DCB Legal Letter of Claim - UKPC

B789

It is still very unclear and rambling. I agree with @Coupon-mad that you need to renumber every paragraph sequentially without all this confusing sub-numbering. Just 1, 2, 3 etc.

You have not explained clearly the sequence of events and you are just going to pee off anyone who has to read through that and then try and decipher it. For example:

1.4. I received a Default Judgement on 16-March-2023 following a letter through the post, dated 13-March-2023 from the County Court Business Centre. As an AOS was submitted on XX in an envelope sealed and with a first class stamp, posted at xxxxx Post Office to the CCBC at Northampton. I have since reported this letter missing to Royal Mail, claim no XX. Thus the defendant was not aware a Judgement could be made by default. I am prepared to swear this on oath if required, but in any event, under the Interpretation Act 1978 the letter enclosing my completed Acknowledgement of Service is deemed delivered two working days later.  There were no postal strikes at the time and no suggestion of a lack of normal service by Royal Mail

It reads as though you received the CJJ after you received a letter from the CCBC. What does that mean? You then go on to announce that you sent your AoS by post (in a sealed envelope... really?) to the CCBC.

You have not mentioned the possibility that the AoS was lost due to a postal strike at the time. That bit (a double-edged sword) at least explains a possible reason why it was never received but also hints at "why would you post something when there is a postal strike and why didn't you just use the online option?". At least it puts the onus on the judge to consider that despite the silly decision to post it, the AoS would most likely have been received if it were not for the postal strike.

You are trying to get the judge to accept that there is a mitigating circumstance as to why they should give consideration to your set aside application under CPR13.3. That paragraph as written above just asks the judge to tear you a new one and throw the request out.

So, carrying on with that single paragraph, in no chronological order you state you received a default CCJ after you received a letter from the CCBC. You sent an AoS by post. You have since reported that the letter missing. You were not aware that a judgment could be made by default (ignorance of the law is not an excuse).

Why not try and rewrite that as your story of how everything happened, in chronological order, so that it flows and the reader can make some sense of what you are saying? As it is a Witness Statement, rewrite it in the first person.

Make sure you use the same format for your dates. You have a mix of DD-MMM-YYYY and DD/MM/YYYY. 

If you want any chance of getting this set aside, you will have to be much clearer. Have you had a look at other set aside WSs?

preloved1416

Thank you!!  UPDATED First Half: 

I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts stated below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge. I submitted an AOS to the court, meeting all deadlines as set out in the claim and have good prospects of defending the claim. The judgment in default should therefore be set aside. 

I make this Witness Statement in support of the application for an order that the judgment in this case to: 

1. Be set aside the Default Judgment dated 13/March/2023 as the Defendant submitted an AOS on 23/February/2023 that was never acknowledged and/ or received. 

1. Order for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee. 

1. Order for the original claim to be dismissed 

  

1. SET ASIDE THE DEFAULT JUDGMENT 

I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence. 

I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me as the Defendant on 13/March/2023. I am aware that the Claimant is UKPC Limited, and that the assumed claim is in respect of unpaid Parking Charge Notices from 22/February/2018, 25/February/2018, 02/March/2018, 10/March/2018, 11/March/2018 at xxx I contest this charge for the reasons outlined in Part 2 of this defence.  

Prior to this submission, I conducted my own research to the best of my ability. I would like to bring to the court’s attention that the Defendant isn’t a lawyer or solicitor and any research or work completed is done to the best of the Defendant’s ability. 

I received a Default Judgement on 16/March/2023 following a letter through the post, dated 13/March/2023 from the County Court Business Centre. On the same day,16/March/2023, the Defendant called the County Court Business Centre to obtain information regarding this Default Judgment. From here, the Defendant managed to confirm the validity of the claim. I called to to understand how the default judgement was made despite the submission of an AOS. Also, to know what action I needed to take to ensure my credit file was not affected. They advised me to submit a N244 and include this information . 

As an AOS was submitted in physical from as advised by the Claim Form, on XX via Royal Mail in an envelope sealed and with a first class stamp to the CCBC at Northampton, though not received, or acknowledged. The Court suggested that Royal Mail strikes could be to blame for the AOS not reaching the Court files. 

I have since reported this letter missing to Royal Mail, claim no XX (exhibit). Thus the defendant was not aware a Judgement could be made by default. I am prepared to swear this on oath if required, but in any event, under the Interpretation Act 1978 the letter enclosing my completed Acknowledgement of Service is deemed delivered two working days later. Despite being 3 or 4 weeks behind on paperwork, the staff member was unable to find the letter in their piles of work and suggested Royal Mail strikes could be the reason my AOS was not yet recieved.  This suggests they have either it was mislaid, misfiled, or just not yet found in the outstanding piles of papers, and this unfortunate oversight by the CCBC does not rebut the interpretation afforded on deemed delivery under the above Act.

On 17/March/2023, the defendant completed the N244.

The Defendant believes that the Default Judgment against her was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside. 

The Defendant have a real prospect of defending this claim because: -

Le_Kirk

Witness statements are written in first Person, hence "I" not "the defendant".

I make this Witness Statement in support of the application for an order that the judgment in this case to: - 
1.  Be set Set aside the Default Judgment dated 13/March/2023 as the Defendant submitted an AOS on 23 February 2023 that was never acknowledged and/or received. 
2.  Submit an order for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee. 
3.  Submit an order for the original claim to be dismissed

Probably more grammatically correct as above.

B789

[Pedant mode on] At least you standardised on a single format for your dates but you would have been better off choosing either 14th May 2023 or 14/05/2023 instead of a blend of the two. Whilst not fatal to your WS, it does help if you use "recognised" formats. [Pedant mode off]

Unfortunately, it is still somewhat incoherent, you have obviously not proofread it because there are glaring errors in grammar and you haven't attempted to get the paragraph numbering sorted. Whilst the advice is given freely, expecting others to rewrite it all for you is beyond the scope of this forum. You are expected to show that real effort has been put into what you are asking us to review.

These are just a few of the problems with your WS:

preloved1416 said:

I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts stated below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge. I submitted an AOS to the court, meeting all deadlines as set out in the claim and have a good prospects of defending the claim. The default judgment in default should therefore be set aside. 

No mention of which CPRs you are making this order!

I make this Witness Statement in support of the application for an order that the judgment in this case to: 

1. Be set aside the Default Judgment dated 13/March/2023 as the Defendant submitted an AOS on 23/February/2023 that was never acknowledged and/ or received. 

   "never acknowledged and/or received"? In that order?
   

1. Order for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £275 as reimbursement for the set aside fee. 

   Why would the court order the Claimant to reimburse you for something that was not their fault?
   

1. Order for the original claim to be dismissed 

   On what grounds are you asking for the original claim be dismissed?
   

Just that bit alone takes up much time and effort and I am only providing a suggestion that I think makes it a bit clearer what you are trying to do. I haven't even bothered with the rest of it and I would expect you to at least see where you need to make improvements.

I would actually suggest rewriting the above section like this:

I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts stated below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based on my own knowledge and subsequent research.

This Witness Statement is provided in support of my application for an order to:

1. Set aside the default judgment dated 13/03/2023, as my Acknowledgement of Service (AoS), which was posted on 23/02/2023, was never received or acknowledged by the court, and;

2. Have the claim re-served under the provision of CPR 13.3(1)(a), given that I have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim."

Let's see what you can come up with to improve the rest of it.

Coupon-mad

 I submitted an AOS

Please re-read my last reply. Don't use forum acronyms.

preloved1416

Sorry, I planned to edit AoS in my final version once complete - 

Just to add some more information about my defence whilst I am working on the WS:

I have reviewed all of the evidence included in UKPC witness statement and they include time stamped images for each PCN. My only defence for 3/5 of the tickets (for parking longer than allowed) is that my employer at the time told me I could park (as the images are time stamped and are over 3 hours apart) - however, the other 2 for (car driver left the site, which I did not) there is only one image of my car and no actual proof that I left the site. The parking attendant has given me a ticket and has no evidence that I left the site, unfortunately as it was 2018 I do not have proof of purchase for any of the shops, but I did not leave the site and there is only one image of my car with a ticket on and no 'first time seen' on the PCN, only the time the ticket was issued.

Thank you all again and apologies for the frustrations I am working to be as accurate as possible, I want to be as prepared as possible 

Coupon-mad

Sounds fine.  They won't be able to prove you left the site.  The burden of proof is theirs.

preloved1416

I was also living away at university when the initial tickets were issued to my parents house, could I use this?

Coupon-mad

I don't think it helps either way.

preloved1416

Part 1 Witness Statement: I have prepared a second starting with receiving the Default Judgement but I think this is more coherent, will share the second if necessary 

I am the Defendant against whom this claim is made. The facts stated below are true to the best of my belief and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge and subsequent research.

This Witness Statement is provided in support of my application for an order to:

1.       Set aside the Default Judgment dated 13-03-2023, as my Acknowledgement of Service (AoS), which was posted on 23-02-2023, was never received or acknowledged by the court, and;

2.        Have the claim re-served under the provision of CPR 13.3(1)(a), given that I have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim.

 

SET ASIDE THE DEFAULT JUDGMENT 

1.       I was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the alleged offence. 

2.       I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgment against me on 13-03-2023. I am aware that the Claimant is UKPC Limited, and that the assumed claim is in respect of unpaid Parking Charge Notices from 22-02-2018, 25-02-2018, 02-03-2018, 10-03-2018, 11-03-2018 at xxx.

3.       I would like to bring to the court’s attention that I am not a lawyer or solicitor, and my account has been prepared based upon my own knowledge and subsequent research. (could remove if not needed)

4.       On 23-02-2023, as recommended in the Claim Form, I submitted an Acknowledgement of Service in physical form via Royal Mail in an envelope sealed and with a first-class stamp to the County Court Business Centre at Northampton.

5.       I am prepared to swear this on oath if required, but in any event, under the Interpretation Act 1978, the letter enclosing my completed Acknowledgement of Service is deemed delivered two working days later.

6.       On 16-03-2023 I received a Default Judgement by post, dated 13-03-2023 from the County Court Business Centre (CBBC). On the same day, I called the CCBC to confirm the validity of the claim. The court suggested that Royal Mail strikes could explain the Acknowledgement of Service not yet being acknowledged and advised I submit an N244.

7.       Despite being four weeks behind on paperwork, the Court staff member was unable to find the letter in their piles of work. This suggests it was mislaid, misfiled, or not yet found in the outstanding piles of papers, and this unfortunate oversight by the County Court Business Centre does not rebut the interpretation afforded on deemed delivery under the above Act.

8.       I reported the letter missing to Royal Mail, claim no XX (exhibit).

9.       On 17-03-2023, I submitted the N244.

10.   I believe the Default Judgment was issued incorrectly and thus request the claim be re-served under the provision of CPR 13.3(1)(a), given that I have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim.