Bristol Airport, No Stopping, VCS Court Claim

rapidon

Redx said:

of course you should be emailing a SAR, goes without question !!  its a given that you do so, it always is

It's in the pre-action stage in the Newbies so I wasn't sure if it was too late.

Is there any reason not to email the SAR? Guessing it might be a little quicker.

Coupon-mad

No reason not to email the SAR to the PPC.  It will help you at witness statement stage as the SAR reply shows their hand, all photos (all their evidence) and leaves no surprises.

rapidon

KeithP said:

rapidon said:

We've logged into MCOL and can see:

Your defence was received on 27/09/2021

DQ sent to you on 27/09/2021

So it looks like it was ok. I suppose the Directions Questionnaire will arrive in the post.

Quite surprising to see that your MCOL Claim History seems to show that a DQ has already been sent to you by the CCBC.

As @Umkomaas says, it's usually more than a month before that happens.

Keep your eye on the ball. 

So, the DQ hasn't showed up yet. I feel like I should query this somehow?

We have however, received a letter from VCS stating that "Elms Legal are no longer acting on [their] behalf" and that all correspondence should now be sent directly to VCS. On the "Notice of change of legal representative" form, they have left the new legal representative field blank, presumably meaning that they will represent themselves?

Their letter also includes a paragraph with a "without prejudice" offer of £185.

Coupon-mad

Yes, as expected. VCS run their own cases sometimes.

D_P_Dance

Send them back a WP offer to settle in the same amount paid to you.  

rapidon

What about the lack of DQ after it was supposedly sent on 27/09

Should I send a letter/email about it?

KeithP

rapidon said:

What about the lack of DQ after it was supposedly sent on 27/09

Should I send a letter/email about it?

Can do if you like.

But why not just fill in one on the internet, download it and fire it off to the Claimant and CCBC?
Items 8 to 11 on that list you were following when you filed your Defence describe how to do that.

rapidon

Thanks, I did that and it's shown as filed on Money Claim. Funny the DQ never showed up.

Also, the SAR just came back. It appears to have all the correspondence, as well as their notes (pretty basic) and three photos as seen in the letters. One picture before arrival, one with the car there and people around and then just a zoom in to show the number plate.

The notes mention "the footage", so I assume they have more imagery than they have released. They also mention that the 'appeal' refers to byelaws, perhaps indicating that this is significant.

Is there anything else which I should look out for in their SAR response?

Cheers.

rapidon

Hello guys,

We've got a hearing now in March so are at the witness statement etc. stage. I have looked at the example in the Newbies; however, I am wondering how a witness statement will work when the defendant is not the driver!? What was there to witness?

Should it be along the lines of:

I am the registered keeper...

I did not drive the car on the day of the alleged...

Having researched the site, it is clear that the signage would not be sufficient to form a contract in any case...

etc...

i.e. referring to having witnessed the site retrospectively to the PCN?

How much does the WS overlap with the defence? Is it purely about what was witnessed by the claimant, or do legal arguments - like the presence of byelaws on site - come into it?

Thanks as always!

KeithP

Have you looked a the guidance on creating a Witness Statement and gathering evidence in the second post of the NEWBIES thread?

There is an excellent example of a Witness Statement linked from there... under this heading...

WITNESS STATEMENT - EASY STAGE - YOUR 'STORY' & EVIDENCE

Just before that is a list of several things you might consider gathering as evidence.