County Court Claim...to pay or not

skipthelightfandango

We parked in a private car park owned by Premier Parking Solutions (PPS) back in April. I used Ringo to pay for our parking session but had taken delivery of a new car a week earlier and so the session was applied to our old car.
Received a penalty fine and contested, showing proof we had paid to use the space and explaining my oversight. Reviewed POPLA guidelines - they recommend a max fine of £20 for mistyped registration plate. I sent a cheque for £20 saying I believed this was fair for my mistake vs. £60 they were attempting to charge, on top of the parking fee I had already paid.
They have now sent a county claim
form letter via their ‘lawyers’ BW Legal and forms to complete - with total balance of £250 to pay including court fees and legal representation costs. 
I now have the option up pay up or dispute their claim, and obviously run the risk it goes to court and I lose and it ends up costing more.
I’m heavily pregnant, OH is unwell and we could do without a ton of hassle...
Really torn about whether to very begrudgingly pay it and make it go away, or if I contest it, what are the chances of court ruling in my favour.
Has anyone successfully contested something similar? Any tips?
Thanks for reading!

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

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

Coupon-mad

Has anyone successfully contested something similar?

Only 99% of Defendants who've reported wins here (every single week) since 2016...as the NEWBIES thread tells you in the 2nd post all about court and how to win. 

There's even a new win reported today.  Have you read the other nearby court threads to yours?

skipthelightfandango

Date of issue is 18th Nov
I’ll search for the Newbies thread 

nicestrawb

What happened after you sent them the £20? Was is cashed, did they respond?
As Coupon-mad says, most cases here are won and yours appears to be a strong case as well...

skipthelightfandango

They returned it. They aren’t members of POPLA, so was a very long shot 

KeithP

skipthelightfandango said:

Date of issue is 18th Nov

With a Claim Issue Date of 18th November, you have until Tuesday 7th December to file an Acknowledgment of Service. Do not file an AoS before 23rd November, but otherwise there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AoS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AoS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 21st December 2021 to file your Defence.

That's over 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 again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that 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'.

skipthelightfandango

Thanks so much Keith. I'm going to get onto this today. 

skipthelightfandango

Coupon-mad said:

Has anyone successfully contested something similar?

Only 99% of Defendants who've reported wins here (every single week) since 2016...as the NEWBIES thread tells you in the 2nd post all about court and how to win. 

There's even a new win reported today.  Have you read the other nearby court threads to yours?

Hi,

So I've gone through the Newbies thread and have now taken the first step with the Acknowledgement of Service. I'm now thinking about my defence. 

I've had a look through the template letter, but feel that my defence should hinge more on the fact I did in fact pay to park my car in a space in the claimant's car park vs. inadequate signage. I have found a couple of examples of similar court cases relating to mistyped registration plates where the court has ruled in favour of the motorist...

Excel Parking vs. Mrs S (I'm not allowed to post a link to the case)

Joan Margaret Walmsley vs. the parking and traffic appeals service (again, can't post the link)

I suppose, my question is can I use these as the basis for my defence?

In the post above you mention 'other nearby court threads' - please could you point me in the direction of where to find these as I am wondering if they will give me some more specific insight into the particulars of my case. 

I have spent the morning reading and re-reading the Newbies thread but am feeling a bit lost. 

Many thanks

D_P_Dance

It is not painting by numbers, but it is not rocket science either, keep at it.

Coupon-mad

Neither of those are very useful as I don't think the Excel v Ms S case has a court transcript, or does it?  Also a defence is not the place for legal argument.

Add your facts to the template, and you will have the facts you want about paying in there but you won't miss put on other important arguments that the template covers.