County Court Summons from Bank Park Management

simpsonsfan01

Hi,

I am just wondering if anyone can offer some advice please on a PCN that was issued by Bank Park Management at Merry Hill Shopping Centre as we have just received a Court Summons and don't know how to proceed.

My mother is disabled with blue badges and due to a medical condition had to go into the shopping centre to use the toilet urgently on the day that the ticket was issued.  She was only inside for around 10 minutes before returning to her car to put her badges up and set the time on them before she started shopping but somebody had already put a PCN on her windscreen.  

I have read through the forum and have seen the Disability Equality Act 2010 mentioned so I have mentioned this to Bank Park Management who have said that as she did not appeal in time or respond to the payment requests that they are going ahead with the Court proceedings.  I did send a letter in explaining the situation to them but they have ignored this letter completely.  I have also requested that they tell me who the centre owners and managing agents are to let them know that we think they are breaching the Disability Equality Act 2010 (as I saw this on another post) but they said that this is sensitive information so they won't tell me.

I have emailed Merry Hill and Intu but not received a response from them yet so am at a loss as to how to proceed with getting this resolved.

If anybody can point me in the right direction if there is anything else I can try then that would be really appreciated.

Thank you!

Le_Kirk

1.  NEWBIE sticky, then send standard appeal written in blue text.
2.  Search for quite a lot of recent Bank Park Management posts.
3.  Ask Auntie Google about the Equality Act 2010 where disabled people should be given more time in car parks.   In your appeal to Bank Park mention indirect discrimination, without revealing who was driving.

simpsonsfan01

Thanks for the quick response.  Do we still send the standard appeal even though they have issued court proceedings?

KeithP

simpsonsfan01 said:

...we have just received a Court Summons and don't know how to proceed.

It won't be a summons, but if you have received a County Court Claim Form then please tell us the Issue Date.

Who is the named Defendant, you, your mother or someone else?

simpsonsfan01

Hi Keith,
The issue date on the County Court Documents is 08 July 2020 and my mother is named as the defendant.

Le_Kirk

If you have received a claim form from Northampton CCBC, first tell @KeithP the issue date and then, when you have read the NEWBIE sticky second post you will be well set up to create or modify a defence.  If they have added a fake £60 as debt admin or contractual costs you can use the standard new defence template in the NEWBIE and only have to adjust paragraphs 17 & 18.  When @KeithP posts your deadlines, he will also give you a link to the defence help.
ETA I see you have added issue date and I see that @KeithP has added his usual useful info.

KeithP

simpsonsfan01 said:

Hi Keith,
The issue date on the County Court Documents is 08 July 2020 and my mother is named as the defendant.

With a Claim Issue Date of 8th July, you have until Monday 27th July to file an Acknowledgment of Service, but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AoS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AoS, you have until 4pm on Monday 10th August 2020 to file your Defence.

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

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

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

Everywhere I have said 'you' or 'your' I do of course mean the named Defendant.

simpsonsfan01

Thanks for the advice on the AoS.  Is there any information anywhere regarding the Disability Equality Act 2010 and which parts are relevant here.  I know that there is a requirement for reasonable adjustments to be made for disabled people under the act but just wondered if there is anything specific to PCNs. 

I am planning to base the defence around the fact that they have not allowed any adjustments to allow my mother to use the shopping centre but I'm a little unsure on whether this is the Centre's responsibility or Bank Park Managements' responsibility (or both?).

I just don't want to miss anything that I need to include in the defence and am not overly familiar with the DEA 2010 (i.e. I only know what I have picked up on other posts on this site) and the gov.uk website has a lot of "jargon" which is a little confusing.

Thanks again for the responses.

Coupon-mad

Is there any information anywhere regarding the Disability Equality Act 2010

There is no such Act.  You mean the Equality Act 2010 and these things are important to get right in a defence and later, in your Mum's Witness Statement. 

I suggest reading the thread by @Littlewadie who is almost at her hearing stage with a similar case:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6073442/pcn-escalated-to-court-proceedings/p1

And of course read the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread and get that claim acknowledged in Mum's name and then go grab the template defence from the thread by that name, at or near the top of the forum, next to the NEWBIES advice thread. 

simpsonsfan01

Hi Coupon-Mad,

Thanks for the clarification - I have no idea why I put Disability on the front of the Equality Act - I must have misread it somewhere and convinced myself it was accurate.  I will ensure I use the correct name of the Act in all future correspondence and in the Acknowledgement of Service / Defence.

I have started reading the thread by @LittleWadie (and bookmarked it as well) and will finish going through that this evening before I submit the Acknowledgement of Service.

Thanks for your response which is much appreciated.

Le_Kirk

simpsonsfan01 said:

I will ensure I use the correct name of the Act in all future correspondence and in the Acknowledgement of Service / Defence.

Just a reminder that, when you submit your AoS, you do not put anything in the defence box, not even a full stop.  Your defence is submitted later by e-mail.  Follow the links provided by @KeithP (above) to see how and where to send the defence.