*UPDATED* Witness Statement now added!

Anonymouskeith

Long story short, I received a PCN over 12 months ago, ignored everything until now (a method that has always worked for me prior), I've now received a court letter - unsure of the proper nomenclature but I'm sure people will know what I mean - stating I have 14 days to respond or court could rule in default against me etc. I absolutely do not want to give these !!!!!! a penny of my cash and from what I understand I've little more to lose financially by preparing a defence & fighting the claim (is this correct?)

This is the part I'd appreciate a little help with, I've read the FAQ but the only advice it gives is to seek out advice from others than have recently contested in court - does anybody have a template defence or similar? Or can advise on the best approach to it? TIA

Umkomaas

Are you sure it is actually from a court?  What logo is showing at the top of the letterhead?

Anonymouskeith

Umkomaas said:

Are you sure it is actually from a court?  What logo is showing at the top of the letterhead?

I don't have it with me right now, it's addressed as being from northampton county court business centre. It looks 'official'

Anonymouskeith

Also, is it too late to submit a SAR at this stage to the parking company? I had hoped they'd just get bored & give up so have had no engagement with them at all until now! If somebody would be kind enough to provide me with some advice that is a little less 'generic' than that in the FAQ thread I would be *hugely* appreciative

KeithP

Anonymouskeith said:

Umkomaas said:

Are you sure it is actually from a court?  What logo is showing at the top of the letterhead?

I don't have it with me right now, it's addressed as being from northampton county court business centre. It looks 'official'

You seem to have read some of the smallest letters on that document, but are the biggest letters across the top of it Claim Form?

If so, please tell us the Issue Date on it?

Fruitcake

The advice to ignore a parking charge has not been given here since the law changed in 2012. You are now finding out why that advice is no longer given.

It is never too late to send an SAR. The NEWBIES tells you how. It goes to the DPO of the parking scammers, and the keeper will need to include proof of ID such as a copy of the V5C or redacted utility bills or bank/card statements, but never photo ID.

It is never too late to make a landowner complaint.

The scammers have six years to start a court claim in England and Wales, and many are now going over their back catalogue of scamvoices because they have suffered a major drop in revenue due to covid.

Anonymouskeith

Fruitcake said:

The advice to ignore a parking charge has not been given here since the law changed in 2012. You are now finding out why that advice is no longer given.

It is never too late to send an SAR. The NEWBIES tells you how. It goes to the DPO of the parking scammers, and the keeper will need to include proof of ID such as a copy of the V5C or redacted utility bills or bank/card statements, but never photo ID.

It is never too late to make a landowner complaint.

The scammers have six years to start a court claim in England and Wales, and many are now going over their back catalogue of scamvoices because they have suffered a major drop in revenue due to covid.

Thanks for your advice, I will get on with submitting the SAR right away. By landowner complaint, you mean the owner of the premises I parked on?

also, is my best defence that I wasn’t the driver, or poor signage etc. I wasn’t driving, but I know the signage there is very poor and the driver genuinely didn’t see it, however it seems like picking one defence and focusing on that will surely go down better with a judge than coming across as trying to take a scattergun approach?

Le_Kirk

Anonymouskeith said:

Long story short, I received a PCN over 12 months ago, ignored everything until now (a method that has always worked for me prior), I've now received a court letter - unsure of the proper nomenclature but I'm sure people will know what I mean - stating I have 14 days to respond or court could rule in default against me etc. I absolutely do not want to give these !!!!!! a penny of my cash and from what I understand I've little more to lose financially by preparing a defence & fighting the claim (is this correct?)

This is the part I'd appreciate a little help with, I've read the FAQ but the only advice it gives is to seek out advice from others than have recently contested in court - does anybody have a template defence or similar? Or can advise on the best approach to it? TIA

The only advice isn't to seek out advice from others; there are four posts concerning all stages of the process from initial "Complain to Landowner - Plan A" through to initial appeal, POPLA and small claims court hearing.  About the same place as you found the FAQ or NEWBIE sticky is the defence template that you seek.

Fruitcake

Anonymouskeith said:

Fruitcake said:

The advice to ignore a parking charge has not been given here since the law changed in 2012. You are now finding out why that advice is no longer given.

It is never too late to send an SAR. The NEWBIES tells you how. It goes to the DPO of the parking scammers, and the keeper will need to include proof of ID such as a copy of the V5C or redacted utility bills or bank/card statements, but never photo ID.

It is never too late to make a landowner complaint.

The scammers have six years to start a court claim in England and Wales, and many are now going over their back catalogue of scamvoices because they have suffered a major drop in revenue due to covid.

Thanks for your advice, I will get on with submitting the SAR right away. By landowner complaint, you mean the owner of the premises where the driver parked?

also, is my best defence that I wasn’t the driver, or poor signage etc. I wasn’t driving, but I know the signage there is very poor and the driver genuinely didn’t see it, however it seems like picking one defence and focusing on that will surely go down better with a judge than coming across as trying to take a scattergun approach?

Yes, the owner of the land where the alleged event occurred, or manager or CEO if it was a business or retail park etcetera.


Not being the driver is only a defence if the NTK was not PoFA compliant and therefore incapable of holding the keeper liable. You won't know until you compare the NTK with the PoFA.

Also, you cannot say on the one hand, "the premises I parked on" and then say you weren't the driver. Both statements cannot be true.

The defence template already covers inadequate signage as well as many other points. Use all of them. You only have to win on one point whereas the scammers must win on every point.
If the NTK was non PoFA compliant and the keeper wasn't driving, then that is another defence point. If however the NTK was PoFA compliant then it doesn't matter whtheror not the keeper was driving because the stupid PoFA allows the scammers to hold the keeper liable, even if they were on the other side of the planet at the time of the alleged event.

Anonymouskeith

Fruitcake said:

Anonymouskeith said:

Fruitcake said:

The advice to ignore a parking charge has not been given here since the law changed in 2012. You are now finding out why that advice is no longer given.

It is never too late to send an SAR. The NEWBIES tells you how. It goes to the DPO of the parking scammers, and the keeper will need to include proof of ID such as a copy of the V5C or redacted utility bills or bank/card statements, but never photo ID.

It is never too late to make a landowner complaint.

The scammers have six years to start a court claim in England and Wales, and many are now going over their back catalogue of scamvoices because they have suffered a major drop in revenue due to covid.

Thanks for your advice, I will get on with submitting the SAR right away. By landowner complaint, you mean the owner of the premises where the driver parked?

also, is my best defence that I wasn’t the driver, or poor signage etc. I wasn’t driving, but I know the signage there is very poor and the driver genuinely didn’t see it, however it seems like picking one defence and focusing on that will surely go down better with a judge than coming across as trying to take a scattergun approach?

Yes, the owner of the land where the alleged event occurred, or manager or CEO if it was a business or retail park etcetera.


Not being the driver is only a defence if the NTK was not PoFA compliant and therefore incapable of holding the keeper liable. You won't know until you compare the NTK with the PoFA.

Also, you cannot say on the one hand, "the premises I parked on" and then say you weren't the driver. Both statements cannot be true.

The defence template already covers inadequate signage as well as many other points. Use all of them. You only have to win on one point whereas the scammers must win on every point.
If the NTK was non PoFA compliant and the keeper wasn't driving, then that is another defence point. If however the NTK was PoFA compliant then it doesn't matter whtheror not the keeper was driving because the stupid PoFA allows the scammers to hold the keeper liable, even if they were on the other side of the planet at the time of the alleged event.

Just spoke to the general manager of the site where it occurred, who tells me that because the infringement dates back so far there is nothing the can do to stop the parking firm pressing ahead. Is he lying to me? He seems genuine enough and even went as far as to say they will not be renewing their relationship with said company because of the damage they have done to their reputation etc. Also told me they did have additional signage at one point but were made to take it down by the councils planning dept - he declined to confirm that statement in writing for me however. 

Anonymouskeith

Le_Kirk said:

Anonymouskeith said:

Long story short, I received a PCN over 12 months ago, ignored everything until now (a method that has always worked for me prior), I've now received a court letter - unsure of the proper nomenclature but I'm sure people will know what I mean - stating I have 14 days to respond or court could rule in default against me etc. I absolutely do not want to give these !!!!!! a penny of my cash and from what I understand I've little more to lose financially by preparing a defence & fighting the claim (is this correct?)

This is the part I'd appreciate a little help with, I've read the FAQ but the only advice it gives is to seek out advice from others than have recently contested in court - does anybody have a template defence or similar? Or can advise on the best approach to it? TIA

The only advice isn't to seek out advice from others; there are four posts concerning all stages of the process from initial "Complain to Landowner - Plan A" through to initial appeal, POPLA and small claims court hearing.  About the same place as you found the FAQ or NEWBIE sticky is the defence template that you seek.

The issue with that template I’m having is it sort of leaves out the core part of what my actually defence should be. I know every case is different, but I don’t know what I actually ought to be looking for to say ‘well I shouldn’t have to pay because x & y wasn’t done’ if that makes sense