CCJ Defence Based on Poor Website UI

blindmelon7

Hey all,

Sorry to make yet another parking claim thread but I couldn't find a similar case to mine on here. I'll try and keep it to the point. 

I received a CCJ from Vehicle Control Services Limited (solicitors are ELMS Legal LTD) for a parking ticket I attempted to appeal. I have sent my Acknowledgment of Service and am currently drafting a defence. 

I initially paid for a ticket, but ended up staying longer so I purchased a ticket online using Parkonomy.com, which was listed on their board. I entered my VRN as a new user, but it turned out my email had already been used, so I reset my password and logged in. Again I typed my VRN, but their website has an awful UI on a mobile. At this point the options are "back to select" and "card payment". I'm still not entirely sure which one I'm supposed to press, but either way I apparently did the wrong one and it defaulted to my previous reg number. 

Anyway, I couldn't find any cases where people had used a bad website UI to defend a case. Using the suggested template on here I've made a start (I've only copied in the relevant section):

2.       It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle in question but liability is denied.
3.       The Defendant had initially a ticket purchased from the machine until the time in question, but also purchased a second ticket using the Parkonomy.com website for the further duration of his stay. At the time The Defendant was working in a high stress environment. The Defendant initially entered his VRN into the “new user” section, only to realise his email was already taken. He then recovered his password and entered his VRN again, but due to a confusing user interface the website defaulted to the last VRN used. It is not clear how to confirm the VRN on the website. In other words, the correct VRN was entered twice, and yet it still defaulted to the wrong number. The Defendant believes this is a trivial mistake and should not be penalised.

Do you think this will be enough or will I need to find some relevant cases?

Thanks,
Blindmelon7

Redx

It is not a CCJ , yet !! , J means Judgment , after a Court claim , it's just a court claim , using MCOL , no CCJ whatsoever !! It's a CCC , a county court claim

Post the issue date from the CCBC claim form below

Email a SAR to the DPO at VCS attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law , to obtain all your data

Was payment actually made ?
Did payment cover the full period on site ? ( Even if it was the incorrect VRM ) ?

D_P_Dance

Have you complained to your MP?

blindmelon7

Redx said:

It is not a CCJ , yet !! , J means Judgment , after a Court claim , it's just a court claim , using MCOL , no CCJ whatsoever !! It's a CCC , a county court claim

Post the issue date from the CCBC claim form below

Email a SAR to the DPO at VCS attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law , to obtain all your data

Was payment actually made ?
Did payment cover the full period on site ? ( Even if it was the incorrect VRM ) ?

Ah! I misunderstood. I was a little worried about that as I would rather not have a CCJ to my name. 

The issue date was 04/05/21. 
The payment was made and I have an invoice (although I don't have the first window ticket that I initially purchased).

The payment covered the full period minus a 10 minute gap while I tried to reset my password and whatnot. 

I'll look into sending a SAR now. 

Thanks!

blindmelon7

D_P_Dance said:

Have you complained to your MP?

I haven't. Is this worth doing? 

blindmelon7

SAR sent. I wish I'd done this sooner! 

KeithP

blindmelon7 said:

Redx said:

It is not a CCJ , yet !! , J means Judgment , after a Court claim , it's just a court claim , using MCOL , no CCJ whatsoever !! It's a CCC , a county court claim

Post the issue date from the CCBC claim form below

Email a SAR to the DPO at VCS attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law , to obtain all your data

Was payment actually made ?
Did payment cover the full period on site ? ( Even if it was the incorrect VRM ) ?

The issue date was 04/05/21. 

I am going to assume that you filed an Acknowledgment of Service some time after 7th May and before 24th May. Please confirm that.
Anything different may affect your Defence filing deadline.

With a Claim Issue Date of 4th May, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 7th June 2021 to file your Defence.

That's almost two weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

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.

blindmelon7

I'm officially an idiot. I've been away from home and got back today, I missed the deadline by a few hours. Hopefully I'll get away with it. Is there a guideline for what to do if you miss the deadline?

KeithP

blindmelon7 said:

I'm officially an idiot. I've been away from home and got back today, I missed the deadline by a few hours. Hopefully I'll get away with it. Is there a guideline for what to do if you miss the deadline?

Yes, the guideline is - file it now - before 8am tomorrow morning.

Jenni_D

The amount of leeway legally-represented PPCs get during the court process, surely a litigant in person can be allowed some accommodation for a minor breach.

blindmelon7

So just a quick update on this one. My hearing is on Monday (via Teams). I believe I'm relatively well prepared for it, my witness statement has been sent with all relevant evidence (although I'm kicking myself for not adding any incurred expenses as it was a lot more work than expected!)

I do have one question however. I don't believe I have received a witness statement from the claimant. Other than the initial claim which included some photos of my car the only thing I received was a change of representation notification, unless it somehow got lost in the post.

Am I right in thinking that they effectively have no evidence to rely on? It seems like an odd oversight. If so, how would I approach this during the hearing? It seems unfair that I effectively have no way of preparing a defence.