DRPL County Court Claim

jamest70

Hello Everyone,

I received a parking ticket notification through the post back in March 2018.  I never owned the car, was not the registered keeper, nor was I 
the driver at the time/date of the alleged parking contravention.  I phoned the parking Company and explained this to them, to which the lady said she would look into it.  I then followed up via an email.  They didn't respond and over the following days, weeks, months and years I had received various letters demanding payment.  

In December 2020 I emailed them asking to be taken to Court to resolve the issue once and for all.  

Finally today, I received a County Court claim, attached.  I have acknowledging service of a claim via moneyclaim website and was preparing my defence statement.  I have never prepared one before and wanted to ask you helpful people to have a look over it to see if it was ok.  

(Image removed by Forum Team)


Ma defence:

UK PARKING CONTROL LIMITED

(Claimant)

- and -

Just Me

(Defendant)

_________________

DEFENCE

1. The parking charges referred to in this claim did not arise from any agreement of terms. The charge and the claim was an unexpected shock. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all. It is denied that the Defendant was the owner, registered keeper or driver at the time of the alleged parking contravention. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the Particulars.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is denied that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question. It is denied that the Defendant is the owner of the vehicle in question. It is denied the Defendant was the driver of the vehicle in question. It is denied the Defendant accepted responsibility as stated in the particulars of the claim.

3. The Defendant first received a letter from the Claimant in March 2018 and immediately contacted the Claimant on the phone to deny and liability in this matter. This was followed by email to the Claimant, so there would be no doubt regarding the denial of responsibility. The initial email was sent 22nd February 2018. The Claimant did not respond to this email and subsequently sent another letter of demand. A further email was sent 5th March 2018 to which no reply was received.

4. The Defendant requested 5th March 2018 via email for a 10 digit POPLA reference number be supplied in order for an appeal to be lodged via POPLA website (edited as links not allowed from noobs) as the POPLA website clearly states:

"You will need to have your 10 digit verification code to hand, along with any evidence that you want to include with your appeal. The private parking operator should have provided you with the 10 digit code. If you don’t have it you should contact them."

No 10 digit code was ever received by the Defendant. In the past 5 years at least 3 letters demanding payment have been received by the Defendant. The Defendant emailed the Claimant 9th December 2020 explaining previous emails had gone unanswered and invited the Claimant to file for Court proceedings to end this unwarranted harassment.

5. The Defendant has made every attempt to resolve this issue and has received no help from the Claimant to do so.

Conclusion

6. The claim is entirely without merit and the Claimant is urged to discontinue now, to avoid incurring costs and wasting the court's time and that of the Defendant.

Statement of Truth

I believe that the facts stated in this defence are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.

Defendant’s signature:

Date:

Coupon-mad

Did you hire or lease the car?

How did UKPC get your details?

jamest70

Coupon-mad said:

Did you hire of lease the car?

How did UKPC get your details?

Car belonged to a friend who assumed I had borrowed it.  I hadn't and both the friend and I explained this to UKPC both over the phone and via email, yet they ignored this and continued to pursue me.  I have even proved I was over 100 miles away when the alleged parking offence took place.

Mouse007

In the circumstances that might be enough, but I think you should also do a SAR to UKPC to find out exactly what info they have on you.

That will not be received before your defence has been filed, so perhaps as a protective step you should add all the template paragrahs (renumber as required) to your draft.

Do the particulars of claim really refer to a Paoong Charge?

Coupon-mad

@jamest70 you need to take down the right hand side of that claim form as it shows your password and sufficient detail for any malicious person connected to UKPC or DCB Group to wallop in a false 'defence' on MCOL because they know your name and claim number too.

Malicious weak defences HAVE gone in before when people have been lax with their claim form images on here or on Face-ache.

As you are too new to edit posts, hit REPORT on your own post above and ask the Forum Team to remove the claim form image.

Mouse007

Would not acknowledging service online render that password "used" now?

jamest70

Mouse007 said:

In the circumstances that might be enough, but I think you should also do a SAR to UKPC to find out exactly what info they have on you.

That will not be received before your defence has been filed, so perhaps as a protective step you should add all the template paragrahs (renumber as required) to your draft.

Do the particulars of claim really refer to a Paoong Charge?

I will request SAR and add the additional paragraphs as you suggested.  What is a Paoong Charge?

jamest70

Coupon-mad said:

@jamest70 you need to take down the right hand side of that claim form as it shows your password and sufficient detail for any malicious person connected to UKPC or DCB Group to wallop in a false 'defence' on MCOL because they know your name and claim number too.

Malicious weak defences HAVE gone in before when people have been lax with their claim form images on here or on Face-ache.

As you are too new to edit posts, hit REPORT on your own post above and ask the Forum Team to remove the claim form image.

Have reported myself, thanks for the heads up.

KeithP

Mouse007 said:

Would not acknowledging service online render that password "used" now?

No. Whilst of no further use to the Defendant, that same password could be used by any malicious person to file a Defence.

The vehicle's registration mark is also showing in that image.

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 23rd December, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 25th January 2023 to file your Defence.

That's nearly four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you aren't leaving it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline 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'.

KeithP

jamest70 said:

Mouse007 said:

In the circumstances that might be enough, but I think you should also do a SAR to UKPC to find out exactly what info they have on you.

That will not be received before your defence has been filed, so perhaps as a protective step you should add all the template paragrahs (renumber as required) to your draft.

Do the particulars of claim really refer to a Paoong Charge?

What is a Paoong Charge?

Perhaps you should ask Yasmin that. She has used that word in the Particulars of Claim.