HELP: Parallel Parking Court Claim

GolfR12

Hi guys,

After a bit of advice please.

My father in law has received a court claim from Gladstone Solicitors on behalf of Parallel Parking in relation to two PCN's from November 2022. He advised he only received one or two letters in relation to each which he ignored a binned.

The court claim is for £450. I've advised him that I will do all the defence/witness statements etc for him as well as go to the court with him as a lay representative, but he is adamant he does not want to go into the court. 

He just wants to just pay it off now but would ideally like a reduced settlement. What is the best way to go about this? Contact Parallel or Gladstones and ask for a reduced settlement to avoid taking it to court? 

Thanks in advance.

GolfR12

I really don't know why he is so adamant not to go to court. I have a defence/witness statement drafts from a case that I won a few years ago so I would just need to amend that for him but he just doesn't want to go to court.

If they accept a reduced settlement, I'm guessing he won't need to complete the AOS?

Boat_to_Bolivia

NO one here is going to advise you to pay and keep funding these parasites!

GolfR12

Boat_to_Bolivia said:

NO one here is going to advise you to pay and keep funding these parasites!

Completely understand and I've tried my very best to convince him that I would do all the necessary paperwork and even go to court with him but he is adamant that he does not want to go. So only so much I can do.

B789

GolfR12 said:

Boat_to_Bolivia said:

NO one here is going to advise you to pay and keep funding these parasites!

Completely understand and I've tried my very best to convince him that I would do all the necessary paperwork and even go to court with him but he is adamant that he does not want to go. So only so much I can do.

Then you need to point out to him that he now becomes a part of the problem by funding the scammers when there is no reason to do so. We have no time for people who are too gullible and become victims by their own accord.

Because so many people on here have been let down by our poor education system that does not teach anything about civil law, we end up with a majority of people who poop their pants at the mere thought of a court claim without having an iota of knowledge of what it actually is.

You could point out to your FiL that over 99% of the claims that are advised on in this forum are either won or are discontinued before ever reaching a court. Your FiL can become a one percenter and will forever be marked as a "mug" by the PPC and targeted for future reference by being easily scammed by them for "paying up".

Coupon-mad

He just wants to just pay it off now but would ideally like a reduced settlement. What is the best way to go about this? 

A)  By winning in court and paying nothing

OR

B ) having the case heard on the papers (no need to go to court, no need to attend) and even if he lost, the Judge should almost certainly remove the 2 x £60 that I suspect this £450 claim includes

OR

C) making an offer later on, if they don't discontinue.  There really is no reason to "pay it now" and in fact, if he does that he pays more!  Does he not know that defendants can if course make an offer the day before a hearing?

May as well defend and see where it gets him!  Nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Tell him to trust you and us and that he can still settle (for less) later this year if all else fails.

Take the claim form to your house so he can't just pay it...


Questions:

Am I right this is for two PCN dates and two lots of the fake added £60?

What circumstances? At his own home?

What was the reason for the PCNs?

Is he or a passenger disabled?

What's the Claim issue date, top right on that claim form that you are confiscating to your house to handle on his behalf?

GolfR12

Coupon-mad said:

He just wants to just pay it off now but would ideally like a reduced settlement. What is the best way to go about this? 

A)  By winning in court and paying nothing

OR

B ) having the case heard on the papers (no need to go to court, no need to attend) and even if he lost, the Judge should almost certainly remove the 2 x £60 that I suspect this £450 claim includes

OR

C) making an offer later on, if they don't discontinue.  There really is no reason to "pay it now" and in fact, if he does that he pays more!  Does he not know that defendants can if course make an offer the day before a hearing?

May as well defend and see where it gets him!  Nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Tell him to trust you and us and that he can still settle (for less) later this year if all else fails.

Take the claim form to your house so he can't just pay it...


Questions:

Am I right this is for two PCN dates and two lots of the fake added £60?

What circumstances? At his own home?

What was the reason for the PCNs?

Is he or a passenger disabled?

What's the Claim issue date, top right on that claim form that you are confiscating to your house to handle on his behalf?

Haha, well he's sent me pictures of the claim form so I have that at least!

Claim issue date is 14/04/2023.
 

Two registration numbers provided in the particulars of claim, one is his and one the MIL. 10/11 and 11/11 mentioned as dates. The claimant claims £100 per PCN, £70 per PCN contractual costs, statutory interest of £11.36, and then £50 court costs and £50 legal representative costs.

Circumstances - Parked at a pub car park, didn't realise it was pay and display. 

No one disabled

Coupon-mad

There we go, it's inflated by £140.

There is no point making an offer this early.

So you can tell him, if he trusts you to do the paperwork then they'll either discontinue later, or if not, you will handle it and will alert him to the right moment to make an offer later this year, or can have it heard on the papers and get the £140 removed (and the Judge might well find in his favour on the point of 'unclear signs').

The latter - a case being heard 'on the papers' - is NOT recommended because his voice wouldn't be heard, but it's better than just folding and paying, which has no reason to support that!

There is nothing to be gained by paying it this early.

How about he puts your address on the AOS online and on the DQ and asks for allocation to a court near you.  That way the papers will come to you (in his name of course) but that is better than trusting him to send you images of letters.  I think the next letter (an ordinary stage during the process) will see him ringing up Gladstones and paying.

Using your address for service of papers will stop that possibility.

KeithP

GolfR12 said:

Claim issue date is 14/04/2023.

With a Claim Issue Date of 14th April, the Defendant has until Wednesday 3rd May 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. As suggested by @Coupon-mad, when filing the Acknowledgment of Service, take the opportunity to change the Defendant's address to your address so that you will receive all future correspondence.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 17th May 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 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'.

baz417

GolfR12 said:

I really don't know why he is so adamant not to go to court. I have a defence/witness statement drafts from a case that I won a few years ago so I would just need to amend that for him but he just doesn't want to go to court.

If they accept a reduced settlement, I'm guessing he won't need to complete the AOS?

I would advise to fight it out before handing out your hard earned money to those scammers. I have also been fighting them ( Parallel Parking ) and now am at the DQ form stage. Having no prior knowledge about this , even messed up at my defence stage which I submitted  money claim online stupidly,  membes eg. @KeithP, @Coupon-mad and other respected on this forum has really helped and supported me with every step, so please don't give them an easy win and I am sure , with the help of members here you can find a positive outcome.

GolfR12

So after some convincing, he has agreed for me to deal with the claim on his behalf I have done the AOS, and will begin drawing up the defence/witness statement this week. (DCB Legal so hoping they discontinue!)

On the hand, I have received a county court claim from 2 x PCN's relating to parking a gym car park from 2019! (Gladstones). I will do the AOS for that today then start another thread to avoid any confusion.