County Court Claim - UKPC / DCB Legal - KFC Newark - Discontinued

matthubbert100

@Coupon-mad are you able to clarify what you mean by writing para 3 & 4 or splitting my paragraph 3 into two? Is there a reason I need to write two? I've only written p3 and p4 is from Johny86 ('The Defendant avers that the Claimant failed to serve a Notice to Keeper...') - is this not applicable to my case?

Coupon-mad

Keeper liability/POFA isn't applicable because you told us " I was the driver."

matthubbert100

Thanks @Coupon-mad

I have split my paragraph across (3) and (4) and removed the para I mentioned. The rest of my defence therefore will contain paras 5 onwards of John86's. Does this look ok?

1. The parking charges referred to .....

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

3. The driver was a patron at KFC, Lincoln Road, Newark, NG242DB for which the car park appeared to be provisioned. The driver was a genuine customer and remained on site.

4. Despite it being after 1am, the restaurant was open and there were other vehicles parked, giving an impression the car park was open to visitors. The driver observed no obvious or well-lit signage stating the car park was closed, and therefore had no reason to believe any parking restrictions would have been immediately violated.

5. The Particulars of Claim .....

Coupon-mad

Change driver to Defendant in paragraph 3 (twice).  And remove this repetition from para 2:

"but liability is denied."

matthubbert100

Thanks for your help so far. I produced a nice looking 7 page PDF, signed and dated. It was sent by email this afternoon and acknowledged. 

I'll keep you posted  

matthubbert100

One more thing.. I recently checked the opening times of the restaurant and it looks like it typically shuts at midnight at the latest. Therefore it's possible it was closed during my visit, but I wouldn't have known it at the time until I rocked up, and would have just left shortly after arriving. Does it matter that in my defence I claim the restaurant was open? As this occurred 2 years ago, I honestly couldn't say for certain, but now I'm worried they will argue it was closed so my paragraph 4 is incorrect? Am I worrying over nothing, or shoulf I have worded it differently?

Coupon-mad

Nope, no worries. You can say more later, in the WS.

matthubbert100

How long does it take to receive the questionnaire? I recieved a completed copy from DCBL on 16th June. It's now 23rd July and I've had nothing in the post.

KeithP

matthubbert100 said:

How long does it take to receive the questionnaire? I recieved a completed copy from DCBL on 16th June. It's now 23rd July and I've had nothing in the post.

The CCBC sent you a letter, or will send you a letter, saying the Claimant has twenty eight days to consider your Defence.

What you don't know is when the CCBC sent a copy of your Defence to the Claimant. It follows from that that it is not known when the Claimant has to respond to the CCBC.

Further, we don't know what delays there are in the CCBC that means they don't send you a Directions Questionnaire as promptly as you might like.

And this recent thread indicates that longer delays are likely... CCBC are currently 26 days behind with DQs

Can I suggest that you keep checking your MCOL Claim History and as soon as you see that the CCBC has sent a DQ to you, you are ready to download a DQ, complete it and fire it back at the CCBC, remembering to send a copy to the Claimant of course?

Coupon-mad

Two months at the mo.  We are answering this same question at least once every day here right now!