*UPDATE - I WON!!* Urgent help needed for defence for court claim

Nicot1n

*UPDATE*

So today was finally my court hearing, I was nervous as hell when I arrived, but the 3hrs delay allowed me to calm my nerves and just wanted it to be over with by the end. 

I did very little talking actually, mostly it was the judge and claimant solicitor, the judge might ask me a question later. I knew fairly early on that I was going to win, as the claimant solicitor was arguing the points the judge would counter most of them. It helped that the claimant couldn't get a lot of facts right, the car park is a public car park for shops that leads to a gated residential car park and he was saying i parked at the residential part which is impossible to have access to without a pin code to open gates. He was saying if i parked at the shop public parking (which i did) it would've been free, but actually it isn't free anymore that was the whole point, they changed it 2 months prior to 30min free if u print out a ticket from the machine. So basically the claimant was confused about the facts and didn't know what he was really arguing about really. Saying i got photographed at the residential area entrance but actually it was the main road entrance, even the judge could see the photos didn't really match up to where he was saying.

second point was the signage, judge agreed with me that it was very poorly signed, and there was very little lighting and no proper signage at the entrance of car park

The whole thing last 20-30 min and in the end i was awarded £50, i wanted more but its better than nothing i guess

Whole ordeal before that was stressful as hell and half way through writing the defence and witness statement i was wishing I'd just paid for it at the start to save me all the time and stress. But I'm glad to have gone through it, at least i have the experience now and the court isn't as scary as i thought it would be, the judge and claimant solicitor were actually very nice, also feels damn good to have won!




i think i stupidly left my defence to the very last minute and its due today, or it may have already passed, the issue date was 29th Jul, i did the AOS on MCOL as late as possible so I should have the maximum days to write a defence.

It really confused me for a while, i thought i needed to send my defence on the MCOL site as well but the defence template won't fit in the the box they provide, but I now realise there are other methods and email is best way? Can someone please quickly go over my particulars of the template to see if its ok?

The facts as known to the Defendant:

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 was issued a PCN by post for an alleged parking contravention for the initial amount of £100 on Oxford Road Reading on the 24th Dec 2020. The PCN was very vague about the location as Oxford Road is six miles long, also the photographic evidence on the PCN showed no detail in the background to give away the location, or did they provide any photographic evidence of any signage with terms. The defendant enquired to the claimant about the location but was given no answer. The defendant deduced the mostly likely place is a small carpark on Oxford Road that he had driven to that day

The parking charges were new to this car park and had only come into force recently. The new changes to the car park is that it’s free for the first 30 minutes, but drivers are required to print out a ticket from a ticket machine to claim this free 30 minutes, there is no ticket dispensed on entrance to car park, drivers are required to go to a ticket dispensing machine on foot. The defendant never left the car whilst in the car park and so was unable to see any of the poorly displayed signage about this from within the car

In the parking charge notice, it is stated that the defendant entered the car park at 16:27 and left at 17:05 with photographic evidence from a hidden APNR system. So claimant knows the time and duration the defendant was in the car park without the need to print a ticket from the machine, making the whole process requiring a ticket redundant. With the grace period of 10 minutes which parking firms are required to give drivers, the defendant left the car park within the allowed period.

There is also very little signage about these new changes upon entry to the car park. There is a small P sign to the right of entry with some very small print wording below which is impossible to read whilst driving in car. The area was very dark and poorly lit when the alleged contravention had taken place and the sign was also unlit. There is another sign further in the car park which has an equally small print font which is not possible to read unless standing directly in front of it and it was also unlit with a broken light.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 29th July, you had until Tuesday 17th August to file an Acknowledgment of Service and hopefully you did that.

Having filed an AoS in a timely manner, you had until 4pm on Tues 31st August 2021 to file your Defence.

That was yesterday. 

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

You are now in a race.

If you file your Defence before the Claimant seeks a Default Judgment then you win this heat and go through to the next round.

If on the other hand the Claimant seeks that Default Judgment before you have filed your Defence, it's game over - you lose.

This is important - get your Defence filed now.

D_P_Dance

Have you complained to your MP?

Coupon-mad

Yep that defence will do nicely; don't wait or delay any more.

Get it signed and date it yesterday, and email it to the CCBCAQ email address before 4pm.

KeithP

Don't leave filing your Defence until nearer 4pm.

Every minute you delay filing your Defence now is a minute when the Claimant can seek that Default Judgment.

Nicot1n

Just sent the email but i just refreshed my MCOL page, and it now says this:

We are sorry, but your request has been rejected owing to one or more technical reasons. Please check your input and try again. If you continue to get this message then please contact the Money Claim helpdesk.

It can be contacted for support between 9:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday on:

Tel: 0845 601 5935
Fax: 0845 601 5889

If you prefer to write your query instead, please contact:

Money Claim Online
Northampton County Court
21-27, St. Katherine Street
Northampton
NN1 2LH

Or email to customerservice.mcol@hmcourts-service.gsi.gov.uk

Please make a note of the following support id: 


Does this mean I'm too late? I can no longer log into my MCOL

KeithP

Nicot1n said:

Does this mean I'm too late? I can no longer log into my MCOL

No it doesn't.

It is unlikely that you sending your Defence by email and that MCOL hiccup are related.

Did you receive an automated email receipt when you sent your Defence?
If not, you might want to ring the CCBC - number on your Claim Form - and ask them if they received it.

Nicot1n

Yes i did receive an automated email receipt, is it still worth ringing?

I'm feel so stupid, i knew i should have sent it last night but i wasn't confident about my defence

Coupon-mad

Ring the CCBC up.  

Nicot1n

Calling them now, 37th in the call queue 😓

Apart from asking about receiving my defence, anything I should say or ask?

KeithP

Nicot1n said:

Calling them now, 37th in the call queue 😓

Apart from asking about receiving my defence, anything I should say or ask?

You know they have received your Defence - you have that automated receipt.

Ask them nicely to update MCOL as soon as possible to show your Defence is filed - to stop the Claimant seeking a Default Judgment.

Ask them to fix your MCOL access.
Ask them to confirm that the Claimant hasn't sought a Default Judgment yet.