UKPC claim form - DIRECT not from third party

semma19

Yes, I've read lots and lots but unless I am being dumb (possible), I can't see what to do here.

I've had communication from UKPC ONLY - letter before claim was from them directly not any legal company/solicitors mentioned on this forum.

Now had my Claim Form. Not done anything yet. Am on day 1 of the period after service.

Unsure of whether my defence would wash - driver of vehicle has been admitted in the appeals stage. Driver parked in disabled space without blue badge. Driver tried to appeal that as it's private land, driver did not actually have to display blue badge. Driver did not say whether driver did or did not have any 'official' disabilities.

Can anyone please help advise what can be done here, is it worth paying or defending?

KeithP

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

UncleThomasCobley

Please show us the claim form, the PoC in particular. Only redact the claim number, your name, address, PCN number and the MCOL password.

semma19

The issue date is 9 Oct.

The PoC says:
The defendant is indebted to the claimant for a parking charge issued to [REG] at [x - retail park].
The PCN details are xxx (date and UKPC ref)
The PCN was issued on private land which is managed by [blank space - not filled in]
The vehicle was parked in breach of terms and conditions provided by signage [my note - photos were sent to me of the signage from the large car park] The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not [driver did not say anything about agreeing]
D is liable as the keeper [yes - they put 'd' here, presumed to mean driver]
Despite requests the PCN is outstanding. The Claimant claims £170 plus costs and court fees [£50 and £35]
The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the county court act 1984 at the rate of 8% per year from x/12/2022 to 6/10/203 on £170 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.02 [yet total amount on the document is simply the £170 plus the two extras]

Le_Kirk

Answer the question asked by @KeithP and he will post some useful information. Add to that by searching the forum for  "sparse POC" and "Chan judgment" as you will find a ready written defence template. Also check out the defence posted by @Rorythoperr.

KeithP

KeithP said:

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

stephanieemma said:

The issue date is 9 Oct.

With a Claim Issue Date of 9th October, you have until Monday 30th October to file an Acknowledgment of Service but 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 13th November 2023 to file your Defence.

That's 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'.

Umkomaas

stephanieemma said:

The issue date is 9 Oct.

The PoC says:
The defendant is indebted to the claimant for a parking charge issued to [REG] at [x - retail park]. The PCN was issued on private land which is managed by [blank space - not filled in]
The vehicle was parked in breach of terms and conditions provided by signage [my note - photos were sent to me of the signage from the large car park] The driver agreed to pay within 28 days but did not [driver did not say anything about agreeing]
D is liable as the keeper [yes - they put 'd' here, presumed to mean driver]
Despite requests the PCN is outstanding. The Claimant claims £170 plus costs and court fees [£50 and £35]
The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the county court act 1984 at the rate of 8% per year from x/12/2022 to 6/10/203 on £170 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of £0.02 [yet total amount on the document is simply the £170 plus the two extras]

That's the same style/content of that used by their (seemingly) erstwhile legal representatives, DCB Legal, and as such the HHJ Murch's CEL v Chan judgment** will equally apply. That should feature writ large in your eventual Defence. 

Maybe UKPC will be discontinuing their own cases rather than paying DCB Legal to do so. Do I need to start a new UKPC Discontinuations thread? 😄

** Very helpfully Dropboxed by @UncleThomasCobley

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xy54utt9djv55xitfp7lk/CEL-appeal-transcript.pdf?rlkey=304syf9czf5arl3i1u1ircjln&dl=0

semma19

I see- so the fact they don't even mention why the PCN was issued is relevant then... So no actual need to even go into the whole blue badge thing in the defence?!

Fruitcake

Use everything relevant in your defence. If an occupant of the vehicle is a blue badge holder, then include that, and the fact that the BB scheme does not apply on private land, and that failing to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled motorist is indirect discrimination and pursuing the motorist once they are aware of an occupant's disability is direct discrimination, both of which are breaches of the Equality Act 2010.
Even if an occupant of the vehicle has a disability defined as protected characteristics by the EA 2010 but does not have a blue badge, failing to anticipate the needs of a disabled person and failing to make reasonable adjustments is still discrimination.

In addition, UKPC signs are always inadequate and fail to comply with the BPA's CoP because the "penalty" for breaching Ts and Cs is always in tiny font and unreadable even from a car length.

Umkomaas

The key question, if you are wanting to drift away from just dealing directly with the lacking in detail PoC, is ... did the driver have a legitimate right (under the Equality Act 2010) to park in an accessible bay?

UncleThomasCobley

In your defence, you must include everything as advised above. However, because the CEL v Chan appeal judgment is quite recent and does not apply to all PoC, you need to add it to the template defence at the beginning, paras #2 and #3 and then renumber all the subsequent paras. It should include the bold sub-header about it being a "preliminary matter" as the allocating judge should see it and hopefully strike the claim out for the breach of CPR and PD.