Defence against Claim Form sent by Country Court Business centre

open-eyed

Hi,

I received a penalty ticket for parking about 10-15 min in a market behind a shop to buy food from that shop for my children who were inside the car. Then I ignored their letters as one of my friends advised. Now I received a Claim Form dated 01/11/2022 from the Country court Business Centre. I would like to defend the claim. I have been reading the relevant posts and found them very helpful, especially Coupon-mad, KeithP, Le_Kirk, and Umkomaas are doing a great job. I have few basic questions,

1) How much information I could share here except my identity, is there any possibility this can go against my defence if the claimant/judge finds it out?

2)  I don't exactly remember all the information from a year ago as my father was in the hospital and passed away on that day. Should/Can I ask the claimant for the pictures and other information before sending my defence?

3) I found the long template for defence but MCOL online allowed only 122 lines! Should I reduce the size of the template to fit in Or it's better to send it by post/email?

4) I can see everyone here advised for using the same template except paragraphs 3 and 4, would this be a problem if the judge finds it as copy/paste and possibility for ruling against it?

Appreciate your replies. Thanks.

KeithP

open-eyed said:

Now I received a Claim Form dated 01/11/2022 from the Country court Business Centre. I would like to defend the claim. I have been reading the relevant posts and found them very helpful...

With a Claim Issue Date of 1st November, you have until Monday 21st November to file an Acknowledgment of Service but 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 5th December 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over three 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 guidance.

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'.

open-eyed

@KeithP, Thanks for your reply. I have now done AOS, hope someone will answer my other queries while I am preparing my draft for the defence.  

Trainerman

1) If it will identify you or your case then leave it out. Letting us know which PPC, which solicitor, which site and alleged reason for ticket is fine.
2) You need to send a SAR and find out the details, but it is not likely to be with you before you need to submit defence
3) Read/re-read the Newbies ! Do NOT submit defence via Mcol !   Edit to add : you email it.
4) The template works. Use it as suggested. Show us your changes to paras 2 and 3 but don't show the rest.

KeithP

open-eyed said:

...hope someone will answer my other queries while I am preparing my draft for the defence.  

open-eyed said:

1) How much information I could share here except my identity, is there any possibility this can go against my defence if the claimant/judge finds it out?

The first few lines of your opening post creates the impression that the writer was the driver.
The keeper has more protection in law than a driver.
The parking companies are known to read this forum so best not to give them information that may harm your Defence.
A judge won't be interested in what you have written on an internet forum - unless a Claimant brings it to their attention.

open-eyed said:

2)  I don't exactly remember all the information from a year ago as my father was in the hospital and passed away on that day. Should/Can I ask the claimant for the pictures and other information before sending my defence?

Send a Subject Access Request to the parking company.
Details on that are in the second post of the NEWBIES thread.
Unlikely that a response will be received before your Defence filing deadline, but the information returned will be far more useful at witness statement time.

open-eyed said:

3) I found the long template for defence but MCOL online allowed only 122 lines! Should I reduce the size of the template to fit in Or it's better to send it by post/email?

Already addressed in my earlier post.

open-eyed said:

4) I can see everyone here advised for using the same template except paragraphs 3 and 4, would this be a problem if the judge finds it as copy/paste and possibility for ruling against it?

Not a problem.
Judges have been known to comment on how thorough the Defence is.

open-eyed

KeithP, Many thanks for the answer to my every question! will draft paras 2 and 3 and post them here for your comments/suggestions, before that I will send a SAR to find out the details.

open-eyed

Hello,
I did not receive any confirmation email/letter for my AOS submission but I can see it as a pdf in the MCOL  website and in the status summary as , 

Claim History:

A claim was issued against you on 01/11/2022

Your acknowledgment of service was submitted on 12/11/2022 at 14:29:51

Your acknowledgment of service was received on 14/11/2022 at 01:05:52

Can I assume it was accepted and I have still time for submitting my defence until  5th December 2022? 

patient_dream

It is important to tell us who the PPC and their legal is.

Coupon-mad

Can I assume it was accepted and I have still time for submitting my defence until  5th December 2022? 

Yes - you are safe - but please do tell us more about the circumstances and who the PPC and legal are.

open-eyed

Coupon-mad , UKPC and DCBL!
I am preparing a draft of paragraphs 2 and 3. Not good at writing, I will need help from you.

KeithP

open-eyed said:

Hello,
I did not receive any confirmation email/letter for my AOS submission...

They never acknowledge receipt of your acknowledgment of receipt of the Claim Form.

If they did, would you feel obliged to acknowledge receipt of their acknowledgment of receipt of your acknowledgment of receipt of the Claim Form?

Where does this stop?