Defence letter - advice please - update

Hertsinaction

Hi guys. Incident date….2016. Private land, part of a road leading to a car park.

i received a claim form from Northampton dated the 11th, received on the 15th October. I have followed advice and have acknowledged receipt on the 16th.
As advised, I have sent a data protection request to the Claimant asking for all the details they have on me and my car and sent a copy to their representatives. 

I have done much reading here and have written a draft defence. I would be grateful for some comments. Thank you.

IN THE COUNTY COURT

​CLAIM No: XXXXX

Between

xxxxx

and

xxxx

DEFENCE

I am the defendant, xxx and reside at xxx and it is admitted that I was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle registration xxxx on the day of this event.

1. The defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.

2. The facts are that the vehicle, registration xxxx, appears from sparce evidence supplied by this claimant, to be parked on the material date on xxxxxx in contravention of heir parking signs .

3. The signage, erected at the time of this claim, was far less clear than it is at present. At the time of the alleged incident, signs were only displayed actually on the 2 gates at the entry to the2  industrial sites and a third on the entrance wall to a third site. It implied that parking was not allowed within the industrial sites, not the roadway.
4. Additional signs have since been erected on a post, the fencing, a wall alongside the roadway and the bridge, now making it obvious that parking is not permitted.(see attached pictures). 

5. Additionally, after receiving the ticket, I noticed a yellow metal sign with black writing, on a side wall as you enter the ’private land’. This sign was and still is in very small print and is impossible to see let alone read as you drove along the roadway onto the land in question. (see attached picture and I have a video to show its location).
6. Due to the obvious  lack of and clarity of the positioning of the signs, that parking on the roadway was not allowed, it is unclear as to what basis the claim is bought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability or trespass. However, it is denied that the defendant entered into any agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied or by conduct.
7. The Claimant is put to strict proof that is has sufficient proprietary interest in the land, or that it has the necessary authorisation from the landowner to issue parking charge notices and to pursue payment by means of litigation. 

8. The defendant wrote to the Claimant on or around the 24th March 2016 requesting information including, details of the landowner, who contracted the Claimant, a copy of their contract with he owner of the land, details of which of the signs were in place at the time and others issues (a copy of the letter is attached). The defendant received no response, therefore sent a second request (same letter) approximately 1 month later, again there was no response.
9. In summary, it is the Defendants position that the claim discloses no cause of action, is without merit, and has no real prospect of success. Accordingly, the Court is invited to strike out the claim of its own initiative, using its case management powers pursuant to CPR3.4.

I believe the facts contained in this defence are true.

Xxxxxxxxxx Name and signature

20th October 2021

 

Hertsinaction

On the claim form it states ’The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not’, this is not correct I have had no contact with them. Or are they referring to their terms and conditions on the signs?

Fruitcake

What is the name of the PPC please?

How can you claim you are not liable in para 1 then effectively admit liability in para 2?

A defence is written in the third person, so no me, myself, or I.

Are you sure you want to reveal the driver's identity from an event that occurred five years ago, or did you give that away at the time of your initial appeal? Are you absolutely sure you can remember who was driving? 

Was the NTK PoFA complaint?

Much of what you have writ reads more like a witness statement.
Why not use the ready written defence template from the sticky Announcements at the top of the forum, just amend your paragraphs 2 and 3 and post only those here.

Fruitcake

Hertsinaction said:

On the claim form it states ’The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not’, this is not correct I have had no contact with them. Or are they referring to their terms and conditions on the signs?

Yes. Forget this, it will get you nowhere.

Coupon-mad

That doesn't look like the template defence?

And totally ignore the 'nothing' point that 'the driver agreed' (we get so fed up with pointing this out, again and again, that is simply repeating the contract law position of 'implied agreement' by the conduct of parking near a sign).

KeithP

Hertsinaction said:

i received a claim form from Northampton dated the 11th, received on the 15th October. I have followed advice and have acknowledged receipt on the 16th. 

UKPC in January 2016?

With a Claim Issue Date of 11th October, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 15th November 2021 to file your Defence.

That's four 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.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

Hertsinaction

Thank you. Yes it was UKPC. I was the driver, no-one else ever drove my car. 

Hertsinaction

I hope I have found the latest defence draft, thank you and I have amended points 2 and 3 of which 3 is obviously my main ‘gripe’ about getting this ticket. Is this sufficient for the initial defence response as the driver. Also, do I just add all the the other points, 4 to 18, as in the draft.

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 did see 3 signs, 2 were placed on the entrance gates to 2 industrial sites and the third on a wall at the entrance to another industrial site. They did not specify what land was in fact private. From their positioning, it appeared to the Defendant that the signs implied that no parking was permitted within the industrial sites and did not refer to the roadway. After receiving the penalty notice, a yellow warning sign with black lettering was seen by the Defendant, on a wall immediately before the private land but adjacent to the public road leading to it. This sign could not be seen whilst driving, it was not in the defendants eyeline. 

Le_Kirk

Yes but it is not your initial defence, it is your defence, you cannot change it later, you need to advance your whole defence now.  You can add evidence in support of it later at witness statement stage.  Yes, when you send it by e-mail to CCBC you also add paragraphs 4 - 18.

Redx

Penalty notice ?  I doubt that the claimant issued a penalty notice ! UKPC LTD do not issue penalty notices

Amend

Coupon-mad

I really would not be saying that you "saw several signs."  Another way of putting it is surely something like this, if I have understood it correctly:

Whilst the Defendant has now seen from a subsequent visit that there are a couple of sparse, small-print signs set back on odd walls of some units on the opposite side of the carriageway, there are no such signs adjacent to the roadway.  The place where the car was parked is unmarked, looks like public highway not private land snd has no signs nor lines to alert even the most observant driver to any terms or penalties/charges.

(also are the photos taken in 2 minutes flat?  If so, quote the C's code of practice about grace periods and state this was predatory ticketing).