Help needed with county court claim defence for ParkingEye claim

AllOtherNamesAlreadyInUse

Hello,
I've read the newbie FAQs page and am really struggling to know where to begin as there's many links to pages which contain further links, it's like spaghetti, I'm struggling to find what I need which is advice on how to write a defence for a County Court claim.

Background: I visited a pub that I've never been to before during early evening back in winter, I was in a hurry to have a quick meal there with a friend before attending a carol concert. There's a car park behind the pub with a big sign at the entrance saying "CUSTOMER PARKING ONLY". I had a quick meal there and left within the hour. After a week or so I received a letter from ParkingEye asking for £100 or £50 if paid within 14 days. Unfortunately I ignored the letters and now (some months later after things went quiet during the Covid situation) I've received a County Court claim letter asking for a total of £175 (£100 plus legal and court costs).

I visited the pub recently to look again at the sign, I noticed there's a smaller sign about 10 metres away from the entrance (with no lighting so I didn't see it when I had a meal there) and the smaller sign says "Patron only car park for use whilst registered at [pub name here]". During my visit to the pub I didn't see any signs saying I needed to register, and none of the staff mentioned it. I spoke with the manager a few days ago who was quite apologetic and said she would've got it cancelled for me had I have contacted her when receiving the first letter, but it's too late now.

My question is: should I construct a defence based on what I've said above, or do I need to write some complex legal defence requiring esoteric knowledge of car parking law, quoting various clauses etc? If there's a template on here that I need to use then can someone please point me to the page which shows me this?

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?


Go back to where you found the New Thread button earlier.
Have a read of the titles of the first five threads found there.
I am sure you can easily spot the ones that answer your questions. 

Redx

The story is the witness statement , later in the process

The defence is based on legal arguments , not the story

D_P_Dance

ParkingEys's signs zare not fit for purpose imo, many judges agree with me, read this,

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading

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 in some cases, cancellation. 

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 later this year,

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

AllOtherNamesAlreadyInUse

Redx said:

The story is the witness statement , later in the process
The defence is based on legal arguments , not the story

Thanks for your reply but I don't know what you mean, I'm not trained in law (my career is computing), all I have is a story of what happened and why I believe the charge is not right (mainly that the signs were not clear). How do I know how to construct a legal argument without employing a solicitor (who would no doubt cost more than the fine)?

KeithP

Any answer to my earlier question?...

KeithP said:

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Time is slipping away.

AllOtherNamesAlreadyInUse said:

How do I know how to construct a legal argument without employing a solicitor (who would no doubt cost more than the fine)?

By reading the thread I mentioned earlier which describes exactly how you do that...
KeithP said:

Go back to where you found the New Thread button earlier.
Have a read of the titles of the first five threads found there.
I am sure you can easily spot the ones that answer your questions. 

Hint: the thread you are looking for has the word NEWBIES together with the words READ THESE FAQS FIRST in capitals in its title. You need to read the second post on that thread.
 

Coupon-mad

You adapt a ParkingEye defence from the NEWBIES thread like everyone else manages to do.  That's why they are there and that's why you were shown that thread.

AllOtherNamesAlreadyInUse

Coupon-mad said:

You adapt a ParkingEye defence from the NEWBIES thread like everyone else manages to do.  That's why they are there and that's why you were shown that thread.

Hi, that's where I started (as I said in my original post) and I found the links to the Parking Eye defence examples (I've copied linked below to ensure we're on the same page). However, those appear to be notes from a county court hearing, and not a defence that I could write within a 3/4 of an A4 page space:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74850073#Comment_74850073
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/74254129#Comment_74254129

AllOtherNamesAlreadyInUse

KeithP said:

Any answer to my earlier question?...

KeithP said:

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Time is slipping away.

Hi, sorry I wanted to read again the first 5 posts as you suggested before I replied. The issue date is 6th July.

AllOtherNamesAlreadyInUse said:

How do I know how to construct a legal argument without employing a solicitor (who would no doubt cost more than the fine)?

By reading the thread I mentioned earlier which describes exactly how you do that...
KeithP said:

Go back to where you found the New Thread button earlier.
Have a read of the titles of the first five threads found there.
I am sure you can easily spot the ones that answer your questions. 

Hint: the thread you are looking for has the word NEWBIES together with the words READ THESE FAQS FIRST in capitals in its title. You need to read the second post on that thread.
 

As I mentioned in my original post, I did start there and read through but am struggling to find the specifics I'm looking for. The defences I'm supposed to adapt (the ParkingEye ones) look like notes from a county court hearing (I've put the links in my reply to coupon-mad a few minutes ago).

Coupon-mad

Eh?  That's a defence; that's what a defence looks like.   You need to adapt one  for your own facts and change the statement of truth to the new one, like the NEWBIES thread clearly tells you to do. 

It isn't A4 sized - not one page - and you are obviously NOT going to be filling in the claim papers by hand (THE NEWBIES THREAD TELLS YOU NOT TO) nor trying to squash it into MCOL online, because that's not how we submit our defences.  

The reason you don't know this is because you hadn't (until now) answered KeithP's question...he was waiting for your answer before telling you how to email your signed defence.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 6th 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 two 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.