Received Notification Of Instruction from Elms Legal - what now? Please help!

pomegranate45

Well the inevitable has happened and I've received my court claim form.

I've written out a defence and I was wondering if maybe anyone would be willing to have a quick read over it? It's short and I've left much of the templated defence out because my case seems to be very simple - all the evidence that I, the keeper, am not liable is on the original PCN.

What do you think?

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No.: XXXXX

Between

Vehicle Control Services

(Claimant)

- and -

XXXXX

(Defendant)

_________________

DEFENCE

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

Please find attached copy of the original Parking Charge Notice (PCN) / Notice To Keeper (NTK).

Note the Issue Date (16/11/21) and the Contravention Date (15/09/21) found at the top-right.

The Parking Charge Notice(PCN)/Notice To Keeper (NTK) was posted 62 days after the alleged period of parking.

In order for the Keeper of the vehicle to be held liable rather than the driver, the Keeper needs to receive the PCN within 14 days of the parking period, as detailed in the Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012 – Schedule 4:

Please find attached copy of the Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012 - Schedule 4, and read Paragraph 9 (4), ON PAGE 7, as referenced below:

Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012

Schedule 4 – Recovery of unpaid parking charges

Paragraph 9

(4) The notice must be given by—

(a) handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

(b) sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

(5) The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

As the Notice To Keeper was dated 62 days after the alleged period of parking, I, the keeper of the vehicle, am not liable. Only the driver can be held liable.

I was not the driver of the vehicle during the specified date on which the alleged period of parking occurred. I do not know who the driver was, and I would be under no obligation to give the name of the driver if I were to know.

In the matter of costs, the Defendant seeks:

Standard witness costs for attendance at Court, pursuant to CPR 27.14.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Defendant’s signature: xxx

Date:xxxx

What do you think? Any thoughts and advice would be massively appreciated.

KeithP

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

Le_Kirk

You need to rewrite the defence using the third person, ergo, no "I" but "the defendant".  Also you don't send evidence with the defence, that comes at witness statement stage.  You reference it as you have done but you send the actual evidence later.

pomegranate45

KeithP said:

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

Hi, the Issue Date on the County Court form is 06 APR 2022

pomegranate45

Le_Kirk said:

You need to rewrite the defence using the third person, ergo, no "I" but "the defendant".  Also you don't send evidence with the defence, that comes at witness statement stage.  You reference it as you have done but you send the actual evidence later.

Aah, okay, I'll give it a rewrite now... thank you!

KeithP

pomegranate45 said:

KeithP said:

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

Hi, the Issue Date on the County Court form is 06 APR 2022

With a Claim Issue Date of 6th April, you have until Monday 25th April 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 9th May 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you are not leaving 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'.

pomegranate45

Le_Kirk said:

You need to rewrite the defence using the third person, ergo, no "I" but "the defendant".  Also you don't send evidence with the defence, that comes at witness statement stage.  You reference it as you have done but you send the actual evidence later.

Here's the rewrite:

IN THE COUNTY COURT

Claim No.: XXXXX

Between

Vehicle Control Services

(Claimant)

- and -

XXXXX

(Defendant)

_________________

DEFENCE

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

In order for the liability to be with the Keeper of the vehicle rather than the driver, the Keeper needs to receive the PCN within 14 days of the parking period, as detailed in the Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012 – Schedule 4, Paragraph 9(4):

Protection Of Freedoms Act 2012

Schedule 4 – Recovery of unpaid parking charges

Paragraph 9

(4) The notice must be given by—

(a) handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

(b) sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

(5) The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

The Notice To Keeper (NTK) received by the defendant has an Issue Date of 16/11/21. The Contravention Date on the NTK received by the defendant is 15/09/21. Therefore the Parking Charge Notice(PCN)/Notice To Keeper (NTK) was posted 62 days after the alleged period of parking.

As the Notice To Keeper was dated 62 days after the alleged period of parking, the defendant, who is the keeper of the vehicle, is not liable for the payment. Only the driver can be held liable.

The defendant was not the driver of the vehicle during the specified date on which the alleged period of parking occurred. The defendant does not know who the driver was, and would be under no obligation to give the name of the driver if they were to know.

In the matter of costs, the Defendant seeks:

(a) standard witness costs for attendance at Court, pursuant to CPR 27.14.

Statement Of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Defendant’s signature: xxx

Date:xxxx

Do you think this would be okay?

Thanks in advance

Le_Kirk

Are you adding in the rest of the template and following the format of that whereby you start with the standard paragraph 1, add your paragraphs 2 & 3 and then the rest of the template?

pomegranate45

KeithP said:

pomegranate45 said:

KeithP said:

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

Hi, the Issue Date on the County Court form is 06 APR 2022

With a Claim Issue Date of 6th April, you have until Monday 25th April 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 9th May 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over three weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you are not leaving 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'.

Understood, I'll do this, and thank you for taking the time to offer your advice.

If you have a moment do you think you could have a quick look over my defence (posted above in third person)? I have left out much of the templated defence because my case seems much simpler than most people's as all the evidence I believe I need is printed on the PCN/NTK (the parking company sent the NTK out late, therefore the Keeper is not liable).

Thanks again

pomegranate45

Le_Kirk said:

Are you adding in the rest of the template and following the format of that whereby you start with the standard paragraph 1, add your paragraphs 2 & 3 and then the rest of the template?

I actually wasn't going to because I was having real difficulty working out which parts of the standard template are relevant to my case, and the fact that my case/defence seems much simpler than most other people's (the evidence I need being printed on the NTK, i.e. the dates and the 62 day differential). I was planning on keeping the defence as simple as possible.

Do you think this is the right way to go?