County Court Business Centre Claim Form - Your advice on some specifics would be appreciated

cheesedoffwhite

I recently received a County Court Business Centre claim form for an unpaid PCN from back in Summer 2019. 

 

Claim form issue date: 20/4/2023

 

I’ve read through the immense advice on here and have today sent a SAR request, Contacted their solicitor requesting the case be put on hold and completed the AoS (following the DropBox link guide)

 

Thanks to the community for providing the information to help with this matter, up to this point.

 

I have several questions which I’d like some advice with:

 

1.     What is now the deadline for me to file my defence?

2.     On the claim form, the particulars of the claim say, ‘The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not’ – At no point have I admitted to being the driver. Is this a mistake that could be used as part of my defence?

3.     What is the current likelihood of my having to appear in court (I think I’d rather pay the fine than do that)

Boat_to_Bolivia

Hello and welcome.

@KeithP will be along soon to advise you of your dates. On what date did you submit your AoS?

Which parking company. Which solicitors? What were the circumstances surrounding the issue of the parking invoice? Where was the car park?

You are too late to ask for the case to be put on hold as the court claim has already been issued.

No paying though, you need to defend this not pay the scammers.

Please answer the above questions and the regulars here will be better able to advise.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

Who is the Claimant and who is their solicitor?

I'll address each of your questions in turn...

cheesedoffwhite said:

Claim form issue date: 20/4/2023

1.     What is now the deadline for me to file my defence?

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th April, you have until Tuesday 9th 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.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 23rd May 2023 to file your Defence.

That's nearly 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 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'.

cheesedoffwhite said:

2.     On the claim form, the particulars of the claim say, ‘The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not’ – At no point have I admitted to being the driver. Is this a mistake that could be used as part of my defence?

The allegation is that by parking the driver - whoever the driver was at the time - agreed to the terms of the contract.

Those contract terms are the terms on the signs.

Almost certainly there is a term on the signs stating something like "if the driver doesn't park in accordance with the rules then he agrees to pay £nn within 28 days...".

cheesedoffwhite said:

3.     What is the current likelihood of my having to appear in court (I think I’d rather pay the fine than do that)

That's difficult to answer and it depends a lot on how much of a fight you put up.

But if it does get to a hearing, then have a look at this video?...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n93eoaxhzpU

Just three or four people sitting round a table having a discussion.

That video was made a few years ago and many hearings nowadays seem to be via telephone or video link.

cheesedoffwhite

Boat_to_Bolivia said:

Hello and welcome.

@KeithP will be along soon to advise you of your dates. On what date did you submit your AoS?

Which parking company. Which solicitors? What were the circumstances surrounding the issue of the parking invoice? Where was the car park?

You are too late to ask for the case to be put on hold as the court claim has already been issued.

No paying though, you need to defend this not pay the scammers.

Please answer the above questions and the regulars here will be better able to advise.

Thanks for responding.

The Claimant is UKPC LTD and their solicitor is DCB Legal

The claimant alleges that I stayed too long in a McDonalds car park in Liverpool

B789

Use the defence template by John86. An example of it is shown here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5r7vbqttho3q948/2023 defence.pdf?dl=0

Have a read of this thread to see what the predicted outcome of the claim is likely to be if you use the robust defence as advised:

DCB LEGAL RECORD OF PRIVATE PARKING COURT CLAIM DISCONTINUATIONS

Boat_to_Bolivia

Have you tried Plan A as explained in the NEWBIES thread, which is basically a complaint to the landowner.

Also as B789 says, if the claim is well defended, this dubious scamming duo tend to discontinue before it reaches court.

Coupon-mad

@Johny86 I think?

Anyway this means absolutely not what you think it does, please ignore it:

"On the claim form, the particulars of the claim say, ‘The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not’ – At no point have I admitted to being the driver. Is this a mistake".

No it's not.  Forget it please... we tear our hair out every time it's mentioned, it is that common here!

What is the current likelihood of my having to appear in court?

Zero chance.

It will be discontinued.

Le_Kirk

Coupon-mad said:

@Johny86 I think?

Absolutely and it has to be @Johnny86 and not @jonny86 - two different posters and the lower case one has not been active since 2017.

Boat_to_Bolivia

@Le_Kirk I thought it was @Johny86 with one 'n'?

B789

Boat_to_Bolivia said:

@Le_Kirk I thought it was @Johny86 with one 'n'?

You are correct. However, in order to save a huge amount of time and resources, I again offer a link to a Dropbox version of the Johny86 defence in PDF format that can be downloaded or copied:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5r7vbqttho3q948/2023 defence.pdf?dl=0

Everyone is free to use the above link as necessary.

Le_Kirk

Boat_to_Bolivia said:

@Le_Kirk I thought it was @Johny86 with one 'n'?

You are correct, in making the post to assist, I also made a mistake!  It is @Johny86 with one "n" and a capital "J".