Defence help request

Woe_Is_Meee

Hi,
I am eternally grateful for https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822/newbies-private-parking-ticket-old-or-new-read-these-faqs-first-thankyou/p1
and the template provided. 
Does anyone in the know, know if this would be suitable for paragraph three of my defence? Going to be honest: pretty scared at the thought of going to court but in for a penny...

3. The Defendant recalls visiting the car park to use the retail outlets but denies parking for longer than the three hours free limit. Although the Claimant claims the Defendant overstayed by 14 minutes, the Defendant, to the best of their recollection, was parked for less than the three hours stipulated. The long one way system in and out of the car park and congested traffic both in and out of the car park resulted in, through no fault of the Defendants, additional time to enter and exit the car park but the Defendant was not in the parking space longer than three hours. It is evident from the Claimant’s own image from the original correspondence from the Claimant that the time is noted at the point of entry and exit, not the time the Defendant was parked for. Correspondence from the Claimant states: “Parked for longer than permitted’ but this is false. The Defendant disputes that they were parked for any longer than the three hours permitted.

Would this be appropriate?

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

What is the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Have you filed an Acknowledgment of Service?
If so, upon what date did you do so?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

Woe_Is_Meee

Hello! The date of issue was 16/06/2023 and I completed the acknowledgment of service online today.

Coupon-mad

If this is a DCBLegal claim (and which parking firm?) the last thing you should be doing is responding to allegations that are not in the Particulars of Claim.

Don't fill in their glaring gaps by looking at previous letters and talking about an allegation of overstay.

Or is it not DCBLegal?

Which PPC?

KeithP

Woe_Is_Meee said:

The date of issue was 16/06/2023 and I completed the acknowledgment of service online today.

With a Claim Issue Date of 16th June, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 19th July 2023 to file your Defence.

That's nearly four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence 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'.

Woe_Is_Meee

Hello, yes it is DCBLegal. Is my reason not valid then? Not sure what else I should put in my defence...I genuinely wasn't parked for over the three hours but I was on the land for 14 minutes longer than the three hours permitted.

B789

Woe_Is_Meee said:

3. The Defendant recalls visiting the car park to use the retail outlets but denies parking for longer than the three hours free limit. Although the Claimant claims the Defendant overstayed by 14 minutes, the Defendant, to the best of their recollection, was parked for less than the three hours stipulated and the Claimant is put to strict proof that is not the case.

4. The long one way system in and out of the car park and congested traffic both in and out of the car park resulted in, through no fault of the Defendants, additional time to enter and exit the car park but the Defendant was not in the parking space longer than three hours. It is evident from the Claimant’s own image from the original correspondence from the Claimant that the time is noted at the point of entry and exit, not the time the Defendant was parked for. Correspondence from the Claimant states: “Parked for longer than permitted’ but this is false. The Defendant disputes that they were parked for any longer than the three hours permitted.

Maybe add the highlighted bit. Split a very long paragraph so that the judge can be bothered actually to read it. You can then renumber all subsequent paragraphs. 

Which PPC? Location? Have you appealed this in the past? Did you admit to being the driver? Was the PCN PoFA compliant?

Coupon-mad

You do what everyone else with a DCBLegal claim has done since February.

Every single DCB claim thread covers what to put.  And what not to put!

Read some DCBLegal claim threads.

Woe_Is_Meee

The parking firm is UKPC

Woe_Is_Meee

I have not appealed or responded in any way previously. The only thing I have done to date is complete the acknowledgment of service online today. I'm sorry but not sure what PoFA compliant means...
So should I attach for a dcb claim thread? I'm sorry - I'm new to this. 
Trying not to panic...

B789

As @Coupon-mad points out, this is a UKPC/DCB Legal claim and so you should only be responding to the content of the claim, which as you may have noticed, is very sparse and ambiguous. Don't give them anything to use that isn't mentioned in the PoC.

This is an example of a DCB Legal claim defence template. It has extra paragraphs to cover the woefully inadequate PoC:

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