'left site' UKPC nonsense - check my defence

Physiobro

Good afternoon, 

Thanks for the great posts on here. I have been reading extensively. 

I received a county court claim recently from DCB legal relating to a charge in 2019 for 'leaving the site' of a retail park in Leeds. I'm hoping this nonsense gets stopped before getting to the court stage.

I have acknowledged service etc to give 28 days and am looking to file my defence asap. 

The keeper has never contacted UKPC, the legals or bailiff companies at any stage so there is no admission of who was driver. Everything has been ignored up to now (not optimal I know, following old advice). Does this mean I can state this as just keeper and not driver in my defence? If so which bit do I need to read and copy? See my defence below. Theres some bits I wanted to say but probably not actually legally helpful so I would appreciate advice? 

1. The parking charges referred to in this claim did not arise from any agreement of terms. The charge and the claim was an unexpected shock. The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver was a breach of any prominent term and it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as managers) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the Particulars.

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper (do I say "and driver" if never admitted?) of the vehicle.

3. This case relates to a parking charge issued on 28/12/2019 at Crown Point Shopping Park, Leeds. It is alleged that the keeper of vehicle YH58 RLZ breached terms of parking signage by leaving the shopping park. The defendant does not recall specific details of this day as it was over 3 years ago. The defendant shops at crown point semi-regularly and has never had an issue with similar parking charges.  

The evidence supplied by UKPC in relation to the parking charge simply shows pictures of an empty vehicle. This does not constitute proof that the defendant left the site of the alleged offence. Pictures were taken beyond 11am and the defendant could have reasonably been within one of the many shops at crown point shopping park at this time. To the defendant’s best knowledge, this is what reasonably would have happened on the day, however as aforementioned, specific details cannot be recalled.

The defendant has moved address three times within the period since the initial parking charge notice. As such, it came as a surprise that the county court claim form was issued over three years after the initial charge. To the defendant’s knowledge, there has not been any other correspondence to the current address of the defendant other than this court claim. The defendant has been at this address since May 2021.  

Having received the pictures and evidence that UKPC will rely on in this case via a subject access request, one of the images of the signage small print is so badly blurred that the details of the signage cannot be read. This was presumably taken from ground level with a digital camera however does not adequately show any small print and therefore cannot be considered as evidence.  

Additionally, having different signage in different areas of the car park with different levels of information (as photographed by the parking attendant and attached below) is confusing and requires patrons to move around and spend additional time scouring the terms and small print of each sign. As can be seen from the images below, there is no signage within the immediate vicinity of the vehicle.  

If a parking attendant saw the defendant leaving site, hence leading to the parking charge, it would be assumed to be reasonable for the defendant to be warned, either in person or with clear signage on the boundary, that they are about to leave the site and incur a charge.  

There is no map or reference to ‘the site’ boundary on the signage so it is impossible to know, from the defendants perspective, if the defendant did leave ‘the site’.  

Unless UKPC has data relating to this case that was not disclosed in the subject access request, it cannot be proven that the defendant breached the terms as alleged by leaving the site. The defendant asserts that this parking charge claim is at best opportunistic and at worst, predatory behaviour on behalf of the parking company and constitutes completely unfair conduct

Thank you all

KeithP

Physiobro said:

I received a county court claim recently from DCB legal...

I have acknowledged service etc...

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

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Physiobro

KeithP said:

Physiobro said:

I received a county court claim recently from DCB legal...

I have acknowledged service etc...

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

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Issue date 28/03/23 
Acknowledgement of service 03/04/23

KeithP

Physiobro said:

KeithP said:

Physiobro said:

I received a county court claim recently from DCB legal...

I have acknowledged service etc...

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

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Issue date 28/03/23 
Acknowledgement of service 03/04/23

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 to file your Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you are not leaving 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'.

Physiobro

KeithP said:

Physiobro said:

KeithP said:

Physiobro said:

I received a county court claim recently from DCB legal...

I have acknowledged service etc...

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

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Issue date 28/03/23 
Acknowledgement of service 03/04/23

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 to file your Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you are not leaving 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'.

Aware of this but thank you. I have spared the copy and paste of the template defence beyond point 3 as I haven't changed anything. I'm looking for any holes or things to add to the bits I have written 

KeithP

Physiobro said:

KeithP said:

Physiobro said:

KeithP said:

Physiobro said:

I received a county court claim recently from DCB legal...

I have acknowledged service etc...

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

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Issue date 28/03/23 
Acknowledgement of service 03/04/23

With a Claim Issue Date of 28th March, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 2nd May 2023 to file your Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence and it is good to see that you are not leaving 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'.

I'm looking for any holes or things to add to the bits I have written 

...and someone will be along shortly to do that.

At this time I would just say that every paragraph needs a number. You have several unnumbered paragraphs that need a number and the numbers of subsequent paragraphs in the template need adjusting accordingly.

B789

Physiobro said:
Aware of this but thank you. I have spared the copy and paste of the template defence beyond point 3 as I haven't changed anything. I'm looking for any holes or things to add to the bits I have written 

A bit too much. Looks more like a Witness Statement. You just need the point-of-law hooks that you will later expand ipon with your WS.

As we know it is the usual bottom-dwelling duo of scammers, UKPC/DCB Legal, you will just need to use the template defence with the added points about the woefully inadequate PoC signed by Yasmin Mia. A simple statement that you put the Claimant to strict proof that the driver/keeper/owner (whoever they claim) left the site.

Everything else is covered by the template. However, whilst you have not divulged the drivers identity, was the PCN PoFA compliant? If it was, then there's no need for the PoFA defence bit.

An example of a full defence where you just add your paras/ #2 and #3 is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/66hosld75llha3j/2023_defence.pdf?dl=0

Just do a recent search for similar "leaving site" cases on here to see what others have put in their defence.

Physiobro

B789 said:

Physiobro said:
Aware of this but thank you. I have spared the copy and paste of the template defence beyond point 3 as I haven't changed anything. I'm looking for any holes or things to add to the bits I have written 

A bit too much. Looks more like a Witness Statement. You just need the point-of-law hooks that you will later expand ipon with your WS.

As we know it is the usual bottom-dwelling duo of scammers, UKPC/DCB Legal, you will just need to use the template defence with the added points about the woefully inadequate PoC signed by Yasmin Mia. A simple statement that you put the Claimant to strict proof that the driver/keeper/owner (whoever they claim) left the site.

Everything else is covered by the template. However, whilst you have not divulged the drivers identity, was the PCN PoFA compliant? If it was, then there's no need for the PoFA defence bit.

An example of a full defence where you just !!!!!! your paras/ #2 and #3 is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/66hosld75llha3j/2023_defence.pdf?dl=0

Just do a recent search for similar "leaving site" cases on here to see what others have put in their defence.

I see I didn't realise the witness statement was much different. Will have a look at the PoFA compliance and drop box file 

B789

Have you read this thread where you will see the most likely outcome of this claim?

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

Physiobro

B789 said:

Have you read this thread where you will see the most likely outcome of this claim?

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

Yes was having a good look through this which is encouraging. Just making sure I get things right. Just to clarify, am I expected to submit a witness statement with my defence to the email address or will I be asked for a witness statement later on?

KeithP

Physiobro said:

B789 said:

Have you read this thread where you will see the most likely outcome of this claim?

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

Just to clarify, am I expected to submit a witness statement with my defence to the email address or will I be asked for a witness statement later on?

No. At this stage you just need to file a Defence with the County Court Business Centre.

Witness Statement and evidence comes later - after the case has been transferred to a hearing court.

The whole process is described in the second post of the NEWBIES thread and I gave you a link to that post earlier.