Wow £1081 fine!! County claim CP Plus... Novel defence.

Samyounis

Hi guys

I've read through the newbies post and gather I need to print off the templates etc.
I just need some advice regarding my defence.

I've received a county claim form after ignoring their letters. 
The thing is im actually exempt from the parking restrictions because Im employed by a retailer in that retail park who's put me on their list.

These fines were issued 18 months ago after the landowner changed from using Parking Eye to CP Plus. I was already on parking eye's exempt list but didn't realise there was a new operator until I got some fines (I only work at that site ad hoc). I asked the manager to cancel the tickets  and put me on the exempt list.

I am now on the exempt list but clearly those old tickets didn't get cancelled. I ignored the demands and here we are.

Will I have a viable defence or should I look to cut my losses and reach an agreement to pay this £1000? DCB Legal are not backing down.

Thanks in advance
Sam

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th April, you have until Monday 18th May to file an Acknowledgment of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AoS, follow the guidance in this post:

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

Having filed an AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 1st June 2020 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To file a Defence, look again at the link above.

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

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that for filing a Defence.

Coupon-mad

Will I have a viable defence

Yep. Everyone does v parking firms like this lot.

or should I look to cut my losses and reach an agreement to pay this £1000?

Never.  You don't owe £1000.

DCB Legal are not backing down.

They will fall down though...you will pay nothing.  We know what we are doing.

Where do we start!  That's a really incoherent set of Particulars on the left.

They are trying to claim £850 for five x £100 PCNs which means they are (unlawfully) adding seventy quid to each one - but they haven't even bothered to plead the case properly and explain the sum of damages or what the conduct was that led to the PCNs, or how much those PCNs were, or how much the damages are (supposedly...not that they can plead a parking case in damages...and not that there are any). 

They can't decide if you are the driver or the keeper and CP Plus can't hold registered keepers liable anyway!

Read post #2 of the NEWBIES thread, follow the clear pictorial guidance there to do the AOS on MCOL (read the sticky thread) and then grab the template defence we provide and add the above stuff in as #16 and #17 and change bits of the template to make sense, such as making 'PCN' plural throughout and stuff like that.

And change the Statement of Truth to the new April 2020 version - as the NEWBIES thread spells out - because I haven't edited the template to include it yet.

Samyounis

Aww fabulous, you guys are awesome.

Was really getting worried, but it's so good to know there's people out there that will help and for nothing in return. Restores my faith in humanity!

I will get on to this in the morning and keep you updated. 

I've previously dealt with 2 county court  claims from Excel parking previously but they promptly backed down after I emailed saying I'd defend the claim so was surprised these guys didn't!

Okay, great, you've filled me with hope, so I'm raring to go fight the good fight!!

D_P_Dance

It is not a fine, it is an invoice from an ex-clamper to compensate them for the alleged harm they suffered when you did what you did. We call it a scam. Pay them not a penny unless a judge so orders it.

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, when life gets back to normal, it will become impossible for those scammers who are left to continue their vile trade, 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.

Johnersh

Samyounis said:

Aww fabulous, you guys are awesome.

Was really getting worried, but it's so good to know there's people out there that will help and for nothing in return. Restores my faith in humanity! 

It's not altruism, a parking company made the mistake of ticketing me and then being condescending about it. So I had to fight it and did.  Each forum contribution is just another kick in the nuts if it costs them ££. 

So.... 

Can you get a letter from your employers/HR confirming your unbroken period of employment and that at all times you were entitled to park on site. That can simply be appended to your statement.

If you can (and only if you can), I'd be minded to adopt a non standard defence as its much easier to defend in the first person. This is a pure admin error that is not of your making. They have the difficulty of not ticketing your car now, knowing you are an employee, but wanting to enforce against you. Although a retail park its quite different to beavis since employees need to be able to access the site, you were never entering the site as a customer to ava yourself of a fixed period of parking.
If all these points are well explained in correspondence, I doubt the judge will like their claim much. 

Nevertheless, still include arguments of abuse of process over:
1. Enhanced charges
2. Incorrect interest calculated to the date of a single parking ticket when they were levied at different times and with bolt on costs being applied much later

Redx

remove the picture , redact the password on the bottom right, plus any other identifiers like the pcn references on the left (is it for a total of 5 pcn,s ? if so its £500 core value at £100 a pop , or ten at £85 a pop ? )

then put it back up again (and NO MORE ROOKIE MISTAKES) , you do not want a malicious prankster putting in a car*p defence using your password above

follow the excellent advice already given above

Dcb legal take instructions from their client, that is why they are not backing down, your fight is with C P PLUS (Nexus) , dcb legal are just contractors

Johnersh

@Redx is entirely right. The circumstances of your case/defence are less common (albeit not unique). They may work it out, but at least make it difficult by taking off the references! 

beamerguy

Everything said above is correct.   The simple fact is that DCBL are scamming you by adding £70 to each ticket which is unlawful.
ABUSE OF PROCESS
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6014081/abuse-of-process-district-judge-tells-bwlegal/p1?new=1

Couple this with what Johnersh says above, even though you have a court claim, you can still write to DCBL asking for their legal authority to add £70 per ticket. 
As they have NO legal authority to do this, any reply will be shown to the judge. A non reply will then mean the judge can request this.

Plus, the claim was issued on 28th April.   New Civil Procedure rules came into force on the 6th April 2020 and this clearly states .....
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.

And on the claim form, Yasmin Mia claims the claim is true ????  What will their witness statement say ???     

I hope you will now see that DCBL are on track to get a huge blasting by a judge and if it gets that far, you can claim your costs.   Greed and fakery by DCBL will be their downfall
LEGAL AUTHORITY is a big clue

nosferatu1001

OP you MUST take down those pictures ASAP
Youve left too  much identifying info on them. 

Samyounis

Done.
My apologies. Truly a rookie mistake. Not sure why I thought the pcn numbers were relevant to leave in.

I work til the early hours of the morning, so took a little while to back to the thread.

Today, I asked my manager to have those tickets cancelled again.

Right, tomorrow I'll be doing:

1. The acknowledgement to the Court.

2. Asking DCBL for their legal authority to add further costs onto the original demand.

3. Drafting a statement for my manager to sign to the effect that I was in employment on the dates in question and that the length of stay was entirely consistent with length of my shift on those same dates.

4. Start drafting my defence using the template in the NEWBIES thread.

Feels like you fellows are on a bit of crusade. Totally get it. These people are utter scum. 

Thanks again
Sam

nosfentirely hallengeeratu1001 said:

OP you MUST take down those pictures ASAP
Youve left too  much identifying info on them.