Drafting Defence for County Court Claim

zeebee23

Hi guys.

I need some help please to draft a defence for a county court claim form as I am extremely worried how to handle this. 

It was issued to me on 28th March 2023 - Claimant: UKPCL (DCB LEGAL) signed by Yasmin Mia. I have submitted acknowledgement of service on 6th April 2023.

So basically about 3 years ago I was working in a shop located in retail park and the fine was issued to me as I was parked more than 3 hours. My car registration number was already entered on the list for staff but on that specific day I was using my husband's car as my car had broken down. After finishing my shift on the day I returned to a parking ticket on the windscreen. The next day I informed the manager who added the new registration number of my husband's vehicle so I could avoid any further tickets. I stupidly emailed ukpc (trying to get it cancelled myself) to inform them that I am a staff member working at the store to which they replied that I would now have to pay the 'discounted amount'. From there I completely ignored all further communication from them as I was so annoyed at their response. I informed my manager and he said he would get it cancelled and I went on maternity. During my time on maternity I continued to receive threatening letters from them which I ignored. After joining the company again at the end of my maternity I then spoke to another manager who managed to cancel the PCN and even supplied me a copy of the email from an account executive of ukpc confirming the ticket has been cancelled. However, I have now realised that the attachment of parking ticket linked to these emails cannot be seen so the reference number of my PCN cannot be seen in them. I have even entered the PCN on ukpc website to see any updates under appeal and it states ' This parking charge has already been cancelled in full.'

Even after the cancellation I was repeatedly harrased by DCBL letters with contionous threats which I have all ignored. 

Now suddenly to see a county court case against me I am extremely worried as I have never had to face anything like this before. 

I would be grateful if I could be please get a copy of the appropriate defence template I would need and your guidance and any input into this would be highly appreciated as to how I should draft this defence.
Thanks very much

KeithP

zeebee23 said:

I need some help please to draft a defence for a county court claim form...

It was issued to me on 28th March 2023 -
I have submitted acknowledgement of service on 6th April 2023.

Hello and welcome.

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 nearly two 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'.

Umkomaas

I am extremely worried how to handle this. 

No need. We have a Template Defence ready to use, all you need to provide is a couple of paragraphs of background to the parking event, 20 minutes work. 

As this is UKPC/DCB Legal's work, please be aware that they are carpet bombing motorists across the country with court claims for outstanding unpaid parking charges. Those who come here for advice are likely to be able to chase the pair of them away. Read here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377263/dcb-legal-record-of-private-parking-court-claim-discontinuations/p1

Coupon-mad

 I have even entered the PCN on ukpc website to see any updates under appeal and it states ' This parking charge has already been cancelled in full.'

Take a screenshot of that right now and keep it as evidence.

Simply do the AOS as explained in the NEWBIES thread.  Then read on and read the Template Defence thread so you know how to submit a defence.

Then go to the defence posted in the thread by @Johny86 and copy that version.

Change para 2 to admit to driving.

Remove Johny's para 3 and 4 and replace those with your story: para 3 that you worked there and were simply using a different car and the VRM took a while to be uploaded onto the store white list.  Para 4 will say that the PCN was cancelled by this Claimant and you have clear evidence in the form of an email trail from your manager and a screenshot from this Claimant's own website, which states 'This parking charge has already been cancelled in full.'

zeebee23

thank you to everyone that has responded to my post. I extremely grateful for your valuable feedback and suggestions. I will now start reading all the links provided and start drafting my defence. 

zeebee23

2. It is admitted that on the material date the Defendant was the hirer and driverof the vehicle in question, but liability is denied.

3. The Driver was an Administrator at B&Q store within the retail park and was using a different car and the VRM took a while to be uploaded onto the store white list.

4. The PCN was cancelled by the this Claimant and this is supported by clear evidence in the form of email trail sent by Manager to UKPC Account Executive confirming this PCN was cancelled. In addition to this, a screenshot from the Claimant's own website states 'This Parking Charge has already been cancelled in full.'

please let me know if the above is good enough?

also do I need to attach the screenshots of the email and website to back this up? or would that be at a later stage?

thanks very much

Coupon-mad

Attach nothing.

Yes within Johny86's defence, that is fine.

zeebee23

thank you.

just one last thing. Can I just type my name at the bottom with the date or would I need to sign it?

Le_Kirk

zeebee23 said:

2. It is admitted that on the material date the Defendant was the hirer and driverof driver of the vehicle in question, but liability is denied.

3. The Driver was an Administrator at B&Q store within the retail park and was using a different car and the VRM took a while to be uploaded onto the store white list.

4. The PCN was cancelled by the this Claimant and this is supported by clear evidence in the form of email trail sent by Manager to UKPC Account Executive confirming this PCN was cancelled. In addition to this, a screenshot from the Claimant's own website states 'This Parking Charge has already been cancelled in full.'

Some suggestions above.  If you are using the standard defence template,, you do not need to deny liability twice as it is already in paragraph #1.  Not sure what you meant to say here but it is confusing; you need to make it clear for the judge.

zeebee23

Ok great. Thank you so much for your suggestions. Greatly appreciated for your valuable input