Challenging a Parking Charge in Court

JohnPaulJ

Hi all, 

looking for some advice on challenging a PCN (Bank Park) in court. I have just received a Claim Form from the court, which I would like to challenge, but am initially concerned about escalating costs that may be added to the claim if I go ahead and lose.

They are asking for £213 which includes £35 court fee and £50 representatives costs. Q: If I challenge and lose is it likely further solicitor costs will be added and how much are they likely to be? If this runs into £100s I may lose my nerve and pay up.

I'd also like some advise on my position, so grateful for any help.

Background:
I parked in a private car park (on 18/11/22) and went to pay, realised I only had notes so went to some local shops to try to get change. Unfortunately none were able/forthcoming so I returned to my car and left without paying. Overall I was in the car park for 21 minutes (I was surprised it was this long tbh and thought I' would be under the 10 minute grace period). I then received a PCN for £100 (£60 if paid immediately).

I received this claim on 5/12/22, 17 days after parking, (although the letter states it was posted on 25/11/22. I found out they received my details from DVLA on 25/11 so theoretically they could have sent it on that day but...). 

I then emailed them to say:

• I hadn't received the PCN within 14 days so was not liable (Q: is this correct that I need to receive it within 14 days?), 
• that the amount for 21 minutes of parking was extortionate and not a fair cost of parking, expenses etc. (Q: I appreciate the Beavis case allows an additional charge to discourage parking offences but does anyone have any insight into whether £100 for 21 minutes or similar has been challenged as reasonable and fair)
• I also asked for all evidence/photos they had of the event
• I then offered £20 to close the matter, without admitting liability (I appreciate I did park there for 21 minutes and owe them something but was not attempting to get away without paying)

They did not respond to this email, however on 8/2/23 I received a reminder from BankPark stating the cost was now the full £100. 

I then responded by pointing out they hadn't responded to my initial email. They then responded with the photos of the event, but did not comment on any of the other points I raised, including my £20 offer. I then repeated the offer, to close the case.

• They came back on 21/02 to say that they don't negotiate and the £60 is still available until 6/3/23 at which time it will return to £100.

On 27/02 I said I would not accept a charge of £100 and if they would not accept my £20 offer or counter-offer in good faith, we had reached an impasse and there was no point in wasting further time or money trying to extract that amount and we should look to take it straight to court.

I then received a notice of debt recovery from DCBL (bailiffs), chasing for an increased £120 on 4/4/23, 25/4/23 and again on 20/6/23. Q: Can the PCN charge increase like this from the initial £100 to £120 - I received no explanation for it.

I was then finally chased by dcbLegal (solicitors) on 1/9/23 with a letter of claim, for which I emailed back to point out they should get in touch with BankPark for the full information on the case.

I have now received a Claim Form issued on 10/03/23 from the  courts asking for

1. £120 being PCN plus damages (not the £100 originally)
2. interest at 8% pa pursuant to s69 of the CCA1984, from the date hereof at a daily rate of £0.01 until judgement or sooner payment =£8.73 
3. costs and court fees of £85

I would like to challenge based on the excessive and unfair charge of £100/120 vs 21 minutes of parking, the late delivery of the PCN, and ultimately trying to be reasonable offering them a fair settlement.

Do I have any hope here?

Sorry for the lengthy commentary but wanted to initially get as much info down as possible. Any advice very gratefully received!

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

You tell us "I have now received a Claim Form issued on 10/03/23 from the  courts...".

That cannot be right... in March??
Or are you from America, and that means 3rd October?

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


And back to your original question...
Even if you were to lose the Claim, it is highly likely that the amount you would be ordered to pay would be significantly less than £200.

UncleThomasCobley

Assuming that you have not gone over the dates by which to file your AoS and defence, you can be sure that this claim will either get struck-out at allocation stage or will be discontinued by DCB Legal before it ever gets to a hearing if you use the robust template defence.

Coupon-mad

There are no escalating costs.

Even if you defend and lose you would pay LESS THAN THE CLAIM.  And it's easy to defend.

JohnPaulJ

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

You tell us "I have now received a Claim Form issued on 10/03/23 from the  courts...".

That cannot be right... in March??
Or are you from America, and that means 3rd October?

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


And back to your original question...
Even if you were to lose the Claim, it is highly likely that the amount you would be ordered to pay would be significantly less than £200.

Sorry I meant 10/10, so still within time to respond

JohnPaulJ

UncleThomasCobley said:

Assuming that you have not gone over the dates by which to file your AoS and defence, you can be sure that this claim will either get struck-out at allocation stage or will be discontinued by DCB Legal before it ever gets to a hearing if you use the robust template defence.

Hi what is the robust template defence? I did see what I thought might be a template posted somewhere on here but I can't find it now

KeithP

JohnPaulJ said:

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

You tell us "I have now received a Claim Form issued on 10/03/23 from the  courts...".

That cannot be right... in March??
Or are you from America, and that means 3rd October?

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


And back to your original question...
Even if you were to lose the Claim, it is highly likely that the amount you would be ordered to pay would be significantly less than £200.

Sorry I meant 10/10, so still within time to respond

With a Claim Issue Date of 10th 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 over three 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'.

UncleThomasCobley

JohnPaulJ said:

Hi what is the robust template defence? I did see what I thought might be a template posted somewhere on here but I can't find it now

Next to the Newbies/FAQ thread is the Template defence thread, stickied near the top of the first page of the forum.

JohnPaulJ

Thanks both. Have now drawn up a draft defence based on this.

Paras 1+2 from template
Paras 3+ from hharry100

my specific wording,
wondering if

• this is too detailed, and 
• if I need to put 'attached' and provide copies of emails and other correspondence in this part of defence, as I've included in a few places below
• any other advice gratefully received

1.    The Defendant entered the car park and sought a parking space. After leaving the vehicle and approaching a ticket machine it was recognised the machine did not accept paper money. The Defendant attempted to exchange paper money for coins with a number of members of the public and at retailers in the immediate vicinity of the car park but was unable to do so. The Defendant, although willing to pay for parking, finding himself unable to do so due to the limited options provided by the parking agents, then left the car park, not wishing to park without paying.

 2.    Once the PCN was issued and arrived at the Defendant’s address (5/12/22), the Defendant responded  the same day by e-mail (attached) to the Claimant, rejecting the legitimacy of the PCN from the failure for the PCN to arrive within 14 days of the alleged breach and requested further information if the Claimant wished to continue with the claim. However, as a gesture of goodwill the Defendant offered to make a one-time payment to settle any potential dispute of £20, to cover the alleged 22 minutes.

 3.    Note that the initial charge was for £100 (reduced to £60 if paid early).

 4.    Further correspondence ensued with the Claimant requesting the full amount of £100 (attached). The Defendant continued to chase for the information requested in the original letter having received none (see email exchanges, attached). Eventually on 21/02/23 the Claimant rejected the Defendant’s offer to settle the claim, stating they ‘do not take settlement offers’.

 5.    On 27/03/23 the Defendant responded to the claimant to inform them that the fine of £100 would not be paid and an impasse had been reached which would need to be settled in court.

 6.    On 4/4/23 a letter from dcbl (Direct Collection Bailiffs Ltd) was sent to the Defendant requesting an increased amount of £120 with no explanation or justification of this increase.

 7.    Further correspondence ensued, (attached).

then template text from hharry100 and main template:

The claim has been issued via Money Claims ...

The Claimant will concede...

UncleThomasCobley

Have you tried to decipher the PoC on your claim form? Your defence reads like War & Peace and all that detail should be saved for when you have to write your WS. Considering that it is a DCBLegal issued claim, you should insert the CEL v Chan judgment as a "Preliminary matter" for your paras #2 and #3. Then include all the other paras from the template after that, renumbering as required.

Apart from embedding the CEL v Chan transcript, no other "evidence" goes with the defence. You are answering woefully deficient PoC which have already failed to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4(1)(e) and Practice Direction Part 16.7.5.

Anything else is just to confirm why you were at the location. No need to expand on that. Your story comes later. However, as this involves DCB Legal, if it isn't thrown out at allocation stage, you can guarantee that it will be discontinued before it ever gets to a hearing as long as you follow the advice.

Coupon-mad

Remove all this bit.  You are NOT ALLOWED to disclose settlement offers before a hearing!

However, as a gesture of goodwill the Defendant offered to make a one-time payment to settle any potential dispute of £20, to cover the alleged 22 minutes.
 3.    Note that the initial charge was for £100 (reduced to £60 if paid early).
 4.    Further correspondence ensued with the Claimant requesting the full amount of £100 (attached). The Defendant continued to chase for the information requested in the original letter having received none (see email exchanges, attached). Eventually on 21/02/23 the Claimant rejected the Defendant’s offer to settle the claim, stating they ‘do not take settlement offers’.
 5.    On 27/03/23 the Defendant responded to the claimant to inform them that the fine of £100 would not be paid and an impasse had been reached which would need to be settled in court.

Make sure you have the wording about the CEL v Chan case as a preliminary matter (point 2 or 3 onwards).