UKPC Parking fees at McDonald's, Broughton

B789

As you have already filed your defence, there is no harm in SARing the Claimant. DCB Legal does not supply the claimant's evidence. They are just representing them so your SAR is to the PPC.

The SAR will only provide you with any information they have about you. You are answering the PoC of their claim which is woefully inadequate.

patient_dream

Pessa said:

KeithP said:

Pessa said:

Good day everyone, thank you for your support so far with this case. I really appreciate it. I have received the letter attached: https://imgur.com/a/0Nn594E. I'll appreciate your advice. Thank you.

Seems quite self-explanatory to me.
What are your queries?

Hello KeithP,
Sorry for the late response. I was away on a trip. Yes, the letter is self-explanatory. I wanted to find out if I should request for the information DCBL is relying on for their case now or wait till the allocation before I request for the information they would rely on. Thanks.

What do you think DCBL are relying upon ????
Up to now they have discontinued 162 cases and that's what  we know about

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

REASON
DCBL rely on UKPC rubbish cases

WHY DO DCBL DO THIS ?... THEY ARE MUG HUNTING hoping to extort money from gullable people

The SRA must be very proud that they allow DCBL to be professional members ....... who abuse the court sytem

B789

patient_dream said:

The SRA must be very proud that they allow DCBL to be professional members ....... who abuse the court sytem

Unfortunately, the SRA are only interested in complaints that involve large amounts of money. They are as useless as the IAS when it comes to anything else.

Pessa

UPDATE
Good morning everyone, I'ld like to update you. I have received a letter from the court and the hearing has been set for November. The court has made an order for a mediation to take place, I indicated on my form that I do not want to consider mediation, so I don't know why the court has ordered it. Should I call the mediation service and refuse the mediation? Wouldn't my refusal go against me at the hearing? Thank you in advance for your advice.

https://imgur.com/a/lQHjv0W

B789

The mediation has no bearing on the hearing. The judge will not know whether you accept or refuse mediation.

Coupon-mad

Pessa said:

UPDATE
Good morning everyone, I'ld like to update you. I have received a letter from the court and the hearing has been set for November. The court has made an order for a mediation to take place, I indicated on my form that I do not want to consider mediation, so I don't know why the court has ordered it. Should I call the mediation service and refuse the mediation? Wouldn't my refusal go against me at the hearing? Thank you in advance for your advice.

https://imgur.com/a/lQHjv0W

The court has not 'ordered' Mediation.  That's standard Directions and merely uses the word 'encourage'.  You don't have to!

See the NEWBIES thread for info and links about WS wording and typical exhibits.

Pessa

Hello everyone, good day, I am submitting my defence today. I have used the template to write my defence. I haven't been able to submit it because I was waiting for the Claimant to send me their own documentation. However, I had written my defence ahead in readiness for when they send their to add to my defence, but till now, I have received nothing. Please, see what I have written if there're any comments. Thank you so much for your help through all of this.

The description in brackets, I am going to take out, it's so I don't mix up my evidence. Thanks.
------------

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 was in breach of any term.  Further, it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as agents) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the boilerplate text in the Particulars of Claim ('the POC').

Facts and sequence of events

2.     The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  Conversely, the Claimant sets out a cut-and-paste incoherent and sparse statement of case. The POC appear to be in breach of CPR 16.4, 16PD3 and 16PD7, and fail to "state all facts necessary for the purpose of formulating a complete cause of action". The Defendant is unable, on the basis of the POC, to understand with certainty what case, allegation(s) and what heads of cost are being pursued, making it difficult to respond. However, the vehicle is recognised and it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle.

3.     The Defendant was a customer at McDonald’s, Broughton and parked outside McDonald’s along with 2 passengers, in the disabled bay (exhibit HA1 – picture with cars in parking bay & disabled blue badge) for which at the time all 3 individuals including the Defendant had gone to eat at the restaurant, which was particularly extremely busy on the day, which was a Saturday. They were celebrating a 4 year old’s baptism.

4.     The Defendant and their guests had gone to sit upstairs as there was no space downstairs because of how busy it was. Their food order was also served late. The Defendant and their guests finished eating and went downstairs to collect their take-away food order, but it was so busy a lot of customers were standing around, waiting for their orders. It took a long time before the manager gave them their order. They collected their take-out food order before returning to their vehicle and left. (Exhibit HA2 – receipt 2&3)

5.     The Defendant was shocked to receive a letter a few weeks later telling them they been charged for over-staying. They immediately appealed the charge online and received confirmation it had been received. (HA4- email August 22). There followed some more threatening letters. (HA5&6 – threatening letters)The Defendant avers that the Claimant failed to serve a Notice to Keeper compliant with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and asked for proof of sending the notice to keeper – the Claimant sent an email informing the Defendant that the response was attached but it was not.(HA7: email with “attachment”). They appealed to the Defendant and complained to the Landowner, McDonald’s (exhibit HA8: Letter abt fees –& HA9-twitter chats). The Landowner refused to get involved.

6.  The Claimant started a prolonged harassment campaign sending Debt Collector letters (HA10- DCBL letters), calling the Defendant, and threat of court proceeding through QDR solicitors (HA11&12– letter of solicitors sept).

7.     In 2023, The Claimant contracted the services of a dubious law firm, DCBLegal (HA13 – Feb 23 letter) which was also the previous debt collector firm, to restart the harassment, sending several letters and emails with varying degrees of threats (HA14&15 – April email), then sent the Defendant an email and a claim form in the post advising them the Claimant were taking them to court, with a blank small claims track form.

8.     The harassment followed both on the Defendant’s landline, mobile phone and emails in September - October 2023 (HA17-20-emails), at various times including whilst driving (HA16-Phone records). The Claimant used every trick to cajole the Defendant to pay including increasing the parking fees, reducing it and threats of bailiffs to calling and insulting the Defendant by mispronouncing their name.(HA20 -Defendant’s email)

UncleThomasCobley

Pessa said:

Hello everyone, good day, I am submitting my defence today. I have used the template to write my defence. I haven't been able to submit it because I was waiting for the Claimant to send me their own documentation. However, I had written my defence ahead in readiness for when they send their to add to my defence, but till now, I have received nothing. Please, see what I have written if there're any comments. Thank you so much for your help through all of this.

No you are not!!! GO back and re-read the Newbies/FAQ and template defence threads. You need to fully understand which point you are at. You are submitting your Witness Statement, not your defence.

You don't appear to have searched for other WS as it appears you have just copied your defence into para #1. Go find another WS to get an idea of what is needed.

Also, as this is a claim filed by the bottom-dwelling DCB Legal, you need very near the beginning of your WS the following, very recent, appeal judgment about DCB Legal's failure to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4 and Practice Direction Part 16. It should preferably go in very near the beginning with the sub-header in bold if you a chance for this to be struck out before a hearing:

Preliminary matter: The claim should be struck out

The Defendant draws to the attention of the court that there is now a persuasive Appeal judgment to support striking out the claim (in these exact circumstances of typically poorly pleaded private parking claims, and the extant PoC seen here are far worse than the one seen on Appeal).  The Defendant believes that dismissing this meritless claim is the correct course, with the Overriding Objective in mind.  Bulk litigators (legal firms) should know better than to make little or no attempt to comply with the Practice Direction.  By continuing to plead cases with generic auto-fill unspecific wording, private parking firms should not be surprised when courts strike out their claims based in the following persuasive authority.

A recent persuasive appeal judgment in Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan (Ref. E7GM9W44) would indicate the POC fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4 and Practice Direction Part 16. On the 15th August 2023, in the cited case, HHJ Murch held that 'the particulars of the claim as filed and served did not set out the conduct which amounted to the breach in reliance upon which the claimant would be able to bring a claim for breach of contract'. The same is true in this case and in view of the Chan judgment, the Court should strike out the claim, using its powers pursuant to CPR 3.4

Pessa

UncleThomasCobley said:

Pessa said:

Hello everyone, good day, I am submitting my defence today. I have used the template to write my defence. I haven't been able to submit it because I was waiting for the Claimant to send me their own documentation. However, I had written my defence ahead in readiness for when they send their to add to my defence, but till now, I have received nothing. Please, see what I have written if there're any comments. Thank you so much for your help through all of this.

No you are not!!! GO back and re-read the Newbies/FAQ and template defence threads. You need to fully understand which point you are at. You are submitting your Witness Statement, not your defence.

You don't appear to have searched for other WS as it appears you have just copied your defence into para #1. Go find another WS to get an idea of what is needed.

Also, as this is a claim filed by the bottom-dwelling DCB Legal, you need very near the beginning of your WS the following, very recent, appeal judgment about DCB Legal's failure to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4 and Practice Direction Part 16. It should preferably go in very near the beginning with the sub-header in bold if you a chance for this to be struck out before a hearing:

Preliminary matter: The claim should be struck out

The Defendant draws to the attention of the court that there is now a persuasive Appeal judgment to support striking out the claim (in these exact circumstances of typically poorly pleaded private parking claims, and the extant PoC seen here are far worse than the one seen on Appeal).  The Defendant believes that dismissing this meritless claim is the correct course, with the Overriding Objective in mind.  Bulk litigators (legal firms) should know better than to make little or no attempt to comply with the Practice Direction.  By continuing to plead cases with generic auto-fill unspecific wording, private parking firms should not be surprised when courts strike out their claims based in the following persuasive authority.

A recent persuasive appeal judgment in Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan (Ref. E7GM9W44) would indicate the POC fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4 and Practice Direction Part 16. On the 15th August 2023, in the cited case, HHJ Murch held that 'the particulars of the claim as filed and served did not set out the conduct which amounted to the breach in reliance upon which the claimant would be able to bring a claim for breach of contract'. The same is true in this case and in view of the Chan judgment, the Court should strike out the claim, using its powers pursuant to CPR 3.4

Thank you so much for your guidance @UncleThomasCobley, I copied the template witness statement from the Newbies thread. It was last updated in July 2023. I will post the updated witness statement.

UncleThomasCobley

The "template" WS is not really a template as such. It gives you an idea of how to structure your WS. Your WS is your version of events written in the first person. It fleshes out what you put in your defence. You do not repeat the defence, you only refer to it as having been repeated.

As already advised the "Preliminary matter" should come in as para #3 after your opening statement and where you will be referencing your exhibits and stating that your defence is repeated. Then everything else.

You must provide exhibits to back up your WS. The HHJ Murch judgment for example, must be included as an exhibit in your WS.