Help Needed for Defence *Please* Highview/DCB Legal

Umkomaas

All your Qs are answered in the 12 points listed in the Template Defence Announcement and @bargepole's 'What Happens When' part of the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post. We have placed the information in there to avoid having to answer the same Qs every time a Notice of Allocation is received. 

Without the self help templates and people working from them, the forum would simply implode! 💥 

pandapop88

Umkomaas said:

All your Qs are answered in the 12 points listed in the Template Defence Announcement and @bargepole's 'What Happens When' part of the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post. We have placed the information in there to avoid having to answer the same Qs every time a Notice of Allocation is received. 

Without the self help templates and people working from them, the forum would simply implode! 💥 

Thank you, I managed to find it after lots of searching although I couldn't find help for my points 1. and 2. And also, does anyone know whether I need to email or post? Thank you.

Le_Kirk

pandapop88 said:

The defence didn't work - they seem hellbent on taking me to court  

I have received A Notice of Proposed Allocation to the Small Claims Track and a Form N180.

1. It says I need to send the Form N180 to the court office and serve copies on all other parties, who are all other parties please and how do I know who to send it to? They need to receive it by 1st July.

2. Also, some of the information it needs says to say when I am unavailable to appear in court. I am a teacher who cannot take time off work during term time, would it be worth mentioning this?

3. There is information in there about mediation, is it worth even considering this, I'm thinking, 'Nope.'

You send the DQ by e-mail to the same address that you sent your defence (assuming this is a straightforward case and not a set-aside) as indicated in the 12-step list.  You must sent a copy to the claimant - address on the claim form.  You give ALL dates when you will not be available, so suggest this only really leaves a few days in July plus August and a few days in September then half term - October etc.  Mediation is covered in the NEWBIE know what happens and when section - in short NO to mediation.

pandapop88

After going through the different stages, I have now been given a court date. 

If anyone has any idea of what I need to do to prepare for court? I’m feeling very overwhelmed and anxious right now. 

Many thanks. 

Coupon-mad

Isn't the entire court section of the NEWBIES thread helpful?

You'll know from reading it months ago, that defence was not your only job and that now is the time to show us your Witness statement draft.

DO NOT base it on the old Robert Cox one linked in the Newbies thread though because that's been superseded by the one posted by @aphex007

That's a link; 2 clicks and you are reading their discussion.

pandapop88

Coupon-mad said:

Isn't the entire court section of the NEWBIES thread helpful?

You'll know from reading it months ago, that defence was not your only job and that now is the time to show us your Witness statement draft.

DO NOT base it on the old Robert Cox one linked in the Newbies thread though because that's been superseded by the one posted by @aphex007

That's a link; 2 clicks and you are reading their discussion.

Thank you, sorry I didn't have my laptop when I got the court letter and I find it difficult to navigate the forums on my mobile. 

I am now having a look at what you have suggested, thank you so much.

The fine is for overstaying in the car park by 33 minutes. 

I genuinely do not know who was driving the car. I also genuinely do not remember receiving 3 the letters they have said they sent in 2016, I have seen copies via the SAR I asked for. At the time, my relationship was very turbulent, I was in a very controlling relationship and I know that other letters had gone missing. I moved house 3 times since they were sent.

I do not want to seem like I am 'pleading ignorance,' I just do know how to state this without seeming like I am!

Coupon-mad

It's not a fine.  Don't call it that.

Your WS can certainly set the scene that no letters were seen in 2016 and you cannot be sure if they were actually posted and if they were, it seems likely they were among several items of post that were confiscated and hidden by your controlling partner, at the time.  You also then moved house 3 times. As such, you were unaware of the purported 'charge' and unable to respond but never unreasonable. In any event, you would always have disputed this charge due to unclear signage and no evidence of landowner authority; a mere bare allegation that a car 'overstayed' a purported fixed time limit several years ago does not make it so.

ANPR is notoriously unreliable and automatically presents two short visits as one, for example.  Thus, in the absence of any photo evidence of an actual parking period, it is impossible to know whether a breach may have occurred and further, whether the Claimant even had authority to make contracts with drivers, impose this particular fixed time limit and litigate in their own name.

Can you find the entrance signs from that year, by changing the date on Google Streetview (this cannot be done on a phone)?

Show us where this was. Any reason for taking longer to shop? Pregnancy, breastfeeding, having children with you, any passenger with a disability, etc.?  Did you overstay? Were you likely the driver?  Could it have been two short visits, e.g. to return something or buy an extra item an hour later?

Any idea?  I assume it was a retail park and based on ANPR in/out photos only?

pandapop88

Coupon-mad said:

It's not a fine.  Don't call it that.

Your WS can certainly set the scene that no letters were seen in 2016 and you cannot be sure if they were actually posted and if they were, it seems likely they were among several items of post that were confiscated and hidden by your controlling partner, at the time.  As such, you were unaware and unable to respond but never unreasonable. In any event, you would always have disputed this charge due to unclear signage and no evidence of landowner authority; a mere bare allegation that a car 'overstayed' a purported fixed time limit several years ago does not make it so.

Can you find the entrance signs from that year, by changing the date on Google Streetview (this cannot be done on a phone)?

Show us where this was. Any reason for taking longer to shop? Pregnancy, breastfeeding, having children with you, any passenger with a disability, etc.?

Thank you so much for all your help. I have attached images from Google (can only see images from 2018). I would say the signage is on the wrong side as you enter the car park?
This is where it was 

https://www.google.com/search?q=riverside retail park parking&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB913GB913&oq=riverside+retail+park+parking&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512j46i20i175i199i263i512j0i22i30l2j69i60l3.6513j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&tbs=lf:1,lf_ui:3&tbm=lcl&sxsrf=AJOqlzV8NKZSxKoaFPWKxAg1yWoXeR6AuA:1673026140351&rflfq=1&num=10&rldimm=16337960452921841142&lqi=Ch1yaXZlcnNpZGUgcmV0YWlsIHBhcmsgcGFya2luZ1ojIh1yaXZlcnNpZGUgcmV0YWlsIHBhcmsgcGFya2luZyoCCAOSAQtwYXJraW5nX2xvdKoBDxABKgsiB3BhcmtpbmcoAA&ved=2ahUKEwjfqK6GvLP8AhWZQEEAHZH6BHoQvS56BAgLEAE&sa=X&rlst=f&safe=active&ssui=on

If I was driving I would have most certainly had my 3 year old with me (he's 10 this year). So hard to remember so long ago. Should I say something along the lines of 'I don't know if I was driving but if I was...' and then apply reasons for the supposed 'overstay' (obviously worded better).

pandapop88

Would it be worth saying that the driver could have left and returned to the carpark in that time and may not have been caught on camera when leaving and arriving? Or could it sound a bit like clutching at straws....

Coupon-mad

pandapop88 said:

Would it be worth saying that the driver could have left and returned to the carpark in that time and may not have been caught on camera when leaving and arriving? Or could it sound a bit like clutching at straws....

Yes. I already suggested that...look how I edited my post after you quoted it. I set that possibility out.

Was your partner also insured on the car? Driver might not have been you?  Do you have the old insurance polucy from that year in your emails?