County Court Claim - Parking - No Lighting

d1tzl

I parked on a car park late at night and i didnt know it was paid parking, it was later than 10pm and no signs were lit up. I tried appealing the PCN but i got this response

"Further to your appeal received on 25/04/2023 regarding the above charge, we note your comments;

however, when this charge was issued this vehicle was in contravention of the agreed terms and conditions for all users of this site.

Your appeal has been reviewed along with all evidence gathered at the time of the breach of the site rules."

I have now recieved a county court claim for £244.39. I want to write an appeal for this for the reason that the signs were not clearly visible, and also the claim that no contract was formed. How should i go about this? I apolagise if there is a template for this already.

Thankyou in advance.

Umkomaas

How to defend a court claim is shown in the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post.  Please study that as it will guide you through the stages of defending a claim. In addition, the Template Defence Announcement provides you with a template to use in your Defence, you just need to add a couple of opening paragraphs describing the circumstances of your parking incident. Both Announcements can be found in the first five 'stickies' at the top of the forum thread index, one click back from here. 

As this is a Minster Baywatch case, you will need to take some readable photos (in daylight) showing the details on the signage (which is the purported contract between you and them) as they are often showing the name 'BransbyWilson' as the car park managers - a potentially fatal issue for MB in pursuing a court claim. 

Have you acknowledged service (AOS) of the claim?  If so, on what date?  Forum regular @KeithP will be along later to give you some key dates for getting your Defence underway. 

B789

Welcome. If you follow the advice you receive here, you will not be paying them a penny. First thing though, you need to go and carefully read the second post in the Newbies/FAQ thread which explains exactly what you now need to do and by when.

The claim you have shown us is likely to be thrown out before it ever gets near a hearing as they have failed to follow certain rules and a very recent appeal case, which is persuasive on the court, has laid out why. Also, they have added illegal extras to the original £100 charge and also added an illegal amount for interest which is discretionary anyway.

You should file your AoS by the 2nd of October but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. You will then have until 4 pm on Monday 16th of October to file your defence.

Your defence will obviously also rely on that atrocious signage.

d1tzl

Umkomaas said:

How to defend a court claim is shown in the NEWBIES FAQ Announcement, second post.  Please study that as it will guide you through the stages of defending a claim. In addition, the Template Defence Announcement provides you with a template to use in your Defence, you just need to add a couple of opening paragraphs describing the circumstances of your parking incident. Both Announcements can be found in the first five 'stickies' at the top of the forum thread index, one click back from here. 

As this is a Minster Baywatch case, you will need to take some readable photos (in daylight) showing the details on the signage (which is the purported contract between you and them) as they are often showing the name 'BransbyWilson' as the car park managers - a potentially fatal issue for MB in pursuing a court claim. 

Have you acknowledged service (AOS) of the claim?  If so, on what date?  Forum regular @KeithP will be along later to give you some key dates for getting your Defence underway. 

I Have filed my AOS, and i need to do my defence now. I'm sorry, i'm very new to this so some pointers would be very helpful. Here is also a daylight photo where as you correctly stated, it is "BransbyWilson"

Umkomaas

There you go - BINGO!

Do some forum research on <Minster Bransby Cuerden> as I'm sure we've seen other cases relating to that location. If you don't find anything, just drop the <Cuerden> element as there will be plenty of threads relating to Minster and Bransby. Make sure you change 'Best Match' to 'Newest' filter. 

KeithP

I am going to assume that you filed an Acknowledgment of Service sometime after 15th September. Please confirm.

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th September, and 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 nearly 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 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'.

d1tzl

KeithP said:

I am going to assume that you filed an Acknowledgment of Service sometime after 15th September. Please confirm.

With a Claim Issue Date of 12th September, and 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 nearly 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 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'.

Thankyou, I Files the AoS Today, I will read through the post for filing a defence. Do you know if there is a defence anywhere for the Minster/Bransby issue. I cant find anything on it.

Umkomaas

Do you know if there is a defence anywhere for the Minster/Bransby issue. I cant find anything on it. 

Are you using the forum search function?  There was a successfully defended court case only a few short weeks ago. 

d1tzl

Umkomaas said:

Do you know if there is a defence anywhere for the Minster/Bransby issue. I cant find anything on it. 

Are you using the forum search function?  There was a successfully defended court case only a few short weeks ago. 

I Found this, i'm unsure of how to fit it into the defence. I will use the template defence, write a paragraph on the circumstances (no lightin) (If there are any templates for poor lighting entry paragraph that would be amazing) I'm extremely NOT clued up on writing these things so unsure how to mention the Minster/Bransby Issue. Is it worth issuing my appeal as JUST the lighting issue?

d1tzl

d1tzl said:

Umkomaas said:

Do you know if there is a defence anywhere for the Minster/Bransby issue. I cant find anything on it. 

Are you using the forum search function?  There was a successfully defended court case only a few short weeks ago. 

I Found this, i'm unsure of how to fit it into the defence. I will use the template defence, write a paragraph on the circumstances (no lightin) (If there are any templates for poor lighting entry paragraph that would be amazing) I'm extremely NOT clued up on writing these things so unsure how to mention the Minster/Bransby Issue. Is it worth issuing my appeal as JUST the lighting issue?

Sorry, this is what i found 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466822/minster-baywatch-bransby-wilson-parking-solutions/p1

B789

You have plenty with which to add to the template defence. 1, Signage. 2, Failure to follow CPR and PD. 3. Minster Baywatch is a different company from the one on the signs, Bransby Wilson, which means that they cannot sue you.

As advised above, you need to do some more searching for similar cases and you will see how a recent claim was thrown out because of the third point mentioned above.