PCN for not parking in designated bay

hoggy26

Hi all
I'd greatly appreciate your advice as I'm not overly academic, I've been reading for 4 hours the advice on this forum for this subject and saturation has occurred so please forgive me if I've missed something.

I've seen the template for defence and I'm struggling to form a reason why the "contract" is invalid 

5 years ago (Oct 2016) I've parked my vehicle in a free to use shop car park but was unable to park in a bay due to none being free, so parked in a space that wasn't meant for a vehicle. (Didn't obstruct any vehicle or pedestrians)

The nearest carpark is a bus ride away so that wasn't really an option.

Came back to find a ticket stuck to the windscreen by a private company and I removed it and ignored it

(Now a mistake I know)

Ignored all nasty letters and then received the court letter 26/11/21

So my question is what's the best way/reason for why the contract is invalid?

Or do I have no hope of winning this?

Cheers in advance

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

Is this 'court letter' you have received a County Court Claim Form?
If so, what is the Issue Date on it?
If not, what exactly have you received?

Please tell us the name of the parking company.

hoggy26

Hi Keithp

Yes it's the county court claim form from Northampton.
Issue date is 24/11/21

Claimant is UK parking control limited

Documents etc are to be sent to DCB Legal ltd

I've opened a government portal account and acknowledged service of claim.

hoggy26

Keithp

I filled it yesterday 26/11/21

So from reading the forum I have two weeks unless I buy time by saying I'm looking into dept advice, is that right?

KeithP

hoggy26 said:

Hi Keithp

Yes it's the county court claim form from Northampton.
Issue date is 24/11/21

I've opened a government portal account and acknowledged service of claim.

With a Claim Issue Date of 24th November, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 29th 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 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'.

KeithP

hoggy26 said:

Keithp

I filled it yesterday 26/11/21

Actually, looking closer, because of the Christmas holidays, it makes no difference when you filed your Acknowledgment of Service.
I deleted my earlier post at about the same time as you were posting.

hoggy26 said:

Keithp

So from reading the forum I have two weeks unless I buy time by saying I'm looking into dept advice, is that right?

Having received a Claim, you are too late to delay things by 'seeking debt advice'.

However, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 29th December 2021 to file your Defence.

hoggy26

Keithp

Brilliant cheers for that.

My current issue is I'm not sure what my reason to void the "contract" is

I.e. what reasons to write in paragraph 3 of the template?

Failure to provide adequate spaces ? (This seems weak)

Failure to inform me the space I was parked in wasn't considered a parking space (to be fair it is obvious it isn't a space)

Failure to inform me I would incur a £100 charge if I didn't park in a bay?

I'm really not sure where to go with this

Coupon-mad

Presumably non-prominent signs because you certainly didn't agree to pay £100 to park there.

D_P_Dance

Lots of signs are unlikely to meet CRE criteria imo, read this.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading/p1

fisherjim

If this had been recent you could have gone back and taken photos of the signage but at this was five years ago that boat has sailed, pity you didn't deal with this then, but GSV could be your friend here you can go back in time on some roads.

hoggy26

Thanks guys

I'll go down the non-prominent sign route as coupon mad suggested.

Just want to say this forum is a great source of information and I really appreciate it and it's members help.