Claimant is put to strict proof). This causes a substantial and unreasonable interference with the Defendant’s land/property, or his/her use or enjoyment of that land/property. Finally, The alleged offence was for parking outside of a marked bay, although the car was parked on tarmac between 2 other cars, not blocking any entrances or exits or restricting the movement of other vehicles in the carpark. On that day, the University was holding multiple events and therefore the carpark was far busier than usual, something that the University apologised for not warning their regular visitors about.

Many thanks again, you are awesome!

nosferatu1001

That's hugely long, and more fodder for a witness statement 

Le_Kirk

nosferatu1001 said:

That's hugely long, and more fodder for a witness statement 

Yes, it is longer than the one you put up a couple of days ago and were advised then that it was more like a witness statement.  C-m even rewrote part of it for you.  It needs to be short, sharp, technical & legal arguments and save the story for the WS.

huntrm100

Ok thanks, so I'll go with the original version and save that stuff for later. Ready to submit then... Thanks again

Coupon-mad

I don't think it's bad but would need splitting into two or three paragraphs.  

Better to save for the WS really.