County Court Claim Form - UKPC (DCB Legal)

adams-p

Hello all,

Circumstances can be summarised as follows:

Our family (with two young children) parked in Metro Retail Park car park, part of Gateshead MetroCentre in January 2022.

Signs were simply not noticed.

We did quite a bit of shopping at a Smyths store on the park.

We then walked from there to the MetroCentre mall where we shopped and had a meal.

We returned to our car marginally over the stated maximum time (the NTK claims 4hr 26m, 4hr is maximum stated time on the signs)

NTK received a couple of weeks later.

Immediately contacted Smyths on the Retail Park who ultimately weren't any use. Then I contacted a couple of managers in MetroCentre security to complain.

There were some emails but ultimately the ticket wasn't rescinded. However, within the email threads there was a conversation between the Security Manager and UKPC Account Manager who is in charge of MetroCentre and other Savills Group accounts basically saying they "couldn't go ahead with cancellation as usual" because it hadn't been appealed, paid or brought to either the Security Managers or the UKPC Account Managers attention. Therefore there would have to be a £30 charge.  

Not True

I asked for this charge to be waived because clearly my correspondence with the Security Manager was clearly and sufficiently "bringing it to his attention". I didn't receive a reply.

Letter after letter after letter received after that - the usual thing.

Then a LBC

SAR sent - I received an email with very little info. Just a copy of NTK, a copy of Final Reminder and a couple of thumbnail time-stamped photos. No. copies of any correspondence which clearly there had been

I asked for PAP 30 days which is now over.

So, I've received the claim form (dated 17/1/23 received 20/1/23)

I know I'll be needing to do my AOS which I'll research over the next couple of days and then send off.

Defence will likely be along lines of inadequate signs with very small writing, a completely relevant reason to be parked there (it is generally understood that the four hour rule is only there to prevent employees of nearby organisations from using the retail park as an ad-hoc employee car park), penalty is fundamentally unfair and excessive given we only exceeded four hour time frame marginally and also with the arbitrary nature of the penalties that have been bandied around, particularly given that the (untrue) claim of no appeal lodged etc led to a decision that only £30 was needed to cancel this. 

I'd really appreciate some advice please.

TIA

P

KeithP

adams-p said:

I've received the claim form (dated 17/1/23 received 20/1/23).
I know I'll be needing to do my AOS which I'll research over the next couple of days and then send off.

With a Claim Issue Date of 17th January, you have until Monday 5th February 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 20th February 2023 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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'.

Umkomaas

Not to deflect you from what you must do in regard to a court claim form (see NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post), please have a read of this thread .... and keep going, following ongoing forum advice. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Le_Kirk

adams-p said:

I know I'll be needing to do my AOS which I'll research over the next couple of days and then send off.

Defence will likely be along lines of inadequate signs with very small writing, a completely relevant reason to be parked there (it is generally understood that the four hour rule is only there to prevent employees of nearby organisations from using the retail park as an ad-hoc employee car park), penalty is fundamentally unfair and excessive given we only exceeded four hour time frame marginally and also with the arbitrary nature of the penalties that have been bandied around, particularly given that the (untrue) claim of no appeal lodged etc led to a decision that only £30 was needed to cancel this.

You don't "send off" your AoS, it is done on-line via MCOL - did you see the walk through in the NEWBIE sticky on how to do it?
Not a penalty, at best a speculative invoice!

Mouse007

Your defence is about the signs and what is known as Lord Denning’s Red Hand Rule. You need to compare the signs with those that Parking Eye use and understand why they won their Supreme Court case against Beavis.

adams-p

Hi folks

I wonder if you could answer a quick question. What do I need to do in terms of the AOS if this claim has been sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle but they in fact weren't driving and somebody else was?

Boat_to_Bolivia

@KeithP explained above and gave you a link as to how to submit an AoS.

1505grandad

"So, I've received the claim form (dated 17/1/23 received 20/1/23)"

Are you the RK?

Coupon-mad

adams-p said:

Hi folks

I wonder if you could answer a quick question. What do I need to do in terms of the AOS if this claim has been sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle but they in fact weren't driving and somebody else was?

Well you can't change the Defendant now...

...but you already know that, from the commentary from me beside the 'Defendant' heading at the top of the Template Defence.

adams-p

1505grandad said:

"So, I've received the claim form (dated 17/1/23 received 20/1/23)"

Are you the RK?

No, I'm not. The RK and the driver are related.

Coupon-mad

Ok, same as almost every case here. Nothing different.

The Defendant's name can't be changed.  The Defendant responds to the claim as advised in the second post of the NEWBIES thread.