Premier Parking Enforcement - Court Claim

RocquéRecords

Hi everyone,

I have received a court claim from Gladstones on behalf of Premier Parking Enforcement. The date on the letter was 14/08/2023 which put the deadline for the AOS on the 02/09/2023. I was unfortunately on holiday during the period this arrived and have emailed the AOS to ccbc@justice.gov.uk in case they haven't made a judgement yet.

The story of how I got the fine was I was going to the shopping center and was looking for parking nearby. I then parked in one of the spots for about 5 minutes and didn't exit the vehicle. My argument is I was using that time to evaluate whether or not I was allowed to park there and when I realized I wasn't I told my daughter to come back into the car and we were going to park somewhere else. Using "grace period" as an excuse if that is valid, if not please let me know.

I have drafted a defence if you could kindly advise on what to change, apart from these paragraphs rest is the same as the template:

2. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  Conversely, the Claimant sets out a cut-and-paste incoherent and sparse statement of case.  The POC is devoid of any detail and even lacks specific breach allegation(s), making it very difficult to respond. However, it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver of the vehicle.

 

3. The Defendant didn’t get any letters of the said claims in relation to PCN, nor pre-action letter and only received word through the court claim. The Defendant did not exit the vehicle and recalls only being for around 5 minutes in said parking spot to see if the Defendant was allowed to be parked in the spot. Also, the Defendant is not in the habit of breaching rules and firmly believes that the signage was conflicting and unclear. The Defendant remembers seeing a faded and unclear sign that was not a sign with the Claimant’s logo or name and did not denote a possible claim from the Claimant, which was also in conflict with other signs in the area that did have the Claimant’s logo and name present. Therefore, after being unsure if the Defendant was allowed to park in the spot showing genuine use of a reasonable grace period. The Defendant drove out of the parking spot to park somewhere else to avoid causing any potential issues to the Defendant or the Claimant. Therefore, this claim was a shock and the Claimant has failed to communicate any information about the matter over the months. The Claimant is put to strict proof of the facts and signage, as well as the allegation (whatever it may be, given the fact that the Claim fails to specify it).

3.1.  The vague claim is not admitted. The Claimant is put to proof that the vehicle was parked on the land for the time alleged, and that the Defendant’s vehicle was in breach of a 'relevant obligation' communicated on adequate notices near the vehicle.

Is it still possible to email the landowner to retract this ticket or is it too late? and for the submitting the SAR request is that a step that still should be done?

My apologies for all the questions, as this is the first time I've done this. I'll also attach some photos of the signs and parking area taken yesterday.

Thank you!

KeithP

RocquéRecords said:

I have received a court claim from Gladstones on behalf of Premier Parking Enforcement. The date on the letter was 14/08/2023 which put the deadline for the AOS on the 02/09/2023. I was unfortunately on holiday during the period this arrived and have emailed the AOS to ccbc@justice.gov.uk in case they haven't made a judgement yet.

Hello and welcome.

You are right about your Acknowledgment of Service deadline (you actually had until Monday 4th September, nothing is due at a weekend).

You should now check your MCOL Claim History. If a Judgment has already been made then you have a different challenge.

For an instant response, you might want to re-file your Acknowledgment of Service now using the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having successfully filed an Acknowledgment of Service, you have until 4pm on Monday 18th September 2023 to file your Defence.

That's a week away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the Acknowledgment of Service guidance.

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'.

Coupon-mad

Your defence looks very good and you can't get a CCJ if the CCBC has received the AOS, but that's why we do that bit on MCOL (to stop judgments by blocking them).

RocquéRecords

Hi KeithP and Coupon-mad, thank you for responding so quickly and for the warm welcome.

I sent the AOS email off this morning around 10, are you supposed to get an response of some kind, like automated? I only didn't use the MCOL in case the claimant could get more information/details, as when using the MCOL you need to login using the government ID gateway.

I'm glad the defence is good! Would you suggest anything else to add? and are the photos sufficient and clear enough to be presented as evidence if it goes to witness stage?

Hopefully, the AOS arrived in time as I would have till 18th to prep and sent the defence over email to them.

For these two questions: "Is it still possible to email the landowner to retract this ticket or is it too late? and for the submitting the SAR request is that a step that still should be done?" are they still possible, and SAR would be good for prepping counter argument?

Coupon-mad

Just use MCOL please. Now. 

You are currently open to a CCJ.

B789

You should really use the MCOL to file your AoS. You now have to hope that someone actually reads your email today and then files the AoS for you. Until that happens, you are going to be exposed to the possibility of a default CCJ.

Using your Government Gateway does not give any of your information to the claimant.

RocquéRecords

Thank you, I tried using the gateway now but it doesn't appear to be working for me, I'll try again later. I've got an automated response to the first email and have now sent AOS also to the ccbcaq@justice.gov.uk to hopefully get it there in time until I can get through on the gateway.

RocquéRecords

This is my defence draft pdf to be sent when AOS is accepted. 

https:// drive.google.com/file/d/1eqGR83HhAhSwXJ0rAlKKyWaxup7NMOww/view

I've just removed my name and signature from the bottom.

Coupon-mad

You must just assume your AOS was in time.

Rather than a link can you just show us paragraphs 2 and 3 (maybe an extra para 4 if you have lots to state) that are the facts you added to the unchanged Template Defence.

KeithP

You would be wise to remove the unique Claim Number from that Defence you have shown us.

RocquéRecords

Thank you, I've removed that now and I think it's good to go just changed a bit spelling and stuff from what I posted above. When would be best to submit the defence document?