Gatwick North Terminal PCN - Business Court Claim Form

GiftHorse19

Hello,

First of all, thank you very much to the contributors for the information already existing on this site, it is much appreciated and has been very helpful.

Quick Summary of my case below:

Current Stage

• I have just submitted my AOS intending to "Defend in full" my case (as recommended in the very helpful the "Court Claim Procecedure (updated October 2016)" thread.

Case Detail

• Collected friends from Gatwick North Terminal Pick-Up who were moving their daughter into University in Brighton. Stayed for approx. 5 mins while we waited/loaded the car with bags etc. I did see the £5 charge signage but forgot to pay within 24 hours as we were moving her into University that day and went for a meal that night etc. and travelled back to London the next day so it was a honest mistake.
  
• Received a PCN from NCP dated just more than 1 month later to an incorrect address in Northern Ireland (a previous address I had) requesting a penalty fee of >£90, which could be reduced to £60 if paid within <20days (for some reason as I've seen on other posts, there wasn't the option to pay a £15 penalty fee which I probably would have done). As the letter was sent to the incorrect address, I didn't actually get the letter redirected to my correct address until after the 20days. At that point I felt the £>90 was incredibly unfair so I chose to ignore and did not contest with NCP, as I was scared they would "have me" and insist on the £>90 fine. (FYI, my vehicle is insured to a UK Mainland address where I currently live for work, but my Driving License still states NI).
  
• Received a debt recovery letter from <Notorious Debt Recovery Firm> after that to my correct address in UK Mainland. The amount had now soared to >£150. I did not want to engage with them after reading about their reputation in more detail online.
• Received a Final Demand recovery letter from <Notorious Debt Recovery Firm> approx. 1 month after their 1st notice, demanding  again the higher fee. Again I chose to ignore.
• Received a County Court Business Centre Claim Form recently for an amount >£250(!!). Based on the advice on this board, I have submitted by AOS and I intend to defend my case.
  

Defence Considerations/Recommendations:

As I understand, I don't have a good reason for not paying anything to NCP, as I did park there for a short period of time, but I am contesting the amount requested as well as the fact they sent to the wrong address in the first place. In my view, they didn't acknowledge they sent to a different address initially which should have started the 'clock' again on the reduced fee option once I had received to my current address.

Option1: Should I maintain my "Defence in full" position on the chance I may have to pay nothing if I win? On what grounds would you suggest I could mount a defence based on the details above?

Option2: Should I accept some liability and settle at a more reasonable charge? To be honest at this stage I would probably pay something towards the case (e.g. £5 parking charge + £reasonable penalty charge), to make the case go away, but I am unable to afford the costs they are now asking for which is why I've taken the route to mount a defence.

I will be moving back permanently to Northern Ireland in the next few months so I would intend to defend myself in a local County Court there if that makes a difference.

All help much appreciated!

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

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

Upon what date did you file an Acknowledgment of Service?
Your MCOL Claim History will have the definitive answer to that.

B789

There is no “penalty” and there is no “fine”. The reason you didn’t get the original PCN is because you never updated your V5C logbook which is where they gEt your details

Have you had any contact with them where you have either directly or indirectly admitted to being the driver? If so, you blew the best chance of getting this scam thrown out. If you still lived in NI, they would have had no jurisdiction to sue you.

Was the Claim form sent to your current UK address or your NI address?

Coupon-mad

You can't defend this in a NI court.

It's a shame you didn't reply to the letter that 'found' you in E&W and told them you were only over here for a temporary visit and in fact your permanent domicile - and address for proper service - remained in NI.  You could never have got a claim form!  Too late now.

As I understand, I don't have a good reason for not paying anything to NCP, as I did park there for a short period of time, but I am contesting the amount requested 

I get it - but you must defend IN FULL in order to get to the next stages. DO NOT make a partial admission.

You can always email the 'legal' later on and offer £5 because that's the only prominent sum anywhere on 19 out of 20 signs.  We've seen photos and the yellow signs all mention the fiver but not the £100.

GiftHorse19

Thanks for quick reply all. See answers below, thanks again for the help.

@KeithP Issue Date: 20-Jun-23. AOS was within the 14 days response time required.

@B789 I haven't had any contact with either NCP or the Legal Firm. The only interaction I have had is the AOS.

@Coupon-mad -that's annoying I could have made that defence earlier. I guess I was following some 'bad' advice from a friend to ignore everything. From reading old threads that's not the way to go anymore!

KeithP

GiftHorse19 said:

@KeithP Issue Date: 20-Jun-23. AOS was within the 14 days response time required.

I don't know why you couldn't answer my second question, but now I know the Issue Date of your Claim, let me re-phrase it...
Did you file an Acknowledgment of Service after 23rd June or not?

GiftHorse19

KeithP said:

GiftHorse19 said:

@KeithP Issue Date: 20-Jun-23. AOS was within the 14 days response time required.

I don't know why you couldn't answer my second question, but now I know the Issue Date of your Claim, let me re-phrase it...
Did you file an Acknowledgment of Service after 23rd June or not?

Hi Keith, sorry I was following advice on a previous thread not too disclose too much specific info that my case could be identified. To answer your question, yes my AOS was filed after 23rd June. 

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th June, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 24th July 2023 to file your Defence.

That's over a week away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave the preparation of it to the last minute. However, you should leave the filing of it as late as possible.

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'.

B789

GiftHorse19 said:
Hi Keith, sorry I was following advice on a previous thread not too disclose too much specific info that my case could be identified. To answer your question, yes my AOS was filed after 23rd June. 

Don't forget to wear your tin foil hat when posting here. Seriously though, there are so many ongoing cases, do you really think that these roboclaim shysters have the resources, personnel and time to have someone trawling through all these posts and trying to identify one of their victims so that they then have some sort of "dirt" on them to use later?

GiftHorse19

KeithP said:

With a Claim Issue Date of 20th June, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 24th July 2023 to file your Defence.

That's over a week away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave the preparation of it to the last minute. However, you should leave the filing of it as late as possible.

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'.

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the "NEWBIES thread" and the standard Defence template, very helpful. I intend to use all of the template and I have edited section 3 for the specific defence of my case. If I post in here are you able to review and provide any feedback before I submit?

Also, in terms of the subsequent steps, given that I am likely to be living back in Northern Ireland when this goes to a hearing, is there an option for me to join the court session remotely to avoid paying flights/accommodation costs etc.?

Coupon-mad

Yes you can ask for a remote hearing in your DQ N180 form, which arrives in a couple of months.  No question about it? WRITE IT IN ANYWAY!

Make sure (on that form) you liberally blank out availability dates for a hearing at least a week either side of your house move and things like holidays and your whole first 2 weeks of work, if you are starting a new job or studies.

Yes please show us your draft paras 2, 3 and 4 of your defence.  But you aren't advised to submit it in a hurry - not this week - as Keith said. There is good reason not to do it early.