Need help with Highview parking notice

BFem

Hello everyone,

I have spent many(many, many hours (over the course of days) reading through the newbies section but I am now at the point this is getting too much for me to handle (in every which way). 

I have dyslexia and ADD as well as recently losing my job after being signed off with stress and this is pushing me to my absolute limits. I can barely handle the stress this is causing me. I am trying so hard to deal with this myself. I have also recently entered into a DMP with stepchange (further stress and upset), so even if I wanted to just pay Highview for a parking error I know nothing about, I couldn't...I simply don't have the means to pay it. I have spent into the hours on hold to CAB (it's too much to try and deal with alone), with no luck, so unfortunately I am creating this to see if anyone can help. 

I think I have until Wednesday (!) to submit my defence (28 days from date of submitting the acknowledgement (I have to call MCOL tomorrow because when I finally managed to login again it is saying the claim number and password are not correct, so I cannot check which date I submitted the acknowledgement of service and nothing in my emails confirming it was in fact submitted).

I am stuck with: did I complete the acknowledgement of service through MCOL, or was it a separate form and I had to do something else via MCOL? When I tried logging into MCOL it asked me to register again, even though I thought i'd just be able to login and view the information. I am sat here in tears of stress and frustration trying to get my head around this and running out of time as it's taken me this long to get to this point and now I do not even know if i've submitted the acknowledgement of service in time. 

I have requested an SAR through Highview/Nexus but it won't come before the 28 days so will have to add anything from that to my witness statement I think. 

 Really hope someone can help as I have no one else to help me. Thanks

KeithP

Let's start with the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

BFem

KeithP said:

Let's start with the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Hello, thank you. 22nd June 2023

KeithP

BFem said:

KeithP said:

Let's start with the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Hello, thank you. 22nd June 2023

I know you said you don't know when you filed an Acknowledgment of Service, but for the moment let's assume/hope you filed it sometime after 27th June and before 12th July.

With that information, you have until 4pm tomorrow, Tuesday 25th July 2023, to file your Defence.

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'.

BFem

KeithP said:

BFem said:

KeithP said:

Let's start with the Issue Date on your County Court Claim Form?

Hello, thank you. 22nd June 2023

I know you said you don't know when you filed an Acknowledgment of Service, but for the moment let's assume/hope you filed it sometime after 27th June and before 12th July.

With that information, you have until 4pm tomorrow, Tuesday 25th July 2023, to file your Defence.

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'.

Ok, according to whatsapp messages i've just gone through I missed a day of a course I was on at the time to spend it researching here on 29th June and submitted the same day. I thought I would've had some confirmation email or letter to confirm I did this, is it normal not to receive anything?

I will be up early tomorrow morning before work to create a defence (I have all that info printed out ready to write it, hoping i'll be able to get my head around it enough). Can I post it here for checking by some willing person before I send?

KeithP

BFem said:
Can I post it here for checking by some willing person before I send?

Yes of course, but keep in mind that a) not many people here are willing/able to comment on Defence detail, and b) a lot of people here, just like anywhere else, will also be working during the day tomorrow too.

BFem

KeithP said:

BFem said:
Can I post it here for checking by some willing person before I send?

Yes of course, but keep in mind that a) not many people here are willing/able to comment on Defence detail, and b) a lot of people here, just like anywhere else, will also be working during the day tomorrow too.

Noted, yes. I don't feel confident in my ability to see this through or if I do manage to get to court, not lose, but will keep going. I guess if I miss deadlines, or if successfully get to court and then lose, the outcome is a CCJ and having to pay costs? (which would just be added to the debt I owe and they'll get £1 a month for forever).

I'm glad you all are here, at least you outweigh some of the pain and suffering caused by these companies. Thank you for your help, hugely appreciated.

KeithP

Even if you lose a court case, and there is no suggestion that you will lose, there is no way to get a lasting County Court Judgment as long as you pay whatever the Judge orders within the timescale allowed.

Anyway... that's enough talk about losing.  

B789

BFem said:

I don't feel confident in my ability to see this through or if I do manage to get to court, not lose, but will keep going. I guess if I miss deadlines, or if successfully get to court and then lose, the outcome is a CCJ and having to pay costs? (which would just be added to the debt I owe and they'll get £1 a month for forever).

Your fears are unfounded. Even if this goes as far as a court hearing, it is a small claim and so apart from the original charge of £100 plus the court fee £35 and fixed legal costs of £50 would be the maximum you had to pay. All the added stuff in their claim is not allowed in a small claim. They add it in the hope that the defendant will either capitulate in trembling mass of gullibility and pay the whole amount or, that the defendant screws up and doesn't defend the claim and get an uncontested default judgment for the full amount.

Even if you lost, as long as you paid the CCJ within 30 days, it would be expunged from your record as though you never had it. Unfortunately, if you could get them to agree to pay in installments, it would remain on your record for 6 years but marked as "satisfied", which is little better than not bothering to pay it anyway.

Of course, we advise on how to defend against these scammers and in most cases we see either a win or a discontinuance, which is basically the same thing.

BFem

B789 said:

BFem said:

I don't feel confident in my ability to see this through or if I do manage to get to court, not lose, but will keep going. I guess if I miss deadlines, or if successfully get to court and then lose, the outcome is a CCJ and having to pay costs? (which would just be added to the debt I owe and they'll get £1 a month for forever).

Your fears are unfounded. Even if this goes as far as a court hearing, it is a small claim and so apart from the original charge of £100 plus the court fee £35 and fixed legal costs of £50 would be the maximum you had to pay. All the added stuff in their claim is not allowed in a small claim. They add it in the hope that the defendant will either capitulate in trembling mass of gullibility and pay the whole amount or, that the defendant screws up and doesn't defend the claim and get an uncontested default judgment for the full amount.

Even if you lost, as long as you paid the CCJ within 30 days, it would be expunged from your record as though you never had it. Unfortunately, if you could get them to agree to pay in installments, it would remain on your record for 6 years but marked as "satisfied", which is little better than not bothering to pay it anyway.

Of course, we advise on how to defend against these scammers and in most cases we see either a win or a discontinuance, which is basically the same thing.

This is all good to know, thank you! 

BFem

KeithP said:

Even if you lose a court case, and there is no suggestion that you will lose, there is no way to get a lasting County Court Judgment as long as you pay whatever the Judge orders within the timescale allowed.

Anyway... that's enough talk about losing.  

I think I am getting on OK with writing the defence using the template. I am a bit worried about posting it here in case it is used against me if they take me to court so think I am just going to send it after 9am and hope I have done an ok job with it.

I just wanted to check that, as I am using the defence that I cannot remember who was driving at the time, I should remove the paragraphs; ParkingEye v Beavis is distinguished (lack of legitimate interest/prominence of terms) and; Lack of standing or landowner authority, and lack of ADR?

Edit: I have taken out those two paragraphs and defence is now submitted. I also contacted County Court Business Centre who said they have received the acknowledgment, and were unsure why it wasn't showing on MCOL    I thought that the 28 days ran from the date the acknowledgement of service was submitted, not the date on the claim form, so thank you for flagging that! Phew.