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Bristol Airport VCS - Stopping to Drop Off Charge Notice - Pedestrian Crossing

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  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 151,677 Forumite
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    No, the defence to counterclaim would have been last year and they HAD to defend it, or you win.

    This is nothing to do with the recent bundles.

    Did they defend the counterclaim or not? Last year after you filed it.
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  • Im_tired_of_this
    Im_tired_of_this Posts: 74 Forumite
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    edited 1 February 2023 at 6:39PM
    @Coupon-mad

    Right, hopefully I'm beginning to understand. My understanding goes like this:

    The first legal paperwork relating to this matter was the Claim Form that I received late September 2022 from the County Court Business Centre, which states that the Claim is for "breach of contract for breaching the terms and conditions set on private land.... {with the event details} ... The Claimant seeks recovery of the parking charge notice..."

    In my MCOL-submitted defence on the 23rd October 2022 (you may remember that me not doing this by email, and using the online form instead, caused much consternation by contributors earlier in this thread) the final section reads as follows:

    "

    Counterclaim

    I wish to make counterclaim against the claimant.
    If your claim is for a specific sum of money, how much are you claiming? £500.00
    I enclose the counterclaim fee of £50.00
     

    My claim is for

    Distress and anxiety
    Breach of the Data Protection Act
     

    What are your reasons for making the counterclaim?

    Distress & Anxiety
    A total of six vexatious and baseless notices received over the course of four months, has been the cause of significant anxiety and stress to the Defendant and his wife.

    Breach of the Data Protection Act
    With no reasonable cause to pursue the keeper, the Claimant's request for protected data from the DVLA was a clear breach of the act.
     

    Signed

    I am the Defendant - I believe that the facts stated in this form are true..."

    I paid that fee, didn't claim a specific amount, and since this date, there has been nothing from the Claimant.

    A court notice dated 25th October confirmed this was "now a defended claim and that the defendant has filed a defence and a counterclaim" the end of this sentence apparently normally says ", copies of which are enclosed." but it was struck out by hand on my copy.

    I received notice of the claim's allocation to the Small Claims Track on a notice date 20th December which published the required dates for document bundles as 4:00pm on 24th January 2023, with the Hearing date of 22nd February 2023. I supplied my bundle which had the counterclaim as I posted at 11:45am this morning, and three exhibit pages. I didn't bother with the distress counterclaim.

    And as posted in this thread in the last week, a bundle from the Claimant came there none! The court confirmed today that they have received nothing from the Claimant, and as the hearing fee has not been paid by them, the Claim has been struck. And I have been invited to attend the hearing for my counterclaim, and have until 10th February to pay the £59 hearing fee.

    So the short answer is 'no'. I've received nothing from the Claimant, nor has the court, from what I can tell, that would constitute a defence of the counterclaim. Where should it have been?


  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 151,677 Forumite
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    edited 1 February 2023 at 7:32PM
    It should have been immediate: not later than 14 days after the defence & counterclaim went in. 

    So you are saying they failed to defend the counterclaim at all?  No defence and no WS bundle.

    You could normally apply for summary judgment but you didn't claim a specified amount so I am not sure if that would work.  Maybe you need to bung in a skelly and a copy of Simon Clay v CEL and ask for the same amount. £200, he got.

    See what @bargepole thinks.
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  • DW190
    DW190 Posts: 206 Forumite
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    edited 1 February 2023 at 8:37PM
    It should have been immediate: not later than 14 days after the defence & counterclaim went in. 

    So you are saying they failed to defend the counterclaim at all?  No defence and no WS bundle.

    You could normally apply for summary judgment but you didn't claim a specified amount so I am not sure if that would work.  Maybe you need to bung in a skelly and a copy of Simon Clay v CEL and ask for the same amount. £200, he got.

    See what @bargepole thinks.


    From the post above

    Counterclaim

    I wish to make counterclaim against the claimant.
    If your claim is for a specific sum of money, how much are you claiming? £500.00
    I enclose the counterclaim fee of £50.00


    I would be writing to the Court and requesting Judgment  of the Undefended counterclaim.
  • KeithP
    KeithP Posts: 41,296 Forumite
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    edited 1 February 2023 at 8:54PM
    DW190 said:
    It should have been immediate: not later than 14 days after the defence & counterclaim went in. 

    So you are saying they failed to defend the counterclaim at all?  No defence and no WS bundle.

    You could normally apply for summary judgment but you didn't claim a specified amount so I am not sure if that would work.  Maybe you need to bung in a skelly and a copy of Simon Clay v CEL and ask for the same amount. £200, he got.

    See what @bargepole thinks.


    From the post above

    Counterclaim

    I wish to make counterclaim against the claimant.
    If your claim is for a specific sum of money, how much are you claiming? £500.00
    I enclose the counterclaim fee of £50.00

    And also from that same post above...
    I paid that fee, didn't claim a specific amount...
    Maybe the OP can clarify?
  • KeithP said:
    DW190 said:
    It should have been immediate: not later than 14 days after the defence & counterclaim went in. 

    So you are saying they failed to defend the counterclaim at all?  No defence and no WS bundle.

    You could normally apply for summary judgment but you didn't claim a specified amount so I am not sure if that would work.  Maybe you need to bung in a skelly and a copy of Simon Clay v CEL and ask for the same amount. £200, he got.

    See what @bargepole thinks.


    From the post above

    Counterclaim

    I wish to make counterclaim against the claimant.
    If your claim is for a specific sum of money, how much are you claiming? £500.00
    I enclose the counterclaim fee of £50.00

    And also from that same post above...
    I paid that fee, didn't claim a specific amount...
    Maybe the OP can clarify?
    Oops, so yes, I did put an amount in the original defence and counterclaim of £500. I forgot I had done that. I didn't restate it in the WS bundle.
  • It should have been immediate: not later than 14 days after the defence & counterclaim went in. 

    So you are saying they failed to defend the counterclaim at all?  No defence and no WS bundle.

    You could normally apply for summary judgment but you didn't claim a specified amount so I am not sure if that would work.  Maybe you need to bung in a skelly and a copy of Simon Clay v CEL and ask for the same amount. £200, he got.

    See what @bargepole thinks.
    Thanks again @Coupon-mad

    Yes, I am saying that there has been no defence of the counterclaim at all, and, yes, no WS bundle. 

    It turns out I did put a specified amount of £500 in my original counterclaim, but not in my WS bundle version. 

    I look forward to what @bargepole says, but it looks like writing for a judgement of the undefended counterclaim might be the next step. 

  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 151,677 Forumite
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    There is a form to fill in - ring the local court to ask them to confirm which form and which email to use to get a quick decision.
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  • bargepole
    bargepole Posts: 3,237 Forumite
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    The correct form for requesting a default Judgment is N225.

    But I wouldn't recommend sending one to the Court. Technically, the Claimant should have filed and served a Reply To Defence & Counterclaim within 14 days of receiving your N9B form. But from what you have written, there is nothing really there to defend:

    Distress & Anxiety
    A total of six vexatious and baseless notices received over the course of four months, has been the cause of significant anxiety and stress to the Defendant and his wife.

    Breach of the Data Protection Act
    With no reasonable cause to pursue the keeper, the Claimant's request for protected data from the DVLA was a clear breach of the act.

    If 'distress and anxiety' were a valid cause of action, the court service would have to hire an extra 10,000 Judges to deal with the torrent of cases. And your wife is not a party to the case, and has nothing to do with it.

    Which version of the DPA? The 1998 Act or the 2018 version? And which section(s) of the Act are you relying upon? Also which are the relevant GDPR Articles? And how does any of this entitle you to £500 in damages? All of this needs to be properly pleaded in detail, and preferably supported by case law. 

    With a hearing date of 22 February, I would suggest drafting a second, supplementary WS, filed and served by 8 Feb, and hope that you get a Judge who doesn't think that your badly pleaded original counterclaim is fatal to your case.

    This is a classic example of why defendants should NEVER fill in the paper response forms, especially when there is a counterclaim involved.

    I have been providing assistance, including Lay Representation at Court hearings (current score: won 57, lost 14), to defendants in parking cases for over 5 years. I have an LLB (Hons) degree, and have a Graduate Diploma in Civil Litigation from CILEx. However, any advice given on these forums by me is NOT formal legal advice, and I accept no liability for its accuracy.
  • @bargepole
    Thanks for the support. 

    What are the risks of getting a judge who does think my 'badly pleaded original counterclaim' is fatal to my case? Is one of the risks that the Claimant will turn up to defend - even though they've served no paperwork - and I'll be lumbered with their legal costs? 

    My WS section on the Counterclaim referred only to the GDPR principles and makes no reference to the Data Protection Act (based on the 90seconds part two section of her successful counterclaim) and refers to Articles 5 and 6.  I realise now that my original counterclaim refers to a breach of the 'Data Protection Act', but my WS refers to a breach of the 'Data Protection principles' as referenced in the GDPR regulations. To my untrained eye, that looks like a basic error on my part. 

    To my lay understanding, though, the argument for VCS breaching the GDPR regulations looks pretty solid, if my main Claim defence regarding their right to get my details from the DVLA is sound. 

    N.B. I have not included the Distress and Anxiety section in my WS, so I won't be arguing that if I get to court. And I get your point the potential for a torrent of cases. 

    8th February for an additional WS for the counterclaim is doable, I'm just not sure what needs to go in it. Do I include the elements from the main WS that establishes the facts that VCS had no probable cause for collecting my data?

    I remain very grateful for the support from this forum. 
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