SAR sent off but results will be after defence deadline

KatAstrophe67

Good evening,

I have received a Claim Form regarding a PCN dated 16/11/2017 from County Court Business centre, dated 25th November, as such I believe that the dates are as follows:

Day of service 30th November 

Defence must be served by 28th December.

I acknowledged the claim using the steps detailed in the newbies thread.

On the 2nd December I sent a SAR to the company requesting all the information they have, including photos correspondence etc. The company responded saying that they will provide the information required within the required 30 days which is 1st January 2022.

I can not remember any particulars of the event, I overstayed the 2 hour limit at a service station.  I did receive some letters but can not remember what or when the last letter/communication was received. I have also moved house 3 times since 2017.

I have completed my defence, please see the relevant paragraphs below.

___________________________________________________________________________

2.   It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied. 

3.  The location that the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) was issued was MOTO Service Station, Pease Pottage.  The Defendant had undertaken a long car journey and although was close to home was extremely tired and did not feel safe to continue driving. The Defendant took the decision to use the parking area of the Services to sleep for a short time until they felt safe to continue the journey home. 

The Defendant was following Government advice not to drive if you feel tired and was aware of the danger of driving whilst tired and the possibility of causing harm to other drivers.  They were not aware how long they had slept for and did not go into the services. When the Defendant left the car park they did not see any signs that clearly stated any time limit to parking and they would not have expected to have been restricted in how long they were able to rest until they felt safe to drive.

The Defendant has found the bullying and intimidating tactics employed by the Claimant have caused stress and unnecessary worry. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Within the Claim Form in ‘Particulars of Claim’ it states that the Defendant (D) agreed to pay the claim within 28 days but did not.  This is not true (as far as I remember I ignored everything), should I contest this or is it standard wording?

Without knowing the evidence that they hold (photos, etc) it is difficult for me to discuss the bullying tactics that I believe they have employed.

Do you know if it is possible to ask the court for an extension given that the SAR response is after the court deadline?

Many thanks for your help. 

KeithP

KatAstrophe67 said:

I have received a Claim Form [...] from County Court Business centre, dated 25th November, as such I believe that the dates are as follows:

Day of service 30th November 

Defence must be served by 28th December.

I acknowledged the claim using the steps detailed in the newbies thread.

A Defence filing deadline will never be on a Bank Holiday.
Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

KatAstrophe67 said:

On the 2nd December I sent a SAR to the company requesting all the information they have, including photos correspondence etc. The company responded saying that they will provide the information required within the required 30 days which is 1st January 2022.

Without knowing the evidence that they hold (photos, etc) it is difficult for me to discuss the bullying tactics that I believe they have employed.

Do you know if it is possible to ask the court for an extension given that the SAR response is after the court deadline?

It is not possible to alter your Defence filing deadline without paying a significant sum just to make that request.
The information returned from a SAR will be far more useful at Witness Statement time.

KatAstrophe67 said:

Within the Claim Form in ‘Particulars of Claim’ it states that the Defendant (D) agreed to pay the claim within 28 days but did not.  This is not true (as far as I remember I ignored everything), should I contest this or is it standard wording?

Sorry but it is true.

The allegation is that by parking the driver agreed to the terms of the contract.

Those contract terms are the terms on the signs.

Almost certainly there is a term on the signs stating something like "if the driver doesn't park in accordance with the rules then he agrees to pay £nn within 28 days...".

KatAstrophe67

Many thanks for your reply,

Apologies I was forgetting that the 28th is a Bank Holiday, I filed the AoS on the 1st December.

Thank you for clarification regarding the SAR not arriving in time, I now see that the information that I get from that will assist with the Witness Statement.

And again for explaining about the signage.

Do I need to add more for the defence, as it was so long ago it will be difficult to say with certainty what the signage was like at the time.

Thank you

KeithP

I notice in your proposed Defence the Defendant is admitting to being the driver.
Is that the right thing to do?

Apart from that, there may be something useful here...

With a Claim Issue Date of 25th 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 just over two 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'.

Umkomaas

The location that the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) was issued was MOTO Service Station, Pease Pottage.  The Defendant had undertaken a long car journey and although was close to home was extremely tired and did not feel safe to continue driving. The Defendant took the decision to use the parking area of the Services to sleep for a short time until they felt safe to continue the journey home. 

Have you complained to MOTO, telling them that their agent is suing one of their customers, taking them to court? That you will be reporting this to the Press in the expectation that other motorists will then be warned and sufficiently concerned to avoid MOTO MSAs when on the motorway?

The MOTO CEO (Ken McMeikan) has been cancelling PCNs in volume. 

KatAstrophe67

I think that they have photo's although I have no idea what kind of quality they are likely to be, especially given it was 2017 - but I'm not sure I can definitely say that I wasn't?

Do I need more in my defence than what I have written? I'm not sure how detailed it should be. and I do not have all the facts to hand at the moment.

I will file it as you have said, thank you

Coupon-mad

You just need to add paragraph numbers and certainly complain to MOTO's CEO that you were sleeping and saw no signs.  Ask them to step in and cancel this horrendous threat because it is affecting your mental health and is entirely unwarranted.

If it was dark your defence should say so and that no contract was seen or agreed.  You should admit to being the 'registered keeper and driver' in para 2, in your case, and state that a complaint has been made to MOTO about this harassment.

95Rollers

It doesn't matter if the SAR doesn't get to you before Defence deadline. As CM says just use what you know avout it being dark and signs being poorly visible and unlit.   

The WS won't be due for a long time after so you can go into way more detail then. 

What is the score with asking for SARs After WS stage and in the run up to court?

KatAstrophe67

Coupon-mad said:

You just need to add paragraph numbers and certainly complain to MOTO's CEO that you were sleeping and saw no signs.  Ask them to step in and cancel this horrendous threat because it is affecting your mental health and is entirely unwarranted.

If it was dark your defence should say so and that no contract was seen or agreed.  You should admit to being the 'registered keeper and driver' in para 2, in your case, and state that a complaint has been made to MOTO about this harassment.

Umkomaas said:

Have you complained to MOTO, telling them that their agent is suing one of their customers, taking them to court? That you will be reporting this to the Press in the expectation that other motorists will then be warned and sufficiently concerned to avoid MOTO MSAs when on the motorway?

The MOTO CEO (Ken McMeikan) has been cancelling PCNs in volume. 

Great, thank you both,  I'll complain to MOTO straight away and will add it to my defence.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, it is certainly making a difficult situation much easier to deal with 

Le_Kirk

This: 
Moto the CEO is ken.mcmeikan@moto-way.co.uk 
has proved useful in the past.

KatAstrophe67

Thanks all, email on its way to MOTO at the email address given - fingers crossed!!