County Court Claim received not sure on defence strategy - I beat the system!

alldoors

Hi all. To keep it short, my DD received a ticket on the windscreen and then several threatening letters (which I told her to ignore) and now has a County Court claim to deal with. She parked for a short time on some grass near her boyfriends Uni flat on a Uni campus. She thinks it was when she was dropping off shopping. I'm just wondering where she stands because in the "SCHEDULE 4 recovery of unpaid parking charges", it states that there are three pieces of information required on the PCN. The date, the registration and also the period in which the vehicle was parked. It show the first two but no time perios for the parking. There is only a time 11:51 and no from and too. She was also not actually in a car park. It was a piece of grass (although she is sure there is a sign on the grass) The county court claim says the vehicle was parked in breach of the terms and conditions and the "crime" is no waiting or parking at any time. I have sent of a request for all information upon which they rely on today and I will go with her to the County Court to assist with the defence. They are claiming £156.39 plus the usual £85.00 court fee/legal fee. The only other thing now is the timing. We have 14 days to respond to the county court claim and is it best to do this online? There is a questionnaire attached asking for all her bank details etc which is a shock. Why do you have to supply this to the court when defending a claim against you? Is this compulsory? I'm away on holiday for ten days in two weeks and I obviously need to make sure I have enough time to write her "defence". Any tips gratefully received. regards

KeithP

What is the Issue Date on the County Court Claim Form?

Coupon-mad

 We have 14 days to respond to the county court claim and is it best to do this online?

Yes, acknowledgement of service (AOS).

NOT FOR DEFENCE.  OUR TEMPLATE DEFENCE THREAD EXPLAINS.

This is fully covered in the 2nd post of the NEWBIES thread with pictorial walk through the AOS.

Which PPC?

Which solicitors?

What's the date of issue (top right of claim)?

alldoors

KeithP said:

What is the Issue Date on the County Court Claim Form?

Hi KeithP. Thanks for your reply. It is 20/09/2022.

alldoors

PCC is F1rst Parking
Sol: DCB legal
Date of issue 20/09/2022

alldoors

The County Court form states "you must send either the completed acknowledgement of service form or a defence form to the court within 14 days of the date of service.If you send the acknowledgement of service you must send a defence to the court to arrive no later than 28 days from the date of service". Does this mean, if we fill in the acknowledgment we have 28 days from 20th September to get the defence in? I'm away for 10 days during that period

Coupon-mad

We know this. Standard stuff.  None of the deadline calculations run from 20th because that's not the 'date of service'.

@KeithP will advise.

KeithP

alldoors said:

KeithP said:

What is the Issue Date on the County Court Claim Form?

Hi KeithP. Thanks for your reply. It is 20/09/2022.

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th September, you have until Monday 10th October to file an Acknowledgment of Service. Do not file an Acknowledgment of Service before 4pm today, but otherwise there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 24th October 2022 to file your Defence.

That's well over four 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, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service instructions.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that 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'.

alldoors

Coupon-mad said:

We know this. Standard stuff.  None of the deadline calculations run from 20th because that's not the 'date of service'.

@KeithP will advise.

Hi Coupon-mad. Thanks for the info. So how do I find out what the "date of service" is? 

KeithP

alldoors said:

Coupon-mad said:

We know this. Standard stuff.  None of the deadline calculations run from 20th because that's not the 'date of service'.

@KeithP will advise.

Hi Coupon-mad. Thanks for the info. So how do I find out what the "date of service" is? 

Just follow the guidance in my 3:10pm post.

alldoors

Thanks for your help. Will file an acknowledgement of service tomorrow online. When the time comes to file the defence, does this have to be everything that we rely on in Court? My DD thinks it's from when she parked up for five minutes and dropped off shopping (incidentally Uber and all the food delivery services do this and never get a ticket) but she is not 100% sure. They have not supplied any photos. There are double yellow lines leading up to where she parked but not actually any where she did park as it is a piece of grass. See photo. 


My DD said that the thin metal bollard was down when she parked there so it's the piece of grass outside of the building you can see on the right. I've emailed the company that have raised the PCN and asked for their photos/video and all data concerning the matter. I don't know the site so my DD has asked her friend to take a video and photos so I can see what is on any signs and where they are located. Hopefully I will get this in the next couple of days as it's a good hours drive for me. The "charge" is for being in breach of their Terms and Conditions "no waiting or parking at any time".  In the defence and counterclaim it says you must state which allegations in the particulars of the claim you deny and your reasons for doing so. It says "the driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not" and "the contract entitles the claimant to damages". Does the response have to be detailed or do you keep that for your "witness" statement. Also, can I represent her in court as a lay person and if so, do you have to tell the court this up front?