PCN - Motorbike/Scooter parked on paving outside of shopping centre car park - County Court Claim

KeithP

88888888 said:

The issue date of the claim was 09/02/23...
I am yet to complete AoS, and will do so in next few days.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th February, you have until Tuesday 28th February to file an Acknowledgment of Service.  Do not file an Acknowledgment of Service before 14th February, but otherwise 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 14th March 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'.

88888888

88888888 said:

My initial thoughts were:

• I'm not parked in their carpark - so how can I possibly breach ANY terms?

• No parking charges apply unless staying more than 3 hours (I was there about 25 minutes) - so claimant has suffered zero loss?

• Original PCN refers to "Not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or space" - How can this apply when not parked within the confines of car park?

• Perimeters of car park are surely outlined by the change to surface from Tarmac to Paving Slabs?

Please could forum members guide me on the best way to defend this claim.

Thank you

Thanks to all who've posted so far.

However, nobody has answered the points above, and I wondered why.

Is this not sufficient as a defence?

Coupon-mad

Just put your facts as you see them into paragraph 3 of the Template Defence and show us your draft para 3 (NOT the whole template, please) and we'll offer constructive criticism.

There are no legs in arguing "no loss" because a parking charge does not have to equate to loss.

88888888

Coupon-mad said:

Just ut your facts as you see them into paragraph 3 of the Template Defence and show us your draft para 3 (NOT the whole template, please) and we'll offer constructive criticism.

There are no legs in arguing "no loss" because a parking charge does not have to equate to loss.

As readers will be already be aware, the vehicle in question is a 125cc scooter. Therefore, should I adapt driver to rider as that would be the correct terminology? It seems weird saying "driver of scooter", but if it's an important legal thing, I will continue to refer to driver.

So I've read through the template defence and have included the following:

3. The driver was shopping at Lidl, which is situated at ****** Shopping Centre, ******** **** ***. For convenience, the driver wheeled the scooter from the rear of Lidl (accessed from ********* Avenue) to the front of the store (entirely by-passing the Shopping Centre car park). It was left on the paving between the front of Lidl and the tarmacked car park. There was no signage on the building indicating any restrictions. The claimant’s very own photographic evidence (published online), proves that the scooter was indeed left outside of the car park perimeters. The photos also demonstrated the lack of any signage visible to the driver when dismounting the scooter and walking to the store.

How does that sound? Should I have included any details about receiving PCN letters through the post or not?

I understand I should then continue with paragraphs 4 to 27, finalising with Statement of truth.

KeithP

I would continue to use the word 'driver' - to rule out any possibility of any confusion with a possible pillion 'rider'.

The word driver implies control, whereas rider does not.

Boat_to_Bolivia

In addition to what KeithP has said, usually you'd refer to yourself as the defendant in your Defence.

88888888

I have rewritten this slightly.

Does it seem okay?

3. The Defendant was shopping at Lidl, which is situated at ****** Shopping Centre, ******** **** ***. For convenience, the Defendant wheeled the scooter from the rear of Lidl (accessed from ********* Avenue) to the front of the store (entirely by-passing the Shopping Centre car park). It was left on the paving between the front of Lidl and the tarmacked car park. There was no signage on the building indicating any restrictions. The Claimant’s very own photographic evidence (published online), proves that the scooter was positioned outside of the car park perimeters (therefore not subject to the Terms and Conditions of the car park). The same photos also highlight the lack of any signage visible to the driver when dismounting the scooter and walking to the store.

Do I need to refer to receiving any PCNs in the above?

Thanks

Coupon-mad

I think that's enough, when put within the whole 27 paragraph template defence.

88888888

I've emailed the defence this morning as per the helpful guide in the Newbies section.

I will post their response, when I receive it.

Coupon-mad

You don't get a 'response' to your defence (you know what happens next from the first 12 steps in the NEWBIES thread and not to tell us about the first letter or N180 form - please...).

The Template Defence thread tells you what arrives next, then the NEWBIES thread 2nd post takes over after that, in the 'IMPORTANT: KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN' section that makes it clear that defence is not the only job,

Did you get an acknowledgement from the CCBC?