County Court Defence - Highview Parking Ltd/DCB Legal - Please help

Alex1801

Hi everyone,

Please be kind, i'm a Newbie and I'm trying my best to research everything I need to online but would just like some advice.

I have received a Claim Form from DCB Legal on behalf of Highview Parking Ltd for a parking charge from 18/09/2018. Initially I tried to appeal in the first instance when I received the first letter. Admittedly I was naive at the time as this is the first ever parking fine I have ever had and at first I thought it was a mistake. My initial appeal stated 

"I was shopping at Robin Retail Park and then went into Costa with friends. The Retail Park stipulates that parking is a maximum of 4 hours. I was there 2 hrs and 41 minutes and therefore should not have received this fine."
I genuinely thought I had 4 hours, as did my two friends who are now also in the same situation as I am. Frustratingly I paid cash aswell that day and didn't keep the receipt. My friend did pay on card so I would have that as evidence also potentially. The response to the initial appeal was the following,

" The PCN was issued and the signage is displayed in compliance with The British Parking Association’s Approved Operator Scheme Code of Practice and all relevant laws and regulations.
Clear signs at the entrance of this site and throughout inform drivers of the terms and conditions that apply there, and it is clearly advertised with it is an Event/ Match day and the restrictions that apply. The fact that you were unaware of the restrictions that are in place is not considered a mitigating circumstance for appeal. In light of this, on this occasion, your representations have been carefully considered and rejected."

Afterwards when I looked into it in more detail I realised that it was a match day but I entered the car park at 13:28 and left at 16:10. The match wasn't until 8pm that evening. There were no signs around suggesting it was a match day at all. If I had seen any signs to suggest it was I would not have stayed that long. It was a Tuesday afternoon, the car park wasn't even half full and I genuinely thought it was just a normal day where we would be allowed 4 hours. They apparently only allow 2 hours on match days. As with any of these private firms they say the vehicle was in breach of their contract but how can I be able to agree to a contract where the car park signage is unclear? Do they expect people to research Match days online before visiting their local Costa? I have no interest in football what so ever so do not have a clue when they have match days. 

Anyway, also admittedly after having the appeal denied I ignored the subsequent letters from the debt collection companies. (they were badly printed and had spelling/grammar mistakes all over them - I also looked on trustpilot and all of them had horrendous reviews) I also read on different websites the advice to ignore them which I now understand to be a mistake. Now I have a Claim Form from the County Court Business Centre. The particulars of claim are as follows:
1. 1. The defendant is indebted to the claimant for parking charge issued vehicle ******* at Robin Park
2. The PCN Details are 18/09/2018, ********
3. The PCN was issued on private land owned or managed by C, The vehicle was parked in breach of the Terms on Cs Signs (The contract), thus incurring the PCN
4. The driver agreed to pay within 28 day but did not, D is liable as the driver or keeper. Despite requests, the PCN is outstanding. The contract entitles C to damages AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS
1 £170 being the total of the PCN and damages.
2 Interest at the rate of 8% per annum pursuant to s.69 of the county courts act 1984 from the date hereof at a daily rate of £.0.02 until judgment or sooner payment
3 Costs and court fees

The total amount they are asking for is now £304.60. I also never agreed to pay, ever.

I have been reading through posts on here and the Newbie/Threads on MSE. I have sent a SAR request to the parking company and have received a response saying they will send everything over. (Dated to likely arrive after I need to submit my defence annoyingly) However I still have my letters and email appeal correspondence anyway. I am still only 6 days in from my day of service and I understand I have 14 days but I plan to submit an Acknowledgment of Service to give myself 28 days to prepare. 

I have the template from the MSE Newbies thread for defence but I'm looking for advice/specific laws which could maybe help my situation? Or do you think I don't have a chance of winning? I really don't want a CCJ but I also don't want these people to win by having inadequate signage and punishing people for using their local retail stores. I'm also scared of the cost going up even more with court charges.

I really appreciate any advice anyone could give me.

Thanks in advance. 

KeithP

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

Alex1801

KeithP said:

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

10th March 2022. I read the advice not to submit anything for the first 5 days at least. 

KeithP

Alex1801 said:

KeithP said:

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

10th March 2022. I read the advice not to submit anything for the first 5 days at least. 

Yes, that's good advice.

With a Claim Issue Date of 10th March, you have until Tuesday 29th 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 Tuesday 12th 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 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'.

Alex1801

KeithP said:

Alex1801 said:

KeithP said:

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

10th March 2022. I read the advice not to submit anything for the first 5 days at least. 

Yes, that's good advice.

With a Claim Issue Date of 10th March, you have until Tuesday 29th 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 Tuesday 12th 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 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'.

Amazing! Thank you so much. Just out of curiosity, what is the reason why I shouldn't file a defence via the MCOL website? 

KeithP

Alex1801 said:

KeithP said:

Alex1801 said:

KeithP said:

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

10th March 2022. I read the advice not to submit anything for the first 5 days at least. 

Yes, that's good advice.

With a Claim Issue Date of 10th March, you have until Tuesday 29th 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 Tuesday 12th 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 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'.

Just out of curiosity, what is the reason why I shouldn't file a defence via the MCOL website? 

It is very restrictive on the length of a Defence that it will accept, so will truncate a Defence if it is larger than the box will allow.
It also destroys all the formatting and therefore just throws a lump of garbled text at the Judge. Probably not the best way to get him/her on your side.

Not_A_Hope

The PPCs argument is that by parking you agreed to their terms and conditions and therefore 'agreed to pay'.  You and your friends have an excellent case to defend the claim if there were no signs on the retail park for a match day with an evening kick off. They have added £70 damages to their claim and the new government Code of Practice makes this illegal.

Any response to your SAR will be more useful when writing your witness statement in preparation for any court hearing.

A major part of this scam industry is to try to frighten people into paying their ridiculous charges. Don't be bullied. Did you get photos of the signs in place back in 2018?

You have a very good chance of winning this and wouldn't ever get a CCJ unless you actually lost in court and didn't pay what a judge ordered within a month. Many judges are wising up to these scams.

Alex1801

Hi, it's me again. Please let me know if this is not allowed but I was wondering if any of you would mind reviewing my first attempt at the 2/3 sections on the defence template? I didn't know how long section 3 is supposed to be or to even include quotes from appeals. Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated. 

The facts as known to the Defendant:

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

3. The driver visited the retail park to shop and to have lunch inside Costa Coffee Shop with friends. They genuinely believed they were permitted to stay on the retail park for up to 4 hours. The driver stayed on the retail park for 2 hours 41 minutes, which was a reasonable amount of time to shop, queue in the Coffee Shop, have lunch and drinks. It was only after receiving the notice from Highview Parking, that the driver was informed they had exceeded the maximum stay time. The notice was a complete shock to the driver and it was only after researching, that they discovered the date on the notice was a match day. The signage on the day in which the driver was parked on the retail park was completely inadequate. If a day has a restricted number of hours permitted compared to normal days, then a restricted day (in this case a match day) should be reasonably conveyed to a driver. This was not the case as the driver had no idea it was a match day until after the notice was received. The driver has since learned that they had left the retail park hours before an evening match was even due to start therefore proving that they had no intention of attending a match. Furthermore, the Private Parking Code of Practice states that Entrance Signs should be placed so that they are readable by drivers without them needing to look away from the road ahead. When the Defendant first tried to appeal, the reply email stated ‘Clear signs at the entrance of this site and throughout inform drivers of the terms and conditions that apply there, and it is clearly advertised with it is an Event/ Match day and the restrictions that apply.’ The Entrance Signs at the entrance to the retail park in which the driver used on 18/09/2018 do not follow these guidelines. The Entrance Signs are on your left, however as the entrance to the main car park is immediately to your right, as a driver you need to look right to check for oncoming traffic to allow you to turn into the main car park, therefore the signs on the left can be easily missed. The defendant has photo evidence of this. 

Not_A_Hope

The amount of detail in para 3 is more like what you would include in a witness statement later. Ideally it should be much more concise and include why you thought you had 4 hours free Parking (cos all the visible signs said so?). The lack of prominent signs for reduced time on match days and clarity on which dates were actually match dates for a shopper are key points to include especially when the alleged breach was hours before an evening match

Le_Kirk

This might give you some guidance: -

A defence is a series of short punchy legal/technical arguments in the third person.  The arguments should be used to refute what is claimed in the POC.  Using the defence template, paragraph #1 is not edited, paragraph #2 states whether you are keeper and NOT the driver or keeper AND driver.  An own space defence is best defended as keeper and driver as you can then give an honest first person account in the witness statement.  A defence as "not driver" is best if  a) you weren't the driver and b) the PCN failed POFA.  Paragraph #3 is used to set the scene for the judge and explain that you deny not paying/overstaying/not displaying/not having a permit/not having a blue badge (or whatever the POC states) and, provided you have opened the door with those arguments, you can tell the whole story in the narrative that forms the witness statement along with the evidence that backs up the defence.  Resist the temptation to write War & Peace.

Alex1801

Thanks for the feedback. Is this any better? 

3. The Defendant denies being indebted to the Claimant for the parking charge as stated in the POC, as the Defendant strongly believes that the parking charge was issued unfairly. The Defendant also never agreed to pay the parking charge which is claimed in the POC. Furthermore, the Defendant denies being in breach of the Terms and Conditions claimed in the POC, as the signage at the Retail Park was inadequate. The Defendant believed that they were permitted to stay on the retail park for up to 4 hours as stated on the visible signs. The Defendant only stayed on site for 2 hours and 41 minutes after shopping and having lunch with friends. The notice was a complete shock to the Defendant and it was only after researching, that they discovered the date on the notice was a match day. The Defendant left the Retail Park hours before the evening match was due to start. The Defendant believes that it was not reasonably conveyed to drivers that the day of the alleged breach was a match day and therefore restricting the time allowed on the Retail Park compared to normal days. The Defendant also claims that the Entrance Signs at the entrance in which they entered the Retail Park do not follow the Private Parking Code of Practice.

Do I not mention the damages claim bit below during this no3 section? I believe it is covered in the other sections which are already prewritten which we don't change later in the defence. 
The contract entitles C to damages AND THE CLAIMANT CLAIMS
1 £170 being the total of the PCN and damages.
2 Interest at the rate of 8% per annum pursuant to s.69 of the county courts act 1984 from the date hereof at a daily rate of £.0.02 until judgment or sooner payment
3 Costs and court fees