*URGENT* Upcoming Court Mediation

TheOpinionatedBrit

Morning all,

So in short I’m at the point where I need to submit my defence by this Friday before my mediation hearing on the 22nd Oct (I actually asked for a proper court hearing).

I now live in Yorkshire and in 2015 I received a parking fine for unknowingly parking in a retail park car park longer than I should have. Last year I received a letter saying I owed parking charges from 5 years ago which I refused to pay. I could barely remember parking there never mind staying longer than I should have. 

I didn’t actually think it would get to this stage so now I’m at a loss as to what I can put in my defence. Surely 5 years is an unreasonable amount of time to chase a claim? I know the time limit is 6 years so it’s hardly coincidence. 

Any help would be massively appreciated.

TIA

Umkomaas

Please read the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post, which outlines the entire court process, start to finish. In it you will find links to a template defence where all you need do is fill in a little background to your parking event, the rest is written for you. 

Please provide us with some details so we can get you on the right track:

1. Name of the private parking company (PPC).
2. Which solicitors (if any) are involved.
3. Date of parking event.
4. Date of issue shown on the N1 claim form from the Northampton CCBC. 
5. Date of your Acknowledgment of Service (AOS).

95Rollers

Mediation is a complete waste of time as its just a way for the claimant to try and get your money without going to court which effectively will cost them more. By doing "mediation" they are more likely to achieve a bigger profit margin than what they would if they were ever to win at court which they know is a hard task now that most county courts are wise to their scams and other BS!  I politely told the court I was not up fir Mediation due to these reasons - it would only benefit the claimant. 

Coupon-mad

Why are you doing mediation?   That's not a hearing and no-one here does that in parking cases, unless this is in fact a Directions  Hearing for 30 minutes in which case you have no choice but it will be a waste of 30 minutes!  

tacpot12

If you can't defend this claim, you could always pay it. Doing so will avoid a CCJ and the effect of this on your credit rating. 

I'm not saying you should pay it, I'm just reminding you that there is an option to pay, and that this option remains open to you until the date of the hearing. If the court decides that you owe the money, you will have a further 30 days to pay the CCJ and if you pay within that time the details of the CCJ will not be sent to the credit reference agencies.  

D_P_Dance

Mediation is a waste of time.  Why mediate in such an old case,  If it goes to court a judge will ask why they have waited so long to bring this case.  If this goes to court they will, imo, have a mountain to climb.  Have you complained to your MP?

Coupon-mad

tacpot12 said:

If you can't defend this claim, you could always pay it. 

They could, but they won't.  That's not what this forum does and they've already defended it, and even if the rookie JUdge doing a Directions Hearing says they have no case, they beg to differ and do not make an offer.  

Doing so will avoid a CCJ and the effect of this on your credit rating. 

The way you wrote this, sounds misleading and alarmist (unintentional maybe, but misleading and alarmist is how it comes across) even with what you then added underneath it. 

There is no risk of a CCJ affecting their credit rating if the posters here follow all advice for all stages and never miss a court deadline or Direction (and as long as their defence was decent and can be built upon at WS stage).

We don't know what this OP put in as their defence (exactly) and that is my question to the OP?

TheOpinionatedBrit

TheOpinionatedBrit said:

Morning all,

So in short I’m at the point where I need to submit my defence by this Friday before my mediation hearing on the 22nd Oct (I actually asked for a proper court hearing).

I now live in Yorkshire and in 2015 I received a parking fine for unknowingly parking in a retail park car park longer than I should have. Last year I received a letter saying I owed parking charges from 5 years ago which I refused to pay. I could barely remember parking there never mind staying longer than I should have. 

I didn’t actually think it would get to this stage so now I’m at a loss as to what I can put in my defence. Surely 5 years is an unreasonable amount of time to chase a claim? I know the time limit is 6 years so it’s hardly coincidence. 

Any help would be massively appreciated.

TIA

All,

I’ve led you down the garden path slightly here. The case is set up for a hearing just via telephone (which benefits the claimant as they are based in London and my local court is York). I’m at a loss as to what to put in my defence. The parking company Has sent pictures of the signs that are currently up which I would say are pretty visible but I don’t know if these are the signs that were up 5 years ago, it was dark when I parked, I was rushing and had a disabled person in a wheelchair with me and I’m just staggered that it’s taken them
5 years to chase me. 

Coupon-mad

You have already submitted a defence or you wouldn't have got this far.  What exactly did you write as your defence to the claim form, word for word?

TheOpinionatedBrit

Coupon-mad said:

You have already submitted a defence or you wouldn't have got this far.  What exactly did you write as your defence to the claim form, word for word?

This was my return to CCBC AQ. You are correct I have submitted a defence, it’s the witness statement I’m struggling to get right. The claim is so old and I’m now not in a position to submit any pictures so feel I’m at an unfair advantage straight away 

Coupon-mad

You can get pics from Google Streetview from any year, by changing the date top left of the scene.

Example WS are in the NEWBIES thread already and we also now point people to recent ones by @Nosy and @jrhys.

These show how to set the bundle out.