Defending a claim for train station free car park

yellowdots

I have read as much as I can and followed advice in the Newbie's posts.  I am working on my defence tonight and have to submit it tonight.  Yes, I have unfortunately left it to the last minute due to other life priorities recently.  Train station car park is free to park, the day in question it was early morning, dark and heavily raining so visibility was poor.  I haven't included that yet as I was unsure if it was pertinent due to some of the wording in the Defence template.  I would also add what a help this forum has been in relieving a lot of worry about this and giving me a process I can follow, so thank you to all who are advising and helping here.  This is my paragraph 18 if you can let me know if this would be ok in my Defence Statement.  I also have a photograph of the resurfacing work but am not sure whether to include that also.  Do I label the photos Exhibit A and so on? Thanks again.

18. The Defendant has since established that the Centro Hall Green Station Car Park B (Park and Ride), which is an overspill car park from the main Car Park A, has recently been re-surfaced and parking bay lines have been re-painted on the surface, marking out the bays more clearly.  This would suggest the bays were not clearly marked out previously.  The Defendant has written to the railway authority [insert here name of railway company] to clarify and try to obtain proof of this re-surfacing work but has still yet to receive a reply.  The Defendant has photographic evidence of poor signage.  The sign on entry to Car Park B is at ground level on the opposite side of the service road and would not have been clearly seen on entry.  The next sign prior to entry to the car park itself is above head height on the left-hand side of the road on a lamp post.  The Claimant’s signs have vague/hidden terms and a mix of small font, such that they would be considered incapable of binding any person reading them under common contract law, and would also be considered void pursuant to Schedule 2 of the CRA.  Consequently, it is the Defendant’s position that no contract to pay an onerous penalty was agreed by the driver.

KeithP

Are you sure your Defence has to be filed tonight?

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

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service? If so, when?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that last question.


Nothing gets sent with a Defence. Photos and other evidence comes later - probably some months later - at Witness Statement time.

Coupon-mad

What's the date of your N1 claim form and what date did you do the AOS online?

I also have a photograph of the resurfacing work but am not sure whether to include that also.  Do I label the photos Exhibit A and so on?

No, that comes at Witness Statement stage.  Have a look at the section in the NEWBIES thread under the red heading 'Important!  know what happens when'.

This looks fine but I am due to edit the template defence and will remove the stuff that says near the start that the claim should be struck out and that there should be no hearing.  That is currently unlikely.  So delete those ones and the heading ending that says 'should not proceed to trial'.

Then move #18 up and put it instead of one of those first half dozen points you have deleted, so the facts are higher up, which is what I will be doing when I get round to re-writing it.

yellowdots

Thanks.  The date of the N1 claim form is 26 August 2020 and I did the Acknowledgement of Service online on 12 September 2020.

Ok, I will make the changes you suggest.  Do I still leave paragraph 17 as the default paragraph?  I realise it is in red and for me to possibly change but I was unsure what to do.

Coupon-mad

I think leave #17 as it is.

But also do this before time runs out, as soon as you've done the defence, while you are still feeling really angry about being sued for silly money when it's clearly a moneymaking scam:

Please now make a real difference because not enough people have - A TASK FOR SEPTEMBER:

The Government is (this month only) consulting about a new statutory code of practice (CoP) and framework to rein in the rogue parking firms.  Read and comment on the draft CoP proposal and the enforcement framework consultation, and get everyone you know to do the same.

You will need to register to comment on the CoP and enter an occupation even if you are retired or a homemaker, but otherwise it is easy to navigate, and comment upon each section/subsection individually. You can save comments to edit later and or submit comments once you are happy with them.

https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2020-00193#/section

You do not need to register to comment on the enforcement framework which can be found here. It has a link on page 5 to make comments.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/913272/Code_Enforcement_Framework_consultation.pdf

At the very least, we say the parking charge level should be £50/£25 or higher level £70/£35, as per Council PCNs in E&W.  

And we say the added fake 'debt recovery' costs are just double counting the cost of letters and MUST GO.  Remove that layer and you remove the ‘drivers’ behind the race to court.

HOW TO DO THE SUBMISSIONS:

Responses into the PAS 232 and MHCLG framework documents are not completely straightforward:

On the MHCLG response, you have to answer the questions on a 1-5 scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and then put some commentary. No way to upload documents or alternatives.

 

On the PAS 232, you have to click on each clause and sub-clause to put your comments, and a suggested rewording of their draft.  You can see comments which other people have written! 

 

But, when you click ‘submit’, a message pops up to say your comments have been received, but that only applies to the particular clause you have just addressed.

 

You have to click ‘submit’ separately for each individual clause response.

 

Some people will be caught out by this but can revisit it and add further responses up to 12 October.

 

 

yellowdots

Huge thanks, will get the defence submitted tonight, and will breath a little sigh of relief until the next stage of the process.  I will certainly run through your task for September, and read it properly tomorrow.  I will also try and share it on my local Facebook community page.

Appreciate your help a lot, thanks again.

KeithP

yellowdots said:

Thanks.  The date of the N1 claim form is 26 August 2020 and I did the Acknowledgement of Service online on 12 September 2020.

The good news is that you have more time than you thought. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 26th August, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 28th September 2020 to file your Defence.

To file a Defence by email, look at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

Redx

Which PPC is it ??

yellowdots

Sorry but I need a bit of clarification about which paragraphs I am removing at the beginning.  Are they the first few paragraphs under heading The Claim is tainted by an abuse of process and should not proceed to trial?

I have also put my previous paragraph 18 now as paragraph 3.

yellowdots

KeithP said:

yellowdots said:

Thanks.  The date of the N1 claim form is 26 August 2020 and I did the Acknowledgement of Service online on 12 September 2020.

The good news is that you have more time than you thought. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 26th August, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 28th September 2020 to file your Defence.

To file a Defence by email, look at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

Great what a relief, I am just drafting the email to Court and about to save my word doc as a pdf.  I cannot find the Southampton pdf though.

I will do the rest tomorrow so I don't make a silly mistake, thank you!

yellowdots

Redx said:

Which PPC is it ??

Sorry I missed this earlier, it is Vehicle Control Services Ltd.