I have had my initial Set Aside hearing and been given two weeks to prepare a defence

KeithP

A week ago I wrote:

KeithP said:

The second post of the NEWBIES thread has all the guidance you need.

Two weeks to file a Defence? Plenty of time.

One week has already passed.

Just one week left.

victoria121989

I am preparing my defence and am editing the template as advised. 
I have never received a copy of the CCJ or the order which was given at my preliminary set aside hearing. I contacted the claimant to get a break down of the costs which are -

For clarification the £257.00 claimed amount is broken down as below:

• £100.00 PCN
• £60.00 contractual costs
• £50.00 legal representative’s costs
• £25.00 issue fee
• £22.00 Solicitor’s costs on entering judgement

I read in a post that I DO NOT ADD THE COURT CLAIM AND LEGAL FEES TO THAT SUM - THE OBJECTION IS TO THE 'DAMAGES/CONTRACT' SUM, IF IT EXCEEDS £100.  
Please can someone tell me which parts I add to my total sum? Is it solely the PCN? If that is the case it does not exceed £100 so what would I enter? 

Thank you in advance. All of the information on here is invaluable and I am very grateful. 

Coupon-mad

It's clearly £160 like the template defence tells everyone that it usually is...no idea why people find this bit difficult:

• £100.00 PCN
• £60.00 contractual costs

Le_Kirk

For the defence template, it is the £60 contractual costs that you add to the £100 PCN to give you a global figure of £160.

victoria121989

Thank you 

victoria121989

Please can you read over my points 17 and 18? Is this too much detail regarding the conduct of the solicitors?

17.   On the 19th of December the Defendant entered the car park as she regularly did whilst working at a nearby location. The Defendant paid for parking using the automated telephone payment system and had done so on numerous occasions during that month (see bank statement attached highlighting evidence of payment). When using the automated system there is no ticket produced to display in the vehicle. It is claimed that the patrol officer for the car park noticed the Defendant's vehicle at 19:20 but the payment was not registered until 20:52. It is not established thus far, whether there was a single parking event, or whether the vehicle was caught by predatory ticketing and/or by using unsynchronised timings and camera evidence to suggest a contravention. On returning back to the vehicle there was a ticket issued on the windscreen, the Defendant assumed to be in error as full payment had been made upon entering the car park. The Claimant has proposed that the Defendant had breached terms and conditions by not purchasing and displaying a ticket, note Ref 2 showing signage from the car park which does not clearly state any time frame for purchasing a ticket upon entering the site. 

18.   At the time of the alleged contravention the Defendant had recently returned from travelling having been out of the UK from May 2016 to December 2016. The Defendant was not at a fixed address at the time that the formal notice was issued. The Defendant updated the DVLA with an address early in 2017.  The Claimant attached a timeline of events at the preliminary Set Aside hearing showing formal notice was issued on the 30th of December 2016 and a reminder on the 13th February 2017. There was no further attempt at correspondence until the matter was transferred to the Claimant’s solicitor ELMS Legal Ltd on the 3rd of December 2019. It is completely reasonable for an individual to have moved property within a two year period, but there had been no attempt to obtain correct contact details for the Defendant.  The Claimant entered a County Court Judgement against the Defendant without giving the Defendant the opportunity to appeal. The Defendant first became aware of the County Court Judgement through a routine credit report on the 5th of March and immediately contacted ELMS Legal Ltd. The Defendant advised ELMS Legal Ltd that evidence could be produced to show payment by means of a bank statement but this had to be posted to the Defendant from the bank as it was from such a long time ago. The Defendant sent proof of payment and was told ELMS’s client would not accept this and required further evidence. The Defendant asked what could be produced and was advised to produce a ticket which could have been displayed in the window. The Defendant explained this was not possible as the system is fully automated and there is no ticket produced. By this stage the 30 day window for appeal had elapsed. The Defendant at no point was made aware of a 30 day window to appeal and was at no point told a bank statement showing payment would not be accepted. ELMS Legal Limited gave no means for the Defendant to prove themselves innocent. 

 Thanks in advance 

victoria121989

I was reading another thread on the Court Claim Procedure, please can somebody clarify if I need to submit supporting evidence at this stage? Do I need to attach bank statement etc, or is that just at the hearing stage?

KeithP

You should be using the second post of the NEWBIES thread for guidance on all things court related.

In there you will have read:

Once allocated to your local court, you WILL be given a clear date by which YOU MUST file the evidence ('exhibits') and any Witness Statement (i.e. yours - YOU are the witness).

victoria121989

I had to set this aside initially as I was not given chance to appeal. The judge then told me to submit my defence by 4pm on the 10th of August and the judgement will essentially be set aside giving me the opportunity to properly submit a defence.

I didn't know if that meant just the defence and then I send my witness statement and evidence etc once I have a hearing date? 

KeithP

Ah ok, I had lost track of the setaside bit.

A defence is just narrative, evidence comes later, usually once a hearing date is allocated.
Typically a court will send a Notice which will give you a date and say something like:

Each party must deliver to every other party and to the court office copies of all documents on which he intends to rely at the hearing no later than [ . . . ] [14 days before the hearing].

But we do see slight differences following a set aside. Read everything carefully that drops through your letter-box.