UKPC McDonalds County Court Claim

Rinceward

I have received the County Court Claim from UKPC.
 I have copied the template as suggested and edited paragraph 3 to suit my details.
Does this response seem suitable?

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

 

3. As I entered in to the McDonald’s carpark, I could see that it was very busy. We were visiting for my son’s birthday. As there were no free spaces we decided to wait until a space became available. This I would estimate to took 5 minutes. Due to the spaces being quite tight before I backed in to the space, I allowed my partner and children to get out of the car. This took an estimated 2 minutes due to child seats and folding down the rear seat of the car to let the far rear passengers out. Once parked, I then took time to read over the parking signs (3 minutes) and decided to stay in the carpark.

Towards the end of our meal, I was conscious of the time limit in regards to the parking. The restaurant was busy and the service was slow to reflect this. I ensured that I was back in the car with time to spare. I pulled out of the car park space to allow the children and my partner to get back in the car (3minutes). Once we were all seated in the car, it was decided that we would have a dessert. However, as I was mindful of the parking rule, I suggested that we go through the drive-thru order point. I thought that this would not break the breach of the parking criteria as I was not parked. The drive-thru was also busy so we had to wait in a waiting bay for our order to arrive. I would estimate this time at 10 minutes.

 

4. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  The Defendant should not be criticised for using some pre-written wording from a reliable source.  The Claimant is urged not to patronise the Defendant with (ironically template) unfounded accusations

Are there any other paragraphs that I should be aware of?
Thanks 

KeithP

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

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service?
If so, upon what date did you do so?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.


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Rinceward

Thank you
The account was set up ages ago, yes based on real name.
I will look in to changing it.
Issue date is 28/02/2022
AOS 9/03/22

I have read more now that what I have written is a witness statement. I will amend the wording accordingly.

Thank you for the prompt reply

KeithP

Rinceward said:

Issue date is 28/02/2022
AOS 9/03/22

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th February, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 4th April 2022 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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'.

Rinceward

Thank you, Good to know the timings.

Is the argument that I put up solid enough? 
I know I need to change the wording and be more concise 

KeithP

Do UKPC already know the driver's identity?
If not, it might not be wise to offer that information.
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 offers some protection to a keeper but none to a known driver.

Yes, your para 3 does need rewriting. Defences are usually written in the third person.
So for example, you might write...
As the vehicle entered the McDonald’s carpark, the driver could see that it was very busy.
 

Coupon-mad

garethward said:

Thank you, Good to know the timings.

Is the argument that I put up solid enough? 

I think so. Using a drive-thru is not parking.

Rinceward

KeithP said:

Do UKPC already know the driver's identity?
If not, it might not be wise to offer that information.
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 offers some protection to a keeper but none to a known driver.

Yes, your para 3 does need rewriting. Defences are usually written in the third person.
So for example, you might write...
As the vehicle entered the McDonald’s carpark, the driver could see that it was very busy.
 

They do not know the driver, so I will omit that. 
I will save the current paragraph 3 for my witness statement. 
I forgot to mention time alleged to be parked was 1 hour 47 minutes 17 minutes over the allowed time.
Thank you for your time this evening

Rinceward

Coupon-mad said:

garethward said:

Thank you, Good to know the timings.

Is the argument that I put up solid enough? 

I think so. Using a drive-thru is not parking.

Thank you. I hoped that this would be the case. However, I do not have any evidence for this. 
Is the onus to prove that is what I did or ukpc to prove that is not what I did? 
Thank you

Rinceward

Also trying to charge £287 which includes £35 court fee and £50 legal

Coupon-mad

garethward said:

Coupon-mad said:

garethward said:

Thank you, Good to know the timings.

Is the argument that I put up solid enough? 

I think so. Using a drive-thru is not parking.

Thank you. I hoped that this would be the case. However, I do not have any evidence for this. 
Is the onus to prove that is what I did or ukpc to prove that is not what I did? 
Thank you

You can say that a professional parking firm should have an exempting ANPR camera at the drive-thru.