Court Defence advice please

bob5678

Hello
I'm writing up a defence using your very valuable template - thank you!
I have two questions -
1. I wasn't the driver; in the template defence it says: 
"If you are only the registered keeper and were not driving," to write xyz about being harrassed by letters
"If you are admitting to driving," to write about how the signage was bad etc.

In my case, I wasn't the driver, but I have since visited the site, and the signage is truly appalling in a number of ways. Can I write about this in the defence, even though I am using "I was not the driver" as a part of my defence? 

2. I also just don't understand how "not being the driver" plays a part in the defence. If it gets taken to court, can the court just ask me to say who the driver was? And what would happen then?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give, especially with Q1 above - (I have a tight deadline to submit this)

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

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

bob5678

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

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

Hi, it's 11th Feb 2021

Umkomaas

2. I also just don't understand how "not being the driver" plays a part in the defence. If it gets taken to court, can the court just ask me to say who the driver was? And what would happen then?

Depends whether the parking firm (PPC) have issued a Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Schedule 4) compliant Notice to Keeper. But it's impossible for us to guess without more detail, like:

Name of PPC? 

Date of parking event?

Windscreen ticket applied by the PPC, or an ANPR camera capture and letter through the post (Notice to Keeper - NtK)?

Date of issue shown on the NtK?

What does the NtK say about pursuing the registered keeper using PoFA - verbatim please, not paraphrasing. 

KeithP

bob5678 said:

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

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

Hi, it's 11th Feb 2021

I will assume you filed an Acknowledgment of Service sometime between 16th February and 2nd March.
Please confirm.

With a Claim Issue Date of 11th February, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 16th March 2021 to file your Defence.

That's just two days away. 

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

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.


Now... on to your questions...

1) Of course a non-driving keeper can refer to the poor quality signs and anything else that happened on the day. There is absolutely nothing stopping the keeper visiting the site after the event to ascertain the state of the signs. Having said that, do check the template Defence and read the paragraphs already there that talk about poor signs. Do you need to add more?

2) If you are the Defendant and were not the driver then the only way that any driver's liability can be transferred to the keeper is if the Claimant has conformed to all the rules in the Protection of Freedoms Act. If they have not done that, then the keeper cannot be held liable. 
You do not have to disclose who the driver was, but even if you did, they are not the Defendant in the current case. It is possible that after your case is found in your favour, assuming it is found in your favour, that the Claimant may start a new Claim against the then know driver. 

So, tell us who the Claimant is?
What was the date of the parking event?
Was there a Notice to Driver left on the vehicle at the time of the parking event?
Can you show us an image of the Notice to Keeper - with just your personal details hidden?

bob5678

Hi thanks for these replies - I will answer everything, 
An acknowledgment of service has been made in time
There was no ticket on the windscreen
The parking firm is Premier Park
I will find the text on the NPK and put in the next comment...

Redx

Answer the questions above please !

A Claimant must prove compliance with POFA to hold a Keeper who was not the driver liable , it's that simple

No POFA compliance means no keeper liability , so chase the driver , who shall not be named !! , Simples !!

The defendant can say that they either know who as driving but decline to say , or say it's a relative or similar , or they do not know who was driving , but they must reply truthfully and honestly. Yer honour , I was not the driver !!  I respectfully decline to say !!

So the claim fails on POFA , the rest is icing on the Cake

The rest comes into it where a claimant complied with POFA , so landowner authority and signage count because they ticked the POFA compliance box and the keeper is liable for the actions of their vehicle

So with POFA compliance , you either name the driver in reply to the NTK PCN , or you take the responsibility on as keeper !

bob5678

Regarding POFA
I did read through the POFA document to check has the Claimant complied with every detail. And the only detail they seem not to have complied with is 
"The notice must... (e)state that the creditor does not know both the name of the driver and a current address for service for the driver and invite the keeper—"

The actual text on the original NTK is:
"We now request this amount is paid using one of the payment methods described overleaf. If within 29 days we have not received full payment or driver details, under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, we have the right, subject to the requirements of the Act, to recover the parking charge amount that remains funpaid from the keeper of the vehicle."

KeithP

So it doesn't say when those '29 days' start counting from?

Date of the alleged parking event?
Date of issue of that Notice to Keeper?

bob5678

NTK:
"We have issued Parking Charge Notice... to your vehicle because it was parked in a manner whereby the driver became liable for a parking charge at ... that we are authorised to manage on the 25th February 2019... the terms and conditions of parking on this private land are clearly set out on the signage installed within the car park. By parking within this car park you are bound to these terms and condition and liable to pay a charge if you breach these terms and conditions."

paragraph about discount for paying within 14 days

"We have requested your details from the DVLA as the registered keeper of the vehicle, through the Reasonable Cause criteria of pursuing an outstanding parking charge. The reason we issued a PCN to the vehicle is as follow: Exceeded Maximum Stay Period"

"If you were not the keeper of the vehicle at the time it was parked or is the vehicle was stolen prior to the beginning of the period of parking which is the subject of this Notice, please let us know. If you were not the driver we ask you to supply the full name and current serviceable postal address of the driver so that we may address this request to them."

"We now request this amount is paid using one of the payment methods described overleaf. If within 29 days we have not received full payment or driver details, under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, we have the right, subject to the requirements of the Act, to recover the parking charge amount that remains funpaid from the keeper of the vehicle."

bob5678

KeithP said:

So it doesn't say when those '29 days' start counting from?

Date of the alleged parking event?
Date of issue of that Notice to Keeper?

Issue date: 4th March 2019
Incident date: 25 Feb 2019
they did send the NTK within the timeframe
29 days from March 4th