Letter of Claim received for PCN from 2018 - DCB Legal Ltd representing Parking Control Limited

Firestrumer

KeithP said:

Firestrumer said:

And so it begins.  Claim form arrived, now with QDR Solicitors representing.  

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

Hi KP - 13th May 2022

Firestrumer

So I'm readying my defence statement.  How does this read?

1.        The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that a contract was entered into - by conduct or otherwise - whereby it was ‘agreed’ to pay a ‘parking charge’ and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue, nor to form contracts in their own name at the location.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2.        It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question but liability is denied.  It is not known who was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the alleged incident on xxxxxxxxx. 

3.        The Defendant received a formal Letter of Claim, dated xxxxxxxxxx, over 2 years after the alleged incident, stating that they were to be taken to court for being indebted to the Claimant for a Parking Charge.  The Defendant is truly troubled and upset by its receipt and the associated implications. 

4.        The Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged incident, but the vehicle was insured for use by other family members, and also anyone else with their own correct insurance.  The Defendant has no recollection of who was driving on that specific day over 2 years ago.

5.        The Claimant has not provided any evidence to demonstrate the Defendant was the driver who is alleged to have entered into a contract with the Claimant.  Therefore, under contract law, whilst a service may have been offered, a contract between the Claimant and the Defendant has not been proven.

6.        The interest cannot be justified. Not only has it been calculated incorrectly, it is also questionable that it has taken so long for the Claimant to bring a claim to court and is then claiming interest on alleged debt recovery and damages as well.

7.        As such the Defendant cannot be held liable due to the Claimant not complying with the ‘keeper liability’ requirements set out in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4.

8.        The defendant would also like to bring the attention of the court of there being another PCN already known to the claimant.  PCN xxxxxxxx, dated xx/xx/2018 and with substantially identical particulars, for the same cause of action. Whilst no formal proceedings have been entered into for this second PCN, the issuing of two separate claims, by the same Claimant and for essentially the same cause of action, is an abuse of the civil litigation process. The long-established case law in Henderson -v- Henderson [1843] 67 ER 313, and more recent authorities, establishes the principle that when a matter becomes the subject of litigation, the parties are required to advance their whole case. The Court is invited to consolidate the two claims to be determined together and to apply appropriate sanctions against the Claimant.

Thanks once again to all here.

Le_Kirk

Not sure that your second sentence of paragraph #3 is actually a defence.

The Defendant has no recollection of who was driving on that specific unremarkable day over more than 2 years ago.

Usually written as above.
Isn't paragraph #6 covered in the other points in the defence template?  Your paragraph #7 does not make sense; if you are going to write "as such" it must have some qualifying point.  For example "The claimant failed to send the Notice to Keeper by dd/mm/yy, as such the defendant cannot............"

KeithP

Firestrumer said:

KeithP said:

Firestrumer said:

And so it begins.  Claim form arrived, now with QDR Solicitors representing.  

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

Hi KP - 13th May 2022

 It's a whole week since I asked that.

With a Claim Issue Date of 13th May, you have until Wednesday 1st June to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. That's only a few days away.

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

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 15th June 2022 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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'.

Coupon-mad

I think you need to add a sentence in 7 to say why you think the C hasn't complied with the POFA.

And remove 8 as it's not relevant.  Would only be relevant to a second claim, if they try.  Also better not to draw attention to another PCN.

Firestrumer

KeithP said:

Firestrumer said:

KeithP said:

Firestrumer said:

And so it begins.  Claim form arrived, now with QDR Solicitors representing.  

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

Hi KP - 13th May 2022

 It's a whole week since I asked that.

With a Claim Issue Date of 13th May, you have until Wednesday 1st June May to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. That's only a few days away.
.
.
.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 15th June 2022 to file your 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'.

I know.  Life just got in the way and I lost a week!!

- AOS filed 22/05
- Defence ongoing.  Will edit based on comments received and share back to make sure I'm on the right lines
- Understood on the filing of defence

Many thanks

Firestrumer

Coupon-mad said:

I think you need to add a sentence in 7 to say why you think the C hasn't complied with the POFA.

And remove 8 as it's not relevant.  Would only be relevant to a second claim, if they try.  Also better not to draw attention to another PCN.

7 - Will do
8 - I'll remove and wait until they start a case on that one

Many thanks

Firestrumer

Le_Kirk said:

Not sure that your second sentence of paragraph #3 is actually a defence.

The Defendant has no recollection of who was driving on that specific unremarkable day over more than 2 years ago.

Usually written as above.
Isn't paragraph #6 covered in the other points in the defence template?  Your paragraph #7 does not make sense; if you are going to write "as such" it must have some qualifying point.  For example "The claimant failed to send the Notice to Keeper by dd/mm/yy, as such the defendant cannot............"

Thanks.  Will update and I agree on your second point.  Need to make it an argument.

Firestrumer

Hi Everyone - I'm back!!

So went through the process, updated the template with the guidance provided here (thank you all), had the case allocated to my local court, and this morning received a letter titled 'General Form of Judgement or Order'.  First point:

1. The Particulars of Claim do not comply with CPR 16.4 (1)(a) and are by the Order struck out 

This sounds to me like a bit of a result, however it then goes on and provides the opportunity for the claimant to resubmit based on schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.  Reading through this schedule there seem to be legal grounds for continuing the claim against the keeper of a vehicle, but there is also an option to submit a new defence if they take this route.

I included a para relating to this schedule as it was part of the template from the newbies thread.  So, we shall see if they fold or double down.

One note on the letter though.  I'm assuming the courts are extremely busy as the dates for the claimant to re-submit are months in the past.  Someone copy / pasting and not checking is my guess.  Would this affect the position of the letter from the claimants perspective?

All the best, FS

Coupon-mad

Sounds good but I would expect they will object to that order due to the dates.

And we've seen this sort of order before: the Claimant's solicitors will send further Particulars next month and it will continue.