Please Help - have to submit a defence asap - very poor signage at non pay and display car park

RapidD

Hello All,
Thank you for taking the time to read this in advance. I've been silly and left it until the last minute but I believe I have to file a defence today (to be fair I did start yesterday morning but didn't realise you have to wait for admin approval to post which unfortunately doesn't happen on Sunday's). Anyway.....I'll try to keep this brief:
- I've been going to the same retail car park for literally years. Apparently recently (in relative terms) the landowner put a parking firm in charge of issuing PCN's if people stayed over 3 hours
- I was there for about 3 hours and 20 minutes and had absolutely no idea this rule was in place
- I was in an establishment that rents one of the businesses for the entire time and have the original receipt from my stay
- There's nothing in the place of business making you aware they are charges (although they hate it as much as I do, having discussed it with them afterwards)
- there is no visible signage on the entrance to the car park to make you aware that parking limitations are in play
- when walking out of the place of business I was in, there is no visible signage at all
- from where I parked to walking into the place of businesses (or outside of the PoB), there is no visible signage 
- this is not a pay and display car park therefore I don't believe they have even lost any income
- having got the PCN through the post retrospectively, I went back to hunt for the signage. There are some very small signs in light green background and white text! Clearly not attempting to draw a drivers attention
- I have visual evidence of all of the above
- unfortunately I missed the deadline for appealing to the governing body before it got this far (appeal to parking company was obviously rejected).
They're attempting to clam:
£171.72
+ £25 court fee
+ £50 legal
(total £246.72)
and to my questions(s)!
Is there any kind of stock defence for this kind of thing? (poor signage on non pay and display car park?)
What I really want to do is get this to a hearing so I can present the visual evidence I have of all of the above, as I'm very confident it would go my way.
I apologise in advance if I haven't spotted what I'm asking for. I have honestly read a lot on here but most of it is (with all due respect) using legalities to 'beat the charge' if that makes sense, and that's all good. This is a genuine case of thinking I've been mugged off and trying to stand up to a bully. They're purposely not making any signage visible to issue these tickets. I could post the above as some form of defence but expect they'll throw it out for not being 'legal enough'?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I would be extremely grateful for any help you can provide. 

Le_Kirk

There is a stock defence, it is called the standard defence template and it is one of the five announcements on the first page of the forum.  Read it and you will see that you only have to edit two paragraphs.  If you want you can edit paragraphs 2 & 3 an post here for critique but do not miss your deadline of 4.00  p.m.
What is the date of issue of your N1 claim form and what date did you do the AOS?
Evidence comes later - just get your defence in now!

Redx

Name of PPC involved (Claimant ?)

Issue date from the claim form ?

The date the AOS was done ?

Check the MCOL claim history for exact details

Use the stock defence template by coupon mad , see the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum

If today is your deadline , you have until 4pm , so post your adapted paragraphs 2 & 3 below for critique , quickly

RapidD

Le_Kirk said:

There is a stock defence, it is called the standard defence template and it is one of the five announcements on the first page of the forum.  Read it and you will see that you only have to edit two paragraphs.  If you want you can edit paragraphs 2 & 3 an post here for critique but do not miss your deadline of 4.00  p.m.
What is the date of issue of your N1 claim form and what date did you do the AOS?
Evidence comes later - just get your defence in now!

Thank you for such a quick response. 4PM deadline? Dang. I didn't realise, thanks for making me aware. Date of issue was 18th Feb, have I figured it out right that today is the day? 

Redx

Name of parking company ??

When was the AOS done ?

RapidD

and I did AOS on 7th March.

RapidD

Redx said:

Name of parking company ??

When was the AOS done ?

Thank you for the reply.
Company is HX Car Park Management Ltd. They are a member of the two governing bodies (sorry can't recall the name).
Issue date: 18th Feb
AOS: 7th March. 

Le_Kirk

Hopefully if you post the info I have requested @KeithP will be along to give you definitive deadline but this from CPR: -

(b) if the defendant files an acknowledgment of service under Part 10, 28 days after service of the particulars of claim.

You add five days to the issue date (and providing you didn't submit the AoS inside 5 days)  for service.  Add five days to date of issue, then 28 days for filing a defence, which I make tomorrow but wait for @KeithP, meantime get on with defence, it should only take half an hour and then send it by e-mail to the address shown in the defence template thread.
If the car park did not display signs BEFORE it changed the rules, this is another good defence point.

Redx

RapidD said:

Redx said:

Name of parking company ??

When was the AOS done ?

Thank you for the reply.
Company is HX Car Park Management Ltd. They are a member of the two governing bodies (sorry can't recall the name).
Issue date: 18th Feb
AOS: 7th March. 

There are no governing bodies , but are 2 trade associations

HX is in the IPC , so a member of that trade body , bearing in mind it's an unregulated industry

You have under 2 hours to alter 2 paragraphs , if today is the deadline , or by 4pm tomorrow if le Kirk is correct

So get on with it asap , posting your proposals below

Do not post the rest of the template , we do not need to see it !!

RapidD

Le_Kirk said:

Hopefully if you post the info I have requested @KeithP will be along to give you definitive deadline but this from CPR: -

(b) if the defendant files an acknowledgment of service under Part 10, 28 days after service of the particulars of claim.

You add five days to the issue date (and providing you didn't submit the AoS inside 5 days)  for service.  Add five days to date of issue, then 28 days for filing a defence, which I make tomorrow but wait for @KeithP, meantime get on with defence, it should only take half an hour and then send it by e-mail to the address shown in the defence template thread.
If the car park did not display signs BEFORE it changed the rules, this is another good defence point.

Thank you for that. I think the AOS was submitted +4 days (definitely not inside the first 14 days!).
If it is tomorrow that will be a huge relief. I'll await @KeithP 's instruction. 
Thanks so much for taking the time to help me guys. I know it's frustrating when the information is there and people don't read it. It's not that I haven't read it, I've obviously missed it and to be completely honest, I'm panicking which is why I'm not taking in the information well! Thanks again.

RapidD

Redx said:

RapidD said:

Redx said:

Name of parking company ??

When was the AOS done ?

Thank you for the reply.
Company is HX Car Park Management Ltd. They are a member of the two governing bodies (sorry can't recall the name).
Issue date: 18th Feb
AOS: 7th March. 

There are no governing bodies , but are 2 trade associations

HX is in the IPC , so a member of that trade body , bearing in mind it's an unregulated industry

You have under 2 hours to alter 2 paragraphs , if today is the deadline , or by 4pm tomorrow if le Kirk is correct

So get on with it asap , posting your proposals below

Do not post the rest of the template , we do not need to see it !!

Yes the IPC. Trade body. Sorry I couldn't remember the terminology. 
Noted regarding posting the defence minus the rest of the stock template!