DCB Legal Claim form issued - help drafting defence

Anonymous1504

Good Luck PartyPops hope you win, will need your advice if you do  

PartyPops

To be honest in my luck, their acting solicitor didnt submit a template WS. They literally tore my witness statement and elaborated on each point I made one by one and talked about me submitting a template defence, but we will see what the judge thinks tomorrow. I’ve tried to defend it but if the judge atleast reduces my cost then that’s still a win I guess.. Anyway its my first time in court so it will still be a good experience ! 

Coupon-mad

They did submit a template WS. Search the forum for a line or words from the WS.  Same old stuff.

PartyPops

Still waiting, apparently judge states court didn’t receive anything from claimants side so the solicitor is sending what they have now. Is this admissible? 

Edit: solicitor claims it was sent but as our court room changed last minute the file wasn’t transferred to the new judge

Coupon-mad

Yes if the Judge allows it and if you saw it then you aren't disadvantaged.

PartyPops

Judge was a nice guy, total claim was £799 for 3 PCNs and judge awarded £100 per PCN with one £60 and court fee ontop with no interest fee, and no solicitor fee awarded so claim discounted to around £400. I’m happy I went to court as I saved myself around 50%  

Coupon-mad

That's a shame, but as you say, you came to this forum with a c£800 inflated claim and they got half that.

No profit at all really for the PPC, once the legal rep is paid and the solicitors take their piece of the pie.

How come the case was lost, though? Signage determined to be clear enough?  Doesn't sound like an inherently bad Judge, so did you suspect your case was weak all along and this was more about damage limitation...what were the facts?

PartyPops

The judge agreed that although the signage was confusing as there were three types of signs in the car park, one of the signs were clear in making it appear that it was pay by phone for the bay colour that I was parked in. They had photographs of the car parked in that specific bay colour too , the judge was !!!!!! that they waited over 5 years to go to court and kind of agreed it was a waste of courts time hence why he didnt award any fees or interest to them. I made a point about peripheral vision, too many types of signs not being consistent, referred to parkingeye sign, poc not being up to standard etc but he was only interested in the signs. Another big problem that didnt help me was that although I had photographs of the site signs and how entrance didnt show clear signs your entering a contract, none of my photos were “admissable” as they were taken over 5 years after the event and some of the signs had changed in terms of content/ colours of bays. I argued that the format of the signs were the same compared to the sign photos claimant submitted but yeah this was a big one as I could tell the judge really wanted to use my photos and prove the point but the claimant kept insisting the photos were after 5 years. I did make a point and say to the judge that even though claimant claims its 5 years after, they too have failed to submit photos of the entrance of the car park supposedly having a sign that says your entering a contract. Anyways, I kind of suspected I had a weak case due to parking in front of the signs on one of the PCNs (next to my bay) plus not having proper evidence of signs, this is because the site is on a private car park compound and google maps doesn’t capture street view there. 

This is the sign that let me down as they had a photo of my vehicle in the yellow rectangle bay infront of the sign. 

Coupon-mad

Ah I see.  Thanks for the explanation. We rarely see cases lost but when they are, it focuses on signage being clear.  Nothing you did wrong and it sounds like you said your piece well.

PartyPops

I’m glad I came onto this forum and got to pay 50% less still! Thanks for all your help to everyone involved.

I’ve got another DCB thread for another case to be heard in November which is for one PCN in blue badge bay so gotta see how that one plays out now.