Highview Parking: claim going to court! Help!

lewisham_phil

Yes I confess; I've just been binning anything related to this 'parking charge' over the last few years (the only other time this happened, it seemed to work; but no longer the case, it seems).

However, this last correspondence has me worried: I would appreciate any advice as to the best course of action. Thanks in advance..

(Removed by Forum Team)

GrumpyDil

There are people who will come along to advise in detail but first thing you absolutely must do is get rid of the personal details in the uploaded image. As I don't think you'll be able to do that yourself i've reported the post to see if any of the Mse staff will do that.

Secondly once that has been sorted regulars will talk you through your next steps. 

The good thing is that DCBL are gaining a bit of a reputation for dropping cases where the defendant (you) provides a robust defence and makes it clear you won't let them walk all over you. 

KeithP

You have given the world enough information for anyone, simply anyone, to file a Defence on your behalf.

Did you not see this banner across the top of every screen on this board?...

You Claim Form clearly shows 
1) your full name
2) your full address
3) your Claim Number
4) your MCOL password
5) your vehicle registration mark
6) your PCN number.

I have reported your post to get that image removed as soon as possible.

With a Claim Issue Date of 23rd October, you have until Monday 13th November to file an Acknowledgment of Service but don't do that before 28th October. 

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 27th November 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'.

lewisham_phil

Apologies for being an idiot; late night post-pub panic.. Thanks for the guidance Dil and Keith; I will now follow the links and advice avidly.

Coupon-mad

Hopefully MCOL doesn't show a rogue defence done by a third party. Sadly, this industry is so rotten that it has been known on Facebook and here that 'someone' has put in a weak defence using a person's password.

lewisham_phil

OK, I have sent in the AoS; on to defence: 

As far as I can remember, the first communication didn't arrive for months, certainly not within 14 days, so I promptly junked them as irrelevant and/or junk/trying it on. In fact the only letter I have apart from the claim form uploaded is from 5th June of this year (a 'letter of claim' from DCB legal) 

I am attaching the (redacted!) copy of the recent claim form, incase it is useful: for instance to my mind it doesn't 'state the alleged breach' (overstaying the free two hour limit?)..so I'm assuming should add the extra paragraphs from @hharry to suit? 

Thanks in advance for the help, all of you.

Coupon-mad

Yes indeed. Easy innit?!

And Judges are becoming aware and are beginning to strike these claims out.  More Judges will follow suit later this year, I'm sure.

If not, then DCB Legal will discontinue anyway in 2024.

lewisham_phil

A couple of questions: Should I strike out anything in the standard template response relating to signage? I'm sure I would've been mindful of the 2 hour limit.. and does driving around the car park count to the 2 hours? I cannot recall the exact incident (it's been four years!) so I'm not sure whether any driving-around searching occurred during this visit. Can I find out what information Highview have as to exact timings?

I have added a shot from Google, conveniently dated June 2019, showing the signage at the time.

So this is my initial stab.. apologies for any newbie-mangled legalese nonsense.

3. The Defendant did park at the Catford Retail Leisure Park on the 15/12/2019, visiting Dreams Beds, and also Lidl as they do frequently, often driving around the car park for a considerable period before finding a space. The Defendant has no recollection of over-staying, or being close to any time penalties on this visit. The Defendant did not receive any letters regarding the claim within 14 days.

Any comments greatfully received..

UncleThomasCobley

Leave everything in the template defence, especially anything about signage. Make sure you put the CEL v Chan judgment as your paras #2 and #3 and then the rest of the defence, renumbering all subsequent paras.

You are answering the woefully inadequate PoC and do not need to enhance anything because they have not stated what the breach of their terms was. Just stating that you parked at the site as a customer of the retailers at the location.

If you follow the advice and just make sure the CEL v Chan judgment is at the forefront of your defence as a preliminary matter, this will be struck out at allocation stage. Even in the unlikely event it isn't, you can guarantee that the intellectually malnourished DCB Legal will discontinue before it ever gets to a hearing.

lewisham_phil

Hopefully a final question before I send in my defence: When adding the CEL v Chan as a preliminary matter, do I also include the full 'transcript of proceedings' (if I can format it satisfactorily; it's a, escribers webp image) , or just paragraphs 2 and 3 following 'Preliminary Matter: The claim should be struck out'?

Thanks

Coupon-mad

The whole transcript.