UKPC (DCB Legal) CC Claim - Allocated to Court - Discontinued today!

Vikom04

Hi everyone,

 I have read the *newbies FAQ* sticky post and seem to have digested the sequence of events.

I have acknowledged service of a claim using MCOL on the 25/03/2023 after receiving an N1SDT claim form  (DCB Legal on behalf of UK Parking Control Ltd) with an issue date of 20 Mar 2023, with the usual Particulars of Claim and signed by Yasmin Mia.

I have read through other DCB legal posts, including 'Driver Left Site - Claim Issued 01 March 2023' by DHG123 (24/03/2023) and 'UPKC Court Claim' by Johny86 (15th Feb) to see the additional defence paragraphs to add.

I have some questions, and I would really appreciate some guidance prior to drafting  specific defence, if applicable, for which I hope to receive critique/guidance.

FYI, the Defendant is my 60 year old mother, so I will be drafting her defence before she signs it.

Some context:

·         The parking was in a free car park (no tickets/barriers etc), with a max 3 hour stay

·         The Defendant was a genuine customer of the shops within the retail park, with transitions on bank statements proving items were purchased in these shops.

·         The Defendant parked in parent and child parking  (see below) and there is no signage near these spaces (confirmed with Google maps and photos I have taken). The signs are small, with tiny writing and up lamp-posts (as I imagine most UKPC car parks are!)

Questions:

1) (Question below in bold)

A SAR has not been sent yet as this is the first time the Defendant is responding to the claim. No correspondence or calls have ever been made with the parking firm, their debt collectors or any legal firms. The parking event occurred in March 2022, and the first letter that was received came at the end of March.  I think every time she intended to respond, life got in the way and the letter got put on the side and forgotten about until the next one and the cycle continued. (see question 5 below - my mother has been though a lot recently, to be honest I don't know how she's still going strong).

Is it still worth sending a SAR prior to submitting the defence?

 

2) Do I include any of the above bullet points after "The facts as known to the Defendant" as separate paragraphs, or include it within  paragraph 3 (or otherwise?)

 

3) (Question below in bold)

The Defendant  was looking after her 7 month old grandchild during the parking event, hence the parent and child parking. She also has arthritis in her fingers.  Nearing the end of the shopping, the baby vomited all over himself so had to be changed. This took a significant amount of time (finding the baby changing, getting him cleaned and dressed in clean clothes - all of which was exacerbated by the Defendant's arthritis as it hinders fine motor skills ) which delayed subsequent exit from the car park.

Would the above points, worded in the correct way, be acceptable as a point of defence? If so, would this go in paragraph 3?

 

 

4)  (Question below in bold)

The alleged 'breach of contract' was parking longer than the maximum period permitted, which was 3 hours.

The defendant was 3 hours 10 minutes and 10 seconds.

UKPC are BPA members, operating in accordance with the BPA code of practice.

Latest version from their website is January 2020 v8.

Para 2.3 states: "The aim of the AOS Code of Practice (‘the Code’) is to describe ‘best practice’ for people and organisations that carry out parking control and enforcement on private land. All members of the AOS have agreed to support and uphold the principles of the Code. To become a member, parking operators must confirm that they have systems and procedures in place to ensure compliance with the Code. Compliance with the Code should be part of the culture of the organisation. The Code describes the objectives of these systems and procedures, and the standards of conduct and practice within which AOS members should work."

Para 2.7 states: "All AOS members must make sure that the AOS logo is prominently displayed in all their car parks, and make it clear to the public that they are governed by the Code"

Para 2.8 "The Code comes into force from 6 January 2020. It replaces all previous codes."

Para 2.9 "The Code and its appendices cover the operation of parking on private, unregulated land. This includes: • management and enforcement operations • designing and using signs • using ANPR and associated systems • issuing and processing parking charge notices and other notices given to drivers and keepers of vehicles • appropriate parking charge"

Para  4.1 "Any organisation or person applying for BPA or AOS membership must: • sign a declaration agreeing to keep to the Code and its principles"

Para 4.2 "To stay a member of the BPA you must keep to the conditions of the Code. If you do not keep to the conditions of the Code we may take disciplinary action against you."

 

So it's pretty clear that it's not something to be sniffed at; If you are claiming membership and accreditation by the BPA, you must follow its rules...

 

Paragraph 13.3 states "Where a parking location is one where a limited period of parking is permitted, or where drivers contract to park for a defined period and pay for that service in advance (Pay & Display), this would be considered as a parking event and a Grace Period of at least 10 minutes must be added to the end of a parking event before you issue a PCN"

 

The stated parking time by the operatoThe Defendant exited the car park in the 10th minute (and 10 seconds), so this PCN is in breach of the Code of Practice.

If an organisation agrees to be bound by a set of professional codes, set out by an accredited and professional body (in the industry of car parking!) how does breeching this stand as a defence? Whilst it is not law, it is clearly accepted as the baseline way of operating by the professional body and must have some credence in a defence? 

 

5) Can very stressful life events (i.e. impacting on mental and physical health) be used to supplement a defence? If so, would this go within paragraph 3?

Since the parking event in March 2022 and this claim being issued, the Defendant has endured;

-  5 family bereavements (along with travelling over 260 miles to clear house of one family member over several days and attend funeral to bring back ashes) which include sister-in-law, an aunt, two uncles and her mother-in-law.

-  whilst in the middle of buying a house and trying to renovating it,  

-Travelling over 100 miles to work part time, for 3 days a week staying away from home and then staying at her elderly mother-in-law's house  (who had just lost her 72 year old daughter) from July 2022. Defendant retired in Sept 2022 in order to try and cope with life events.

- sharing care duties for her 91 year old Mother-in-law, staying with her when working part time (after sister-in-law, who was the full time carer for 91 year old suddenly died in July 2022) with MiL then dying in Oct 2022.

- Providing childcare to son and daughter-in-law (who live over 100 miles from her residence, and staying with them, away from her home), whilst son was dealing with all Power of Attorney matters since bereavement  in July 2022, as well as dealing with the estates of 3 family members, with 3 lots of IHT, arranging 3 funerals and trying to clear.

- This was then made even more difficult in Sept 2022, following daughter-in-law suffering a catastrophic, potentially life changing, knee injury, (shattered patella into 6 pieces )  rendering her unable to drive, work or look after the children for several months, whilst son was working full time and dealing with the above.

- In the mean time her husband developed a lump in the neck in July 2022, and was diagnosed with stage 3 neck and throat cancer, starting chemotherapy and radiotherapy  in Nov 2022. She had to care for him full time without respite as he couldn't eat and became exceptionally weak and frail, loosing almost half his body mass (which was circa 11 stone). Treatment stopped in Feb 2023.

 

6) Finally, just to confirm; along with the Defendant's own defence above (if applicable), do I also include all the defences listed from the template form, and also the additional paragraphs from Johny86's post? (Obviously all numbered sequentially)

 

Thank you for very much your help.

Vikom

Not_A_Hope

1) Always worth submitting a SAR as soon as possible but don’t wait for it to be returned before submitting your defence. It is usually useful for your WS which comes later.
2) Yes para 3 is for you to provide some context. Just add extra paras and renumber later paras if necessary
3) Yes. Some judges would consider an event like a breakdown or an emergency a ‘small vicissitude’ which can be a legal defence
4) PPCs don’t always follow the rules of their ATA to the letter as it curtails the ability to scam money from motorists. It is worth pointing out that in addition to the grace period the time actually parked is less than that recorded by the ANPR cameras at the entrance / exit.
5) No point in including the stressful life events. The PPCs have no heart and the judge will only be concerned with contract law.
6) Yes include everything. You only need to succeed on one defence point. The PPC have to win every single one

Fruitcake

Plan A is always a complain to the landowner/retail park management company/CEOs of shops visited plus the motorist's MP. It is never too late to do this.

Point 1. Always send an SAR to the DPO and include non photo proof of ID.

Point 2. Para 2 of the defence will be something like, "It is admitted that the defendant was the keeper and driver at the material time." That's all that is needed.

Point 3. Para 3 should briefly state that the defendant has a disability that is a protected characteristic as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and required extra time. In addition, mention the child being sick and that the the judge in the appeal case number B9GF0A9E Jopson v Homeguard determined that attending to a vicissitude of some small duration is not parking. Cleaning up a distresses small child would constitute a vicissitude of some small duration and therefore the time taken to attend to the child was not a parking event. Since this was an appeal case it is persuasive on the lower courts.

Point 4 is too long. State the BPA CoP relevant section about grace periods then point out that ANPR does not record parking time, only time on site. It took more than 10 seconds to get from the entrance to a parking space, and more than ten seconds to leave the site after the parking period had ended. Dreving around a car park looking for a space is not parking as determined in case number 3JD08399 ParkingEye v Ms X. (Altrincham Court17/03/2014).

Point 5. I would leave it out but concentrate instead on indirect discrimination caused by UKPC failing to anticipate the needs of a disabled motorist in breach of the Equality Act.

Point 6. Include everything in the template. It is there for a reason.

I would suggest you you don't try to cram everything into one paragraph 3, but make an extra paragraph or more as required, remembering to renumber everything after.

Something like: -

Para 3 Jopson

Para 4 Equality Act

Para 5 Looking for a space is not parking.

Show us the modified defence, but ONLY the parts that have ben changed. We are checking your work not Coiupon-mad's

KeithP

Vikom04 said:

I have acknowledged service of a claim using MCOL on the 25/03/2023 after receiving an N1SDT claim form  (DCB Legal on behalf of UK Parking Control Ltd) with an issue date of 20 Mar 2023...

The dates in this post are wrong.
Please see later post for correct filing deadline.

With a Claim Issue Date of 25th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Thursday 27th April 2023 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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'.

Le_Kirk

Good advice above from @Not_A_Hope and @Fruitcake, resist the temptation to write War and Peace and keep the full story for the witness statement.

Coupon-mad

Yep, agreed.

Is it still worth sending a SAR prior to submitting the defence?

Nope.  Other way round!  Defence FIRST.

2) Do I include any of the above bullet points after "The facts as known to the Defendant" as separate paragraphs, or include it within  paragraph 3 (or otherwise?)

Just a concise summary and stating that the Claimant failed to adhere to the BPA Code of Practice, which makes a minimum ten minute grace period mandatory, so there was no breach and there is no cause of action.

Did I miss reading Equality Act stuff?  I can't see anywhere that the Defendant has a disability.  She's only sixty and I'm not far off that myself (and I've gone through a heck of a lot of stuff in life, umpteen very sad bereavements... but I still consider myself a strong middle aged woman like your Mum). 

Fruitcake

Coupon-mad The OP mentioned the driver being an arthritis sufferer which would affect dexterity when dealing with cleaning up a sick child.

If the condition is severe enough then the EA should be included.

Coupon-mad

Ah yes, that's what I'd missed!  Yes I agree.

Vikom04

Hi everyone, thank you for the excellent advice. 

Defence to be drafted within the next week and I will post back here.

KeithP said:

Vikom04 said:

I have acknowledged service of a claim using MCOL on the 25/03/2023 after receiving an N1SDT claim form  (DCB Legal on behalf of UK Parking Control Ltd) with an issue date of 20 Mar 2023...

With a Claim Issue Date of 25th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Thursday 27th April 2023 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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'.

@KeithP

The Claim Issue date on the N1SDT form is 20th March 2023, and I ackownledged on the 25th March.
Just to confirm; is my deadline 24th April 2023?

KeithP

Vikom04 said:

Hi everyone, thank you for the excellent advice. 

Defence to be drafted within the next week and I will post back here.

KeithP said:

Vikom04 said:

I have acknowledged service of a claim using MCOL on the 25/03/2023 after receiving an N1SDT claim form  (DCB Legal on behalf of UK Parking Control Ltd) with an issue date of 20 Mar 2023...

With a Claim Issue Date of 25th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Thursday 27th April 2023 to file your Defence.

That's 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 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'.

@KeithP

The Claim Issue date on the N1SDT form is 20th March 2023, and I ackownledged on the 25th March.
Just to confirm; is my deadline 24th April 2023?

Ah... sorry about that. I picked out the wrong date from your post.
Yes you are right with your Defence filing deadline.
For completeness, here is a revised version of my earlier post...

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 24th April 2023 to file your Defence.

That's a little over three 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 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'.

Vikom04

Hi all, (and also @Coupon-mad, @Fruitcake@Not_A_Hope ), sorry for the delay...

I've drafted some defence paragraphs below. I'd appreciate any feedback anyone can offer, I'm not precious so please rip it apart as you see fit.

Some questions:

1) - Is there a set format (font, size, paragraph spacing etc) the Defence should be? I've tried looking around on the usual threads but can't find any advice...I'm sure I saw something at one point or another but I can't seem to track it down.

2) I can't find "case number 3JD08399 ParkingEye v Ms X  (Altrincham Court 17/03/2014) " anywhere on the internet - I assume I will need this for the Witness statement? Can anyone shed some light on this?

3).After my defence paragraphs below, I have gone straight in with para's #5 to #11 (not #4?) from Johny86's Defence, and then the rest of the Defence template as per the thread. Is this the correct sequencing?

 

DEFENCE:

The facts as known to the Defendant:

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

3. The Defendant was a genuine customer of the shops in {retail park}, including The Range and Currys. The Defendant also had her 7 month old grandson in her care.

4. The Defendant's grandson vomited all over himself prior to leaving the shops, which would constitute a 'small vicissitude' due to the infant being significantly distressed and not in a fit state to travel in a car until fully cleaned up, clothes changed and soothed. In appeal case number B9GF0A9E Jopson v Homeguard (2016), His Honor Judge Harris QC determined that attending to a vicissitude of some small duration is not parking and therefore the time taken to attend to The Defendant's grandson was not a parking event.

5. In addition to the above, it should be noted The Defendant has suspected Osteoarthritis of the hip and suspected stage 2/3 Osteoarthritis of the hands (at time of writing referred for additional diagnosis by GP). This affects The Defendant's mobility and dexterity, increasing the time taken to complete tasks which require fine motor skills, such as cleaning up and changing an infant covered in vomit. This disability is a protected characteristic as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and therefore The Defendant required extra time to complete this action, which in itself is considered a 'small vicissitude'. The Claimant has failed to anticipate the needs of a motorist with a disability, and this indirect discrimination is in breach of the Equality Act 2010 (Part 2, Chapter 2 - Prohibited Conduct, Discrimination, Section 19).

6. The Defendant's entry time to the car park was xx:xx:43 and the exit time was xx:xx.53 {3 hours, 10 mins plus the seconds}. ANPR does not record parking time, only time on site. It took more than 10 seconds to drive from the entrance to a parking space, and more than ten seconds to leave the site after the parking period had ended. Driving around a car park searching for a space is not considered a 'parking event' as determined in case number 3JD08399 ParkingEye v Ms X  (Altrincham Court 17/03/2014). The Claimant has agreed to be bound by the BPA Code of Practice, as they are an AOS member. Version 8, January 2020, Paragraph 13.3 states " ...a Grace Period of at least 10 minutes must be added to the end of a parking event before issuing a PCN". Therefore, The Claimant has failed to adhere to the BPA Code of Practice, which makes a minimum ten minute grace period mandatory, so there has been no breach of the Contract and there is no cause of action.

Thank you very much for your time and help, much appreciated.

Regards,

Vikom04