Civil Enforcement Court Claim

Alicee42

Hi, my partner has just received a Court Claim from Civil Enforcement relating to a parking ticket from August 2021 which he has been fighting. 

Following advice from the newbies thread, he appealed which was rejected and a POPLA appeal which was also rejected. 

He then received a letter before claim so contacted the DPO and asked for an SAR which we received. 

Now a Court Claim has been sent, what does he do next?
Obviously a letter from the court is very daunting and just unsure what’s best to do next! Does he just send the acknowledgement first? And what happens next?

Really not sure how to defend, it really just makes me wish he’d paid it in the first place, even though it isn’t right.  

The annoying thing is, we did pay for parking that day, that’s why we’ve fought it. It was one of those phone to pay, which we did. Thought it was all done, but unexpectedly my partner received a text asking him to confirm his registration which he didn’t receive or see because at that point we were having a family meal in a restaurant. 

He then downloaded an app which allowed him to pay so he eventually did pay for the full amount of time we were there. Just not within their ‘10 minutes’ because it didn’t say you’d need to confirm via text, and we thought we had paid as soon as we got there. 

Help??

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on the County Court Claim Form?

Alicee42

Thank you,

the issue date is 02 Feb 2023

B789

Alicee42 said:

Really not sure how to defend, it really just makes me wish he’d paid it in the first place, even though it isn’t right.

Do NOT pay these scammers. Re-read the Newbies thread near the top of this forum and understand the steps you need to take to beat this claim. Do not worry about the fact that is now a court claim. It is not a criminal court or matter. It is simply a civil dispute over an alleged debt from a pond-scum parking company.

You've already reached out and @KeithP is already on your case and will be back with advice on the AoS and dates to be aware of. The vast majority of these case that ever actually go before a judge are won by the defendants when they follow all the advice given on here by the regulars, all of who are experts in this field.

KeithP

Alicee42 said:

the issue date is 02 Feb 2023

With a Claim Issue Date of 2nd February, you have until Tuesday 21st 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 Tuesday 7th March 2023 to file a Defence.

That's almost 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'.

Of course everywhere I have written 'you' or 'your' I mean the named Defendant.

Coupon-mad

Well worth fighting.  You have a strong case.

Alicee42

Thanks for your help so far. 

The AOS was filed on the 9th Feb after KeithP’s helpful reply. 

We are currently in the process of writing the defence. 

After doing some research for said defence, I thought I’d double check signage on Google maps (as CEL’s photo of the sign is blurry) and I think the reviews speak for themselves…

I’ve attached a screenshot as the forum won’t let me post links yet. 

I’ve noted that the original PCN was for £100, or £60 if paid within 14 days. And then £170 on the final demand.
The court claim is for 
Amount claimed £189.71
Court fee £35
Legal representative’s costs £50
Total amount £274.71
So is this abuse of process?

Also, could ‘frustration of contract’ be a point? As he did try to make payment via phone call, providing card details and registration, but this clearly did not work and it seemed there was a problem on their end if confirmation was needed after the phone call. There is no mention of a confirmation text being required on their signage. So it was not possible to register parking via a simple phone call. 

Or perhaps it was all just a scam, judging by those Google reviews!

I will post a draft of defence from the template in the coming days. 

Coupon-mad

The £70 is an abuse but the Template Defence already covers all that!

The £100 risk is in minuscule text on that useless wordy sign.  Incapable of forming a fair/agreed contract to pay £100 where the issue is their own useless app and the signage is so woeful.

Alicee42

Coupon-mad said:

The £70 is an abuse but the Template Defence already covers all that!

Great thanks, just wanted to be sure that all applied to this case! 

Alicee42

Here is a draft of defence paragraphs #2 and #3 from the template. Any advice would be appreciated. 

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

3. The Defendant arrived at the car park at 13:2X to attend a family meal in a restaurant nearby. Upon arrival, the Defendant got out of the vehicle to read the signage to learn how to pay for parking.

The signage states four steps to phone and pay: call the number, enter the site code, provide your card details and provide your vehicle registration number.

The Defendant followed these four steps in order to pay for parking, providing their card details and vehicle registration and description. The signage states that a receipt can be obtained at phoneandpay.co.uk so the Defendant visited this website for confirmation. It was on this website that the Defendant learnt there was a Phone and Pay mobile app available so downloaded this app. The parking session was then visible on said app so the Defendant thought it was booked and confirmed and made their way to the restaurant.

The Claimant acknowledges that the Defendant made a phone call to the Phone and Pay’s automated line within 10 minutes of arrival.

The Claimant admits that an SMS text message was sent to the Defendant at 13:3X to confirm vehicle registration. However, their signage shows no mention of a text message being required in order to book parking. Therefore, a text message was not expected and not seen until later, as the Defendant thought the parking was confirmed via the app.

Having only seen the text message over an hour later, the Defendant disrupted their meal and attempted to confirm their parking by replying with their vehicle registration at 14:3X. Another text message had also been received stating that the parking session was not booked and to call the number on the signage. The Defendant phoned back the Phone and Pay line and repeated the payment process, after doing so the Defendant checked the app to confirm the session was there, at which point both sessions were visible for a short period of time. Note that the second time the Defendant phoned the automated line, no text message was received to confirm registration but the parking session was successfully booked.

The full duration of time the vehicle was parked was paid for. The vehicle was parked for 2 hours and 41 minutes, and 3 hours was paid for. The Defendant consciously made the effort to pay for the length of time they were parked.

Coupon-mad

I think save that level if detail for the WS and just cover the basics in the defence

The defendant downloaded an app and paid, with the session showing as confirmed.  Despite the signage not mentioning a second step, a text message followed (later) and the defendant confirmed their VRM again.  All reasonable endeavours were taken to comply, and payment was made in full.  There is no loss to recover and the Claimant is aware of this, yet continues to pursue the defendant unreasonably.