COUNTY COURT CLAIM DEFENCE V UKPC (UK PARKING CONTROL LTD)

Jelly974

Firstly I would like to say thanks in advance for any feedback / assistance with the following.

I have recently found this forum extremely helpful and am grateful for the advice here and want to make sure I have taken everything in correctly and assist others who have found it hard to piece all together.

I have a few questions in between in bold.

Facts below and background is listed in my defence.

I received a county court claim form from County Court Business Centre, via DCB legal on the 20/04/23 regarding an UKPC pcn dated 30/03/2021.
I filed an Acknowledgement of Service 04/05/23

I will be sending out the SAR to DPO@UKPARKING.COM asking for (where applicable to me) as a minimum. 

- ALL photos taken
- all letters/emails sent and received, including any appeal correspondence earlier
- if the car park was Pay and Display, ALWAYS ask for a PDT machine record from that day, of payments made (VRNs can be partially redacted but insist on getting this; follow it up if they refuse). 
- all data held, all evidence they will rely on, and a full copy of the PCN, NTK
- and a list of all PCNs outstanding against you and/or this VRN, and remind them that any claim must be for all PCNs, not several separate claims.

What information do you provide with this, name, registration, claim number, all 3?

I will also be sending an email to dpocontact@dcblegal.co.uk informing them of the following (where applicable to me).

(a) I am seeking debt advice but I deny any debt and the case must be put 'on hold' for not less than 30 days under the PAP for debt claims 2017.
(b) I have sent your client a SAR
(c) also confirm your correct 'address for service' if you've moved and the PPC has two addresses.

Same question as before but also what should the subject line and body of email read?
I am thinking something along the lines of ...
Fao - Name of solicitor or Claim number???
To whom it may concern,
My details are as follows...
... as above
Do not hesitate to contact me should you need any further information.????


I have also drafted my defence which I will include but I wanted to check if the post #2 is the most current and up to date version and that all that needs to be amended is part 2. and 3.?

If I am very honest I don't fully understand everything that follows.

This may seem a silly question but when amending do you remove the '(claimant)  and  (defendant)' written below the names?

And it states name as on the N1 form... I'm not sure what this is or if I received?


I have obviously included my name here, but please advise otherwise.

Just to confirm nothing to amend on part 1.?

The facts as known to the Defendant:

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle.

Is it in my best interest to include being the driver here?

3. The Defendant was in disbelief to receive a parking charge notice for overstaying allowed duration, during April 2021 in the post from the Claimant after the vehicle was parked at .. X Y Z , a familiar shopping location to the Defendant who had visited many times previously, conscious of the '3 hours maximum stay only' signage at the entrance. On the 26th day after the alleged occurrence the Defendant returned to the location in order to gather evidence, (please see attached 'Evidence File 1') where the Defendant was met with the recalled signage '3 hours maximum stay only' at the entrance, which appeared to have been vandalised. After further investigation the Defendant realised the spray paint actually appeared to be 'updating' the number from 3-2. Appalled at the thought that this was deemed acceptable the Defendant attempted to collect additional evidence from other signage at the location (please see attached 'Evidence File 2') displaying inadequate small print that is unreadable from its location roughly 10ft high on the post, so high the Defendant was unable to capture a clear readable photo, visibility and readability discriminating against disabled and learning difficulties communities. The Defendant filed an appeal to the Claimant within their required timelines including this evidence via their online process but did not receive a response to this. The Defendant denies any further correspondence from the Claimant and after 3 months pass presumes the matter closed. 2 years since filing the appeal the Defendant was forwarded mail from a childhood address in the form of this County Court Judgement. The Defendant has filed AOS and SAR to the claimant ......

I'm not sure how to end here?

Also wanted to include ...

 The Claimant failed to update its own signage professionally, limiting visibility and clear rules to users. 
Signage not corrected for more than 26 days if not longer, than initial issuing of PCN's relating to unofficial update.

But I don't want to be repeating myself and am I saying to much for briefly what business the driver had there & what went wrong???

I am hoping to send all of the above soon unless advised otherwise.

Appreciated any guidance in response.

Thanks,

Jelly974

KeithP

Hello and welcome.
That's a long post and I'll address some of your issues.

Jelly974 said:

I received a county court claim form from County Court Business Centre, via DCB legal on the 20/04/23 regarding an UKPC pcn dated 30/03/2021.
I filed an Acknowledgement of Service 04/05/23

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th April, and 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 just a few days away 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'.

Jelly974 said:

I will be sending out the SAR to DPO@UKPARKING.COM asking for (where applicable to me) as a minimum. 

- ALL photos taken
- all letters/emails sent and received, including any appeal correspondence earlier
- if the car park was Pay and Display, ALWAYS ask for a PDT machine record from that day, of payments made (VRNs can be partially redacted but insist on getting this; follow it up if they refuse). 
- all data held, all evidence they will rely on, and a full copy of the PCN, NTK
- and a list of all PCNs outstanding against you and/or this VRN, and remind them that any claim must be for all PCNs, not several separate claims.

What information do you provide with this, name, registration, claim number, all 3?

Firstly, that is not the email address for UKPC's Data Protection Officer.
It's dpo@ukparkingcontrol.com

Yes, send a SAR to their DPO but don't expect anything to be returned before your Defence filing deadline. Sending a SAR is definitely not your top priority.
Why not just include a copy of your Claim Form as proof of identity?

Jelly974 said:

I will also be sending an email to dpocontact@dcblegal.co.uk informing them of the following (where applicable to me).

(a) I am seeking debt advice but I deny any debt and the case must be put 'on hold' for not less than 30 days under the PAP for debt claims 2017.

(b) I have sent your client a SAR
(c) also confirm your correct 'address for service' if you've moved and the PPC has two addresses.

Same question as before but also what should the subject line and body of email read?
I am thinking something along the lines of ...
Fao - Name of solicitor or Claim number???
To whom it may concern,
My details are as follows...
... as above
Do not hesitate to contact me should you need any further information.????

No point in asking for a delay. You are past that point.
You have a Defence to file and you have a few days to do that.
Your Defence filing deadline is fixed.

Jelly974 said:

I have also drafted my defence which I will include but I wanted to check if the post #2 is the most current and up to date version and that all that needs to be amended is part 2. and 3.?

Yes, that should be the basis for any Defence.
I won't be going into it but others will be along shortly to help your refine your Defence.

Jelly974 said:

This may seem a silly question but when amending do you remove the '(claimant)  and  (defendant)' written below the names?

And it states name as on the N1 form... I'm not sure what this is or if I received?

The words claimant and defendant in brackets should remain in the headings of your Defence and a 'N1 form' is your County Court Claim Form.


I'll leave it for someone else to comment on the content of your actual Defence.

Coupon-mad

The SAR is not a priority, forget that for now.

Don't talk about "The Defendant was in disbelief to receive a parking charge notice for overstaying allowed duration,"  The Claim does not say that, so don't write their case for them.  Do not explain what the PCN was for.

It is also not a "County Court Judgement."  It's only a claim, not a CCJ.

And remove "please see attached 'Evidence File x".  You don't attach any evidence at this stage, this is not the stage for evidence, which the NEWBIES thread explains comes later, just before the hearing (if there is a hearing, which there won't be, because UKPC will almost certainly discontinue if you follow our advice).

Umkomaas

Not an excuse for any complacency, but do read the following thread to know how 99% of UKPC/DCB Legal cases end. 

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

Jelly974

Thanks KeithP for pointing out the error in the email address. I would have missed that.

I wasn't sure to include my claim form as this contained an old address from 10+ years ago.

Can anyone advise further on this please?

KeithP would you still send this email just excluding (a)?
and thanks for confirming the rest.


Thanks for pointing out the 'Judgement' Coupon-mad, I will rectify this and
would you suggest not sending these emails now?


I will remove reference to attached evidence files.

Should I still include having collected evidence in my defence?

I reviewed the post from preloved1416 17/05/23 3.52pm and I believe this is what you are referencing, 

2. It is admitted that on the material dates the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle in question.

3. The driver was a patron at ___ store within the retail park and did shopping there, and therefore a genuine customer who remained onsite throughout their visit.

I have no knowledge of a witness statement or hearing as of yet.

Should I not include any of what I suggested?

Thanks Umkomaas for sharing this with me.

I am on a very tight schedule this weekend and hope to process defence on Monday.

Once again thanks in advance for any assistance.

Jelly974 

Boat_to_Bolivia

No evidence goes with your Defence.

You need to include the rest of the paragraphs referring to the ambiguous PoC as with all UKPC/DCBLegal cases, plus the rest of the template Defence.

Do not miss the deadline for filing your Defence.

KeithP

Jelly974 said:

I wasn't sure to include my claim form as this contained an old address from 10+ years ago.

Can anyone advise further on this please?

Then don't use the Claim Form. Surely you have a utility bill of some sort to use instead.

But if your Claim Form has an old address on it you must inform both the court and the claimant of your current address details.

B789

This is an example of the defence you should be submitting:

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

Coupon-mad

"But if your Claim Form has an old address on it you must inform both the court and the claimant of your current address details."

The above is REALLY important and is a separate email from your defence.

Jelly974

Had to remove link to gov website due to being new. But otherwise I am hoping that this is my final defence now.

I have still not sent emails re SAR and to dcb, is that no longer worth my time?

Also, can anyone advise where I will need to send my bank statement as proof of ID for address being different to claim form?

Boat_to_Bolivia

You need to add the extra paragraphs 5 to 11 from @Johny86 Defence as linked by B789 above then the rest of the Template Defence.