Small claim advice needed

jay2896

Hi all, 

Just looking for a bit of help. I feel a bit daft posting this as I’ve made a fair few basic errors but now need to rectify these. 

I parked in the parking bay of a haulage company near an airport in 2019. I had been given permission by the haulage company to park there. The airport is the land owner. 

I received a pcn soon after. I contacted the haulage company who said that they would contact the parking company and sort it. I also called the parking company but in doing so admitted to being the driver. 

I received quite a few reminder and demand letter but due to a difficult time in my personal life and the haulage company saying that they would sort it I’ve ignored the whole situation. 

I then got a court claim letter. This was a big wake up call. Since then I have contacted the landowner, submitted a SAR, Emailed the parking companies legal firm and completed my AOS. 

In terms of evidence I don’t have many of the correspondence as I had filled them under B. I do have a letter from the haulage company to the parking firm that I have been copied into and an email from the haulage company to the landowner. Both clearly stating that I had permission to park in the bay. 

My hope is that now the landowner and haulage company are both on the case that this will be dropped. However, as I’ve already made a catalogue of errors I think it would be silly not to prepare a defence. 

My question is should my defence focus on the email and letters from the haulage company? I can’t see how a judge would rule against me if I have letters and emails confirming permission.

Thanks 

KeithP

jay2896 said:

I then got a court claim letter. Since then I have completed my AOS. 

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

jay2896

Hi Keith, 

my issue date was the 3/11/21 and my AOS 4/11/21 

KeithP

jay2896 said:

Hi Keith, 

my issue date was the 3/11/21 and my AOS 4/11/21 

Hmmm... by rushing to file an Acknowledgment of Service, you have lost a few days Defence preparation time but nothing to worry about.

With a Claim Issue Date of 3rd November, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 4th November, you have until 4pm on Thursday 2nd December 2021 to file your Defence.

That's nearly 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'.

jay2896

That’s really helpful. I had worked it out as the 5th of December. Clearly got my sums wrong. 

Le_Kirk

jay2896 said:

That’s really helpful. I had worked it out as the 5th of December. Clearly got my sums wrong. 

No, as @KeithP wrote, you chopped off a few days by completing the AOs early.  Still plenty of time though.

KeithP

jay2896 said:

That’s really helpful. I had worked it out as the 5th of December. Clearly got my sums wrong. 

A Defence filing deadline will never be on a Saturday, Sunday or a Bank Holiday, so 5th December wasn't a good deadline date. If the calculated date falls on one of those days, one is allowed until 4pm on the next working day for filing.

The default 'date of service' of the Claim is five days after the Issue Date.

So for a Claim issued on 3rd November, the assumed Date of Service is 8th November.

But by filing an Acknowledgment of Service on 4th November, you have effectively told the CCBC that the actual Date of Service was 4th November.

Twenty-eight days from 4th November is Thursday 2nd December.

Twenty-eight days from 8th November is Monday 6th December.

I use www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd to help me.

Coupon-mad

Show us your facts adapted into point 2 and 3 of the template defence.

D_P_Dance

Have you complaine to your MP?

jay2896

I have now thanks. However, hes not the most proactive MP so I doubt it will make a difference but at least I've now tried.

I'm just trying to put my defence together now and not getting far.  My main and maybe only defence is that I had permission from the Haulage company to park in the bay and can provide evidence to back it up. 

do you think that would be enough or do i need to look at alternative defence mechanisms? 

does anyone know of any links to example defences from a similar situation? I only seem to find residential ones.

Coupon-mad

Sounds just like the case reported this week by @bargepole except the Defendant had admitted liability in an appeal and offered to pay, so he ruined his defence.