UKPC sent County Court Business Centre letter - what do I do?

nickkinix

Ok so acknowledgment of service is done and I've written my defence as below. Does this seem OK? 
Thank you! 

The facts as known to the Defendant: 

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question. 

 

3. On the 10th May 2019, the defendant was visiting the ALDI store at Brooklands Retail Park.  The defendant parked in the disabled bay, as she was entitled to do being a blue badge holder.  The defendant placed the blue badge on display on the dashboard of her car.  Upon exiting the store the defendant found she had been given a parking ticket.  There were no signs in the vicinity of the disabled parking bay in question.  It is unreasonable to expect a disabled person to walk around the car park to try to find the signage.  The defendant has tried to make contact with the company and the further companies UKPC has ‘passed the debt on to’, but had little response and help.  The defendant has suffered tremendously with her help, directly relating to her disability, resulting in 3 admissions to hospital under specialists for major surgery.  The stress surrounding this unfair pursual for a parking ticket has had a detrimental effect to her mental wellbeing.  Even after telling one company ‘Debt Recovery Plus’, that she was due to be admitted for major surgery so would not be able to respond, she was not assisted and instead told the time to appeal had elapsed and was given the payment options for a fine that is unjust.  Please see the attached email trail showing the defendant has tried to resolve this issue.  Also please see a photo of the parking bay with no visible signage and a copy of the defendants blue badge from the date in question. 

 

4. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  To pre-empt the usual template responses from this serial litigator: the court process is outside of the Defendant's life experience and they cannot be criticised for adapting some pre-written wording from a reliable advice resource. The Claimant is urged not to patronise the Defendant with unfounded accusations of not understanding their defence.  

Coupon-mad

Add 'and driver', of course, to para 2.

Remove and save all this for WS stage because detail and photos is not for defence stage:

"The defendant has tried to make contact with the company and the further companies UKPC has ‘passed the debt on to’, but had little response and help.  The defendant has suffered tremendously with her help, directly relating to her disability, resulting in 3 admissions to hospital under specialists for major surgery.  The stress surrounding this unfair pursual for a parking ticket has had a detrimental effect to her mental wellbeing.  Even after telling one company ‘Debt Recovery Plus’, that she was due to be admitted for major surgery so would not be able to respond, she was not assisted and instead told the time to appeal had elapsed and was given the payment options for a fine that is unjust.  Please see the attached email trail showing the defendant has tried to resolve this issue.  Also please see a photo of the parking bay with no visible signage and a copy of the defendants blue badge from the date in question."

 

nickkinix

Thank you, I'll take that out.

I did an SAR and they have sent back a photo with the badge on the dash but the badge was closed. I hadn't realised, will this be a problem? The fine wording is "parking in a disabled person's space without clearly displaying the expiry date of the disabled person's badge" 

I took this photo of one of their signs in another of their carparks I was in recently, I'll pop to this car park to make sure it's the same before I submit my defence, but it doesn't say about the time clock etc, only that a valid badge must be on display, which technically it was.

Also as part of the SAR, they sent me a letter they apparently sent following my appeal, reducing the fine from £100 to £15 as a gesture of goodwill. I didn't recieve this letter. Is this an admission on their part or can I argue the cost considering they had been happy to accept £15 instead? That's a considerable drop from £100!

Thanks again for your help. 

Ed2022

Their sign states "disabled badge holders only to disabled bays. Valid disabled badge must be clearly displayed at all times" - technically it was valid and displayed which is very different from the fine.

And the reduction means they know you will more than likely beat them.

Not sure what other forumites would say but your defence is nearly there, and parking should/would have been free. They are trying to extort any money they can.

nickkinix

So I've been back to the car park today, it seems its now being run by another company altogether. I took a photo of their sign (when I found it!) and even being right underneath it the writing is still too small to see! What's my best way to respond with my defence? Has everything I've already written still stand? Thank you 

nickkinix

This is the new sign! 

KeithP

nickkinix said:

So I've been back to the car park today, it seems its now being run by another company altogether. I took a photo of their sign (when I found it!) and even being right underneath it the writing is still too small to see! What's my best way to respond with my defence? Has everything I've already written still stand? Thank you 

What the signs look like now and who is running the car park now is totally irrelevant.

nickkinix

Just made me wonder if they got rid of the previous company because they're bloody awful! Wonder how many complaints they got?!
So my defense is the same, that my valid blue badge was clearly on display albeit not open, it was on the dash, it was valid. Its a technicality I suppose. I'll write the final draft tomorrow and share before I send. 

nickkinix

When I sent my SAR request, these are the images they sent back. You can't even see the signage in their photo. You can also clearly see my blue badge on the dash. 

nickkinix

sorry photos didn't attach to last post