Highview/DCB legal claim form defence help

ItDoBeLikeThat

Hi all. I hope you can help me out with the claim form from DCB legal representing Highview I've received recently. I am the defendant and the keeper of the vehicle. I received 2 PCNs when I was at uni for parking at a Tesco car park for more than 3 hours. I was most likely driving but several of my friends were also using my car to get to uni during this time so I can't be sure who was the driver at the time. It's been just over 2 years and I've received the claim form pack. I've browsed the forum and come up with somewhat of a defence and would appreciate any feedback.

One of the PCNs I received was for parking on 14th October 2019 but issued on 29th October 2019 and obviously delivered later. I believe it has be delivered in 14 days so I've written that in point 6.

The issue date on the claim form is 12/01/2022 and I've submitted the AoS.

Thanks all.

2.       The Defendant was issued with a Claim Form by DCB Legal acting on behalf of the Claimant Highview Parking Limited for a total amount of £457.46 (inclusive of £50 court fee & £50 legal representative's costs). Through research the Defendant has come to understand that this relates to a PCN that was issued against the Defendant’s vehicle more than 2 years ago. The PCN was issued for the alleged offences on 14th October 2019 and 16th October 2019 at Cannon Park Shopping Centre, Coventry.

3.       It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question, but the liability is denied, and any breach of terms is also denied. The identity of the driver on the dates is unknown to the Defendant. The identity of the driver(s) on the dates is unknown to the Defendant, who was not the only insured driver of the vehicle in question and is unable to recall who was or was not driving on the two occasions more than 2 years ago.

4.       The PCN was not compliant with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 ('PoFA'), and it was therefore incapable of invoking the ‘keeper liability’ provisions set out in the PoFA, Schedule 4.  The Defendant's research has revealed that Highview is a parking firm which has chosen never to use 'keeper liability' wording (primarily as set out in para 9 of the POFA Sch 4) and whilst that is allowable by the DVLA, the registered keeper's data is only supplied for the limited purpose of a parking firm trying to ascertain who was driving. The driver is the only liable party with a non-POFA PCN like this one.

5.       Following on from [4] where it is noted that the Claimant has elected not to comply with the 'keeper liability' requirements set out in the PoFA, Claimant has included a clear falsehood in their POC which were signed under a statement of truth by the Claimant's legal representative who should know (as the Claimant undoubtedly does) that it is untrue to state that the Defendant is 'liable as keeper'.  This can never be the case with a Highview Parking Limited claim because this parking firm, same as any Group Nexus company, have never used the POFA 2012 wording, of their own volition.  Not only does the POC include this misleading untruth, but the Claimant has also added an unidentified sum in false 'damages' to enhance the claims.  So sparse is their statement of case, that the Claimant has failed to even state any facts about the alleged breach or the amount of the parking charge that was on the signage, because it cannot have been over £100. Which then leads to the question, how does the Claimant arrive at the Amount Claimed for a Total of £357.46. The Defendant has excluded the £50 Court Fee & £50 Legal representative's costs from the Total amount for the purposes of this defence point.

6.       The Claimant did not properly serve a compliant notice to keeper in strict accordance with Paragraph 9, sub-paragraphs 4 and 5 of the PoFA, which states that notice to keeper must be delivered within the relevant period. Where the relevant period is defined as the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended. The PCN for the alleged offence on 14th October 2019 was issued on 29th October 2019, which is 15 days (not including the delivery time by mail).

7.       The Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS) and Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) lead adjudicator and barrister, Henry Michael Greenslade, clarified that with regards to keeper liability, “There is no ‘reasonable presumption’ in law that the registered keeper of a vehicle is the driver, and the operators should never suggest anything of the sort” (POPLA report 2015).

KeithP

ItDoBeLikeThat said:

The issue date on the claim form is 12/01/2022 and I've submitted the AoS.

For the moment I am going to assume that you filed an Acknowledgment of Service sometime after 14th January. Please confirm. Anything else may reduce the time available for you to file a Defence.

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th January, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 14th February 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 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'.

ItDoBeLikeThat

Yep. I filed the Acknowledgement on 17th January. Thank you for clarifying the deadline.

Coupon-mad

Defence looks OK, best you can do with an ovestay allegation ftom Highview.  I hope you can later evidence that more than one driver friend at Uni was insured to drive your car or the Judge may decide it was likely you, anyway.

ItDoBeLikeThat

Coupon-mad said:

Defence looks OK, best you can do with an ovestay allegation ftom Highview.  I hope you can later evidence that more than one driver friend at Uni was insured to drive your car or the Judge may decide it was likely you, anyway.

Ok will keep that in mind.

The overstay on each PCN was only about 20-25 mins. Is that something I can bring up in the defence or is that enough leeway for the parking company?

Umkomaas

You'll be very hard-pressed to argue that 20-25 minutes was something the PPC should swallow rather than you. Forget that line. 

Coupon-mad

The overstay on each PCN was only about 20-25 mins. Is that something I can bring up in the defence.

Not unless the driver/passenger was disabled, otherwise the Beavis case kills that argument completely.

That's why the POFA is vital to your case because - unless the planning consent for the site (which you can look up) says there must be a longer period of free parking than was offered - there's not going to be much else to add.

Redx

ItDoBeLikeThat said:

Coupon-mad said:

Defence looks OK, best you can do with an ovestay allegation ftom Highview.  I hope you can later evidence that more than one driver friend at Uni was insured to drive your car or the Judge may decide it was likely you, anyway.

Ok will keep that in mind.

The overstay on each PCN was only about 20-25 mins. Is that something I can bring up in the defence or is that enough leeway for the parking company?

Only isn't good enough , 5 to 10 minutes , maybe , where parking is charged you pay by the hour in many cases , sometimes half an hour , so 30 minutes , people are paid by the hour , so if you do 20 minutes extra , per day , for 6 days , you would expect to be paid 2 hours at overtime rate , lol. , Do not go there !

ItDoBeLikeThat

Gonna file the defence as it is then. I expect the next stage to be directions questionnaire. Would a SAR to Highview be beneficial at this stage?

KeithP

ItDoBeLikeThat said:

Would a SAR to Highview be beneficial at this stage?

Possibly. It will certainly do no harm.

ItDoBeLikeThat

I wrote up a draft of the SAR. Just wanted to make sure it has everything before I send it.

The template on legal beagles includes a phone number but elsewhere on this forum I've read not to include it so I'm planning on not inlcuding it.

Also, is info@groupnexus.co.uk the correct email to send the SAR to Highview?

Finally, what 2 IDs do you recommend? I have no utility bills in my name so cannot do those. I guess one can be the V5.

Thanks so much all.

Dear Sir or Madam

Subject access request (Data Protection Act 2018 / General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR))

[Your full name and address, any previous address/names, and any other details to help identify you and the data you want.]

Please supply the data about me that I am entitled to under data protection law relating to myself. This should as a minimum include:

·         All photos taken

·         All letters/emails sent and received, including any email correspondence

·         All data stored about me

·         A list and copy of all PCNs outstanding against me

If you need any more data from me to confirm my identity, please let me know as soon as possible. It may be helpful for you to know that data protection law requires you to respond to a request for data within one calendar month.

If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your Data Protection Officer, or relevant staff member. If you need advice on dealing with this request, the Information Commissioner’s Office can assist you. Its website is ico.org.uk or it can be contacted on 0303 123 1113.