HELP ASAP PLS! County Court Claim - Highview Parking PCN - VC5 not updated - no chance to appeal

bexr100

Hello all, me and my partner are freaking out as we've been stung with a few PCNs that were SENT TO OUR OLD ADDRESS. We updated driving license and insurance but forgot the VC5 - yep that old chestnut.

So for this particular one husband went to TRELISKE RETAIL PARK, TRURO. To his recollection, he parked, browsed shops for 40 minutes. Left to go find parking at the hospital where he had appointment and in surrounding areas. Couldn't find any. Came back to Treliske, parked there again as was still within time, went to appointment and then went and spent 100quid in NEXT. According to him this could not have totalled 2 hours, which is allowed time at the car park.

A PCN was sent to our OLD ADDRESS (due to us not updating VC5 - although drivers licence and insurance was updated). We didn't get it until we got DCBL send Notice of Debt Recovery to NEW ADDRESS and we went back to our old address to pick up the PCNs. We tried to get in touch with High View Parking to ask for right to appeal given that we had not had it and believe that the PCN may have been unfairly issued because the PCN only shows 1 entry time and 1 exit time, as opposed to the two visits that my husband made. We wanted to ask for all the footage between those times. The recorded stay of time was 2hrs 20mins. It was impossible to get in touch with them. DCLB just flatly said pay the 170 pound fine or go to court. We decided to wait for court.

Now we are at that stage to dispute the COUNTY COURT claim. What do we do? We have to respond in the next few days. At this point i just feel like paying it, but I'm hoping you guys will give us some sound advice to spur us on!?If there's any more info you need please just ask!

Thank you so much.

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I don't know if this TIMELINE is useful, but thought it might help.

17/02/2023 - Parked at Treliske Retail Park, owned by Highview Parking (HVP)

27/02/2023 - Unbeknownst to me PCN issued by HVP to OLD ADDRESS for reduced sum of 60 pounds. Claimed I spent 2 hours 20 minutes at car park. Exceeded time on display signage.

16/03/2023 - Old address without my knowledge PCN for 100 pounds

03/04/2023 - Again to old address without my knowledge PCN for 170 pounds

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02/05/2023 - DCBL Direct Collections Bailiffs send notice of Debt recovery to Old Address without my knowledge - for 170 pounds

04/05/2023 - DCBL send Notice of Debt Recovery to NEW ADDRESS. I receive the letter. Shocked I call the company. Tell me to pay 170 or go to court.

I change address on V5C

15/05/2023 - Send an email to all these email addresses trying to get through to Highview to get the original PCN as have no idea what the PCN was even for exactly and asking for evidence as know I went in and out of car park twice. No-one replies.

 info@groupnexus.co.uk <info@groupnexus.co.uk>; mail@highviewparking.co.uk <mail@highviewparking.co.uk>; appeal@appealpcn.co.uk <appeal@appealpcn.co.uk>

- Spend much time after this received calling DCBL, who say pay or go to court and then trying to get through to Highview, to no avail to explain the situation.

- Go to old address and find the original PCNs sitting there with the new owner.

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24/05/2023 - Final reminder from DCBL

22/06/2023 - Final Notice of Debt Recovery

19/07/2023 Notice of intended legal action

08/08/2023 - DCBLEGAL  Civil and commercial litigation Solicitors - Solicitors reminder letter asking for 170 pounds

06/09/2023 - DCBLegal Letter of Claim

11/10/2023 - Civil National Business Centre from County Court for 263.24 including legal fees etc.

KeithP

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

Coupon-mad

me and my partner are freaking out as we've been stung with a few PCNs that were SENT TO OUR OLD ADDRESS. 

You need to separately email the DPO of any parking firm and debt crawler/legal who are writing about any PCN that is not yet at Claim Stage.

Do NOT ask for a SAR.  But do tell them all to rectify the address and ERASE THE OLD ONE as it is not a valid address for service.

Re the one with a court claim, this is dead easy to win and there won't even be a hearing because they'll discontinue in 2024.

See the NEWBIES thread and the Template Defence thread.

No reason to freak out. Easily seen off and you will learn loads.

Not_A_Hope

Once you have given @KeithP the issue date of your court claim he will advise you on the dates by which you need to acknowledge the claim and separately submit a defence. Have a read of the template defence thread for which you need to amend a couple of paragraphs with your own specific information.

We call these situations a ‘double dip’ and the PPCs are supposed to check for the orphan ‘missing’ images. But they are lazy and that doesn’t earn them any money. What breach exactly have they accused your husband of on the Particulars of Claim. 

Might be useful to check and get photos of the signage on site to see if it mentions ‘no return in xx hours’ or something and how obvious it would be to anyone using the car park. Either way it is still worth fighting as you will have more than just that one defence point. 

bexr100

Thanks all

 @KeithP

Issue Date : 11th October

My partner called them and they said we have until the 30th to send defense material. Not sure if this is correct. 

We have logged in to the Money Claim site and are on the Defence Particulars section.

@Not_A_Hope   I can't see the signage properly on google maps, but if I match up what i see to a clear photo of another Highview Parking place, I can see it reads something like BIG LETTERS: "2 Hour Maximum Stay. Customer Parking Only" Smaller Letters: "Maximum Stay 2 Hours. No return within 1 hour" 

Small print says they follow the BPA code of conduct if thats of any help

 

KeithP

KeithP said:

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

bexr100 said:

Issue Date : 11th October

My partner called them and they said we have until the 30th to send defense material. Not sure if this is correct. 

We have logged in to the Money Claim site and are on the Defence Particulars section.

They could've been clearer.

With a Claim Issue Date of 11th 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 nearly 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'.

bexr100

OK!  This is starting to make much more sense. Thank you SO MUCH. I thought they had guided my husband to the AOS, as he told me he had done it, but he hasn't done that at all according to the system and has started filing a Defence instead. I will now discontinue what we are doing and follow the steps you outline. It doesn't matter that we've started a Defence? We've only reached the Defence Particulars box, but not written anything in it.

With regards to the Defence - The letter - which I will take more time to read and TRY to understand - says to modify to your own case, but somewhere else I read, particulars don't seem to matter. Our defence is only that we did not receive the letters until the DCBL get involved, sending Notice of Debt Recovery to new and old address, therefore we did not have chance to appeal and ask for the evidence to prove that we did not leave car park between the two times stated that we did. If we were found to be in the wrong we would have paid the charge at the time, but we had no chance to respond.

Coupon-mad

As long as you log in and clear the defence box and DO NOT click 'submit' that's fine.  DO NOT EVEN PUT A FULL STOP IN THAT BOX!

Do the AOS instead which the NEWBIES thread walks you through, in pictures.

Adapting the Template Defence is a cinch.  Read a few new threads from other people currently doing their defences. Easy!

KeithP

Make absolutely sure there is nothing at all in the Defence box when filing an Acknowledgment of Service.

If there is anything in that box - even just the words 'please ignore' - it will be taken as your full Defence.

Also, you and your husband must understand that everything must be done in the name of the named Defendant.
Yes of course you can help each other, but...

bexr100

OK - AOS filed and Defence has been deleted. Ok will start preparing defence.

bexr100

Thanks so much people x