Court claim form because of ANPR camera fine

Angellicaa

Hi there.

I received a claim form on dated 8th April for an unpaid parking fine in August 2021 and have done an AOS so I could think this all through. I really want to fight this, as these companies should not be getting away with this behaviour, but I don’t want to end up with a CCJ and am starting to wonder if there is any point, other than more money lost.

I got a parking fine through the post a few weeks after I had stayed at a car park called Coronation Park in Helston. It used to be a council car park and was free to park after 4 o clock, but  sometime over the last few years it must’ve been sold to a private company and they now charge 24 hours a day (40p in the evening).  I drove in there about 8 o’clock in the evening,  as I remember from taking my older children there when they were younger, that there was a public toilet in the park and my littlest needed to go.  My eldest daughter got out to investigate, but unfortunately the toilet was shut. I let my youngest go behind the bush and then we left. 

I read through the posts back in September and it said you should fight unfair parking charges.  I made an appeal and it was rejected as they said they do not take mitigating circumstances into consideration.  There was six of us in the car and even though the other five were children, none of us noticed the parking eye sign. They  said in the letter they sent to me that there is clear signage around the car park.

The car park is of a reasonable size and there may have been one signpost in the corner according to the pictures they sent me.

Any advice would be great. I don’t think I have the time or intelligence to write complicated court letters, so should I just give up now? Also if I did write a defence,  which mainly would rely on unclear signage and the fact that it used to be free,  would I get a CCJ if I lost and would the court cost get really high? At the moment the fine is £250. 

Thank you

Coupon-mad

It's not a fine and there is no risk in defending.  NO COSTS AND NO CCJ RISK. You may as well!

If it's ParkingEye, not another ANPR firm, go read the ParkingEye defence examples in the second post of the newbies thread.

Your defence will be mainly about unclear additional signage that's needed to alert drivers who've been there before about changes in restrictions, as required by the BPA Code of practice.


Submitting your defence:
Thanks to @KeithP for this summary of how to submit a defence by email to the CCBCAQ email address:  

If you have no access to a scanner, then put an electronic signature in it. When you are happy with it, your defence is to be filed via email as suggested here:

1. Print your Defence.
   
2. Sign it and date it.
   
3. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
   
4. Send that pdf as an email attachment to CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk but do to the CCBC's dysfunctional systems, only do this during working hours (a weekday) and you MUST get an acknowledgement.  Also copy in the parking firm, which is enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk
5. Just put the claim number (check it very carefully) and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'URGENT RE CLAIM XXXXXXXX - Please find my Defence attached
6. IMPORTANT - MAKE SURE YOU GET AN EMAIL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BACK FROM THE CCBC! After filing your Defence, there is more to do.
7. Do not be surprised to receive an early copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire and the usual template letter saying they 'intend to proceed'. Nothing of interest there. Just file it.
8. Wait for your own Directions Questionnaire from the CCBC, or download one from the internet - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-n180-directions-questionnaire-small-claims-track , and then complete it as described by bargepole in his 'what happens when' post linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/64350585#Comment_64350585
9. The completed DQ should be returned by email to the CCBC to the same address and in the same way as your Defence was filed earlier.  
   
10. Send a copy of your completed DQ to the Claimant (or their solicitor if they are using one).  Their postal address is on your Claim Form but you can find an email for them by searching this forum, or Google it, because a DQ sent by email is OK and then you know/can prove it's been sent.   
11. DO NOT USE RECORDED (OR SPECIAL) DELIVERY FOR ANYTHING TO A PARKING FIRM OR THEIR SOLICITOR.   DO NOT EXPECT ROGUE FIRMS TO SIGN FOR YOUR LETTERS.  IF THEY DON'T, ALL YOU HAVE IS PROOF OF NON-DELIVERY, WHICH IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU NEED!
12. Will you have to attend a hearing? Yes - unless the claim is struck out or the PPC discontinues (fairly common!).  Will that heaing be at Northampton?  NO!  That's just a central starting point for claims.  If you are an individual, you get the choose your local court, and in 2020, telephone hearings are becoming more likely.  Face to face hearings are better though, and easier to follow the visual cues from the Judge who allow for Defendants being scared and unused to the situation.  You do NOT want your case 'heard on the papers' (absolutely no).  You want a hearing and you can claim your costs if you win, and you risk nothing (no CCJ, no huge costs) by defending, because if you were among the handful who report a loss here you'd have 30 days to pay.  No CCJ or extra added costs.

Angellicaa

Thank you for that advise. It seems there may be some hope!

I will go through all of the above and try and write some sort of defence.

Its seems quite a few people have been scammed by this car park as on parkopedia there are a number of reviews of people getting unfairly charged. I  don’t understand how they get away with it, they should be made to have a ticket barrier installed.

KeithP

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Angellicaa

KeithP said:

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

I did it yesterday online.

I had a letter from them today (BW legal, who are working on behalf of Premier Parking Solutions). They  say that I still have time to pay the £250 and if I put in a defence I will get extra court costs if I lose.   The post above says there will not be extra court costs, but BW Legal are saying that there could be. 

 I really don’t want to go bankrupt over this,  but I’m now really confused. Will there be extra costs if I put in a defence and will it be loads more?

Any clarity would be great.

Thanks

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 8th April, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 11th May 2022 to file your Defence.

That's nearly 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, read @Coupon-mad's post above.

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'.

KeithP

Angellicaa said:

KeithP said:

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

I had a letter from them today (BW legal, who are working on behalf of Premier Parking Solutions). They  say that I still have time to pay the £250 and if I put in a defence I will get extra court costs if I lose.   The post above says there will not be extra court costs, but BW Legal are saying that there could be. 

 I really don’t want to go bankrupt over this,  but I’m now really confused. Will there be extra costs if I put in a defence and will it be loads more?

Any clarity would be great.

If you are looking for clarity, then probably best not to believe everything the parking companies and their alleged lawyers write.

Coupon-mad

I had a letter from them today (BW legal, who are working on behalf of Premier Parking Solutions). They  say that I still have time to pay the £250 and if I put in a defence I will get extra court costs if I lose.   The post above says there will not be extra court costs, but BW Legal are saying that there could be. 

 I really don’t want to go bankrupt over this,  but I’m now really confused. Will there be extra costs if I put in a defence and will it be loads more?

It's not true.  There are no extra court costs if you lose, unless you behave wholly unreasonably. 

Defending a small claim and following all court deadlines, is not and can't be unreasonable conduct!

Even if you lost in court, you'd pay less than the claim because the added debt recovery is 'extortion' (Government).  As the Template Defence says, if you read through it.

Can you show us that letter?  Some of this misleading rubbish is getting worse this Spring.

D_P_Dance

Their signs are pants, read this and complain to your MP.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading/p1

Half_way

This is of interest:

It used to be a council car park

Could mean that if it is parking eye there could be issues for the Local authority and more

There appear to be a few car parks round Coronation park in Helston , where was it?

Also when using this forum never use terms like I parked, I drove or I did this that or the other, you should always use terms such as the vehicle entered, the vehicle did the same goes for using words like He/She/Brother/Sister/mother/father/friend and so on

Umkomaas

This is not a ParkingEye case. It's a Premier Parking Solutions one. The OP is using 'parking eye' in lieu of 'ANPR camera', creating misunderstandings. 

@Angellicaa you need to change the reference in your thread title from 'parking eye' (a different parking firm) to 'Premier Parking Solutions', otherwise there will be further confusion about the identity of the parking firm with the danger of the thread going off at unhelpful tangents.