Help please Court Claim received - parking charge 5 years ago - help with WS

easylifeplease

I have received a parking charge Claim Form, claimant is Highview, and DCB Legal have issued.

I have read through the Newbie thread and the new defence for 2020, fantastically helpful thanks, but just want to clarify a few things if you can help please.

Before I acknowledge the claim (I have time to I understand but want to do it soon as), I don't want to say I'll defend it when I don't know if I even have a defence?

If I continue, I will certainly attempt a draft defence and post the changed sections here for support (I believe that is the advice), but have a few questions I would really appreciate help with so I know whether I can proceed to defend it at all or just have to back down (it’s a lot of money to me now, they are claiming £3xx, but don’t want it to be more if I lose – ie their costs?):

Key info:
Sep 2017 - Purported parking offence 

Mar 2018 - First we knew about it with correspondence we had from Debt Recovery Plus Ltd for ‘creditor’ High View for £1xx – to which we appealed (no longer have this letter – see below) 

March 2018 –tried to appeal via their website, interestingly it said we had “already appealed” – we hadn’t - and to email instead. Sent appeal via Highviews email and used ‘First appeal that doesn’t say who was driving’ template from thread here. Never had a response to this appeal for info – naively assumed it was dealt with by the appeal email we had sent.

Nearly 4 years later…

Dec 2021 - dcblegal letter giving us 30 days to pay or send financial statement (N.B we only saw this after the 30 days had already passed – due to not living yet at new address, hospitalisation, then family covid), so to this we did not reply as 30 days had already passed, and claim form came around same time we saw it.

16 Feb 2022 - Claim Form issue date

Claim form (signed Yasmin Mia). Claiming £3xx total (stating “£165 total of PCN and damages”, 8% interest etc, + costs + court fee)

Background: 

I am the registered keeper. Received a letter from debt collectors, months after the event, saw no PCN first, and couldn’t be sure it was even our car as we had not received a PCN with any photo detail or anything else. Saying we as a number of the household were insured on that car - but I was the keeper - we no longer have it. Followed the process here, and appealed through the appeal @ appeal pcn email which was given on their website, and used the template from here regards not being the driver, disputing the claim, and asking for evidence etc. Never heard back.

For backup at the time, we went to the carpark and took a picture of the sign which was really unclear, and stated “1 hour free parking, 2 hours max stay” - £95 Parking Charge, and the rest is in really small print (apparently you need to get authorisation from the shops for the 2 hrs) (interestingly, they have since changed the signage and the times). My family think if it was them driving, must have just assumed it was 2 hours as it said “2 Hours maximum Stay” and probably shopped more than an hour, but would not have gone over the 2hrs as cautious about that having been stung in the past – but as I said, had no details of a PCN, and have annoyingly lost the first letter that we appealed to (probably in house move), although have the sent email from appeal, as we never heard back, and it was so long ago now, foolishly thought it must have been dropped.

I am wary that due to not having the previous letters or evidence of who was driving, it may be difficult for me to form a defence around the signage so I’m a bit confused as to whether its enough to just continue to say I’m the registered keeper and as we hadn't heard back from our appeal, assumed it was gone away.

I will acknowledge service, however, I have no clue what I am doing in terms of writing a defence and don’t know whether it is detrimental to say will defend, if then have no case really for numbers 2 and 3, so really need some help which is much appreciated.

Questions:

1.     Do we continue with just acknowledging I'm the registered keeper and not mentioning who might have been driving (as we cannot be sure)?

2.     Does the fact that we appealed when we got a letter and never heard back enough of a defence?

We asked for a POPLA code as in the template – but never hear back -  should that be part of the defence as that is why we didn’t pursue it?

3.     Do we do a SAR letter at this stage, so we can see what evidence they have and what letters we should have received so we can be clear what we are referring to, or is it too late now we have the claim form as well? Would this be to Highview/GroupNexus?

4.     If we don’t find out who was driving, how can we submit a defence around the signage being unclear and what we think would have happened at the time or do we not need to? Who can even remember exactly that long ago anyway?!

5.     I assume its already too late and futile to appeal to the retailer? It was that long ago, how can we even know who was driving let alone where they shopped!

Sorry if its too much info! Thought it best to put it all in. Just bit confused if the defence is too thin to proceed here.
Many thanks

KeithP

easylifeplease said:

16 Feb 2022 - Claim Form issue date

With a Claim Issue Date of 16th February, you have until Monday 7th March to file an Acknowledgment of Service but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

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 Monday 21st March 2022 to file your Defence.

That's nearly 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'.


And to answer your questions...
1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Yes. To Highview. The information returned will be far more useful at Witness Statement time.
4. The keeper can visit the car park to see the signs. The keeper can look at Google Street View to see what the signs might've looked like at the time of the parking event.
5. It is not too late to appeal to the shops. Appeal to them all.

easylifeplease

Thank you so much for your prompt and informative response.

Really want to defend this, but concerned that if our particular defence is too thin and the court finds in their favour - could we be looking at paying a lot more?

Its infuriating, as they are clearly rob-dogs as it is.

Umkomaas

You have a defence - read all the other latest threads about GroupNexus Highview/CP Plus. Your defence will be almost identical to any of those. 

If you don't defend, you'll be liable for the £313 they are extortionately attempting to prise from you, every single penny. If you defend and lose, all they'll get is ~£200. It's a no brainer. 

1. You are dealing with this as the registered keeper - no one else, and that's HV's Achilles heel, they do not meet strict PoFA requirements, so they cannot hold you liable. 

2. Your word against theirs, unless you have proof of posting. Whichever, not a defence point.

3. Yes a SAR now. Who knows which, send to both, then you take the guessing out of the equation. 

4. Because you've been to check it out subsequently, or you've used the time machine on Google Street View to view previous years .... possibly?

5. A landowner/retailer cancellation is a fatal blow to the HV claim, so why wouldn't you attempt to determine who it was and try to obtain their help?  Even if unsuccessful, you are clearly alerting them as to how their car park operator is treating their customers with a spiteful court claim after warehousing it for over 4 years. Ask the retailer if they are happy, and have they given permission to HV to drag you, their customer, through the county court?

Try everything!

Chloboshoka_2

What I don’t understand is why are they taking this long. 

Fight your corner it sounds like daylight robbery to me. 

paulstevens64

Dear easylife,

Please pause for breath.

1) Highview do not use the Protection of Freedoms Act (POFA) when they issue tickets. 
2) As a result they cannot chase the "keeper" for payment. They can only chase the driver
3) Highview do no know who the driver is.

Do you now understand why you have a winning case? If not (yet) then read more!

Follow the advice on here, stop worrying/panicking, be confident that you know you have a winning case.

Highview know they cannot win against a Keeper. They are trying it on with you, hoping you will panic and fold.

When you write your defence - from the template provided, you will major on Non POFA, cannot pursue the keeper, as well as all the other standard points.

When you then write a witness statement - which will go in to great detail abut POFA and Keeper liability, it is very likely that Highview will fold and withdraw their case.

KeithP

Chloboshoka_2 said:

What I don’t understand is why are they taking this long. 

Simply because they can.
Anyone, not just parking companies, alleging a debt has up to six years to progress it through the courts.

Parking companies have been through lean times over the last couple of years so they are now scaping the bottom of the barrel looking for income.

The good news is that the new legislation being introduced will squeeze their income stream even further.

patient_dream

1: You are ony the registered keeper.  No driver can be named
2: If you never got a POPLA code complain to the BPA
3: Yes you SAR Highview for the info

You were right to ignore DRP, simple money scammers who add fakes.
A BPA MEMBER??

WHERE YOU ARE NOW
Claim form (signed Yasmin Mia). Claiming £313.92 total (stating “£165 total of PCN and damages”, 8% interest etc, + costs + court fee) ?

TRUE OR FALSE
The lady lies .... there is no such thing as a £165 PCN or DAMAGES
The 8% interest is normally dismissed by a judge.  They are using an out of date government web site ... who gets 8% interest nowadays ?

WHERE DO THESE FAKE CHARGES COME FROM ?
Simple answer is THE CLOUDS ..... This is a very poor claim by DCBL which they cannot explain and is just a very feeble attempt of double recovery which is not allowed by the courts
DCBL ARE BPA MEMBERS ?     Are you getting the picture ?

Back to Yasmin .... Was she employed by DCBL in 2017 probably not and does she know the car park in question in 2017 ... 100% NO

How therefore can she sign a statement of truth, subject to contempt of court ?

A question a judge must ask DCBL or their "rent by the hour" legal

easylifeplease

Thank you for all your help so far with this, I am obviously tying myself in knots a little, trying to navigate all the information, but feel much better for taking the first step to defending this nonsense as I have submitted the AOS today.

I am having difficulty with the retailer, called them for email info, but all say its nothing to do with them & to contact the carpark company (but acknowledged it sounds dodgy, being from so long ago!). I think the retail park has also changed their provider to baysentry currently.  I don't think I have the headspace to pursue this avenue, when feel its perhaps more important at this stage to crack on with the defence.
Q. Now its at this stage - and 5 years later - is itfutile to try retailers anyway? 

I have also requested a SAR from Highview/GroupNexus and they have replied saying they will provide the information requested within 30 days.

I have also written to the MP. 

Q. Do I also need to write to DCB Legal asking for information under the CPR 31.14?
I've seen the draft on LegalBeagles - but cant find on here whether it is needed or appropriate to do that at this stage in proceedings.

Thanks in advance

easylifeplease

Just noticed in the POC they also state "the driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not"

Where on earth would they get that from when foremost, I was not the driver, and have never "agreed" anything with them!

Can I request they provide evidence of this agreement to pay? Is it relevant?

KeithP

easylifeplease said:

Just noticed in the POC they also state "the driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not"

Where on earth would they get that from when foremost, I was not the driver, and have never "agreed" anything with them!

Can I request they provide evidence of this agreement to pay? Is it relevant?

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...".