Highview / DCB county court claim form - HELP Please

wazza89

I know there are several posts already and advice but hoping to receive personal advice for clarification really as there is a lot of information on here, which is great, so I want to make sure I am doing things correctly because I really don't want to pay a penny to these thieves.

So I received a ticket for overstaying at a free to park car park at a retail shopping Centre. This was 5 years. I have ignored this and all correspondence from highview/DCB up to this point. (I know this may not of been the correct thing to do but its too late now)

I received a county court claim form and as I understand it I need to respond to this now (as its been at least 5 days) by submitting a MoneyClaimOnLine AoS and then submit a defence using a template to the CCBCAQ email.....is that correct?

As I was the registered owner/keeper of the vehicle all correspondence has been coming to me although it was my wife driving at the time... I don't know if this makes a difference at all to how I approach this but thought its best to mention it.

Any help appreciated as I'm panicking over this.

Fruitcake

wazza89 said:

I know there are several posts already and advice but hoping to receive personal advice for clarification really as there is a lot of information on here, which is great, so I want to make sure I am doing things correctly because I really don't want to pay a penny to these thieves.

So I received a ticket for overstaying at a free to park car park at a retail shopping Centre. This was 5 years. I have ignored this and all correspondence from highview/DCB up to this point. (I know this may not of been the correct thing to do but its too late now)

I received a county court claim form and as I understand it I need to respond to this now (as its been at least 5 days) by submitting a MoneyClaimOnLine AoS and then submit a defence using a template to the CCBCAQ email.....is that correct?

As I was the registered owner/keeper of the vehicle all correspondence has been coming to me although it was someone else driving at the time... I don't know if this makes a difference at all to how I approach this but thought its best to mention it.

Any help appreciated as I'm panicking over this.

You are correct in your initial understanding about responding to the claim and timescales.

Ignoring a PCN has not been advised here since the law changed nearly ten years ago. I believe that Highview did not use keeper liability five years ago in their NTKs, so it does make a huge difference if that is the case.
A vehicle keeper cannot be held liable where the PPC has not complied with the PoFA 2012. ONly the driver can be held liable, and only if the PPC know who it is. The only way they can find out is if somebody is foolish enough to tell them.

It is not a good idea to tell the whole world on a forum monitored by PPCs clues about the identity of the driver. You might want to ask a board guide such as soolin or savvy to remove the incriminating data. Worst case, ask them to delete the post/thread and start again.

Once you have done that, read and understand the PoFA whilst you follow the guide to court in the NEWBIES.

What happened when you complained to the landowner?
Where did the alleged event occur?
Have you sent an SAR to the claimant to obtain all the data they hold about the keeper, including the original PCNs?
Have you complained to your MP yet? 

KeithP

wazza89 said:

I received a county court claim form and as I understand it I need to respond to this now (as its been at least 5 days) by submitting a MoneyClaimOnLine AoS and then submit a defence using a template to the CCBCAQ email.....is that correct?

Yes that's correct.
What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

wazza89

Perfect. 16th of Feb is the issue date. 

KeithP

wazza89 said:

Perfect. 16th of Feb is the 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 over three 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'.

wazza89

KeithP said:

wazza89 said:

Perfect. 16th of Feb is the 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 over three 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'.

That's great and just what I needed. I shall go ahead and do that and report back here if needed, thank you!

Coupon-mad

But please follow the 12 steps in the Template Defence thread so you know what to do and when.  We are happy to critique a defence and you need to add the good news from 2022 (this month) as explained here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79013061/#Comment_79013061

Happy reading, get up to speed with the new Code of Practice from the DLUHC.  That thread explains why it matters even to existing cases and it's not even in the Template Defence yet because it's so new and I was elsewhere..

wazza89

Hi all, my defence step 2 & 3 are below, would welcome any critique as I am not great at wording, and having looked at the templates on this forum and there is no specific one like my situation detailed above.

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

3. The car park in question was utilised for the shopping complex as per its intended purpose. The reason for the overstay past the designated maximum time was purely down to the excessive amount of additional personnel inside of the shops at the said time and trying to resolve several issues with purchases with the staff of these outlets and having to wait for shop managers approvals.

Coupon-mad

Personnel?  That means employees; did you mean shoppers and queuing?

Just checking you saw I've edited the Template Defence last week to incorporate the new Code of Practice and you're using that one?

wazza89

yes shoppers. No I didn’t see it, have you a link or can you direct me to it ? 

Fruitcake

It's one of the sticky Announcements at the top of the forum.