County court claim for PCN from UKPC

parkingfury031219

A county court claim has been brought against me as registered keeper of a vehicle that was parked in a car park attached to a shopping mall that is managed by UK Parking Control Limited. The alleged infringement is one of 'parking outside the lines.' The car is seen to be parked at the end of a row in a 'parent and child' bay with the front driver's side wheel on top of the line. There is absolutely no obstruction to anybody else trying to park and there is more than enough room for the adjacent car to get a child into or out of their car. The signs in the car park are also in incredibly small font and not easily recognised on driving into the car park. These two things would form the basis of defence when detailing in paragraphs 2 and 3 in the previously provided template on this forum. Do members of this forum think this is a reasonable defence and would they be willing to help with the wording of paragraph's 2 and 3?

2. It is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper of the vehicle. The Defendant was not the driver of the vehicle.

3. The Defendant's vehicle was parked in the car park for the purposes of the driver to utilise the shopping facilities on site. The Defendant's vehicle was parked in a 'Parent and Child' bay which has a significant additional space between parking spaces to facilitate the easy entry and exit to the vehicle of young children. The front driver's side wheel is seen to be sitting on the line at the time of the event. The position of the car does not prevent any other driver from accessing any car parking spaces or from accessing any other part of the car park, nor does it prevent the adjacent driver from accessing their car with or without a small child as ample room remains between the vehicles. The signs within the car park are not easily visible and are populated with an incredibly small font size. Where the space in question is positioned within the car park  there is no additional space demarcated on the passenger side to allow easy entry and exit for a small child, it is therefore necessary to park further over towards the driver's side should your young child be seated on the passenger side.

Please see the attached link for viewing photos of then event in question

hxxps://www.dropbox.com/sh/8ofdquo8dnln0wy/AAAIiEyw-3VAckSK-S4ACVsua?dl=0

Many thanks for any help or advice. I have about two weeks to submit my defence.

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.

Umkomaas

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8ofdquo8dnln0wy/AAAIiEyw-3VAckSK-S4ACVsua?dl=0

parkingfury031219

Hi, the issue date is the 16/09/2023. I have filed an acknowledgement of service yesterday (2/3/23). I think the deadline for submission is therefore the 18th July?

KeithP

parkingfury031219 said:

Hi, the issue date is the 16/09/2023. I have filed an acknowledgement of service yesterday (2/3/23). I think the deadline for submission is therefore the 18th July?

Do you want to have another go at those dates?

I think you may mean an issue date of 16th June and you filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 2nd July.

Please confirm.

parkingfury031219

KeithP said:

parkingfury031219 said:

Hi, the issue date is the 16/09/2023. I have filed an acknowledgement of service yesterday (2/3/23). I think the deadline for submission is therefore the 18th July?

Do you want to have another go at those dates?

I think you may mean an issue date of 16th June and you filed an Acknowledgment of Service on 2nd July.

Please confirm.

Yes that's correct. Not sure what happened there!

Issued 16th June 2023

AOS 2nd July 2023

KeithP

parkingfury031219 said:

Issued 16th June 2023

AOS 2nd July 2023

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 over two 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'.

parkingfury031219

KeithP said:

parkingfury031219 said:

Issued 16th June 2023

AOS 2nd July 2023

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 over two 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'.

Many thanks. I have gone through the NEWBIES thread. The examples that I can see all seem to be around residential parking rather than in a car park as in my case. If you look at the paragraphs numbered 2 and 3 on my original post the question I have is whether this seems to be suitable wording etc for the initial defence letter? I am definitely a NEWBIE and uncertain as to how to put across my argument. Thanks for your help

KeithP

parkingfury031219 said:

KeithP said:

parkingfury031219 said:

Issued 16th June 2023

AOS 2nd July 2023

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 over two 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'.

Many thanks. I have gone through the NEWBIES thread. The examples that I can see all seem to be around residential parking rather than in a car park as in my case. If you look at the paragraphs numbered 2 and 3 on my original post the question I have is whether this seems to be suitable wording etc for the initial defence letter? I am definitely a NEWBIE and uncertain as to how to put across my argument. Thanks for your help

There are hundreds of threads here about shopping centre car parks.

Here's just one thread started a few days ago...
Court Claim CP Plus & DCB Legal Ltd

Where exactly did your parking event take place?
Has it featured before on this forum?

parkingfury031219

KeithP said:

parkingfury031219 said:

KeithP said:

parkingfury031219 said:

Issued 16th June 2023

AOS 2nd July 2023

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 over two 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'.

Many thanks. I have gone through the NEWBIES thread. The examples that I can see all seem to be around residential parking rather than in a car park as in my case. If you look at the paragraphs numbered 2 and 3 on my original post the question I have is whether this seems to be suitable wording etc for the initial defence letter? I am definitely a NEWBIE and uncertain as to how to put across my argument. Thanks for your help

There are hundreds of threads here about shopping centre car parks.

Here's just one thread started a few days ago...
Court Claim CP Plus & DCB Legal Ltd

Where exactly did your parking event take place?
Has it featured before on this forum?

Thanks @KeithP

It took place at Stretford Mall Shopping Centre Car park. It has been mentioned previously on this forum however cannot see an example of windscreen PCN, previously has been mentioned as ANPR and CCTV. Either way seems to have a track record for dodgy claims from UKPC Ltd.

If the defence seems reasonable I will submit it via email on day 25/26 as per NEWBIES thread. I'm happy with the process as laid out on the NEWBIES thread (incredibly helpful!) but just wanted to make sure the wording and basis for defence (what is in paragraph 3 of the template primarily) is as sound as possible.

parkingfury031219

Is it worth mentioning in paragraph 3:

The driver is the other parent to the Defendant's young child. The young child was seated on the passenger side rear seat and given the lack of additional demarcated space to facilitate getting a young child out of the car on the passenger side it is necessary to park further towards the driver's side of the bay.

Surely it is a fault of the parking setup to have a parent and child bay without the additional room available on one side of the car to aid getting young children out (ie the primary function of even having a parent and child bay)?