Driver Left Site - Claim Issued 01 March 2023 (Discontinued Jan ‘24)

DHG123

Good afternoon,

Corrected title on my last attempt at posting. Thanks for the rapid replies there!

I have been following the advice on the forum and newbies thread for a PCN I chose to completely ignore, dated 26/01/2018. The wrong decision, but anyway they (DCB Legal Ltd) came back with a Letter of Claim earlier this year, and after submitting the SAR with their (UKPC) DPO and familiarising myself with the follow ups, I have received the Claim. 

Claim Issue Date - 01 Mar 23.
acknowledgment of service was submitted on 09/03/2023 at 17:13:02
acknowledgment of service was received on 10/03/2023 at 08:05:52.

Please see below my defence paragraphs, any comments welcome - adjusted from 1st post with C-M's advice. 

The facts as known to the Defendant:

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

3. The Defendant travelled to Filton Retail Park and parked outside of their gym DW Fitness along with 2 passengers, for which at the time all 3 individuals including the Defendant had an active membership. The Defendant attended their gym as normal to their routine, before returning to the vehicle. 

4. The Defendant does note that UK Parking Control Limited no longer operate in Filton Retail Park. As such, this claim appears to be a last ditch 'revenge claim' to try to recoup monies and gather CCJs, to generate an income after the Claimant lost the contract. It is not a legitimate reason to pursue a charge out of proportion with any loss or damages the true landowner could pursue.


Following this, @Coupon-mad has suggested Then copy paras 5-11 by @Johny86 however I am currently struggling to locate these, unless they are the defence template thread.

KeithP

DHG123 said:

I have received the Claim. 
Claim Issue Date - 01 Mar 23.
acknowledgment of service was received on 10/03/2023 at 08:05:52.

With a Claim Issue Date of 1st March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 3rd April 2023 to file your Defence.

That's a little over a week 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 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'.

Coupon-mad

Following this, @Coupon-mad has suggested Then copy paras 5-11 by @Johny86 however I am currently struggling to locate these, unless they are the defence template thread.

usernames are links to their discussion posts!

B789

DHG123 said:

Following this, @Coupon-mad has suggested Then copy paras 5-11 by @Johny86 however I am currently struggling to locate these, unless they are the defence template thread.

These are the paragraphs #5 to #11 that should be used (plus all the other ones as advised) in any defence where the PoC are rubbish, such as all those issued by DCB Legal:

5. The Particulars of Claim ('POC') appear to be in breach of CPR 16.4, 16PD3 and 16PD7, and fail to "state all facts necessary for the purpose of formulating a complete cause of action”. 

6. The Defendant is unable, on the basis of the POC, to understand with certainty what case is being pursued. 

7. The POC are entirely inadequate, in that they fail to particularise (a) the contractual term(s) relied upon; (b) the specifics of any alleged breach of contract; and (c) how the purported and unspecified 'damages' arose and the breakdown of the exaggerated quantum. 

8. The claim has been issued via Money Claims Online and, as a result, is subject to a character limit for the Particulars of Claim section of the Claim Form.  The fact that generic wording appears to have been applied has obstructed any semblance of clarity.  The Defendant trusts that the court will agree that a claim pleaded in such generic terms lacks the required details and requires proper particularisation in a detailed document within 14 days, per 16PD.3 

9. The guidance for completing Money Claims Online confirms this and clearly states: "If you do not have enough space to explain your claim online and you need to serve extra, more detailed particulars on the defendant, tick the box that appears after the statement 'you may also send detailed particulars direct to the defendant.'" 

10. No further particulars have been filed and to the Defendant's knowledge, no application asking the court service for more time to serve and/or relief from sanctions has been filed either. 

11. In view of it having been entirely within the Claimant's Solicitors' gift to properly plead the claim at the outset and the claim being for a sum, well within the small claims limit, such that the Defendant considers it disproportionate and at odds with the overriding objective (in the context of a failure by the Claimant to properly comply with rules and practice directions) for a Judge to throw the erring Claimant a lifeline by ordering further particulars (to which a further defence might be filed, followed by further referral to a Judge for directions and allocation) the court is respectfully invited to strike this claim out. 

Don't forget that once you've added all the paragraphs to your Defence, including any that you add yourself, they must all be numbered sequentially.

DHG123

I really appreciate all of your time helping me out here. I have utilised the paras above and the latter ones from the defence template. 

Would you suggest this is ready to go following? Do you need to see the whole thing ?

Coupon-mad

We don't need to see it but yes, it is done!

Email it and make sure you get an auto-reply as set out in the 'first 12 steps' in the Template Defence thread...which also covers the next 2 letters, that we don't need to see either!

See you at WS stage or when they inevitably discontinue in the Summer, after trying to phone you to 'settle' (which you will not).

People who poker-face DCBLegal get discontinuances. You will enjoy this experience!

Also please do the Public Consultation when it opens any week now. Stick around!

DHG123

Thanks again!! Will do

B789

Please remember to actually proofread your Defence. Far too many people just copy and paste without actually checking everything. 

You'd be surprised at how many people post their Defences or WS and it is immediately obvious that it is just a cut-and-paste job with errors and typos that they expect the forum regulars to read and check for them.

Le_Kirk

B789 said:

Please remember to actually proofread your Defence. Far too many people just copy and paste without actually checking everything. 

You'd be surprised at how many people post their Defences or WS and it is immediately obvious that it is just a cut-and-paste job with errors and typos that they expect the forum regulars to read and check for them.

For example paragraph #3 where @Johny86 writes about being a patron of B&M!

Coupon-mad

Yep para 3 obviously needs individual facts.

Trainerman

B789 said:

Please remember to actually proofread your Defence. Far too many people just copy and paste without actually checking everything. 

You'd be surprised at how many people post their Defences or WS and it is immediately obvious that it is just a cut-and-paste job with errors and typos that they expect the forum regulars to read and check for them.

After I had finished crossing swords with a 'rent by the hour advocate ' at a PPC hearing, he told me that he sees many such, and quoted a recent one where someone had left a lot of 'xxxxx's instead of days/times etc. How daft !

Doing the copy/paste really is only part of the process !