BW Legal notice of county claim issued for a PCN from 2015!

Orangecordial

nosferatu1001 said:

Orangecordial said:

nosferatu1001 said:

The template defence is NOT about a tenant so you're looking in the wrong place. 

You are right - I have been looking at the example defences to get ideas of how to draft my own defence, which are about tenants. I'm really not sure what I should write!

Have you read the template defence? Simple yes or no. What precisely about the template defence you have NOW read, doesn't work for you?

Yes, I have read it. It is fantastic, and a real godsend for a newbie like me. But I am struggling to fill in parts 2 and 3. 

Redx

Orangecordial said:

Redx said:

The PCN must have been issued some time ago , you chose not to pay it so must have had a reason for not paying it , what was that reason ?

Not paying a PCN can commonly mean you are agreeing to a county court claim in the future , within 6 years

So not paying at the time the typical £100 has led to this point , which is not a surprise to anyone here

One leads to the other

The claimant has to have a proper landowner authority in place , the written consent to take people to court , adequate signage etc , so plenty of hurdles to jump

You are on a money saving forum asking about paying a sc#mm#r , how is that saving money ?

I chose not to pay as the ticket said I did not have authorisation to park there, but I was under the impression that I did, as I was visiting someone who lived in the building. I didn't see any sign telling me otherwise, or I wouldn't have parked there. And if the person who lives there and walks through the car park every day doesn't know that you need a permit or whatever then how is a visitor supposed to know?? 

I am definitely not asking about paying them, I have no intention to pay any fee to park where I have been told I can park for free. Had this situation been escalated to this point years ago when it actually happened, I'd probably be a bit more confident in what I needed to write in my defence as it wouldn't be such a distant memory...

Then that is a part of your defence and your witness statement to the judge

If you then lose in court , pay up , promptly , within one month , asap !!

It's just a dispute over money , not a bank robbery 😋

Snakes_Belly

Some residential car parks allocated spaces are numbered with the house/flat number and have visitor spaces marked with a V. It sounds as if this was not allocated spaces. Take care that the images that they use are from the time period of the PCN. 

Snakes_Belly

Do you have the postcode of the car park? You may be able to go back on Google maps to 2015.  We may be able to see the signs that were on the site in 2015. It's a useful tool.

Coupon-mad

But I am struggling to fill in parts 2 and 3.

Stop overthinking it.  These are your facts about the car park and why the driver was there, what business they had to be there and any other known facts known (including if the Defendant wasn't the driver, or was told to park there, or believed they were authorised and why, etc). 

It astonishes me that people struggle to write the facts.  JUST WRITE A SENTENCE OR TWO.

Orangecordial

Snakes_Belly said:

Do you have the postcode of the car park? You may be able to go back on Google maps to 2015.  We may be able to see the signs that were on the site in 2015. It's a useful tool.

Thanks for this suggestion, I've had a look at the car park on google maps and the one very small sign that looks like it shows the rules of the car park is totally obscured by a van parked directly next to it!
the only picture of the sign is from June 2015, so it could have been changed after that.

Orangecordial

Coupon-mad said:

But I am struggling to fill in parts 2 and 3.

Stop overthinking it.  These are your facts about the car park and why the driver was there, what business they had to be there and any other known facts known (including if the Defendant wasn't the driver, or was told to park there, or believed they were authorised and why, etc). 

It astonishes me that people struggle to write the facts.  JUST WRITE A SENTENCE OR TWO.

Thankyou, I didn't know if what I had written was enough. I will post what I have put later on tonight 👍

Snakes_Belly

Orangecordial said:

Snakes_Belly said:

Do you have the postcode of the car park? You may be able to go back on Google maps to 2015.  We may be able to see the signs that were on the site in 2015. It's a useful tool.

Thanks for this suggestion, I've had a look at the car park on google maps and the one very small sign that looks like it shows the rules of the car park is totally obscured by a van parked directly next to it!
the only picture of the sign is from June 2015, so it could have been changed after that.

Can you see if there are any markings on the tarmac that may indicate that spaces are allocated. There is usually a number of spaces allocated for visitors on residential car parks so if you were not in an allocated space it would not be unreasonable to park there. What would happen with contractors, gas services etc.? They would have to park somewhere. What would happen now if anyone in the flats was shielding and their groceries were being delivered?  There must be some capacity on the car park for deliveries etc. 

Snakes_Belly

It may help to have a different set of eyes taking a look at the car park in question. It did in my case, namely Fruitcake's 

The screenshots that Fruitcake took also helped several others who had also received PCN's in the same area. 

Snakes_Belly

Orangecordial said:

Snakes_Belly said:

Do you have the postcode of the car park? You may be able to go back on Google maps to 2015.  We may be able to see the signs that were on the site in 2015. It's a useful tool.

Thanks for this suggestion, I've had a look at the car park on google maps and the one very small sign that looks like it shows the rules of the car park is totally obscured by a van parked directly next to it! The only picture of the sign is from June 2015, so it could have been changed after that.

You need to take a screenshot of that for your WS. You also need to mention in your defence that you do not recall seeing any signage and that it was likely to have been hidden by delivery vehicles, contractors, etc. Back that up in your WS with the image.