County Court Claim Form received

NeverBackDown

Hello all,

Looking for some advice please. I have today received a County Court Claim Form for a PCN issued in 2019. I will be careful about what details I write here, as I'm aware that these rogue companies may monitor these threads.

I have read through some of the recent Claim Form threads to get myself up to speed. When I started receiving the letters from National Parking Management Ltd I found this website and followed the advice that was available at the time. I sent a Without Prejudice SAR to the company and lodged an appeal following the framework on this site.

In summary:

I was visiting a family member at a block of new build flats. They gave me a Visitors Parking Permit (in date) which I put on my dashboard, correct side up. This is confirmed in the photos taken by the enforcement officer.

There were no spaces in the car park, so I parked on the main road. This is the road leading into the estate - it does not look like a private road, it looks like any other 30mph road in England. There were no road markings (confirmed in the photos) and in my opinion, entirely inadequate signage (again in my opinion, confirmed in the photos).

NPM Ltd actually issued me with 2 PCN's, taken 3 hours apart. These claimed that I was parked on 2 different roads (the PCN's gave different locations) however the photographs clearly show that my car is parked in the same place (the photos on one PCN were slightly more zoomed in. I parked my car in the one location, and I didn't move it). In my opinion this was deliberate, and in my appeal I accused them of fraudulently issuing the PCN through false representation (a criminal offence), and that I would defend against it and call the enforcement officer to explain under oath the circumstances of taking the photographs.

They promptly cancelled that 2nd ticket, but wouldn't cancel the 1st.

Also following guidance here, I contacted the Estate Management Company and asked them to intervene on my behalf and request NPM Ltd to cancel the ticket. I need to dig out the email correspondence, but from memory they tried and weren't able to.

At this point I firmly believed I was dealing with a rogue outfit, gathered my evidence for Court and decided to wait and see. Over the last few years I have been receiving the usual threatening letters, nice and scary red ink. Various different debt collection agencies. Sometimes the amount they're stating I owe actually decreases, then goes up again. Utter cowboys.

Fast forward to now, I have received a County Court Claim Form. Issued on 12th Sept. The solicitors are Gladstones.

I came straight back to this forum to refresh myself on what has changed over the last few years. I will be following the advice on how to respond to the Acknowledgement of Service and the Dispute Form. I will also be following the defence template.

I have some general questions at this stage:

Am I able to bring the cancelled ticket into evidence? I believe it to be relevant to my defence. If they're able to cancel one so easily (when they were caught out) why can they not cancel the other?

Am I able to request the case be heard at my local Court? It is currently across the country and I have a surgery booked in soon, as well as a 5 month old child now.

I am not the registered keeper - the R/K has been receiving all of the correspondence. I followed advice (rightly or wrongly at the time) to not make any admittance of driving. Is now the right time to admit that I was driver and I am the defendant? It will be myself defending the case.

Thanks all for this invaluable forum

NeverBackDown

Edit - by 'no road markings' I mean no restriction lines painted

B789

Welcome. Is the claim in your name or in the name of the RK? If it is in your name, did the RK name you as the driver?

You will be able to use the fraudulently issued PCN in evidence but it will become more relevant when you do your WS.

In a small claim in the County Court, it is always heard at a court local to you, the defendant. The claim comes from a central processing centre (CNBC) and after your AoS and defence, you will receive an N180 DQ which will let you choose your local court and provide any dates you will not be available.

KeithP

NeverBackDown said:

I have received a County Court Claim Form. Issued on 12th Sept.

Hello and welcome.

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th September, you have until Monday 2nd October to file an Acknowledgment of Service.  Do not file an Acknowledgment of Service before 16th September - tomorrow, but otherwise there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an Acknowledgment of Service, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Monday 16th October 2023 to file your Defence.

That's over four weeks 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 an Acknowledgment of Service, nor that 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

Copy & adept the one with 2 images in it, by @manooo

NeverBackDown

Thank you all for the advice so far

@B789 the claim is in the name of the RK. The RK (my partner) did not tell them that I was the driver, as we followed advice to lodge a Without Prejudice appeal and SAR. My understanding was that because this is a civil matter (not something that the RK could be prosecuted for not disclosing the identity of the driver, such as a traffic offence) I thought that this was ok. Should I identify myself as the driver at this stage?

Coupon-mad

NeverBackDown said:

Thank you all for the advice so far

@B789 the claim is in the name of the RK. The RK (my partner) did not tell them that I was the driver, as we followed advice to lodge a Without Prejudice appeal and SAR. My understanding was that because this is a civil matter (not something that the RK could be prosecuted for not disclosing the identity of the driver, such as a traffic offence) I thought that this was ok. Should I identify myself as the driver at this stage?

No.  Too late and the above is all wrong.  

No idea who gave you that terrilble advice!

NeverBackDown

Oh dear. I thought that admitting being the driver legitimises the PCN, which we didn't want to do. Is there anything that can be done now?

NeverBackDown

Just re-read my penultimate post and to clarify - by 'not be prosecuted' I mean't that it isn't an offence to not disclose who the driver is, not in the same way that it would be if requested to do so by the police.

Surely I can come forward as the driver at any point?

Coupon-mad

Yes that's fine.  Don't worry.

The terrible advice was:

"advice to lodge a Without Prejudice appeal".

There's no such thing,


"SAR"
Fair enough but it is something & nothing!

I've already said which defence to adapt. If the keeper Defendant wasn't driving, he adds that fact to para 2 (of course only if true).

NeverBackDown

Ah I see, perfect - thanks for your help!