County court Notice for Overstay at McDonalds (UKPC)

Confused63

Hi, my wife received through a county court form for a visit to McDonalds back in 2020 and I would really appreciate advise on what to write for the defence statement as I am writing on her behalf and I am worried that I will mess it up for her. 

It was really busy due to covid and they had huge wait times. When you drive in the drive through is on the far side of the car park and when the queue for the drive though is long it takes ages to be able to get near a car park space also. After sitting in the drive-though queue for a very long time and not getting very far. she a saw a parking space free and she thought it might be quicker to park and go inside, but then she had to then wait in another long queue outside the door to get in and also another long wait to be served. She then had to eat her meal in her car as she wasn't allowed to stay in and then left.
PCN shows she was there for 1hr 54 minutes instead of the allowed 1hr 30 mins. 

She has dyslexia  and ADHD and she really struggles to read and understand written documents or signs and didn't notice signs and was unware there was a limit until she received this through, so I wanted to also include something in relation to this. 

The County court letter is dated the 05th May, I read the forum and sent a SAR and an acknowledgement via the moneyclaim.gov.uk website, but I missed the bit about waiting 5 days, so wanted to try to get my defence letter shorted asap as I am not sure when i have to provide. so it was acknowledged the 7th. I have received the reply from UKPC and now have copy details of the letters and photos which were previously sent. 

I am using the the defence template link which mentions being updated in March 2022 I have drafted the following. I have written numbers 3 and 4 below. 
Does this sound ok? 

Reading other threads I also am ensure whether to use "the driver" or "I" went... when writing this though. 

1. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver gave rise to a ‘parking charge’ and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue or to form contracts in their own name at the location.

 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. I went to use the drive-through as usual at McDonald and it was extremely busy due to covid measures being in place. There was a huge queue of cars all the way through the car park to the entrance of the drive-through on the far side. Due to high demand and the waiting times, I was in the queue for a very long time and had still only moved a small distance within the car park towards to drive-though. I saw a parking space become free near me, and thought that going into McDonalds to order would be a quicker/better option, so I parked. There was also a long line of people waiting outside the restaurant, and staff were only letting one person in at a time as someone else left to order, collect and eat in your car, as you could not stay inside to have the meal.

After long wait in the queue to get inside, there was also another long wait to be able to order and collect my food, as they were running on minimum staff. Once I had my order, I returned to my car, ate my meal and then left the car park.

 4. In addition to the above, I have dyslexia and ADHD which make tasks such as reading, understanding signs and perception of time more difficult than usual and the typical individual. In section, 20 of the equality act it states reasonable adjustments should be made to remove barriers against disabled people.

 5. 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 of not understanding their defence. This Defendant signed it after full research and having read this defence several times, because the court process is outside of their life experience.  The claim was an unexpected shock.

Etc. 

Thanks 

Trainerman

Point 1 is that you need to take out all the "I" and change to "the Defendant" I would also try to make it more concise, yet add the information that this was mid-pandemic and that the allowed time was simply insufficient due to these events and that due allowance should have been made.

Have you tried to get this cancelled by McDonald's? That should be first.

As a side note, interesting to see that they are using more than one PPC to infest their sites. Yours is UKPC, ours is Met

KeithP

Confused63 said:

The County court letter is dated the 05th May, I read the forum and sent a SAR and an acknowledgement via the moneyclaim.gov.uk website, but I missed the bit about waiting 5 days, so wanted to try to get my defence letter shorted asap as I am not sure when i have to provide. so it was acknowledged the 7th. 

With a Claim Issue Date of 5th May, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 9th May**, your wife has until 4pm on Monday 6th June to file her Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that it is not being left 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'.

**although you say an Acknowledgment of Service was sent on 7th May, it will not have been dealt with over the weekend.

Confused63

Thanks for the advise Trainerman. I really struggle with being concise, and to the point.
I have given it a try below... any thoughts would be really appreciated. 

3. The McDonalds drive-through was very busy and service was extremely slow. The defendant patiently queued for the drive-through (within the car park) for a very long time, but when further movement wasn’t been made, eventually decided to park and order inside. The queue of customers outside was very long/slow, only a 1-2 were allowed inside at once, and very few staff were working due to covid-19, which meant another long wait to order and receive their food. They were advised they couldn’t stay inside to eat and returned to the car to eat before driving away. Being mid-pandemic, the allowed time was simply insufficient due to these events and that due allowance should have been made.

 4. In addition to the above, I have dyslexia and ADHD which make taskssuch as reading/understanding information (e.g. signs) and perception of time more difficult than usual and the typical individual. In section, 20 of the equality act it states reasonable adjustments should be made to remove barriers against disabled people.

KeithP

Have you noticed that it is now five times you have shown us that Claim Form?  

Confused63

Thanks KeithP, thats really helpful, thanks for letting me know the dates I am working with. I want to try to get it done asap. 

I have found the email address CCBCAQ@justice.gov.uk quoted so I am hoping that it is the right one 

Confused63

KeithP said:

Have you noticed that it is now five times you have shown us that Claim Form?  

Sorry, it wasn't showing as attached or posted on the forum on my computer, and I still cant see it. but when I look at my phone, I can see it mulitple times!! oh dear. 

Confused63

Trainerman said:

Point 1 is that you need to take out all the "I" and change to "the Defendant" I would also try to make it more concise, yet add the information that this was mid-pandemic and that the allowed time was simply insufficient due to these events and that due allowance should have been made.

Sorry Noticed that I didn't update them all to defendant. Hopefully this is better? 

3. The McDonalds drive-through was very busy and service was extremely slow. The defendant patiently queued for the drive-through (within the car park) for a very long time, but when further movement wasn’t been made, eventually decided to park and order inside. The queue of customers outside was very long/slow, only a 1-2 were allowed inside at once, and very few staff were working due to covid-19, which meant another long wait to order and receive their food. They were advised they couldn’t stay inside to eat and returned to the car to eat before driving away. Being mid-pandemic, the allowed time was simply insufficient due to these events and that due allowance should have been made.

 4. In addition to the above, the defendant has dyslexia and ADHD which make taskssuch as reading/understanding information (e.g. signs) and perception of time more difficult than usual and the typical individual. In section, 20 of the equality act it states reasonable adjustments should be made to remove barriers against disabled people.

Trainerman

See what the others think, but I like that much more. By the way, do UKPC know who the driver was?

Confused63

Sorry... I dont know why it still keeps attaching the claim form picture mid-post. 

Confused63

Trainerman said:

See what the others think, but I like that much more. By the way, do UKPC know who the driver was?

Thanks. No they dont, we haven't advised them who it was.